The Spirit's Fire

2010-04-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

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The Resurrection

2010-04-06T05:59:00.000-07:00

"God...raised him from the dead with glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."

1 Peter 1:21

You may have noticed that the song that we just sang a moment ago was written over 1300 years ago. It was written by a man whose name was John of Damascus. It is said that John of Damascus started his hymn-writing career with a funeral hymn for a fellow monk. The monk wasn’t dead yet, but everyone thought his death was imminent. So John prepared his song and was singing it loudly in his room in order to test it out. Suddenly the monk for whom it was written burst into the room and scolded John for raising such a racket.

Tradition has it that John was expelled from the monastery for a brief period for causing the disturbance. But the abbot realized that John would do great things with music, and, as a result, welcomed him back.

What is interesting is that this hymn embodies that very story in which it was written. The song reminds us that there will come a day when there will be loud peals bellowing forth from heaven. And those who are on their death beds (and all those who’ve already made their beds in the graves of death) will come rushing forth. There will be a day of resurrection!

When you read the Bible, you cannot help but notice that this truth is hammered home again and again. It is said that there are over 350 verses in the New Testament alone that deal with the theme of resurrection. Most of these deal particularly with the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Each of the gospels records for us an account of his resurrection. That he came up again from the grave is the main theme of every sermon that is recorded in the book of Acts. Then, through each of the epistles, you hear clear intonations of this truth. Our passage this morning is just one such example.

That this one episode receives such attention reminds us that the resurrection of Christ is the greatest event in all of history. At the very least it tells us that it is perhaps the most significant event for our faith. And because it is so central, it is always good to remind ourselves how great an event it is.

Certainly that is what the passage before is designed to do. Even though this verse is a subset of another sentence it teaches us some great things about the resurrection of Christ. The verse begins by saying that “God raised him from the dead.” This, I might say, may be just a reminder that the resurrection of Christ was a supernatural event.

I. It’s a supernatural event
This should come as no surprise to you. A resurrection by its very nature is miraculous. It is something that can occur only by the direct intervention of God. And while that may be obvious to you, I think we should take a moment and consider it.

We live in a time where the supernatural world is denied at every turn. As Christians we are looked down upon because, as some would say, we believe in “fanciful” ideas like the resurrection.

To the modern man this sounds like one of the most preposterous things in the world. That’s because most people today have embraced a godless or atheistic worldview. The most common worldview today is what you might call a materialistic worldview. The only things that exist, in their eyes, are material things or things of nature. That is to say, they only believe in things you can see, taste, smell and touch. In their eyes there isn’t room for things that are immaterial (like angels, a soul, or God). So it is no wonder that they deny the possibility of a resurrection. They say it can’t happen because they say that there is no spiritual realm.

This is something that came about much because of the Enlightenment—or, as you have heard me say before, the “En-darken-ment.” During the latter half of the 17th century and into the 18th century people began to think differently about the world and about life. Up until this time, most people embraced the Christian world-view. That meant that they took the Bible seriously and believed all that it said. So they believed that there is a spiritual dimension to life. During the enlightenment though, there was a shift. Instead of relying upon revelation as their ultimate authority in life, they began to appeal their own reason.

With this humanistic (or man centered) view of things there came to be no room for the spiritual world. That’s why I call it the Endarkenment because, in leaving the Bible, their hearts were darkened and they were blinded to much that exists in life. But what happened is that people began to throw doubt on the possibility of the resurrection. And this was happening even in the church!

Karl Barth was a fellow who is an excellent example of this. He was once to speak at a conference and a reporter from Christianity Today went to interview him. As they talked the reporter began to catch a vibe that Barth didn’t really believe that really and physically Christ rose from the dead. So he asked him outright. He said, “If someone were there on the first Easter morning with a camera, could he have caught a picture of Christ?” Barth responded by saying, “I’m sorry. Did you say you were from Christianity Yesterday?” That was his way of saying, “Come on, man! Get with the times! We’ve moved beyond that! Science has proven that men don’t rise from the dead.”

Other people are not as blatant as Barth. While there are those, like Barth, who dismiss the resurrection altogether, others like to romanticize it or redefine it. G.I.Williamson once said that he saw a minister being interviewed on television and he was asked whether or not he believed in the resurrection. He said, “Yes, I absolutely do.” The reported knew enough to ask, “Do you believe in the resurrection of Karl Marx?” The guy who was being interviewed recognized that he had been backed into a corner. Fortunately he answered honestly and said, “Yes.” He said he believed in the resurrection of Jesus. But what he meant was something completely different than what you and I believe. He did not believe that Jesus physically rose from the dead. Rather he believed that Jesus was resurrected simply by living on in the hearts and minds of his followers.

Both of these were examples of men who had rejected what the Bible said. Having rejected Scripture, they had rejected God and all things spiritual. So the possibility of the resurrection is completely absurd to them.

This is not true for us though. We believe that it is a completely logical thing because we understand that there is more to life than what you can see and touch. We believe that there is an all powerful Being who controls the events of history—and we believe that He is able to tweak the laws of nature by his supernatural power. As a result, we believe that the resurrection is most definitely a possibility. It would be an easy thing for God to do.

So we have to remember that this is something that is going to be unique to us. We will be looked on as queer because we believe in God and his power to bring the dead back to life.

But as we think about the resurrection, we must remember that it was not just a supernatural event, it was also a monumental event.

II. It’s a monumental event
The resurrection of Christ is the most profound event in history. It was an event was of epic proportions for two reasons. It accomplishes our redemption and advances our nature.

A. It accomplishes our redemption
Most likely you already know that it accomplishes our redemption. 1 Corinthians tells us that if Christ were not raised from the dead, we would still be in our sins. To put it another way, to believe in a savior that did not rise from the dead, it would be worse than believing in no savior at all! The resurrection of Christ is what guarantees our place in heaven. It guarantees the redemption of our bodies because it is what confirms the notion that sin and death have been dealt the final and definitive blow.

As I said though, you are most likely all too familiar with this notion that the resurrection of Jesus accomplishes our redemption. What you might not have known is that Christ’s resurrection advances our nature.

B. It advances our nature
What do I mean by that? If you look at this passage you will notice that it says that God “raised him from the dead and gave him glory.”

Those last three words are the ones I want you to focus on. These words tell us that, when Christ rose from the grave, there was something qualitatively different about him. His body was not the same as it was a few days before. Yes, it was the same body that went into the tomb, but it was radically different from it was a few days before. It now had glory—a glory that it did not have before.

Now make sure you understand this. The substance was the same (that is to say, it was the same body and it was made out of the same stuff), but its status had changed. It had advanced into a new state because God had glorified it.

What I’m trying to say is that Jesus did not return to a normal mode of living. And the salvation that he brings is not just a restoration of our current human nature. It is an improvement of it.

What we are talking about here is the doctrine of glorification. That is to say our bodies are made immortal, incorruptible, and endowed with new power and spiritual nature. We typically think about being made free from sin and returned to a state of wholeness (i.e. we have a new vigor and don’t have the aches and pains associated with age). But the Bible makes it clear that there is something more that happens. Our earth-i-ness is done away with and we become fit for the presence of God in the New Heavens and New Earth with glorified bodies.

The best way I can illustrate this is like this: Suppose you have an old Model T. Its condition is more than a little dilapidated. It is rusted out. It is beaten up. And if it happens to run (which it usually doesn’t), it doesn’t run right. Now you take that old, junky Model T to a foundry and say that you would like to have it melted down and then re-fabricated. So the company takes the thing, melts it down. Then, with the same metal, they fashion a supercharged Mustang GT fitted out with all the perks.

It is made of all the same stuff, but it has been radically improved. Now it has a power and beauty and grandeur that it did not have before.

This is what happens in the resurrection. The apostle Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:42-45, “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

Paul is saying there that you become a supercharged Mustang GT! This is why I say that the resurrection of Christ is monumental. In his resurrection Christ progresses the work of creation. Adam was the handiwork of God. But Adam was earthy in his orientation because he was made out of the earth. Moreover he was corruptible because he was able to die. And Jesus came in the likeness of Adam and in the likeness of sinful man. But when he rose from the dead, all of that changed. He rose with a glorified body.

And one day, our bodies will be glorified too because of it!

Now that we’ve seen that something of how the resurrection of Christ is a supernatural and monumental event, let’s think about how it is an effectual event.

III. It’s a effectual event
The passage ends by reminding us that Christ’s resurrection does something for us. As a result of this supernatural, monumental event it says, “your faith and hope are in God.” In other words, because of Christ’s resurrection, we know that there is more to life. Sin and death will not have the final say. We know that there is more to come.

That is the essence of hope!

There are two kinds of hope. There is the kind of hope that a kid has on Christmas morning. It is a wishful thinking hope. It is a cross your fingers kind of hope. Leading up to Christmas a child can give all sorts of hints about what he wants to find under the Christmas tree. He can say, “Boy, this bike of mine is getting a little old.” He can leave the catalog open on the kitchen table on the page that has all the bikes on it. And he can circle the one he wants with a big fat Sharpie marker so it is sure to be seen. He can draw all sorts of pictures of the kind of bike that he wants. Then, on the night before Christmas, he can hope that he will find a new bike when he wakes up.

But that is not real hope. That is not Biblical hope. That is wishful thinking. That is nothing more than a strong desire.

Biblical hope is not like that. Biblical hope has to do with assurance. It is a confident expectation. It is the kind of hope that knows for certain that what is hoped for will come to be realized in a matter of time. That is the kind of hope that the Christian possesses as a result of the resurrection of Christ. Because Christ rose from the dead we know that there is more to life than what we now experience. We expect that a day will come when Christ will return. We know that, since Christ rose again, we too will rise in triumph to live forever. Our ultimate hope is the assurance we have that one day the whole world will be transformed.

It is a lot like having a foundation laid for a house. If you walk by a plot of land that has been dug out, has had block laid, and there are all sorts of construction materials and machinery sitting around, you recognize that a building is being constructed there. You know that if you come back past this plot of land in a few months, you will find the final product. You expect to see that some sort of structure will have been raised there.

That is what this passage is telling us. The resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our faith and hope in God. Because Christ initiated the work of salvation, we have the hope that he will bring it to completion. It is a guarantee that God will do away with sin and death completely. It is our guarantee that Christ will not only glorify his people, but he will glorify himself in the consummation of his redemptive work.

Conclusion:
Really, the event that occurred on that first Easter morning is something that just whets our appetite. It is like an appetizer that you might find at a fancy restaurant. You take a bit of it and you are enthralled. It is so good. But if that is what the appetizer is like, just think what the main course will be like! The resurrection of Christ is great. Through it we come to have the resurrection of our own souls. But it points us to something greater. It points us to the fact that there is a main course still yet to come.

When that time comes, we shall have the full serving. Sin will be no more, and we shall be glorified. We will enter into the eternal kingdom and find ourselves radically renewed.

Christ Substitutes Himself

2010-03-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sub! When we get to the halfway point in our basketball game that is typically what you hear. Someone yells, “Sub!” because we need to make a substitution. At that point it is time for the extra guys on the sidelines to step in and play. It is an important part of the game for us. The guys who are sitting out want in… and the guys who are not in as good of shape want out! [And if you lack the skill like me, the other guys want you out! (they are a very gracious group to let me play with them).] But every Tuesday and Thursday morning, we recognize our subs and we pull them into the game.

I mention this because the passage that is before us deals with the practice of substation.

It is interesting what we hear on this hilltop. The Lord drowns out most every noise that would have surely clamored that day. He seals our ears from most of the clamor and chatter, and he gives us just a few sound bites. Because of the Holy Spirit, we are allowed to eavesdrop on a few of the conversations. And we recognize that these “The seven words from the cross” or “The seven sayings of Christ from the cross” as we call them are given for a distinct purpose. They are here to help us understand something of God’s redemptive love.

The one before us is the third of these sayings. And the words resonate with this theme of substitution. The Lord Jesus, in the throes of death, acts to substitute himself. He speaks to Mary and to John and he binds them together in one of the most intimate of unions. Interestingly too, he says nothing about himself. But even though he does not use the first person pronoun, we find that astounding things are said. In making this substitution, I want us to see that three things here: Christ distinguishes himself, isolates himself, and he replaces himself.

To begin with, it is important to see that Christ is here distinguishing himself as unique in the history of the human race.

I. He distinguishes himself in history
At this moment Jesus is numbered among those who are common thieves. Everyone who witnesses this awful execution people would be tempted to see him as just another criminal. Yet Christ will not let them do this. In these words he sets himself apart from the others who are sentenced alongside him. As a matter of fact, he distinguishes himself from every other person in history.

Why do I say that? It is because of the nature of this event. In this scene Jesus replays a scene from redemptive history. If you are familiar with how the Bible begins, you know that this is not the first time that a woman has had another man substituted for her lost child. We see this happen in the opening chapters of Scripture (the story of Cain and Able in Genesis 4 to be precise). You may remember that after Abel was killed, Eve conceived another son She named him Seth (which means “appointed”) because God had appointed her another son in the place of Abel. It was a divine substitution! Just like the one we see here at the cross.

Now let your mind play a little bit. Do you remember what Adam first called his wife? Her first name was not Eve. That was the name he gave her after the fall. When he first laid eyes on her he was enthralled with her, and he said, “She shall be called Woman.”

Here at the cross we see that historical moment replayed. The woman (as Jesus designates her) receives another son in the place of the one she lost (or is about to lose as the case may be). Mary is sort of a second Eve. Both the first and second Eve had a child who was tragically ripped away from them and murdered. Sin was the cause of both of them being slain. Both were the victims of sin. But Jesus wants to point out that his death is much more monumental than that of Abel’s.

Now, remember why the first woman received the name Eve. Why did Adam name his wife Eve? It was a result of God’s promise of redemption. When God cursed the snake he said, “there will be enmity between your seed and the seed of the woman.” Adam then started calling his wife Eve because she would be the “mother of all living.” That was his way of saying, “I believe the promise of salvation and life that God has just given us.”

When Cain was born, Adam and Eve might have thought, “Is this the one who is going to crush the head of the serpent?” The answer was a definite no.

Yet here at the cross, Jesus replays the that substitution. His purpose for doing so was to distinguish himself from among all the other men in the world. He is saying that the role of the Eve has been fulfilled in him. From the cross, in a cryptic symbol, he says that the real seed of the woman has come. He was now in the process of crushing the head of the serpent. Yes, his heel would be bruised. Yes, he too would die. An innocent man would be put to death again. But his death would not be a simple letting of blood without any purpose. As the author of Hebrews says, His blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. His blood would be shed for the purpose of defeating sin, death and the devil. Through his blood and through his death, there would come life!

A lot of people think that these words were written for the sake of Mary. They say that Jesus was acting as the sweet son, caring for his mother to the very end. To be sure, there is an element of this. But these words were not just for Mary’s comfort. They are for your comfort. They are here to tell you that God’s promise of salvation has come to fruition. God has procured full atonement for all our sins. He has done it in the body of His own Son.

This makes what comes next all the more vivid. In substituting himself he not only distinguishes himself in history, he isolates himself from others.
II. He isolates himself from others
What you see here is something akin to an athletic event where one athlete is substituted for another. When you have a substitution on the basketball court, one player steps in for another. But the one who was substituted must now leave the game. He must take his seat on the bench. In a sense he is isolated from the rest of the players.

What we see here at the cross is that sort of thing taking place. Christ isolates himself by formally breaking the familial ties he has to his mother. He removes himself from the union and puts another in his place.

As he does this we see him willingly taking upon himself the wrath and curse of God.

Isolation is a curse. When God created us, he designed us to have communion with one another. I know that this may be hard to understand for you. We live in such a fragmented and broken society. But we were created to have communion with one another. True happiness is found being in the presence of other people with complete peace and unity. There is no quarreling in heaven. No factions. Those are characteristics of hell because hell is a place of isolation.

The story of Cain and Able is so telling on this. There you have two men who are to be bound together in the bond of brotherhood. But Cain rises up and kills his brother. God comes along and says, “Cain, where is your brother?” Cain replies, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” You know what the answer to that is? Yes! You are! You share flesh and blood! Of course you are to be your brother’s keeper. You are to love and cherish him!

But do you remember what happened to Cain? The passage in Gen. 4 tells us that God punished Cain by making him a “fugitive and a wanderer on earth.” As a punishment for his schismatic spirit he was isolated. His lot in life was to bear the curse of loneliness. And he recognized how miserable that would be because his reaction was one of complete despair! He cried out, “O my punishment is too much for me.” “It is greater than I can bear!”

You’ve no doubt experienced the misery of isolation. How many of you have been in a church that has been ruptured for some ungodly reason? (there are godly separations. But rarely do they happen for godly reasons.) When that church split, you suffered, didn’t you? You were cut off from other godly people. You lost the opportunity to share in their gifts and graces. It was as if there had been a real amputation in the body of Christ. That isolation is a curse. And that is why it is a foul thing to have the peace, purity and the unity of the church rent asunder.

Our society is a miserable place today, isn’t it? You know why? It is because there is so much isolation. Studies say that 36% of children today are born without fathers in the home. That’s not counting those fathers who leave soon-there-after. Kids are isolated.

Even those places that we would not call broken homes are most often places that are fractured. Whole families live in isolation from one another. Mom and dad go opposite directions in the morning. Kids are shipped off to day care or school or to who knows where afterwards. That’s not the way it was meant to be. The two are to become one. The family unit was to be one of the strongest bonds on earth. Home is to be where communion and happiness is found.

And here at the cross you have a severing of the most intimate of earthly relationships. The tie to the home is cut. Christ isolates himself from his own mother.

We know that Jesus is the Son of God. But he was also the son of Mary, according to the flesh. He was nursed at her breast. He was nurtured by her daily affection. He was cared for just as any other human son.

Jesus was not a stoic. He was very man of very man. And to formally have to cut his ties with his mother would have been mentally excruciating. To have to watch her weep over him at the foot of the cross and then see her walk away under some other man’s arm would have been a hell in itself.

Yet, this isolation was the work of the obedient lamb. He willingly broke up his own family so that he might bear the awful curse of isolation.

But as he substitutes himself he not only distinguishes himself, He not only isolates himself, but he also replaces himself.

III. He replaces himself with his beloved.
We must not neglect to remember that in this substitution Jesus appoints another to fill His shoes. John is thrust into the family in place of Jesus.

Let’s go back to our basket ball illustration. When a sub comes in, what does he do? He replaces one of the players on the court, doesn’t he? He takes his place and stands in his stead. He now has all of the responsibilities and he gets to enjoy all the privileges of the one he took the place of.

Perhaps a better example may be found in the 2008 Summer Olympics. The event was fencing. Italy and China were competing for the bronze medal. Late in the match Matteo Tagliariol, the Italian star, pulled a muscle and had to bow out of the event. His replacement, Stefano Caozzo stepped in and, with only two touches, sealed the medal. What is amazing is that Caozzo got to go home with the medal while the only thing guy who did all the work got to go home with was a terrible limp!

That is a great illustration of how a substitute gets all the blessings that are due to another. And that is a beautiful illustration of what happened right there at the cross.

When Jesus looks at John and says, “Behold, your mother,” he says you now have my spot! You are my replacement. You are going to stand in where I am supposed to be, and you get to enjoy what I am supposed to have.” What was he supposed to have? It was life, of course!

Now I want you to recognize that there is a great deal of symbolism here again. And to understand the symbolism (or typology) you have to know something about John. He was the Beloved disciple. He was the one who was nearest and dearest to Jesus. He had a unique relationship to Jesus and with Jesus.

And I don’t think it is by coincidence that John is at the foot of the cross at this moment. I don’t think that it happened by chance that Jesus appointed him as the one to stand in Jesus’ place. He is chosen to be because he is the beloved disciple. And as the beloved disciple, he represents every disciple that is beloved by Christ.

Therefore we see in this replacement what kind of death Jesus is dying. It is a vicarious death. It is the fulfillment of all the bulls and goats the priests had sacrificed up to this point. Everyday a family would enter the temple and they would bring their animal. They would lay their hands on it and then give it to the priest who would then slay it. In doing so the family was saying, this animal is dying as my substitute. It will stand in my place as the one who deserves death, and I will be the beneficiary. I will stand in its place as the one who shall live.

Jesus here says, you beloved disciples are the beneficiaries of my life. You get to stand in my place. Just like the Italian guy who got the bronze medal, you get to go home with the prize—You get to go home with everything. Christ has thrust you into his place. And because he does so you have become part of God’s family. Because of Christ, you have become one of the sons of my heavenly Father.

Conclusion:
It is no wonder why we are made to listen in here. The words were no doubt uttered with the utmost pain and with almost inaudible volume due to the agony of crucifixion. Yet they reverberate through history with seismic thunders. They point us to the fact that Christ has become our Great Redeemer. As the Second Adam and the Second Able, he closed himself off from all contact. He isolated himself in the pit of hell, so that we may walk through the gates of heaven.

The New World Order

2010-02-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

Isaiah 4:2-6

Ronald Bryer was there when the bomb was dropped. He was a prisoner of war and was being held at Nagasaki when the United States dropped the Atomic warhead which would end up bringing World War II to a close. By the amazing providence of God Bryer survived the explosion because he was pressed into working in an air raid.

Of course, this was an amazing thing. The city of Nagasaki had been reduced to a pile of rubble by the explosion. Yet Bryer lived to tell about it. For 34 years Bryer carried the memory of the absolute carnage that was left.

But in 1979 Bryer was asked by the mayor of Nagasaki to return and see what had become of the devastation. Bryer accepted the invitation and took the trip. Upon arriving, Bryer was amazed to see that the city which once lay in complete ruins had now become a bustling city with highrise buildings and major commercial companies, such as Mitsubishi and Mazda.

Bryer said that the thing that amazed him the most was the children. He couldn’t believe that they were out in the streets laughing and playing with all their childlike curiosity. He said it didn’t used to be like that.

To Bryer, it was a completely new world. It was a transformation that seemed utterly impossible.

The experience this former prisoner of war had is somewhat of the same experience that we find in our passage today. The people of God in Isaiah’s time were living in a land which had been devastated. It was not due to an Atomic explosion though. It was due to something far more devastating. Sin had left the people stripped bare. The land had been reduced to a pile of rubble by the Almighty strength of God.

But in our passage this morning, we see that a whole new world arises out of the ashes. God, by his grace, constructs a new city—a new nation, where righteousness dwells.

This passage is a reminder to us that God does not disavow his people entirely. He shows that his love for his people will never run dry and he will never give up on his promise to establish them in his kingdom. And in this passage we see that God does establish his kingdom. And in reading this passage we see that it is a new world order. Out of the rubble of failed human works, God brings to fruition his long promised Kingdom of glory.

That is something of the irony of this passage. It is a new world order that we see here. However, it is not altogether new. It is an old world order in that this was what God had intended from the beginning. The promises given to Abraham was that he would make of him a mighty nation.

But here we look to see the ripening of the fruit. We see what that God perfects what Israel could not attain on their own.

What does God want us to learn about this new world order though? I think we should begin by noting that this new world order has a messianic flavor.

I. Its Messianic flavor [2]
In verse 2 it says, “In that day the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious.”

Now, this is not the easiest passage in the world to understand. If you don’t quite understand it, don’t worry. You are not alone. I wrestled with it all week long. And in looking at the commentators through the week, it was evident that they were not altogether clear on what it meant.

But the Jews viewed this passage as a messianic passage. And you may too, especially when you compare it with other passages of Scripture. For instance, in Jer. 25:5 it talks about this branch and it says, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

You could also look at Zech. 6:12 we read, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD.”

We could look at other passages as well that develop this idea of the branch. All of those passages are elaborating further upon what is said here. And all of them indicate that was going to be a man who would be raised up by God to do marvelous feats of righteousness.

And so we find that this new world order would be spearheaded by and established through the work of that Messiah.

You know, we often say that you just can’t find good help now-a-days. And isn’t that true? When we need something done, we know that if we want it done right we better do it ourselves.

I was talking with a fellow just this week. He said that when he was out on a job, he would sometimes have to have other people handle certain tasks. So he would say, “Hey, can you get this over to so & so?” But rarely did it ever get done, or if it did get done, it was not done right or right away. This would always frustrate him to no end.

Well, when it comes to God’s kingdom, it is much the same way. God is here saying, my kingdom is going to be established. No one is going to be able to stop it. But if it is to be, it is up to me.

We’ve seen what happens when it is up to us, haven’t we? All of what we have studied so far and all of what is recorded in the books of Kings and Chronicles are a testimony to what we can do to establish God’s kingdom. The whole point of the books of Kings and Chronicles is that we only we are a bunch of failures. When it is in our hands, things go south and it typically falls apart.

So if it is to be, it is up to God. God himself has to bring it to pass. That’s why we see Christ being born in a manger. That’s why we see him leaving his Father’s side and stepping out of heaven. Because it was up to him. When Christ came to earth, he came to be the messiah who would spearhead this new world order. That’s why he said, “The kingdom is at hand.” He was saying that he had come to establish this new world order wherein righteousness would rule.

And that kingdom is still being established through the ministry of the Word and Spirit. In the book of Acts we read how the church begins to spread out. In essence, it records for us the triumphant march of Christ across the globe. You might say that the gospels tell us how Christ began to establish his kingdom, and the book of Acts tells us how He continues to establish it.

You might say, “Well, he is still using man to do it, isn’t he?” Yes, he is. His people and his ministers are doing the work. But what do we find happening at the beginning of the book of Acts? There is the empowerment of the Spirit as it is poured out from heaven. Christ comes to dwell in each of us so that we can carry forth the work of the Messiah.

So don’t think for a moment that it is up to us. We would be fools to do so. Kingdom work is the work of the King. While he might be pleased to work through us, we must not forget that it is he who works the work. The New world Order, from beginning to end, has a messianic flavor.

But as you look at this passage you will also see that it has a redemptive quality about it.

II. Its redemptive quality [3-4]
Verses 3-4 make it clear that this new world order would be made up of a people who are completely transformed. The passage makes it clear that redemption comes to this people. It says that the people who take part in this new world order are going to be called holy.

But the question arises, “How do these people get to be holy?” This is radically different from what we’ve been looking at so far in the book of Isaiah. What we’ve seen is that the people are anything but holy. They are depraved. How do they get to become holy?

The passage talks about this redemption in two ways. First, we have to see that this has something to do with the gracious election of God.

Verse 3 reminds us that there are people who are left in Zion and remain in Jerusalem. In other words, after God came through to clean up the mess, he chose to leave a few behind. Now, it wasn’t because he forgot them or just overlooked them. You know when you are cleaning the table after dinner you might do that. There can be some scrapes that you missed when you wiped up the table.

God didn’t do that though. He doesn’t fudge things like that. People were left behind because he had chosen to leave them there. It was part of his plan to save some, and he knew exactly who he wished to save.

As a matter of fact the passage says that everyone who was left was a person who had had their names recorded in a book. It is saying that long before the Lord came and visited the people of Jerusalem, God had specified who would receive his gracious salvation.

So those who participate in this new world order are there because of God long before had determined who would be there. They were predestined according to His sovereign grace in election.

A friend of mine was once talking with a co-worker of his about spiritual things. His co-worker found out that he was a Calvinist and he would sometimes chide him about it. But one day they were talking about heaven and he asked my friend, “What will you say when you get there?” And my friend said, “Why me?” In other words, “Why am I here? I am nothing but a wretched sinner? Why did you choose me?”

That’s the beauty of grace. It leaves you questioning God, “Why me?” You don’t deserve it. But God gave it to you anyway, solely because he wanted to.

But we still have the problem of the unrighteousness. That God elects us by his sovereign grace shows us that we get to be redeemed, but it does not show us how we come to be redeemed. We still are yet to figure out how do these people come to be denominated as holy? The answer to that is found in verse 4, and how it directs us to the vicarious sacrifice of Christ

In verse 4 it says that all the evil ones are like filth and bloodstains that are purged. They are just wiped out in one purging sweep. As God’s judgment comes upon them the place is swept clean. Then at the end of verse for it says that there is also this cleansing by a spirit of burning (or it could be translated purging).

What we see are that the sins of the people are burnt up. It is a refining process where their sins are purged from them like alloys are purged from gold.

This is exactly what happens on the cross when Christ was sacrificed as the Lamb of God. On the cross, Christ stood in the place of his people. He took upon himself the sins of his people. Then, as the wrath of God came upon him, the sins of the people were purged in a fiery heat.

This is what allows the people to be called holy. It is not because they were able to clean themselves up. It was because of what Christ did for them when he gave up his life. It was because through Christ their sins are purged.

Now this new world order has a messianic focus and a redemptive quality. But let’s not forget that it has a personal application too.

III. Its personal application [5-6]
Verses 5-6 put forth a beautiful picture of how God touches each and every one of us in this new world order. It says that the Lord creates over the whole site of Mount Zion and over all his people canopy of sorts. Above Zion there is a cloud by day and fire by night.

Those of you who are familiar with the Bible know that in the Old Testament the people were lead through the wilderness by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It was a constant reminder that God was their guide through the wilderness. He was always there through the hardships of that adverse territory.

But even though God was obviously there, he was still distant. You couldn’t approach the cloud. It was always over there out of your reach. You didn’t dare go near it for fear of being consumed.

Here in Isaiah 4 though, you have a different portrayal of that cloud. It isn’t off in the distance. It is right over you. It is ever present with you. It is a message that God would constantly be with his people in this new world order. His presence would be personal.

I believe that this is God’s way of depicting the way the Holy Spirit dwells in and with his church today. His presence abides with each and every one of us each day and each moment.

This is the essence of what Christ communicated about the Holy Spirit in John 16. Jesus said that he was going away, but the disciples were not to fret because he would send them the Holy Spirit. And the word he used there was the word parakletos, which means Comforter of Helper. The Spirit would be the one who helps and comforts us in life’s troubles. He is our shade by day and the shelter from the storms of persecution and affliction.

And isn’t this what we see at Pentecost. The church becomes indwelt in a new and powerful way. God sent forth his comforter/his helper, so that we might have the personal presence of Christ no matter where we go. And by that Spirit we are ever reminded that we are a part of God’s eternal Kingdom. We are in the New World Order that God is establishing.

Conclusion:
To be sure, this new world order has not come to its completion. But it is being established in our midst. And we have the great joy of participating in it through our Messianic King.

State of Dysfunction Address

2010-02-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

Isaiah 3:1-15

As we begin this morning I want to confess to you that this message is going to be a bit scatter-brained. I think that I’m going to break every rule that my preaching professors ever taught me. You may notice from your bulletin that this message is not quite as organized as usual. That will reflect the fact that I had quite a hard time bringing things together.

The overall topic is certainly easy to determine. It has to do with leadership. Isaiah is giving us a commentary of sorts on the state of affairs in Judah. In our own land we typically have a state of the union address. This might correspond to something like that. The difference being that a prophet, rather than the political leader, is speaking. We might also say that it is more of a “state of dysfunction” or “disunion” address rather than a state of the union. Isaiah’s words, yet again, give a rather dismal picture of things in Israel.

This is why I’m not too upset that my outline and presentation are not going to be altogether tidy. I think that it will reflect something of the chaotic state of things in this passage. It represents any realm for that matter that is characterized by faithlessness and moral decadence.

So, despite this message being less than organized (to say the least), I want us to concentrate on what God says here about leaders and leadership. The first lesson we learn from this passage is that a moral and religious decline creates a deficit of good leaders.

I. A moral & religious deficit creates a deficit of good leaders
In verses 1-3 God says, “I am going to remove support and supply. I am going to remove the mighty man, the judge, the elders, the captains of fifty, etc.” Isaiah is saying that all those who are in places of authority and prominence are going to be removed. And this is going to be done by God’s hand.

Of course, we all know the purpose of a prophet. They are called to preaching against the sins of society. They exist because morality doesn’t. Isaiah is no different. He lived in a day of apostasy and moral degeneration.

Yet this text makes it clear that because of this spiritual deficit in Israel there is going to be a parallel depreciation of leaders.

Then in verses 6 and 7 you have a scene of complete desperation. The people of Israel are so desperate that they will try and grab anyone who may even resemble qualified for leadership and try to place him in office—Hey, you have a coat. You obviously are qualified for the position!

That reminds me of many churches today. There is such ignorance of the Scriptures in these churches—most don’t have a clue what it means to follow Christ—so they say, “Well, here you have a businessman. He wears a suit every day. He obviously must know something of how a church can be run.” When it comes to real, Biblical qualifications for the office, no one gives a whoot. Even if they did, they would not be able to find anyone who met those qualifications.

You might notice though, that the passage does tell us that there are some who ascend to these positions of power. In verse 4 it says that the vacuum that was created by a loss of qualified leaders is filled with children. That could mean people who are simply inexperienced or physically immature. We know that there were times in Israel’s history where kids as young as 6-8 years old were the leaders.

The point is that the pool of good leaders has dried up. And, of course, that is going to happen where ever you have a group or society that does not fear God and keep his commandments. This is why we see people like Daniel and Joseph rise like shooting stars in those narratives. Certainly, it has to do with the blessing of God. But if we speak from a human perspective, these men rise to power because they feared God. They were men of wisdom and integrity. They stuck out head and shoulders above the rest of the fools because they feared God. So it is no wonder that they were chosen to hold those high offices.

The one trait that is (or at least should be) foremost in a leader is wisdom. And you all know where the beginning of wisdom is found: it is in the fear of God. But when a body doesn’t fear God, wisdom will be lacking. And as a result, there will be a shortage of Daniel’s and Joseph’s. Good leaders are going to evaporate because there isn’t that pool of godliness from which to draw.

A society—be it a family, church, or nation—is only as good as its leaders. And when the leadership breaks down, so does the institution that of that leadership. So, to keep it in tact or to rebuild what is broken down, what is needed is not just another leadership conference. There needs to be a time of repentance and turning to God. That is the only thing that can bring restoration to a land and its leaders.

Now, this next point may get me in trouble. To say that it is taboo in our day would be to put it mildly. But we need to say something about verse 12 and what it means that “women rule over them.”

II. Women rule over them.
Verse 12 corresponds to verse 4. The only difference is that verse 12 mentions the fact that women are rulers too. A lot of people say that women here is symbolic. So it is like saying, “The leaders have become a bunch of girly men.”

That may be true to some degree. There is no doubt that men are only men when they fear God and keep his commandments. When they don’t, they lose something of their masculinity and the concept of honor. When I led the men’s group at the Care Center, I emphasized the fact that being a man means more than having the physical makeup of “maleness.” It has to do with duty and honor.

However, we shouldn’t jump too quickly to the metaphor of “girly men.” I believe that we are to take this literally when it speaks of women holding places of authority. It is a sign of God’s curse when women rise to positions of power and headship.

The Bible makes it clear that the men were created to be the leaders of society. All you have to do is look at Genesis 2. It makes clear that the man was the foundation of society. Then the woman was created to be the man’s helper. So in the home, the man is to be the head of the household. He is to be the one who is responsible for all that goes on there. His wife is supposed to be the one who assists him and helps the house to run.

We could also look at 1 Cor. 11 and see that God makes this quite clear. It says, “The head of every woman is man. And the head of man is Christ.” God is making it quite clear that there is an order (or hierarchy) that is embedded in the family.

That principle is then to be carried over into the other spheres of life too. If man is the head of the home—the most fundamental building block of society, it is the logical next step that those other areas which are built on families (churches and nations) are to be led by men too. Paul certainly backs this up in 2 Timothy 2, when he limits the offices of the church to men.
You will remember too that part of the curse was that Eve would have this desire to usurp authority. That fits in with what we have here. When there is a deficit of credible leaders, it provides the perfect time for women to step up into those positions.

Now, a lot of people will object to this, I know. One of the things they will point to is Deborah. They will say that Deborah was raised up by God to do great things for Israel. But that’s just the point. The passage there in the book of Judges isn’t there to show how great Deborah is! It is to point out how wicked Israel had become. This was the time when everyone was “doing what was right in his own eyes.” And Barak is the prime example of the kind of leader such a culture produces. He wasn’t willing to lead Israel or step up to do the work that God had called him to do. So God raises up Deborah as a shame to him and the rest of the nation. While Deborah is a blessing of sorts (to relieve the Israelites’ oppression), she is also a curse. She is a signal that the Israelites are a bunch of apostates and God is highly displeased with them.

I know that this is enough to get me stoned in a Feminized society like ours. Everywhere you look today we have women in places of governance. If you look through the phonebook, you’ll see that numerous churches have women clergy. You all know how women populate the civil magistrate and how close we are to having a woman at the highest office of our land.

All this has come about because we have forsaken scripture and embraced thinking a human way of thinking. But this is the truth of Scripture: Scripture says that God has set a social structure and included in that social structure a different role for men and women. And when women come to power it is a signal that the whole structure of society has radically been turned on its head. Whether it be the church, family or civil magistrate, when women occupy the role of headship, you it is a sign that things are in decline and that God is much displeased with us.

The next thing that I want to emphasize in this text is something that we mentioned last week. And it follows logically on what we have just said up to this too. Last week I quoted Benjamin Franklin when he said, “If you will not be governed by God, by God, you will be governed!

III. If you are governed by God, by God, you will be governed
If you don’t have good leaders, you won’t have good government will you? Of course not! If you do not fear God and will not submit to his government, you shouldn’t be surprised to find yoruself being cruelly treated by some despotic dictator. Or, in such a situation, you shouldn’t be surprised that there is going to be such anarchy that your life is going to be miserable.

And that is exactly what we find in this passage. This passage presents us with a pendulum shift from complete anarchy to absolute tyranny. In verse 5 it talks about the anarchy. The masses of people go around oppressing one another. Youths will even be so bold as to despise and be insolent towards their own elders.

Some of you might remember the events the riots that occurred out in Los Angeles, California a number of years ago. It was complete anarchy. Mobs flooded the streets, looted stores, toppled cars, started fires. The civil government was virtually useless as the people took to the streets. That anarchy is what you might imagine here. And that is the kind of chaos that exists in godless societies. People are nothing more than a law to themselves.

Then in verses 13-15 you see the complete opposite. In these verses you have God condemning the leaders (the elders and princes) because of their tyranny. These leaders have oppressed the poor and outright crushed the people.

I’ve started to be involved in the Tea Party book study. I wanted to get out and expand my sphere of normal contacts. But the book we are studying says that tyranny and anarchy are always two opposite extremes. There is some truth to that. But on the other hand, they go hand in hand too. When you have tyranny, you will have anarchy too (and vice versa). They are symptoms of a godless culture.

The point of this passage though is the anarchy and the tyranny show us that there’s no way except God’s way. As Franklin said, Either be governed by god, or by God, you will be governed!

My wife and I started watching a historical fiction series on John Adams, the great patriarch of our nation. One of the things that we saw in the opening showing were some of the flags that were raised during that time when King George was dictating his oppression of the colonists. One of those banners had a olive branch on it and was surrounded by the words, “Appeal to Heaven!”

Those people recognized the truth of Scripture. It is only when we appeal to heaven (i.e. look to Christ and heed his heaven inspired word) that we will find true freedom. Christ said, If you hold to the truth, the truth will set you free. He was beckoning us to appeal to heaven so that we could find true liberty. Be governed by God, or by God, you will be governed.

Now, this next point is something that we’ve spoken about before, perhaps many times. And it gets at why all this happens. Why is it that we come to have a deficit of leaders? Why is it that oppression comes to dominate a land or group. The answer is, because we want it. We have opened the doors for it. That is exactly what it says in verse 9.

IV. We brought it on ourselves!
If you look at the last sentence in verse 9 you see that it says that very thing. It says all this misery that the Israelites were experiencing was brought on by their own doing. They brought it on themselves!

In this passage it is interesting to see the balance of Divine sovereignty and human responsibility. In verses 1-3 we noted that it was God who was removing the leaders. But here we see that the leaders were removed by their own doing.

One of the puritans once said that sin is its own executioner. That is exactly right. Sometimes God’s judgment is not so much his bringing down fire from heaven as it is his letting us walk through the door we have opened.

I’ve always found the story of King Saul quite interesting. The people of Israel were not satisfied with the judges of Israel. They wanted a king like the other nations. They wanted some strong central power that would rule them like the other nations. The one who was raised up was Saul. Interestingly, the name Saul means “demanded” or “asked.” In other words, they got what they asked for! What kind of leader was Saul? He ended up being a leader just like the nations! He was a raving tyrant!

We can bring this into modern day society quite easily. We complain about our elected officials (ecclesiastical or political) and all the misery that they cause. But let’s not forget, they are elected officials! We were the ones that chose to put them there. And the way we have shaped the culture has given them the mindset that they have. They wouldn’t be like they are without our having shaped them! God is only giving us what we voted for.

We have the saying, “You made your bed. Now you have to sleep in it.” Well, that saying might not be found in the book of Proverbs, but it is certainly a biblical truism. God’s word is here to guide us. God promises that if we obey him, it will be well with us. But if we choose a different way of making our bed, we’ll find that we’ll have to sleep in it.

So far, I’ve been painting a pretty bad picture of things. I’ve been sort of implicitly suggesting that there is going to be a collapse just like Judah experienced. And if that hasn’t become clear to you, let’s make sure that you hear it now. I’ve sometimes said that I have two jobs as a pastor: to get people ready to die and to get people ready for the collapse of America. But is there any hope in all this message? Or is it all doom and gloom. Well, there is one comfort in the midst of all this. And we would be remiss if we didn’t take note of it.

V. Comfort for the righteous
In verse 10 God comforts the righteous by saying that “it shall be well with them, for they will eat the fruit of their deeds.”

Now this doesn’t mean that righteous people will not suffer or die during this time of oppression and despotism. Don’t think that. This is not a health and wealth gospel. The idea here is that God will be with you during these times. He will care for you during these times. Ultimately, the sufferings that you will experience will be for your good. Unlike the wicked, you will not experience the wrath of God. Though others face it and taste their condemnation, you will not.

Most importantly, the suffering will only be for a short time. It will be temporary because it will be limited to this life. Eventually it will come to be overshadowed by the sweetness of our new life in glory.

In Psalm 23 we read, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no ill. Goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life.” These are the words of comfort that Isaiah gives us. Though all the world be collapsing around us, we do not need to fear. It shall be well with us.

Those who trust in Christ and give heed to his word need not fear in that day. His arms will continue to enshroud us to keep us through it all. Even then he will be our God who gently leads us beside still waters.

Conclusion:
Far from giving us reason to give in and give up, this passage gives us every reason to persevere in faith. Despite the state of society and its impending doom, our God still reigns. Princes may come and princes may go. But the government of God will not pass away. And while the leadership of men may shrivel up and fade away, we can trust that the good government of our God will never fail or falter.

The Lord Terrorizes Those Who Do Not Fear Him

2010-02-07T04:15:00.000-08:00

It has been said that you cannot scare someone into heaven. People have said this because there have been people throughout time who have preached hell fire and brimstone sermons. They say that these preachers have only one motive: that is simply to spook their listeners and, after terrifying them, get them to come to Christ.

I would like you to think about that statement for a moment though: You cannot scare someone into heaven. I want you to ask yourself whether or not that is true. Can you scare someone into a state of salvation?

I have to admit, if that were a question I had to answer on a test or a presbytery exam, I think that I might struggle to answer it.

On the one hand, I think that there is a lot of truth to the statement. If you are going to go to heaven, you need to come on the right terms. You can’t simply say, “Hell sounds like a bad place. I don’t think I want to go there. I rather go to heaven.” Obviously, you can’t do that. There has to be a sincere love for God and a genuine appreciation for the saving work of Christ. Moreover, to get to heaven you need to be drawn by God’s grace. There has to be an apprehension the mercy the Lord affords through Christ and his sacrifice.

However, to say that you cannot scare someone into heaven is not altogether true. There may be some truth to it, but it isn’t all true. If you are going to go to heaven, you have to give due consideration to the alternative. Coming to a state of salvation means knowing something of what you’ve been saved from. That means you need at least some recognition of the horrors of hell. You have to recognize to some degree the danger you are in if you continue in a state of unrepentance.

So I would submit to you that yes, you can indeed be scared into heaven. I may even go so far as to say that everyone who is in heaven (or is going to heaven) has been scared into it. That’s the very essence of fleeing to Christ. Fleeing to Christ means fleeing from the wrath and curse of God. The only way you can turn to Christ and find him as your eternal refuge is by knowing that only he can appease that which is due to you for sin.

Think about it this way: no one uses the fire escape when they are not cognizant of any imminent danger. Only when you sense that your life is at risk do you fly to that means of escape.

I mention this because I believe today’s passage is designed to do that very thing. Its purpose is to agitate you. It should be somewhat alarming to you, if you are not in Christ. For the passage before us paints a frightful picture of God. I would go so far as to say that it is a nightmarish depiction of what God does (and will do) to the unbelieving.

Certainly this passage does not embellish in any way or use ornate terminology. Yet the message that it communicates is quite clear: The Lord terrorizes those who do not fear him.
Now, having said that, I know that some people are going to object. To even begin to paint the Lord in such a lurid way will offend some people. They would say that it is absurd to think that God would terrorize someone. But when you look at this passage, you can’t help but recognize the truth of that. The Lord is the one who terrorizes.

As a matter of fact, three times it is stressed that God is the origin of terror.

I. The origin of terror
Look at verses 10, 19, 21. All three verses it says that the people are running “from before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty.” The idea is that the majesty and the splendor of God is what is terrifying to them. God is too much for them. His presence is what causes these people to experience untold grief.

Think for a moment about this. I want you to understand that their terror is derived from the majestic presence of God, his glorious splendor. Because a lot of people can’t even fathom such a notion.

So that you understand this better, I want you to imagine a mischievous little child. One day this little scoundrel pulls a lot of pranks. Among those he offends is his mother. With the pain of being hurt herself, not to mention having to bear the pain of the others who have been wronged by her child, she sends the boy to his room. As she does so she says, “You just wait until your father gets home!”

Now some of you might have been in that position before. Do you remember what it was like? Did your mind just run rampant thinking about what daddy was going to do to you? Though you knew the time would come when he would get home from work, you wished it wouldn’t come. And when did come home, do you remember how your stomach tightened? It felt like it was in knots. Then, when you saw the door open and he walked into your room, there was a sense of terror wasn’t there. It was as if the judge and executioner himself was walking into your room.

Now that was just the presence of your father—someone who, more than likely, loved you because you were his child. But if that is the way it is with our own relatives, what will it be like on the day when Christ comes again? His majesty far exceeds that of our fathers. And He is going to be doing this, not to his children, but to his enemies.

I think this is part of the reason why CS Lewis, in his Chronicles of Narnia books, depicted Christ as Aslan the Lion. A lion has a certain splendor and majesty about it, doesn’t it? It is a stately looking beast. But yet, it is a ferocious beast too. You would shiver to be in the presence of a lion.

As a matter of fact, there is a scene in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that depicts this well. CS Lewis shows how the presence of the lion (i.e. the presence of Christ) can be terrifying. The two girls, Lucy and Susan, are getting ready to meet Aslan. Two talking animals, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, are preparing the children for the encounter.

Upon hearing that he is a lion, Susan says, “Ooh, I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie,” said Mrs. Beaver. “And make no mistake, if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.” Lucy responds by saying, “Then isn’t he safe?” Mr. Beaver broke into hysterics, “Safe? Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe. He’s a lion! But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you!”
So many today think that Christ is safe. So they don’t really give much thought about it. I don’t blame them really. Who could? I mean, we have so many portrayals of Christ floating around. When you see these depictions of Christ, what do they tell you? He’s quite a mild mannered guy. He doesn’t look like he could hurt a flee.

If you were to go back in history, it would be a different story. In the early church they depicted Christ as the Pantocrator. Pantocrator is the Greek word for Almighty, and the artists would frequently portray Christ as the Almighty judge who crushes Satan and condemns the wicked. So frequently in old Byzantine churches you can see a depiction of Christ with legions fleeing his presence. They are terrified of him and they can’t get away from him fast enough.

That is a good commentary on what this passage tells us about Christ. And it is a good illustration of what the return of Christ will be like. When his majesty is revealed, he will not be a meek and mild mannered man. He will come on the clouds, full of the wrath and fury of God. The majestic Judge will be revealed. Just the sight of his splendor and majesty will be enough to horrify the ungodly.

To be sure: It will be the Lord who will terrorize. And those who do not fear God, will end up having something to fear.

Now, perhaps we should pause here. In mentioning this, you may note something of the irony of this terror.

II. The irony of the terror
Those who do not fear God, will end up fearing God—they are going to have something to be afraid of. This passage is interesting because it has a little twist to it—a little play on what it means to fear God.

You see, when we talk about the fear of God, we talk about two different kinds. There is what we call a servile fear of God and a reverential fear of God. A servile fear of God is the negative kind. It is the fear of terror or dread. It is being so scared of God that you are overcome by the feeling of horror. And that is the kind of fear that is predominant in this passage.

But there is another kind of fear that the Bible talks about. It is healthy fear of God. It is a deep awe and reverence for God that manifests itself in humble obedience to his commands. That’s the good kind of fear. That’s the kind of fear God wants you to have.

But that is exactly what these people were missing. In verses 6-8 Isaiah mentions several of the vices that existed among the people of his day. It says that they were seeking fortune tellers, they made idols, they made financial gain one of their chief goals, they multiplied horses and chariots (which is to say that they were trusting in their own military might rather than in the power and protection of God). All these things showed that they did not fear God in the good sense of the term.

And that is why the Lord was terrorizing them. That’s why were experiencing the dread that they were!

It is kind of like what Benjamin Franklin once said. He once said, in talking about politics, “Either you will be governed by God, well, by God, you’ll be governed!” In other words, if you don’t take God’s word and let it shape the way you shape your government, then you are going to be tyrannized. If you don’t let God be your ultimate governor, then you are going to have a man do it. You will end up suffering incredible misery at the hands of some crazed dictator.

This passage says something of the same thing. It says, “If you don’t live in the fear of God, you will end up fearing God!” That is to say, “If you do not fear God in the good sense of the word (of that love and reverence for Him), then you are going to have something to be afraid of.” God is going to become a terror to you. He is going to be your judge and executioner rather than your friend and your benefactor.

Now, let’s bring that over to us. What are we to learn from this? We should learn how important it is for us to fear God (in the good sense of the term). And if we have this reverential fear, we won’t have to worry about the servile fear. When you fear God rightly, you won’t have any fears of him!

On the other hand, if you do not fear God, then you have something to fear!
I want you to understand this too. It is very important. God wants you to realize that it is not him that is the cause of this terror. It is a godless life that is the problem. Failing to fear him is what sets Him off.

In reading this passage and listening to what I’ve said so far today, you might think that God some sort of fiendish monster who delights in terrorizing people. But that’s not the case at all. He is a merciful God. He delights to show mercy. That this passage is even here is an example of his mercy. That God caused it to be written implies that he is a merciful God.

Ask yourself, “Why is it that this passage is even here?” Why does God even mention these things? It is so that we will come to him in repentance and obtain mercy. God is showing you the consequences of not fearing him so that you will begin to fear him as you ought.

There is nothing God wants more than for sinners to quit their godless ways and begin to live in the light of his love. God does not want to become a terror to you. He rather bless you and give you every reason to be at ease. But if you will not obey him—if you will not give your life over to his service—then he has to execute his justice. He has to come upon you and afflict you.

Yet the wonderful thing about God is that he is the God of second chances. If you have been effected by what you’ve heard today, you can turn to God and find favor with him. You do not have to go through this. You have nothing to fear (in the bad sense of the term).

But if you don’t, then you have everything to fear. The Lord will become a terror to you. And O what terror there will be! Let’s not try to fool ourselves. This isn’t a little spook. It is fright that expresses itself in fanatical panic.

Our passage recounts for us something of the terror the unbelieving will experience. In verses 19 and 21, we see how the people manifest their horror.

III. The manifestation of terror
Both verses say that these people are so terrified that they run to the hills. They attempt to find any rock to hide behind or any crevice into which they can so that they will not be found.
You get the feeling that they are acting like cockroaches scattering after the light has been turned on in the kitchen. Their seeking out some sort of refuge (any sort of refuge!) so that they will not have to face Christ.

Now this kind of fright is not only what these people in Jerusalem manifested when the Lord came against them. It is exactly what every unbeliever will manifest on the day when Christ returns. Christ uses much of the same terminology in Luke 23:30 and Revelation 6 as he speaks of his return. You might even say that he uses a bit more intense imagery there. For he says that the unbelieving in that day will long for the earth to swallow them up. They will long for the caves to crush them and the rocks to dash them to pieces. They will seek death in order to get away from Christ.

Those who are Christ’s enemies will find themselves quaking in their boots, and longing for something-anything- that will hide them from his face.

In our evening study we have been studying John Bunyan’s classic work, Pilgrim’s Progress. At one point Christian, the main character is introduced to a man who had a dream of the Judgment Day, but was not ready for it. Upon meeting the man, Bunyan said that as he rose from his bed he shook and trembled. You could tell that something more than just a cold draught was making him shiver.

He then explained his dream. He said that he dreamed that the heavens grew exceedingly black; also it thundered and lightened in a most fearful way—such that it put him in mental agony. After a sounding of trumpets, he heard a voice call for the dead to rise and come to judgment. Other terrors agitated him, such as how the angels went to gather the tares and toss them into the burning lake. He saw the earth open. In it were smoke and fire and out of it came hideous noises. If this were not enough, all the man’s sins came to his mind and his conscience did accuse him on every side.

Christian asked him what made him so afraid? The man replied, “I thought the day of judgment was come and I was not ready for it.” Moreover, what he said made him most afraid was that the Judge had always his eye upon him, showing indignation in his countenance.

In that scene, Bunyan recounts well the events of the last day. But he also pictures well how the thought of that day should agitate now. If you do not fear him, what is said in this passage should make you feel uncomfortable.

It is my hope, that if you do not know Christ right now, that you—like that man who had that dream—rise from this place with some of the symptoms of that fear right now. If you have not given your life to Christ, I hope that these words are somewhat chilling to your soul at this very moment. Because, if you do not turn to Christ, this will be your experience. When Christ comes again you are going to have to face the Judge whose eye is filled with igdignation. You will have to face up to the life that you have lived.

As soon as the clouds are rolled back and the Mighty King begins his descent, you are going to find that your conscience is going to be stricken. You will heave and wail because you are guilty of offending the Most High God. And you are going to know that He has come to pass sentence on you.

Yes, if you are taking this seriously, you should feel quite uncomfortable now. These words should make you restless. After this message it should feel like you have just awoken from a bad dream.

Conclusion:
The only comfort you should have is that there is mercy in Christ. And that is why we end where we began. At the beginning of this message I said that the only reason God scares is so that you might wake and rise to action. If you are sobered by this message, you must know that there is a way to find peace with the Lord. It is by coming to Christ. The Lord doesn’t want you to go through this. He wants you to fly to the only means of escape. He has pulled the alarm so that in hearing of the danger you might get your life right with him.

And that is the wonderful thing. Christ is just as zealous in his love and forgiveness as he is in his severity and justice. Were you to this day to say, “I’m convinced. I need to fear God. I need to follow his word.” And you go to him and pledge to live a new life in Christ, then you can rest assured that Christ will not be a terror to you. He will comfort you with his love and rejoice over you with singing. If you come to fear him with a godly fear, you will not have to fear any sort of condemnation. He will save and he will give to you everlasting life.

Grace for Scarlet Sinners

2010-01-17T17:37:00.000-08:00

Isaiah 1:18-20

In Shakespeare’s famous play, Macbeth, there is a scene where Lady Macbeth is found sleepwalking at 2:00 in the morning. Those who find her observe her from a far, frantically wiping her hands. Lady Macbeth was imagining that her hands were stained with blood. She had taken part in the murder of King Duncan. In time her conscience became racked with guilt over her deeds. So stricken was she that in her dreams she imagines that her hands are permanently stained with the blood of that man. Nothing she could do could wipe away that crimson dye. Of course, it was only symbolic of the stain that was embedded upon her conscience.

William Shakespeare was one of the greatest play writes of all time. One of the reasons that so many of his works have come to be regarded throughout history is because he understood something of man’s sinful condition. The characters are so captivating because they are people who must deal with the consequences of their actions.

And in portraying Lady Macbeth in such a crazed state, there with a stain so red and so immovable, Shakespeare illustrates each of us and the predicament we are in.

We might not have ever killed anyone like Lady Macbeth, but each of us has the scarlet stain of sin embedded in our souls. And yet, we have something in common with Lady Macbeth. For if we think about our sin correctly, we should think of every coveteous thought or every uncharitable action as attempted murder. Every one of our transgressions is a direct defiance of God. It is an attack on his authority over us. So every time we sin, it is as if we have risen up against God and sought to kill him!

Yet, no matter how wildly depraved we might be, God shows that he is willing to deal with us in a way we do not deserve. No matter how flagrant our defiance is or how deep the stain might go, God extends his loving arm to offer grace to scarlet sinners.

They say that to err is human, but forgiveness is divine. And while we say that to show how virtuous it is for each of us to forgive, it does remind us that God is one whose loving-kindness will never run dry. He extends his favor to all who would receive it.

And in this passage we see God extending that love towards people like us. We who’s sin is of the deepest hue. And God beckons us to turn from our wayward rebellion and receive the offer of his free grace.

If you look at verse 18-19 you will see him doing this. He lays out for us there the essence of his gracious offer.

I. Its essence
And if you examine it, you see just how great an offer it is. These two verses reveal that this is actually a two for one deal. God’s offers of grace is twofold in that He offers you both the grace of pardon and provision.

Verse 18 contains some of the most beautiful words of Scripture. It says, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Now it is passages like these that I fear preaching. It is because they are so beautiful that I don’t want to mess them up. They are just so powerful that I feel that if I say anything I’m just going to destroy its beauty and power.

But what God is doing here is offering you the grace of pardon.

A. The grace of pardon
God is here saying that if you come to him He will forgive your sins.

One of the things that always haunted my youth was grass stains. I was your typical boy and when I went outside I was determined to play hard. Most of the time that involved some activity where I would fall on the ground repeatedly or some other activity that entailed digging my knees into the grass. After having three boys, my mother became an expert in laundry detergents. I remember coming home from one of my first football practices and proudly showing off my new football gear. You can imagine this little kid just as tickled as anything to get his first football outfit: complete with jersey, pads and helmet. My mother’s reaction was not so jolly. I remember her saying, “Of all things, why did they have to make the practice pants white!”

Now your sins are much worse than a little bit of grass stain. They are blood red. They stain that it has left is deeper than a permanent marker. A red Sharpie marker is nothing in comparison to the defilement of your sins. And no matter how hard you work at it, you will never to be able to get the stain out by the work of your own hands. Mom might have been able to do some miraculous things with my football pants, but we can’t do anything like that when it comes to our sin. We can’t make them disappear.

But there is someone who can cleanse the stain. God can wipe them all away, and he will if you look to him for his grace.

Looking out these windows today, doesn’t really give you the picture. The snow here has been around for a while so much of it has turned to various shades of grey. But some of you might remember the first big snow we got this year. You might have looked out the window and seen how beautiful everything was. How pure it was. That’s a picture of the purity you can receive through faith in Christ.

I’ve been reading through the book of Leviticus the last couple of days. And one thing I have come to understand is that there would have been a lot of blood in the temple. So many animals were to be sacrificed each day. The blood was to be thrown on the alter and sprinkled here and there. When the priests were ordained they blood was put on their ear, thumb, and toe. All of it was there to remind us that the stain of sin could only be removed by the crimson tide of Christ’s blood.

Now, because of he went to the cross, your sins may be purged. It does not matter how terrible they may be. The stain can be of the deepest hue or the widest breadth, but God can forgive it and wash you clean.

In Christ, God offers you the grace of pardon. And you should also notice that verse 19 adds to the grace of life to the grace of pardon.

B. The grace of life
It says, “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.” This is the language of prosperity and life. God was promising the Israelites much more than what they were currently experiencing. They were being deprived of things that made for a good life. They were coming under God’s curse. God was promising them the blessing of a restored life.

But what I want you to see is that God is ultimately promising more than just a good meal and a place to stay. What this really entails is God’s provision of eternal life! Food and land were just one portion of the full blessing that would overflow to them. God is promising to be the one who gives them life to the full. In essence, God’s saying, “I’m going to provide you with something much better than what you have right now or ever had before.

During the late 1800s English evangelist Henry Moorhouse made several trips to America to preach. On one of these occasions, he was taking a walk through a poor section of the city when he noticed a small boy coming out of a store with a pitcher of milk. Just then, the boy slipped and fell, breaking the pitcher and spilling the milk all over the sidewalk. Moorhouse rushed to the youngster’s side and found him unhurt but terrified. “My mamma’ll whip me!” he cried. The preacher suggested that they try to put the pitcher back together, but the pieces of glass would not stay together. The boy kept crying. Finally Moorhouse picked up the youngster and carried him to a nearby store where the preacher purchased a new pitcher. Then he returned to the dairy store and had the pitcher washed and filled with milk. With that done, he carried both the boy and the pitcher home. Putting the youngster down on his front porch, Moorhouse handed him the pitcher and asked, “Now will your mama whip you?”

A wide smile spread upon his tear-stained face, “Aw, no sir, ‘cause it’s lot better pitcher than we had before.”

That’s exactly what we see going on here. God is offering us something much better than what we deserve. He is promising that if we turn to him, he will give us something much better than we have presently. He is promising us pardon and he is promising us eternal life.

Certainly you can already see that it is an offer you can’t refuse. But this becomes especially apparent when we consider the alternative.

II. Its alternative
In verse 20 it tells us what will happen if we refuse the offer of grace. He says, “But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword.”

Hopefully you see the play on words. You can either eat the best of the land, or be eaten by the sword. This is a figurative way of saying that sinners will get what they deserve. Israel was promised that if they continued in their rebellion, their enemies would over run them and they would be completely destroyed.

Yet this dreadful threat is also applied to anyone who stubbornly resists God. If you continue in your rebellion, you will most certainly meet with death. The curses of God will be poured out on you. You will come to be stripped of all that you have, even life itself. Yet, the sword of Christ is not satisfied by blood alone. It only continues to devour after your breath has ceased. The sword of Christ’s wrath is insatiable in its appetite and its piercings will continue to go unquenched long into eternity.

This is the consequence of rebellion though. Resistance must meet with justice.
I hope you can see that God is holding this out so that you will see how much better the other deal is. God himself does not delight in the destruction of the wicked. It is not something that he takes pleasure in. Yet nevertheless, when push comes to shove, he must execute the due sentence. Sinners will receive their what is owed them.

It is for this reason that I speak to you and ask that you not reject this sweet offer. It would be folly to not take the Lord’s offer of grace.

It is like the story of the two soldiers who were talking about serving Christ. One of the msaid, “I can’t tell you all that the Lord Jesus is to me. I do wish that you would enlist in His army.” The other responded by saying, “I am thinking about it, but it means giving up several things; in fact, I am counting the cost.” An officer happened to be passing by at that moment and heard his remark. Laying his hand on his shoulder he said, “Young friend, you talk of counting the cost of following Christ, but have you ever counted the cost of not following him?” For days that question rang in his ears. He found no rest until he sought it at the foot of the Savior.

You too must count the cost. Sure following Christ will mean giving up certain things in your life. No one can be a friend of the world and a friend of Christ at the same time. You can only have one or the other. But think of the cost of not following Christ. If you reject this offer, you will come to find that you wish you never had. The sword of Christ’s anger will never depart from you. You will be run through with it again and again. Its teeth will only continue bite and to consume your life all through eternity.

If you have not yet received the grace of God, dear friends, do not let the offer pass you by! Some deals you miss and you can live without. But this one you cannot. To neglect the gracious gift of God is only to sign your life over to everlasting destruction.

You wonder though, is it possible to receive this offer? How can you be sure that it is true? How can you know that the terms will truly be applied to you and not be revoked?

III. Its affirmation
We are all wary of scams, are we not? I can’t tell you how many emails I get that have offers of this and that. And they all sound really good. But I know that they are scams. I’ve even been looking on Craigslist from time to time to see if they have any short term jobs available. When I log on to it, a screen comes up warning you to be on the look out for scams.

Charlatans are everywhere now a days. You turn on the TV and you see a commercial for a great blender. Only 19.95. And if you act now, you can get the set of steak knives too. But that blender won’t last but a couple of days.

We are given so many offers, almost every day. We have become wary of any deals that come our way. We even have a saying that goes, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
I would assume that this offer sounds too good to be true. Someone might say, “It sounds nice. Forgiveness is something that I would really like. Having the chance at eternal life sounds great. But I know that I could never have it.”

I know that you could be saying this, because I know many already have. It was interesting reading the commentaries this week. Some of the so called “scholars” couldn’t believe that Isaiah actually wrote this section of the chapter. They say that it simply doesn’t fit with the tenor of the rest of the chapter. They say that the offer of complete forgiveness and eternal life, given freely and unconditionally, in the face of all their offenses, just could not be possibly made by God. It just doesn’t fit with the context here. So they end up dismissing this passage outright. They find it so outrageous, so unbelievable, that they don’t even think this passage was really written by Isaiah.

If you are one of those people who are saying, “How could that ever be?” look at what it says in the last part of verse 20. The passage ends by saying, “for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” This is God’s way of assuring you that this is not a scam. It is not something that was inserted by another writer living some years after Isaiah. It was not made up by any man. This is the very word of God. It was inspired by the Holy Spirit. And God puts this seal on it as sort of a guarantee. You can be sure that you will not be disappointed. So that you won’t have to worry that this deal is going to fall through or not be applied rightly.

You know, we have the saying, “I got it straight from the horse’s mouth.” We say that when we want to get the true word on something. We’ll say something like, “I went over to Jerry’s house and got the scoop straight from the horse’s mouth.”

That phrase came from the world of gambling. When guys were betting on horses, they wanted to try and get the best information on which horse would win. The best sources were the stable boys who were with the horses day in and day out. These boys would know the horses and they would overhear the conversations of the jockeys and the owners. So if you wanted to know which horse was the best, you would go to the stable boys. And you would find your assurance for where you put your confidence in what they said.

Well right here you are getting your information outside the normal circle of communication. You are getting this word straight from the horse’s mouth. Right here, right now, just think that you are hearing God speak. You might be hearing my voice, but it is God’s word you are listening to. You can take God up on his offer because his word is solid. When you turn to him, he will wash your sins away.

Conclusion:
If there was any man who ever struggled with sin, it was Martin Luther. Luther was sometimes so vexed by the multitude of his sins that the concerns would carry over into his sleep. On such night Luther dreamed that he saw himself standing before the Judgment bar. Looking into the open books, he saw opposite his name a fearful list of sins. Some where sins of commission. Others were sins of omission. Some were deliberate sins, and others were sins of thoughtlessness. As he stared into the book, Satan stood beside him, accusing him. “Behold the record of your sins. There is no hope for you.”

But just then, to his inexpressible joy, Luther saw crimson letters being written across the page. The words, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.” Thus, Satan was silenced and Luther received peace from God.

This is the grace that is afforded us in Christ. When we turn to Christ, we may rest assured that all our sins will be blotted out.

So may I encourage you, dear sinner, to run to the fountain of Christ. Know that its waters will never run dry. Christ extends his hand to you now; he promises that your guilt will be removed and your record wiped clean. Take Christ at his word, and receive him as he is. His blood can make the foulest clean, and though our sin may leave a crimson stain, He can wash it white as snow.

God Contends with the Evangelical Cult

2010-01-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

Isaiah 1:10-17

Some of you no doubt have heard about George Tiller. You may better know him as Tiller the Killer. Up until recently he was America’s most notorious abortionist. That is not true of him anymore though. This past year Tiller himself was executed. He was gunned down in cold blood on Sunday morning at his church. Now we certainly do not approve of those measures that were taken, nor do we delight in the fact that one of the most vile men of our time has been brought down in such a way. But it is interesting to note where this shooting took place. It was in his church.

Tiller was a member of Reformation Lutheran Church (ELCA), and an active member at that. As a matter of fact, at the time he was shot he was serving as an usher.

So here was a man who was serving in an official capacity within a church. A man who says, “Sure, it is OK to slaughter children by the masses.” Is the same man who will welcome you as you enter through the doors, greet you with a smile and say, “Isn’t it wonderful to be in the house of God together today? Isn’t it a joy that we can come before the Lord and sing his praises?”

That, my friends, is just one example of the crisis that is occurring in the church today. We are facing a crisis within the American church. We live in a day where people can go out and live horrendously vile lives—they can defy God all week long, but then they think that they can enter into their church on Sunday mornings, take their place in their pew, and participate in the worship of God like a good little Christian. And they think that the songs that they sing and the prayers that they pray during that hour are going to please God.

The crisis in the church today is that we have pagans filling the pews. You might even say that the crisis is that we have developed a new religion in America. I would like to call it the Evangelical cult. The motto of this American religion is “Praise God and do as you please.” People don’t think that they have to let their lives be governed by God. They don’t think that they have to let his word direct the way they think and act.

That’s what real Christianity is. Real Christianity is defined by the fear of God. That is to say a true worshipper of the Triune God will so love and revere God that he will seek to put every aspect of his life under the dictates of God’s Word.

But this form of Christianity (this whole fear of God thing) is virtually non-existent in our culture today. We have what you may call “Church-ianity.” People love to go to church. People love to take their place in their pew each week. But they are not people who fear God. They are self governed. They are a self directed people. They are people who are making up their own ethical standards as they go along. They could care less about how God tells us we must live.

Of course, as we see from our passage this morning, this is not an altogether a new religion. It is one that is at least 3000 years old. It is the form of religion that appeared in Isaiah’s day within Israel. It is the form of religion that Isaiah denounces right here in this passage.

What stands out in this passage is that the problem in Isaiah’s day was not that people were skipping church. The problem was not that people were absent. The problem was that churches were full. You see it was cool to go to the services of worship. Praising God was the thing to do. The problem was that they praised God and did as they pleased. They didn’t care about the law and what God wanted them to do.

That is the exact same thing we have going on today. A recent survey revealed that, even though fewer people understand the faith or live by the principles of God’s word, church attendance has remained relatively the same. This may surprise you, especially since I said last week that people are leaving the mainline churches in droves. But the reality is that the overall church attendance in America has not changed all that much.

So the words here are extremely contemporary. In this passage God is not just contending with Israel and their cultic practices, God contends with the Evangelical cult of today. And the message he has is twofold: Pagan worshipers must stop their abominable worship and change their miserable lives.

“Stop worshipping God?” What do you mean, “Stop worshipping God?” Can’t you hear someone saying that? I can hear the outrage by some because I made that statement. As Deanna said to me the other day, “That will get you some hate mail.”

I. “Stop your abominable worship!”
But verses 10-15 make it very clear that God despises worship of people who are, for all practical purposes, pagans. As a matter of fact, this passage makes it clear that it doesn’t matter how orthodox, sincere or lavish your worship may be, God still hates it.

A. Despite its orthodoxy
One thing that may strike you as odd in this passage is that these people, who absolutely disregard God and his law 6 days a week, are upholding the prescriptions regarding worship without any sort of deviation. Their worship was incredibly orthodox.

You know that the OT prescribed exactly how, when and where people were to worship God. Well, it looks as if these people are upholding the letter of the law perfectly when it comes to those commands. They are holding holy convocation on the New Moon, Sabbath and any other prescribed date. So they are not missing church at all. They are there when they are supposed to be. And then they are offering their sacrifices. They are making sure they are sacrificing not just the right animals (lambs, bulls and goats), but they are making sure that these are the best of the herd. And they are not the gaunt, defective ones. They are the well fed, pretty beasts. They haven’t even forgotten to light the incense! Of all things they could have done, they might have missed this minor element. But no, they fulfilled every jot and title of the law. They were completely orthodox in their form of worship.

But God hates bare, external orthodoxy. It doesn’t matter how lawful your worship is by outward standards. If you are not abiding by his standards, if your heart is not right with him, what you do on Sunday morning is not going to be pleasing to God.

So it doesn’t matter if you are singing psalms and hymns. Somebody can say that. They can make a big deal that they are not singing those fluffy contemporary choruses. I don’t approve of those dramas in worship. But it doesn’t matter if you bow your head, or even if you get down on your knees when you pray. If the rest of your life is unorthodox, it doesn’t matter how orthodox your worship is. You could even have the best voice in the world, but it is like nails on a chalk board to God.

You will also notice that it doesn’t matter if you are really giving your worship from the bottom of your heart either. God wants it to stop, even despite its sincerity.

B. Despite its sincerity
When you read this you can’t help but see that these people who were coming to the temple to give their sacrifices and offer their prayers really meant it. These are people who are not just “going through the motions.” They genuinely are trying to worship God from the bottom of their hearts. You can just see them singing with all their might, lifting up their hands, praising God. But that just makes it all the more putrid!

And there are a lot of people like that out there like this. They go to church and earnestly petition God. They can’t wait to get there and worship. They want to give their offerings. They really want help out in the nursery. They truly have a desire to participate in the life and worship of the church. They don’t have a clue though that what they do makes God gag.

I want you to know that you can come in here and your heart may have the best of intentions, but if you are not giving due consideration to God’s word in your life, your worship is repulsive to God. If you are not loving your wife and cherishing her, it doesn’t matter how happy you are that it’s Sunday. If you are out there lying to your parents on a regular basis and couldn’t give a rip what they say, it doesn’t matter how sincere you are when you open those doors. God sincerely despises your even dawning the steps of this place.

And just as it doesn’t matter how orthodox or sincere your worship is, it doesn’t matter how lavish/extravagant it is.

C. Despite its bounty
This passage makes it clear that God hated their worship, even despite its bounty. You can see that the Jews of Isaiah’s time spared no expense when it came to their worship. In verse 11 it says that there was a multitude of sacrifices. Their offerings were prolific! Moreover, it was the fattened bull that they were offering. That was the most expensive offering that you could make. There were other things that you could have substituted if your bank account couldn’t afford it. But no, they splurged. No matter how lavish it might have been though, God couldn’t endure it. It would have been much more preferable that they spent no money at all and stayed home!

Today we might say it doesn’t matter how much money you put in the offering box. It doesn’t matter what bricks you helped to lay in the building project. If you are more a friend of the world than a friend of Christ, take your money and go home. You could be dropping a roll of cash in that box that would suit out this church with everything it needs. We could support ministries that we could never have dreamed of doing before. But you know what? I rather you stuff it down your throat and choke on it rather than make God gag by putting it in that box.

God hates any kind of worship that comes from someone who lives like a pagan. You have to understand—and the rest of America has to understand—that what you do in your Sunday services cannot be divorced from what you do the rest of the week. God will not accept your worship unless it is accompanied by a pious life.

And God makes that clear in the last two verses of this passage. What God really wants you to do is change your wretched life.

II. “Change your wretched lives!”
In verse 16 he uses 4 negative statements to covey the idea, “Wash yourselves and make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil.” Then in verse 17 it is put in a more positive fashion, “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

These statements are terse and are almost like multiple stabs with a knife. As a result, these words are even more piercing that the previous ones. But that’s exactly what Isaiah is calling these people to do. He wanted these people to kill the sinful life that these people were leading.
Jesus reiterated this in his day too. The Pharisees were chiding him because he was hanging out with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus said to them, “God desires mercy, not sacrifice.”

Again, the notion is that we have a moral responsibility that goes beyond the 10:00 Sunday service. God will not accept your worship until your life becomes more acceptable to him. Daily repentance and a life of obedience are what God requires. These are the keys to God honoring worship.

Now, I know that some people have taken this and said, “Well, God would rather us cancel our Sunday services and go out and help people instead.” This has been done. Their reasoning is that God desires mercy, not sacrifice, so let’s just cut the worship services altogether.

This is perhaps the worst interpretation of Scripture I have ever heard of. God is not saying that he doesn’t want any worship at all. Neither is he saying that one day of so called “good works” is going to make up for the other 6 days of apostasy. What he is trying to say is that a reformed life is necessary for God honoring worship.

As a matter of fact, during the Reformation (a period where they struggled with much the same issue) they had a saying that went along with this. The Reformer’s motto was, “Reformata et semper reformanda.” Reformed and always reforming. They understood that every day required repentance and renewed energy to conform to the Scriptures.

Now don’t be fooled here either by simple externals. God is not simply talking about living an outwardly moral life. That is only a part of it. Ceasing to do evil is more than refraining from wrong acts. It means ceasing all things that are evil in the sight of God. That includes not just sinful habits, but also sinful thought patterns and motives that give birth to evil acts. These are to be grieved and mortified too.

You may remember that the Pharisees were accosted by Jesus because they were like whitewashed tombs. They were pretty on the outside, but inside they were filled with all sorts of evil. When God calls us to wash ourselves and make ourselves clean he is calling for us to cast off all that defiles.

I like how this passage stresses the negative and the positive too. You are not just to “cease to do evil,” you are to “learn to do good.” To use the language of the New Testament, after you put off the evil you must put on Christ. In place of malice, there needs to be compassion. In place of bitterness, there needs to be forgiveness.

Now, I’m not promoting perfectionism. When God calls us to reform, He doesn’t expect us to get 100%. What he does expect is that we start moving in the right direction. So don’t think perfection. Think motion. He expects us to show that we really do fear Him by loving the things that he himself loves and abhorring the things that he abhors. God will not accept our worship, until that happens.

And as you think about moving in the right direction, I want you to focus on what Isaiah says in the last part of verse 17. While the passage is rather general, he gets very specific at the end and mentioned the fatherless and the widow. While these people were out doing everything they could to worship God passionately and elaborately, the fatherless and the widow were being abused.

It’s funny how contemporary this is. We have amazing worship centers, don’t we? (It is actually funny that we call them that now. They used to be called sanctuaries—i.e. a place of refuge. It’s telling that we do not consider the church a place of refuge!) While we have been concentrating on what we can do to enhance our buildings and our worship music and our worship services, we have grossly neglected the ministry of mercy. The average church spends a pittance to meet diaconal needs. This is far short of what the early church did. The early church designated between 20-25% of their budget to care for the poor and needy. It would be rare in our day to see a church giving even 5% of their budget to diaconal work.

This is just one place where the Evangelical cult needs to change. Instead of going out and buying another bull to sacrifice, maybe we should think about supporting the local pregnancy center—and helping them do some wider advertising or getting the equipment they need. Maybe the best thing to do is keep the pews, and not replace them with chairs. Maybe we should have the deacons create a healthcare fund. Or maybe invest that money in one of the members who is unemployed, so that they can get some new job skills and make them more viable in the marketplace. Perhaps that would please God a bit more than what we’ve typically been doing on Sunday mornings.

Conclusion:
We love our worship. We love to bring our sacrifices. But— if I haven’t made this clear yet—God doesn’t want any more of our religious rites. He wants us to right our religion. James had it right when he said, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

We have to get it in our minds that God is not one who gets all excited about worship for worship’s sake. When our weekly worship is divorced from our daily lives—when we do not have a life of worship, God finds the our Sunday observances putrid.

So let us remember the Sabbath day: to keep it holy. That means remembering to keep every other day of our lives as holy as we can. Preparing for worship is not just something we do on Saturday night or Sunday morning. It is something we do Monday morning through Saturday afternoon. Real worship does not consist in praising God and doing as you please. It consists in striving to praise God and do as He pleases.

God Reviews the History of Grace in Israel

2010-01-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

Isaiah 1:2-9

I often hear people say, “I wish I would have paid more attention in my history classes.” History seems to always be what people miss the most. They missed it the first time because they were not paying attention. Then they miss it later in that they yearn for the knowledge they should have picked up.

This is one of the reasons I’m glad that I have had the chance to be my daughter’s history teacher over the last two years. It has been a real thrill to go back through time and glean some of its lessons.

We as Christians especially should have a devotion to this subject matter though. I believe that it should be something that we are dedicated too, along side of the regular study of the Scriptures. History is nothing more than His story. It is the story of God and how he unravels his plan. History is the story of how God is watching over his church.

If you think about it, most of what we have in the Scriptures deals with history. A majority of what you find here is a record of past events. The past is recorded for us so that we might have direction for the future.

The old adage is that if you don’t know your history, you are doomed to repeat it. For the most part, this is a Christian truth. At the very least, the Bible reminds us that God is intimately involved in the course of events, and by reflecting on it you can learn many things from it.
You might be wondering what this has to do with our study for this morning. Well, even though we are going to be embarking on a study of a prophetic book, we have to remember that his writing involves a good deal of history. And even the passage this morning gives us a little history lesson.

The way Isaiah begins this book is quite interesting. Instead of commencing with his call to the ministry and then proceeding chronologically through the history of Judah, you sort of get a history lesson of the life of Israel. In these 9 verses God reviews the history of his grace in Israel. The Bible scholars say that in giving this historical synopsis, what Isaiah is doing is set the tone for the rest of the book. In other words, they say he is giving us an introduction to his book, and providing us with a brief a synopsis of what we should expect in the chapters to come.
While I agree with that, I think that there is more going on here. I believe that Isaiah is reminding us of this history so that we may learn something about God’s grace. I want you to understand that this is no ordinary history lesson, with dates and dry facts. This is the history of God’s grace. God wants us to learn more about his grace, so that we learn to respond more appropriately to his grace.

At the very least, he wants us to learn from this history so that we do not act like Israel of old. Because the first thing we see when we look at this passage is how much they despised God’s grace.

I. God’s grace was despised
No matter how gracious God was to them—no matter how much grace was afforded to them, Israel rebelled against God and continued to act wickedly. You can just see how much they despised it; the passage uses so many different words for how ungrateful they were. It says [in verse 2] that they rebelled against God. In verse 4 it spares nothing in its description of Israel. It calls them a sinful nation. They are laden with iniquity, they were evildoers, they dealt corruptly, they despised the holy one of Israel, and were utterly estranged. Now that just about sums it up, don’t you think?

My personal favorite is there in verse 3 where it says that they were worse than a bunch of farm animals! The highest figures in all creation were lower than a bunch of brute beasts. That’s exactly what happens though, when we turn away from God. Our rank in life is reduced to that degree. We end up making dumb, muddy animals look really good. We who are the apex of creation, descend to that lowly level.

But I want you to take a look at how the Israelites despised God’s grace. God’s grace is expressed in different ways at different times. And I want you to see what it says here about so that you don’t copy the errors of these people.

If you look at verse 2, you’ll see that they despised the grace of election.

A. They despised the grace of election
In verse 2 the Lord uses the word “children.” This is a reminder that Israel was distinct from all the nations of the earth. He had chosen them and entered into a covenant relationship with them. And he goes on to say that these people were the people that he had “reared and brought up.” In other words, they enjoyed the special attention and nurture that God gave to no other people on earth. Yet, this privileged position meant nothing to them. God might have a particular eye on them, but they have absolutely no regard for God.

And I want you to remember that you are God’s children today. You are the people that God has chosen and entered into a covenant with. You young people should recognize this too. God looks upon you young people with a special affection. He regards you in a way that is quite different than he does to your unbelieving friends or family. He gives special attention to you, and seeks your welfare in particular. He is rearing you and bringing you up like his child.

What a terrible thing it is to sin against one’s election. Imagine having an indulgent, loving father. The only thing that he cares about is making sure that you are raised right and have everything that you have ever needed. He did everything he could to see to it that your life was sweet. But then you have absolutely no regard for him. Despite having him gush over you and lavish his love on you, you do nothing for him in return—except provoke him to anger.
God has given us a wonderful privilege. And with privilege comes responsibility. We are responsible to respond; not in the way the Israelites did. Rather we ought to respond to his grace with love and fear.

What other ways did the Israelites despise God’s grace though? If you look at verse 4 you’ll notice that they not only despised the grace of God’s election, they despised the grace of God’s patience.

B. They rebel against the grace of patience
Verse 4 it makes it clear that the Israelites were professional sinners. It says, they were “laden with iniquity.” You know, that doesn’t happen over night. It takes time to become “laden with iniquity.” Then when it says that they were “the off-spring of evildoers” it tells us that their rebellion was something that was inherited. In other words, their evil was handed down from generation to generation. So it wasn’t just a couple of days or months that God was patient with them. It was decades and centuries! He should have cut them off a long time ago! But he was slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He overlooked a multitude of sins, and continued to offer many opportunities to repent.

You may be familiar with 1 Corinthians 13, what is commonly called the love chapter. Paul describes love in many different ways. But one of the things he says is that love is patient. Or as the Old King James says, love suffers long.

You know, when you are in sin, you need to remember that God will not strike you right away. He is patient with you and will suffer many grief’s before he reacts. But just because he doesn’t do anything, that isn’t a reason to keep sinning. He is giving you time to repent. And you should not presume upon his patience like the people of Israel did. If you do, you show you despise that incredible grace that he affords you.

But you can not only despise the grace of God’s election and patience. You can also despise the grace of his discipline.

C. They rebel against the grace of discipline
Yes, you heard right. Discipline is a grace. Remember, God disciplines those he loves. God could let you go on in your sin and let you destroy yourself. But where is the love in that? No, you inflict pain on those you love so that they will recognize that they need to stop what they are doing. Discipline is a way of trying to wake someone up so they will not be harmed further.

In verses 5-6 Isaiah talks about how he continually spanked the Israelites, yet they stubbornly refused to heed the correction. So he would spank them some more. So verse 6 says, “from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness, but only raw wounds.” In verse 5 he asks, “Why do you continue to rebel?”

There are different pains that we experience in life. Sometimes these are providences that God uses to get us to sober up and turn back to him. I remember a fellow who once gave his testimony. He talked about how he lost his job. Then he lost his wife. He lost a lot of his material possessions. And then finally he was in a serious car wreck. He finally came to the conclusion that God was disciplining him for his rebellion. And he was thankful that God chose to keep after him like that. Otherwise, who knows where he would be?

So discipline is a good thing. it is a grace from God. But when we stubbornly refuse to listen to his corrections, we show that we do not appreciate his correction.

In all these things we find that God deals graciously with us at every moment of our lives. And if we rebel against him, we show that we hate God. What’s more we show we hate his grace.
And if you despise his grace, you need to be aware that it may be withdrawn. Certainly that was the case for Israel.

II. God’s grace was withdrawn
In verse 7-8 we see that God’s patience with Israel eventually ran out. What you have described in these verses is how Jerusalem was left in shambles after her enemies invaded. The glorious city of Zion was once the splendor of Israel. But, since Israel wouldn’t heed God’s word, He withdrew his grace. And after He withdrew his favor Israel was nothing more than a dilapidated shack out there in a cucumber field.

In his grace God had put his arms around Israel, and He protected her for a very long time. But since they continued to rebel against God, he ended up lifting those arms of protection and letting them be overrun by their enemies.

It is sort of like when I go out with my daughters to play in the rain in the summertime. We sometimes put our feet down to damn up the water that is running down the street. But then we’ll pull up our foot and let the water come gushing on through, sweeping with it whatever grass or sticks that might be in the way.

Now we are seeing that in America today. The mainline churches are becoming those dilapidated shakes out in the cucumber fields. They were once burgeoning with people and they thrived under the good hand of God. For a long time we’ve enjoyed the grace of God’s blessing. But now, things are changing. Since they have turned away from God and from following his Word, God’s is withdrawing his grace. Their numbers are plummeting and they are struggling to find ways to finance their operations.

The same is true for the evangelical world. The evangelicals have lost the evangel! Most people who call themselves evangelical don’t even know what the term means! They can’t even tell you what the gospel is. As a result of forsaking the gospel, 85% of children who grew up in the church are leaving the church by the time they are in college.

But what God does on the corporate level, is also what happens on the individual level. In other words, we have to be aware that this is what God does to every individual person who rebels against him. He acts as our shield for a time, eventually the shield is lifted and we suffer the brunt of his fury.

This reminds me of the famous sermon that Jonathan Edwards preached, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. In that sermon, Edwards says that we are all preserved from the throes of hell simply by the gracious hand of God. At one point he says we are like spiders that are dangling over a flame of fire by one simple thread. The only thing that keeps us from plunging down and being consumed by the heat of his anger is the benevolence of God.

That’s what had happened to Israel. The thread broke. God withdrew that grace, and the people were overrun by their enemies—the instruments of God’s justice. Each of us must remember that we are in that precarious position. If we choose to turn away from God and ignore his word, then we will end up facing the judge and executioner of sin.

You might be thinking that this is a pretty sad history. And you are right. It is sad. But the history of grace does not end there. God’s grace may have been despised, it may have been withdrawn. But God never abandoned his people fully. In verse 9 it makes it clear that, despite all that transpired, God’s grace was still dispensed.

III. God’s grace was dispensed
Verse 9 tells us that a few people still survived. Jerusalem might have been sacked. Israel may be left in shambles. But it wasn’t a complete decimation. Sodom and Gomorrah were completely eradicated, but this passage makes it clear that this was not the case for the Israelites. There were still some people who survived. You might say that they were the leftovers. The more theological term is that they were the remnant. You may have that word in your version. But the idea is that of a leftover.

You know what the leftovers are, don’t you? It is the stuff that’s not usually all that desirable. My wife will tell you that I hate eating leftovers. It doesn’t matter how good the meal was the first time, and it doesn’t typically matter what it will taste like the next day. I just don’t like leftovers.

But God likes leftovers. He chooses to leave a few leftovers. Instead of wiping out the whole lot of them and abandoning them all, God preserved a small number of them. That is what grace is. Grace was given, to those who were not desirable. If they were good and God owed them something, then it wouldn’t be grace. But they were not all that good. They were not all that desirable. Unlike last night’s dinner, they weren’t that good the first time around, and they certainly won’t be any better the second time around. But God showed his grace in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

What we have here is an evidence of the sovereignty of God in his grace. It is a testimony that we are saved, not by anything that we do, not our will or our decision, but solely by God’s grace. Just like we can’t do anything to attain it, we can’t do anything against it when it is effectively applied to us.

You look at those people there in Israel. And you see that they could do nothing to preserve their own lives. God had cut down that wall and the enemy infiltrated their ranks. Nevertheless, despite certain death and destruction, a small portion of them survived. Why? Why were they not all cut off? It was because God had chosen to demonstrate his grace!
Isn’t this what makes grace so amazing? God does show his grace. Despite how evil we are, he comes in and changes the heart. He shields us from his wrath, not because we are worthy or because we are special, but because he is gracious and wishes to show mercy.

Conclusion:
We can thank God for his grace. We can thank him also that he continues to show his grace. The history of his grace is not done. God still preserves for himself a people. Despite the myriads who seem to be turning away from him and despising his grace, He continues to dispense his grace to you and to me.

This is of course the great reason why we should make good on Israel’s history. God has afforded his grace to us, even when we were not desirable. And he has given us the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Because of this grace, we ought to then seek to honor our Father in new obedience.

The Road to Christmas

2009-12-20T04:02:00.000-08:00

Luke 2:1-7

If you feel a little tired after reading this portion of Scripture, there is a reason for that. I don’t know if you realized it or not, but in those 7 verses you traveled almost 3,000 miles.

This morning I need you to pack up your things because we are going to be going on a journey. We sort of already have been on this journey for the last three weeks, because we’ve been on our way to Christmas. We’ve been trying to prepare for Christmas by looking at some different passages of Scripture. But this morning’s passage tells us of the road to Christmas. It is the Christmas road. We see here that the nativity of our Lord Jesus began with a long and arduous trek, and we are going along with Mary and Joseph. As a matter of fact, we travel a lot farther than the holy couple because we start out way over there in the city of Rome with Caesar Augustus. We sort of pick up with Joseph and Mary in Nazareth along the way, sort of joining in on their caravan.

So this morning’s message is, in a real sense, a trip. And I want you to buckle up. But more than that, I want you to keep your eyes and ears open because along this we are going to see some pretty amazing sites. Dr. Luke is our tour guide, and he is going to show us a lot about God on this journey. That’s because the road to Christmas reveals quite a bit about God.

Now I don’t want you to close your eyes because Luke doesn’t spare a second. The site seeing starts right away. As Luke starts us out on the Road to Christmas he begins by showing us God’s absolute control over the affairs of men.

I. God controls the affairs of men
The passage here begins with the decree of Caesar that a census should be taken. This would be the means that God would use to bring Mary and Joseph to the appointed place of birth. The Old Testament made it clear that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem. The problem though is that Mary and Joseph had made their home in the city of Nazareth, which was approximately 180 miles away as the crow flies. So, from all human perception, it would seem that the Christ would be born at the right time, but in the wrong place.

There would be only one way the Lord’s Word could be fulfilled: those who were comfortably situated would have to be compelled by a higher authority to take the long and tedious journey. As providence would have it, the Emperor called for a numbering of the people in his kingdom.

Certainly we could marvel at how one man could have such authority over such a vast region. People hop when he says hop. However, what is more amazing is that Caesar is nothing but a pawn in the hand of God. Despite his radical authority, he is still subject to the King of kings. Augustus is God’s servant in transporting Mary and Josephy. He is the means God uses to fulfill the OT prophecy.

Charles Spurgeon also notes that the Emperors of the Roman world were typically not the most virtuous of men. They were heathens and thus they were governed by the passions of their own inclinations. So the reason Caesar called for this census was probably for disingenuous purposes. Perhaps it was simply to horde more money through taxation. It may have very well been decreed simply to spite one of vassal kings who had offended him. This moves Spurgeon to say, “the Ruler of tempests knows how to rule the perverse spirits of princes. The Lord our God has a bit for the wildest war horse, and a hook for the most terrible leviathan. Autocratical Caesars are but puppets moved with invisible strings.

Indeed, all the affairs of men are governed by God. From the leaf that falls from the tree to the secret plans which are put together within the confines of Caesar’s palace, God is in control. Nothing happens without His personal approval. But what is beautiful about this passage is that the heathen nations are subservient to God’s church. Even with all their rebellious pursuits, they are the ministers of God for the welfare of God’s people.

What a wonderful thing for us to remember! As we enter into Christmas, we don’t just have to look at the manger to be reminded of God. We can look right into the Oval Office and remember that God is working all things for our good. Our president, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed, what are they? They are nothing but pawns in the hands of God. The political leaders of our nation, and every other nation for that matter, are ultimately servants of the church. They are our servants!

History is replete with illustrations of this. Do you know why the Reformation was so successful? Why was it that a little monk named Martin Luther not burned at the stake like every other person Rome considered a heretic? The Pope had excommunicated him. The Emperor at that time was a devote Catholic. All things considered, Luther should have been put to death. The problem was the Turks! The Muslims were advancing against the Holy Roman Empire and the Emperor’s attention was directed elsewhere! If he got overly involve in a religious squabble, his kingdom would be compromised. So, in a sense, we owe the Muslim’s a great deal of thanks. God used them to save the church and preserve the faith just as much as He used Luther.

Do you know why the puritan movement was so strong in England? It was partially the doing of King Henry the VIII. The King was no friend of Protestantism. He persecuted them severely. But he was upset that his first wife would not bear him an heir. Because of her being barren he sought to divorce her. The only problem was that the pope would not permit it! So he decided to break with the Roman Catholic Church. The breach with Rome allowed Protestantism to grow more freely in the British realm. Imagine that! Protestantism was able to take deeper root because a king wanted a divorce! It just goes to show that the heads of state are the servants of heaven and the church!

Every day we hear threats of radical Muslim invasions. We hear of increasing tyranny in our nation. The news media may lead with another story about human rights violations in communist China, and another shipment of toxic toys. Such things can be overwhelming if faith is not the lens through which we see life. These are shifts of tectonic proportions. The mighty titans cast their scepters here and there doing all sorts of evil and increasing tyranny in the world. This could be overwhelming to the fleshly eye. Yet we are to understand that, whether their plans may be for good or ill, they are for us and for our eternal welfare. That’s because they are all under God’s omnipotent hand.

So as we look at this passage, let us take comfort in the fact that God controls all of the affairs of men. We have nothing to fear, even from the most powerful people on eart, because God reigns.
While we are on the road to Christmas, let us not only see how God rules over the affairs of men, but let us also see how God convolutes the expectations of men.

II. Convolutes the expectations of men
We come to these passages with so much knowledge that we often miss some of the quirks that are presented in them. I know that I missed this one. I owe recognition of it to Pastor Ligon Duncan, who pointed it out to me.

Last week you may remember that we looked at the passage over in Luke 1. It was the passage where the angel announced to Mary that she was to have a son. Do you remember that? Do you remember what the angel said to Mary? He began by saying, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” Then the angel repeats it, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” The angel goes on to say that she is going to be God’s agent in bringing the long expected Messiah into the world. He would be called great, the Son of the Most High. He would reign over the house of Jacob.

Now you can probably bet that Mary was flying high after that. Sure there might be a little confusion and concern here and there, but the more she thought about that the more her imagination probably took off. Wouldn’t you do the same? If you were to give birth to a king and you found out that you were the favored one of God, how would you react? You might start making big plans.

But where do we find Mary in our passage? We find her in the last term of her pregnancy making what would have been a torturous journey to Bethlehem. We find her in a stable, surrounded by a bunch of animals (and all their associated aromas!). I would assume that wasn’t quite how she thought it would happen.

That’s the irony of this passage. The king was to be born. Mary was God’s favored one. But the circumstances in which they found themselves probably didn’t reflect what they had expected.
Isn’t that God’s way of working though? Doesn’t he always do that? We think things are going to turn out one way—typically it involves living in the lap of luxury and sitting on a pillow of ease. But God takes us in a totally different direction. Our expectations get tossed completely upside-down.

This is what we need to remember though. Our ways are not God’s ways, our thoughts do not always comport with God’s thoughts. He likes to take us down the path of humility and hardship.

The good thing is that you are the favored ones of God. And God has said to you, just like he said to Mary, “I am with you.” He is here today to affirm that promise to you today, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

You might be wondering if that is true or not. Because your circumstances are not exactly the way you want them or the way you like them, you might not think that you are all that favored.
You know, the apostles might have thought the same thing. I remember the stained glass window at the church where I grew up. Each pain of the window presented the way each disciple is said to have died. Let me say that they didn’t die natural deaths. At least two of them were crucified. One was slain with a spear. Another was stoned to death and then beheaded (just in case, I guess). Each of them has a peculiar story about their persecution and ultimate martyrdom. Their circumstances might not have revealed it, but before Jesus pushed them out of the nest he said to them, “Lo, I am with you—even to the end of the age.”

We could look around here and each of us could see in ourselves or in each other different circumstances that are not the best. We could even think of some “worse case scenarios” too. For all practical purposes what we see around us might seem like it negates what we hear God say to us. Our circumstances don’t seem to line up with the promises. Yet this passage is here to remind us that the road that Christ leads us down is not the freshly paved superhighway. His road is full of bumps and surprises.

So remember that God likes to convolute our human expectations. He did that for Mary and Joseph. He did it for the Apostles, and we shouldn’t think that we should be any different.
On our tour through Palestine we can say that we’ve seen some pretty amazing things. We’ve seen God’s power and his wisdom don’t even begin to compare with our own. But the greatest sight is yet to be seen. At the end of this journey we see his infinite love. At the end of this passage we see how God also condescends for the salvation of men.

III. Condescends for the salvation of men
When we look at this passage we don’t see any pomp or pageantry accompanying Jesus’ birth, do we ? We might even say there isn’t a single comfort that is afforded the babe, except some strips of linen with which he is wrapped. Providence might have been directing these events, but it led him to a stable, which in all likelihood was nothing more than a cave.

We might be able to accept the fact that after Mary gives birth to her baby there are no grand ceremonies or lofty exhibitions that would typically be associated with the birth of a king. What is odd though is that the passage ends with the fact that there is no room for them in the inn. The last note is not so much that a baby was born, but that there wasn’t any real place for the baby to be born. What we find is that this journey starts in the regal splendor of Caesar’s palace, but it ends up in nowhere. Literally, no where. We went through Samaria and Judea, and then passed right through Bethlehem. We didn’t even stop at the stall. Somewhere in that stable we hit a warp of some kind and it sent us out beyond the reaches of earth—to no where. It is amazing too. How would you like it if you went back to your own home town and no one there would take you in? All your friends and family say, “Sorry. No vacancy.”

This, of course, is one of the initial indications of how our Savior would live his entire life. That he was born in a stable laid in a manger reminds us that His life would be a life of lowliness. That our minds are cast to no where reminds us that he would be cast out by his own kind and rejected by men. That there was no room for them in their own home town reminds us that there would be no room for Christ on earth at all, so long as sinners existed. This was the message Christ heard all his days, “Get out of our faces! We don’t want you around here!”

We might have we finish our journey to Bethlehem. But as we turn off the ignition we are reminded that the journey has just begun. This road goes all the way to the cross. Actually, it would not end even there. It would go a little further until he reached another cave. The funny thing about Christ’s life was that when he was born he temporarily dwelt in a cavern filled with a horrid stench (the stench of animals). Then at the end of his life he temporarily was boarded in another cavern—this one bearing the stench of death.

This was the great condescension of our Lord. He was willing to stoop so low. He was willing to assume human flesh. He was willing to condescend to our nature. And he did it in order to bring everlasting life to his people—the very people who did not want him. Truly this passage gives us a glimpse into how great God’s love for us is.

Conclusion:
The question that we can conclude with then is this, where does the road go from there? We began this journey witnessing the majestic power of God as he demonstrated his sovereign control over the mighty kings of the earth. We saw that it took a pathway that didn’t necessarily involve luxury and ease. And our journey ends with the Christ who was rejected by men. But where does it go from here?

Hopefully that won’t be the end. I hope that the Christmas road doesn’t go off to no where. I hope it ends in your heart. That is where God wants it to end. You might not have made room for him before, but he is willing to come. That’s why he came in the first place. That’s why he began the journey. He came so that we might have life and know the God who rules over all. He came that he might take up residence in our heart.

The Wonder of the Virgin Birth

2009-12-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

Luke 1:26-38

As we begin this morning I want to confess to you that I probably did not choose our passage for this morning with the best of motives. You are probably like me in that you hear a lot of Christmas messages throughout the Christmas season. This last week I listened in on a study on this passage. It was an advent series and the leader was kindly trying to help people prepare for the season of Christmas. The only thing is that his study was quite poor, or at least in my estimation it was.

The reason why I thought this was because his study focused on Mary. Now the leader of the study was not a Catholic priest or anyone associated with the Roman church. He was a Protestant and a well meaning fellow. Neverthless, he promoted a form of Mariology.

Now, I agree that we can say a lot about Mary from this passage. We certainly can deduce much. However we must always remember that we do not celebrate Marimas. Neither do we celebrate Josephmas. We celebrate Christmas.

My point is that all the people mentioned in the Bible play secondary roles. Jesus is always the primary figure in every story. That holds particularly true for this passage. Mary is not the central figure here. Neither is the angel who comes to her. When we read this text, our eyes should be thrown upon Jesus and what he is doing to accomplish our salvation.

What makes this passage so great is that it is about Jesus and his redemptive work. As a matter of fact, it tells us about the first step of his redemptive work. They say that ever journey begins with a first step. That is true, you cannot go on a journey without that initial stride. Here in this text we find the first step of Christ’s journey. What is remarkable is that his first step was downward. The road that would eventually lead back to heaven began with a descent into the virgin’s womb.

To put it succinctly, our Savior’s redemptive work begins with his holy conception. And as we look at this passage I want us to consider what it teaches about Jesus’ being “born of the virgin.”
The first thing that we must mention is that Jesus was indeed, born of a virgin. It is a fact that we are required to believe.

I. The fact of it
When we read this passage there are no indications that we are to believe otherwise. What is recorded here is put forth as an actual, historical event. It is not something that has been made up, nor is it a symbolic story that is trying to communicate something deeper than what it actually says. The account here tells us simply that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and He was born of a virgin.

Now that is something that the church has historically confessed throughout her existence. We affirm it every time we say the Apostle’s Creed. And when we do, we are acknowledging the truth of this Scripture right here.

I believe that I need to bring this out because so many in our day do not recognize the factuality of this passage. This passage has been put under scrutiny like no other passage in the Bible in the modern era. Al Molher has even gone so far as to say, “Of all biblical doctrines, the doctrine of Christ's virginal conception has often been the specific target of modern denial and attack.”

Ever since the Enlightenment (I rather call lit the Endarknement!) which began in the 18th century, people have struggled with or outright rejected that this event ever really happened. That is because at that time men started being guided more by reason and science, rather than revelation and the Bible. So all things that were supernatural began to sound absurd. And that is why to modern man a virgin birth and a miraculous conception is the most ridiculous thing that has ever happened.

But you know, Mary had the exact same question. She asked, “How can this be?” She wasn’t any neanderthal. She knew this stood against all reason and experience. But the difference is that she believed what the Angel said, “Nothing is impossible with God.” When you deny God, something like this is impossible.

Now you can understand why this passage has been the front line of the attack. This doctrine is the foundation for the rest of the supernatural events in the Scripture. If you can brush this one aside, then you can brush the rest of Jesus’ life and work aside. Jesus’ miracles and resurrection can be flushed right down behind it. So you can see why Satan attacks it with such vehemence. If you doubt this event, the rest of Jesus’ life and work can be erased. Ultimately, the whole of the gospel can be destroyed.

That’s what makes it so important to affirm what the Bible says here. As a matter of fact, we can go so far as to say that if you deny the holy conception of our Lord and the virgin birth, you cannot be a Christian in the true sense of the word. You can call yourself a Christian and go by that tag. But if you deny what the Bible says here, you cannot be a Christian inwardly. What it amounts to is a rejection of the authority of Scripture. And the essence of faith is that you receive as true of all that Christ as said in his word.

You not only reject Christ’s word, you reject Jesus Himself! When you throw out the fact that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, you end up dispensing with his deity. You cannot affirm Jesus’ deity that without a virgin birth. If his birth was not miraculous, he was just a man like everybody else—just like you and me. So what happens is that you end up compromising the whole of the gospel. And if you don’t believe the gospel, then you are not a Christian.

So that is where we must begin: The virgin birth, the Holy Spirit’s work of conceiving the Christ child is to be upheld as a fact of history. It is a vital part of the gospel. It is a truth that cannot be denied if you want to be a Christian.

Now that we have affirmed the factuality of it, let’s talk about its necessity.

II. The necessity of it
To a degree we have already said something of its necessity because we said that it is an integral part of the gospel. Why is it so integral though? The virgin birth is needed because it solves the problem that Adam started.

It is sort of funny how this passage brings this out. When the angel announced that marry would conceive and bear a child, Mary immediately asked, “How can this be since I am a virgin.” As I said before, she was no fool. She knew a little about the reproductive system. But what was a simple question of biology gave birth to one of the most profound theological teachings.

The angel response satisfies her curiosity, but it also provides us with an answer to the problem of our depravity. The real problem is that the best of men are men at best! In other words, we are all sinners. When Adam fell, we all fell in him and with him. As a result, when we are born we inherit a sinful nature from him. It has been passed down from generation to generation. So when a child is born we can say, “Oh he has your nose. He has your eyes.” And we can gush all over the little thing. But we also confess that he’s got your attitude. He’s got your corruption. He’s got your sinful nature.

When we see that Jesus is conceived in purity, it should remind us of what David said in Psalm 51, “We were conceived and born in sin.” Each one of us was. We got it from our parents. And they got it from their parents. We can go on and on like that until we get back to our very first parents, Adam & Eve.

As a matter of fact, if you read in Genesis 5 you read some eerie words. In Genesis 5 it says that Adam and Eve had a child. But the child was “born in the image of Adam.” You remember that Adam was created in the image of God. But after his fall, he lacked that original righteousness with which he was created. So every child after that was born in the image of Adam and after his likeness.

But what we see going on in this passage is that this pattern of ordinary generation is being broken. The angel explains that the Lord is going outside the normal means of reproduction.
Even the imagery the angel uses is great. The Angel says that the Holy Spirit is going to come upon her and the power of the Most High is going to “overshadow her.” It hearkens back to the very first words of the Bible. You remember that in the beginning of the creation account the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The world was formless and without shape, but the Spirit was “overshadowing it” and getting ready to bring life to it.

Here the Holy Spirit hovers over the lifeless, formless womb. It is by the power of the Spirit that a child is going to be created within her womb. This will be the child of the new creation. This child will not be made in Adam’s image, but will be free of the corruption of Adam. He will be a sinless child and the first since Adam to have the original righteousness.

The one thing that every good Jew knew was that they needed a spot free redeemer. They were faced with it every time they went to the temple to present a sacrifice. When you came to the temple the lamb you brought had to be without blemish. It had to be without defect. Otherwise it would not be accepted. If it had a limp or a rash, you had to go out and find another one. Every time you presented a sacrifice, this would have been brought home. And it all pointed to the fact that the one who would eventually come to satisfy for sins would be a spotless Lamb of God. You needed one who was pure who could take your sins and give you his righteousness. And that is what we have in Jesus.

I love what the Heidelberg Catechism says about this. It asks the question, “What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ?” In other words, what consolation is it to you? It answers by saying, “[Our consolation lies in the fact that] he is our Mediator, and with his innocence and perfect holiness covers, in the sight of God, my sin wherin I was conceived and brought forth.”

This passage is so necessary because it deals with that very need. This passage is here so that you may rest in Christ, and by resting in Christ you can rest assured that heaven is yours. What you most need is found only in him. The problem in your soul is solved through his perfection. When you trust Christ the perfection with which Christ was born is imputed to you. God no longer sees you in Adam. He sees only the righteous, purity of Christ.

Now, you see why the virgin birth is so important. This is why we believe in it. It is because our sinful nature needs it. But now that we have seen its factuality and its necessity, we need to talk about the consequence of it.

III. The consequence of it
Our passage makes it clear that the result of this conception would be that a King would be born. The messianic king, in the line of David—the one who was to rule over the house of Jacob, was going to enter the world. And that is exactly what happened.

We rejoice in God that Christ was the one who could make satisfaction for our sins, but that’s not the end of the gospel. The consequence of this birth is that an eternal kingdom would be established.

Christ came into this world to establish that kingdom. So from this passage we understand that Jesus didn’t come just to give up his life. Christ was on a conquest. His incarnation was, above all things, a military maneuver. It was an invasion of enemy territory. Christ was going behind enemy lines so that he might defeat death, crush Satan’s rule, and conquer hearts.

Now this same Christ is in heaven, and he continues his rule there. From his throne on high he continues to rule over his people. He defends them and cares for them. What’s more is that He continues to establish His kingdom by subduing more and more souls. He is always coordinating more attacks and he is sending his ministers, who are his special agents here in the world, to proclaim the reality of this kingdom. And one day he is coming back to finalize the work that he has begun. He is going to come back to sit upon the throne that is rightfully his.

It is for that reason that I am here today, to proclaim the kingdom of Christ to you. I have the privilege of telling you that the King comes offering terms of peace. If you surrender to him, he will gladly give you a place in his kingdom. You can enjoy all the blessings of citizenship in that kingdom for all eternity if you submit to Him. But if you refuse the terms of peace and you do not submit to him, then you must face the king on your own terms when he comes again.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that my daughter and I had been studying life in the Middle Ages. One of the things we studied was how wars were conducted. What would happen is that both sides would line up on either side of a plain or one army would surround a castle. Before the war commenced messengers would be sent to the opposing army to propose terms of peace. You had the opportunity to accept or reject those terms. If they sounded good, you could accept them. If you refused, then the war would commence.

That is exactly what is happening now, and whenever the gospel is preached. Christ offers you terms of peace. And what great terms they are! No army in the history of man has offered terms like these. If you pledge to honor King Jesus, you get to live forever in the most glorious kingdom that ever existed. You even become a prince in his land.

But be assured, this king cannot be stopped. In our passage it makes that clear. He is called “great” and the “Son of the Most High.” From those two terms you can understand that he is nothing other than God. Moreover he is invincible and there is nothing that will keep him from conquering the whole world.

You have all heard of Alexander the Great. Perhaps you’ve heard of Akbar the Great or Antiochus the Great. Why were they called “the Great”? it was because they were men who were great military forces. The lands they conquered stretched far and wide. The only thing is that these men were just that, they were men. As a result, their military might was eventually exhausted and their kingdoms came to an end.

Not so with the Son of God. His greatness will continue for all eternity. His kingdom will never end. And when it comes to deciding what to do with his terms, the answer should be obvious. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Conclusion:
Our Lord Jesus Christ has opened the doors of his kingdom to you. That is why he came into this world. He despised not the virgin’s womb because he knew you could not enter his kingdom on your own. He knew that you were unfit for his kingdom. But he came down from heaven so that you might possess that which you lack. Now he offers it to you. He says, “Come to me, poor sinner, and all will be well. I want to be your king. I want to have you rule along side of me in my kingdom.”

God Confirms His Love for His People

2009-12-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

Romans 5:1-11

The passage we are looking at this morning deals with what is perhaps the greatest of all the themes of the Bible. It is the theme of God’s love.

When you read the Bible, I believe this subject sticks out more than any other. Certainly, a lot of passages talk about God’s wrath and how he can become inflamed with anger. We read many passages dealing with his holiness too. As you turn the pages of Scripture, you can’t help but see that quite clearly. However, these themes pale in comparison to the theme of God’s love. This thesis presides over all the others. For in the Bible you cannot help but see how God pursues his wayward people tenaciously and passionately.

Perhaps this topic is so prevalent in Scripture because so many are prone to doubt it. I believe that it needs to be at the forefront of the Scriptures because it is so necessary for us to understand. When we come to be persuaded that God really loves, then we are more ready to love him in return. Trusting him follows right on the heals of having the assurance of his great love for us.

This last week my daughter and I went for a walk in the woods. It is something we do somewhat frequently, but this time was a little different. It was at night. As we marched through the trails in the darkness, I thought about how much my daughter trusted me. She was not afraid in the slightest bit to be out there in that creepy place. She was not afraid that I would do anything to her while we were out there. She had full confidence that she could follow me anywhere because she knew that I loved her.

The Lord wants us to have this sort of confidence: that we can trust him through anything and follow him anywhere. So in this passage our Lord confirms his love. He shows us just how great his love for us so that we may sweetly rest in it.

In order to reassure us of his love the Lord talks first about the sheer extravagance of it. The first mention of God’s love is found in the last half of verse 5, and it says that God’s love has been “poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

I. Its profuse extravagance
You might not notice it at first glance, but we understand how profuse God’s love is by those words “poured out.” This word literally means “to spill” or “to run out greedily.”

Now you can spill something and it is not all that big of a deal. If you are almost done with your soda and you accidently knock it over, that’s not going to be much to worry about. But if that soda “runs out greedily” then that is something completely different. You get the idea that it is the jumbo size that you ordered and you haven’t even had the chance to take a sip of it yet. Now it is all over your lap, running down your legs onto the seat and creating a huge puddle on the floor.

This is the same word used in the book of Acts when it talks about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. You know when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles it wasn’t as if God was using a dropper. The Spirit is described as coming down in an overflowing manner, much like a torrent and it filled the room where the disciples were. The funny thing about that passage is that the disciples were gathered in the upper room when the Spirit was poured out. Then without any sort of transition the disciples are outside preaching to all the people who were gathered in Jerusalem. It is almost as if the title wave of the Spirit came gushing down from heaven in such incredible deluge that they disciples were carried outside by the overflow of it. You might have seen in pictures of a flood where a car is hit with a wall of water and then carried down the street by the overwhelming volume of water. That’s what seems to be described in Acts chapter 2.

And that is exactly the same way God’s love is described here in this passage. There is no shortage of God’s love. God is not holding anything back. His love comes down into our hearts in a lavish overwhelming manner! The extravagance almost sounds sloppy because it reminds you of a child with the garden hose. He just lets it all come gushing out.

I’m glad that God’s word describes His love like this here because a lot of people don’t have that kind of view of it. Some people (maybe you are one?) tend to think that God is up in heaven with a clip board taking an inventory of our lives and then rewarding with a pinch or two. Or maybe we compare it to our own lives and how we always have a tendency to be a little stingy. I know how we guys are. When we want to show our wife how much we love her, we will go and buy her some flowers. And we can’t wait to walk in that door and overwhelm her with a nice bouquet of flowers. But what do we do when we get to the store? We look for the cheapest arrangement. We look and say, “$15 for a dozen measly roses? That’s ridiculous!” So you go over and start looking at the carnations.

God doesn’t operate like that. His love is never stingy, but always excessive.

Tim Keller is a PCA pastor in New York, and he has recently written a book based on the parable of the prodigal son. The title of his book is Prodigal God. The term prodigal means reckless, wasteful and absorbed with excess. And it is characteristic of the first son who takes his inheritance and goes and spends everything in a wildly extravagant lifestyle. Keller makes the point though that the father figure in that parable is just as excessive with his love. He spends his days looking for the son, waiting for him to come back. Then when he sees him far off in the distance he runs to him. He does one of the most undignified things, hiking up his garments and sprints through the village thoroughway, right where everyone could see him. Upon reaching the debauched child he showers him with kisses. He lavishes his love, and puts a ring on his finger and a robe on his back. Then he calls for the fattened calf to be killed and prepared. The party he puts together on behalf of this child is almost wasteful in and of itself because he spares no expense.

He is the Prodigal God, and he wants you to know just how profuse his love for you is.
I’m sure you will agree that if we stopped here you would have sufficient evidence of how great God’s love is. But, if the truth be told, we are not even scratching the surface yet. We can’t know the depth of his love until we consider who exactly he loves! And if you look at what this passage says, you see that it has some of the most unlikely objects.

II. Its unlikely objects
This passage uses 4 words to describe us, and the picture it paints is not a pretty one. You’ve all heard the expression, “He’s got a face that only a mother could love.” Well, when you consider what this passage says about us, you wonder, “How could anyone love us, let alone God.”

The first word that we come across is the word “weak.” The KJV is perhaps a little more accurate as it describes us as being “without strength.” The idea is that of being impotent. The word is typically used to describe sick people, or people who are infirm. In Acts 4 it is used to describe a man who is paralyzed! These are all people who are so weak they can’t do anything.
What does it mean that we are weak? For what do we not have any strength? What is in view is our moral inability. When it comes to pleasing God we do not have any power to do anything that pleases Him. We are completely impotent—we are like an ethical paralytic!

The Bible uses this language to describe how depraved we are in a number of places. The best reference is in Jeremiah 7:9. In my version it says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.” Some other versions say, desperately wicked. The New International version says beyond cure. In other words, there is no remedy because the illness is so far gone. Today we might say it is stage 4 cancer, the deadliest and most severe.

If we think we are good, or have some goodness deep down in side somewhere, we are only kidding ourselves. That’s why Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful above all things. We lie to ourselves and make ourselves out to be more upright than we are and say that we can please God, at least to some degree.

That’s not what the bible says though. When it comes to pleasing God we are completely impotent.

The next word that the Bible uses to describe those God loves is ungodly.

Rob and I have been going through Jerry Bridges book, Respectable Sins, a book that deals with the sins we find acceptable. Before getting into the different sins though, Bridges talks about ungodliness. He says that we typically think ungodly people are people who extreme sinners. You know, the kind who are murderers and rapists; people who are open blasphemers and God deniers. Bridges says that is not necessarily so. He says a person can be a nice, respectable citizen and still be an ungodly person.

Ungodliness has to do with living your life with little or no thought of God, his will, his glory, or of your constant dependence upon him. That’s how we were (and are!). Tell me, how often is God on your mind? How often do you think about him or pray to him? I’m sure that the thought of being in his constant presence is relatively rare.

It is funny if you think about it. God loves the ungodly. God loves those who are facing the complete opposite direction.

The next word that is mentioned is found in verse 8. It is the word sinners. What is descriptive here? It is that we are chiefly characterized by that which God finds most offensive. We have a corrupt nature that we have inherited from Adam. So we are slaves to sin and under the dominion of sin. The power of sin is constantly at work so that everything we do is tainted with sin.

It is a lot like one of those old smokestacks that you would find on an old factory. It is black within and without. And all that comes billowing out of it is nothing but the darkest, most putrid smoke. You look at that smokestack and find it repulsive. You don’t want to go anywhere near it, let alone have a loving, personal relationship with it.

That’s what God does though. He loves impotent, ungodly sinners. The last word that he uses is the word enemies.

The idea here is that of open hostility. It is not just a rejection of God (what might be seen in the word sinner). An enemy does more than reject his opponent. He does more than despise him. He attacks him.

This is perhaps the ugliest of all the terms used so far. You could say He goes and saves the worst for last. The think is that most people don’t see it this way. To put our relationship with God in these terms, will make a lot of people object. Nobody thinks that they are God’s enemy. Everybody thinks the world of God, don’t they? He’s the big guy in the sky. If you ask them everybody is always on good terms with God.

The truth of the matter is that the exact opposite is true. If we could get our hands on God, we’d kill him. It is as simple as that. All you have to do is look at what we did to Jesus when he came to earth. What did we do with him? We attacked him. We whipped and beat him. We crucified him. We killed him. We proved that we were God’s enemies.

You see. God doesn’t love the lovely. If he did, he wouldn’t love any of us. He might love the angels and the creation, but he would not even lay an eye on us. Yet, the love that he loves us with is that grand.

You might say that the test of true love is what you are willing to love. I said earlier, mothers are able to love a lot more than most people, aren’t they? You could be as ugly as sin, and the only person who would love you would be your mother.

Well, the Bible says that we are as ugly as sin. And if our mother could see us as God does, she wouldn’t love us. But God sees us just how ugly we are and he still loves us.

Hopefully by now you are beginning to see something of how great God’s love for you is. His love is extravagant and it comes to the most unlikely people. But we will not really understand how much God loves us if we do not consider the cross. For the cross is the ultimate proof of his love for us.

III. Its proof
In verse 8 it says, ‘God demonstrates (or proves) his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

What the Lord shows us here is that his love is not just talk. His love is more than words.
A woman may question whether or not her husband lovers her. She might ask him, “Do you love me?” He can talk about how much he loves her all he wants. He can describe it in the most eloquent ways, but if he doesn’t ever get out of his Lazyboy and show her that he loves her, what he has is not real love. We all know that talk is cheap. If he never proves his love, be it by helping with the dishes or going out and getting a job, she will know that he doesn’t really love her.

We all know that dying for someone is the highest expression of love. As a matter of fact, Jesus says in the gospel of John, no greater love has anyone than this, that he lay down his life for his friend. It doesn’t matter if it is the guy in the fox hole who dives on a grenade or the father who takes the place of his child in an execution, those are the chief expressions of love.

The difference here though is that Christ died for those who were unlovable by nature. Verse 7 points this out. It says, “Romans 5:7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die.” In other words, people don’t usually have this kind of love where they are willing to give up their lives for someone. What’s more is that even in those rare occasions where someone does die for someone else, it is typically for someone who is close to them and it is someone who is worth dying for. They are outwardly what you might call a “good person.” They aren’t a profligate of some kind.

Christ’s death is the ultimate expression of love because he died to save those who were in no way appealing to him. The fact of the matter is, he died to make them appealing! That’s what it means that Christ died “for us.” That’s the Bible’s way of saying He gave his life as an atoning sacrifice. And the rest of the passage fleshes that out: He died that we might be “saved”. He died that we might be “reconciled.” He died that we may be “justified.” All of these words are pointing to the fact that his death was for the purpose of cleaning up the unclean.

But can you imagine dying for someone Osama bin Laden? How about a serial rapist? Would you say to the executioner who is ready to administer the lethal injection, “Wait! Don’t put the needle in him. I want to take his place. I want you to inject the serum into my veins instead.”
I could go on and make the illustration more graphic. But I would assume even the thought of giving your life for such a person is repulsive to you. Yet, that is exactly what God did for you. Christ went to the cross and died in your place.

Conclusion:
Surely, the expanse of God’s love could not have been shown in any greater way. And when we behold all that is said of God’s love in this passage, we can’t help but confess that it most certainly is an amazing love.

Poise in the Midst of Provocation

2009-11-29T11:26:00.000-08:00

“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city."

Proverbs 16:32

I was once told that there is a spring in Iceland that is frequently visited by tourist because it has some peculiar characteristics about it. One of its peculiarities is that nothing will grow around it. There is a measurable distance marked off before any vegetation takes root. However, that is not the most significant aspect of this spring. What draws tourists is the volcanic temperament of the spring. Now, you can walk up to the spring and peer down into its deep crater. But you can also rouse it to action by tossing a stone into it. A few moments later a gurgling sound will be heard. Then a column of dirty, boiling water will come shooting up carrying with it mud, sticks and stones.

Typically springs do not react like they are connected to a hairpin trigger. If you toss a stone in, usually the waters will rippled and the stone will be swallowed up. The overall peace is not easily disturbed.

Interestingly enough, we find that a lot of people resemble that tempestuous little geyser. There are people in the world who have no real rule over their passions and they are easily provoked by the slightest tease or nuisance. At one moment they are calm. You can walk up to them and talk with them. You can enjoy their company and converse with them about many different things. But then, with the slightest provocation—be it an unkind word or a crack in the sidewalk that trips them up, they can erupt with a Jeckle & Hyde like transformation, and they can boiling over with anger.

Of course, it varies in degree from person to person. Some are like geysers that rush forth with a great display of rage. And there are others do not break forth quite so violently. But while they may not make an external show of their anger, inwardly they are steaming with rage. Their soul simmers with resentment.

It is that kind of person that is being addressed in our passage this morning. Our passage speaks to the one who is prone to fits of passion and has a problem with anger. And it calls us to emulate the springs that manifest poise in the midst of provocation. When you read this passage it is easy to see that it highlights the greatness of this poise.

I. The greatness of it
Our passage says that the one who is slow to anger “is better (or greater) than the mighty.” The one who rules his spirit is superior to the one who takes a city. Here you have a comparison that ranks a man who demonstrates personal composure over that of a warrior or someone who can accomplish tremendous physical feats.

Think how we much honor men of strength and warriors. This week I was reminded of the first group of Army Rangers. They were a hand full of soldiers who were trained to be an elite military task force.

The group was formed in the Second World War, and their first mission was to save over 100 prisoners of war who were being kept in a Japanese prison camp. The feat was no small task. The prison camp was located on a plain and it was heavily manned; hundreds of Japanese soldiers were there. The Rangers plotted to take the camp at night so that they had the element of surprise when they attacked. To get into position though, they had to crawl on their bellies for over 200 yards during across that plain the light hours of the day. They had to move right up to the camp’s exterior without any cover of darkness. Obviously, they would be in complete view of the guards at the tower. After darkness fell, they had to breach the walls, charge right into the enemy’s ranks where they were outmaned, protect the area where the prisoners were being kept, and then evacuate the prisoners—who by the way were so badly malnourished and suffering from malaria that most could barely walk, if the even could manage to get to their feet.
You know what? The operation was executed flawlessly. The mission went over with flying colors. They took the camp and rescued the prisoners virtually no losses. These men were then given some of the best military honors for that accomplishment. And they continue to be exalted as great men as people read and recount their story down through the ages. And they should be honored! What they did was amazing! These men excel what a man is and is called to be.

But no matter who great those soldiers may be, the Bible says that a man who rules his spirit is greater. A person who demonstrates discipline over his own soul stands above them in the eyes of God.

Now I know that this kind of person isn’t recognized in our society as someone who is great or superior in any way. Someone who is calm and demonstrates a spirit of composure is typically thought of as a weakling. If someone is picking on you and you don’t respond, what are they going to say? They are not going to think you are great in any way. (Well, they may think you are great in one way. They will think that you are a great, big sissy!)

Most people think greatness is associated with brute force. Think about the rapper guys, or the gangster types. These guys are regarded as so cool, aren’t they? We love their bad attitudes. They wear their tight fitting tank tops to show off their muscles. They wear their hats sideways to give the impression, “Don’t mess with me!” Then they have their pants hanging down (to the point where you wonder why they even bother putting them on!) just to show that they defy all authorities. And if someone picks on them, you better watch out. They are going to get all up in your face. If someone makes a snide remark, they immediately jump up. They get all roused. You talk about their mama, they are going to want to fight. We think those guys are so bad.
However, that is not true greatness. They may put on a great display of strength. They might actually be able to pummel someone and beat them to a pulp. But the Bible says that is not greatness. In all reality, that is a show of weakness. He might be able to overpower his neighbor, but the truth is he has no power over himself.

True greatness is found in self governance. It is found in composure and being able to bridle one’s rage when someone pricks you with a goad. Really, that is why the poised person is so great. It is because that kind of composure is so hard. Demonstrating this kind of control over yourself presents a challenge unlike any other, virtually insurmountable.

II. The challenge of it
This passage shows that too. It gives a good example of just how challenging it is. It says a man who governs himself is greater than someone “who takes a city.”

Solomon posits one of the hardest feats that could possibly be imagine at his time. Conquering a heavily fortified city was no small task back then. Today it is no big deal. You just drop a bunch of bombs on it and you are done. But back then they didn’t have that kind of ammunition.

My daughter and I have been reading about the middle ages for her history class. One of the things we talked about was how an army would lay siege to a castle (which would be a lot like an ancient fortified city, like Jericho). Most likely the city or castle would be it is built on a mountain so there was a steep embankment that would make it hard for an army to press against. And then there would be the high and thick walls. Some walls could be 15 feet thick. In Solomon’s time, the walls were doubled. They were so big that people could actually live in them. You may remember the story of Jericho where Rahab had her apartment there.
Imagine trying to lay siege to a city like that! Penetrating that kind of fortress would take an amazing amount of skill, not to mention time.

But no matter how hard that might be to conquer a city like that, it is nothing in comparison to gaining victory over your own passions. I like what Charles Bridges says regarding this. He says, “The taking of a city is child’s play compared to this wrestling with flesh and blood.” You might even consider our righteous anger. We know that there is righteous anger, but how often is that righteous anger all that righteous? Even when we are stirred up for just causes, we can’t say that our anger is pure and vented in a holy way. Our emotions typically get the best of us.

A victory over city is child’s play compared to the victory over our hearts. Think about it. The conflict with a city would last typically a few days or weeks. At the most it would be a few years—if it was heavily fortified. But the conflict we have with our own hearts lasts a lifetime. The internal battle we wage in order to bring our bodies into subjection to the Lord will only be halted at death. In a siege of a city, the soldiers will get wearied, for sure. But at some point they get to rest. They have to sleep, and at some point one side will be defeated.

We don’t get that privilege when it comes to battling our sinful inclinations. A violent temper is something that doesn’t subside with time. It continues to pop up over and over, and the hostility usually becomes more and more dangerous with the passing of time. And bitterness isn’t something that typically goes away with a little sleep. We think it does. The counsel we usually give ourselves or someone else is “Just sleep on it. All will be better in the morning.”

I think that is part of the reason why Jesus said we must “not let the sun go down on our anger” and that we are to “settle matters quickly” with our neighbors. Jesus knows that the passing of time only allows the hatred to take a deeper root. The rage might not be as violent, but the heat has not been turned down. The hostility still lingers. And the more time that elapses, the more time it has to harden and breed other sins. We can begin to avoid the people who make us angry or make snide comments about them here and there. Certainly, the revulsion we harbor prevents from praying for them and asking God to care for them. That’s the last thing we want is for God to be on their side!

Jesus knows that a breech in a relationship is best repaired when it is still in its infancy. But that is just the problem, though. It is not that easy. That’s when we are the most furious, and it is like trying to tame a wild lioness that has been robbed of its cubs.

I could go on and talk more about how challenging it is to demonstrate poise and properly govern our spirits. I haven’t mentioned how anger has so much to do with our pride, and you all know how you shouldn’t mess with #1.

I think I have labored that point enough though. I think we all know something of how challenging it is to keep our composure and rule our spirits. We all know that it is impossible, given our sinful propensity. What is important is that we understand that through Christ, even the most undisciplined spirit, can (for the lack of a better word) become tempered.

III. The acquisition of it
We need to realize that the only way we can acquire this kind of composure is through Jesus Christ. He came to earth for this very reason! He became man so that he might fulfill this verse for us and for our salvation. That he might deliver us from our angry spirits and reign in our uncontrollable inclinations.

Jesus was amazing because of his self control. If there ever was a man who had the right to fly off the handle, it would have been Jesus. People provoked him to no end. I mean the religious teachers purposely plotted ways to test him and get him to err. But never once did he give in to their silly tricks. And when he did become angry—which he wasn’t afraid to do!—his anger was never mixed with even an ounce of unholy hatred.

One of the things that the Westminster Confession brings out in the section on God is that God is without passion. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have any emotions. We know that we can grieve the Holy Spirit and that God can become angry. What it means is that God doesn’t demonstrate his emotions like sinful man. God is not easily provoked. He is patient and longsuffering. When it comes time for our confession of sin I often quote the passages of scripture that say that the Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And just so you know, that refrain is like a chorus that is repeated many, many times throughout Scripture.

And when Jesus became man, he came so that he might be the mightiest man on earth. Here you have a man who had such composure that he was willing to suffer, and not say a word against it. He was shamefully treated and yet he turned his cheek. He was unjustly accused, yet he said not a word. He was undeservedly sentenced to death, yet he willingly put his flesh upon the cross.

This he did so that we might receive pardon and that the dominion of sin might be broken within us. But he not only came to earth to break the dominion of sin, Jesus now at God’s right hand has poured out the Spirit into our hearts so that the power of sin might be diminished more and more. Paul speaks to this in the first chapter of 2 Timothy. Paul says that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of self control. And we all know that one of the virtues associated with the fruit of the Spirit is “self control.”

In other words, what is impossible with men, is possible with God. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So that no matter how unruly our passions may be, and though we have no possible way of changing ourselves, we can have hope that we can change. What does the Scripture say? It says that we are “more than conquers through him who loved us and gave his life for us.” The strong city of sin can be taken because Jesus is the ultimate warrior.

Those of you who may think there is no hope, all you need to do is rely upon Christ. If you look to him and live in constant dependence upon him, you can rest assured that he will deliver you.
Knowing the greatness of this virtue and that Christ will establish it in us, you might be wondering what steps we might be able to take to pursue it.

IV. The pursuit of it
If you ask this question, you are well on your way. Certainly we recognize that we can do nothing to attain it by our own hands, but we also recognize that Christ uses means and calls us to work out our salvation. So what things can we keep in mind in order to help us keep from being so easily provoked? A puritan minister by the name of Richard Baxter was a great counselor. He wrote a book called, “A Christian Directory.” In that book outlines a number of directives for dealing with what he calls ‘sinful wrath.’ I would like to give you a couple of those so that we might cultivate the composure that we should.

The first thing I would recommend is that you keep near the Lord. The people who are given to fits of passion are typically the people who have very little communion with Christ on a regular basis. They are not given to peace because they hardly have any fellowship with the God of peace. The best remedy is to take time to be still and know that He is God. When you are in the habit of drawing near to God, you will find that you will act more like God. And you will be more in the habit of praying for those things that make you mad. Moreover, you will also learn that the things that anger you are typically trivial matters or matters that God has put there for your overall improvement. Time with God helps to put things in perspective. I truly believe that the best way to extinguish the heat of hatred is by drinking time with the Lord, either by being in prayer or by being in his Word.

Along with being near the Lord, try, as much as you can, to keep away from tumultuous company. This is especially true for our young people. We spoke earlier of the gangster like guys who like to show how bad they are. Many of our young people like to emulate it. But you would do well to flee from them and any other person who is given over to fits of passion.

If you are white water rafting you know that your blood pressure is going rise while you go through the tumultuous waters. The chaos around you will cause you to be a little chaotic yourself. How much different will it be if you are always around people who are given to disorderly conduct?

Another important thing is to keep silent. When you are mad, your mind typically is not ready to demonstrate the best rational skills. So it is best to put a lock on your lips. When you hit your thumb with a hammer, what do you do? I would suppose that if it were recorded, we would have to bleep out certain words on the playback. That is a good instance of keeping silent. Try to suppress your screams. The same goes for times when someone taunts you or picks on you. The best thing to do in that situation is to keep silent.

Now I know that this is contrary to what pop psychology says. The “experts” say that you should not suppress it because if you keep it bottled up you will only find greater troubles down the road. So they tell you to grab your pillow and scream into it or direct your anger elsewhere. However, this is not healthy. Rage only gives way to rage. We are commanded to discipline ourselves for godliness. We are to exercise self control. The proper way to deal with anger is to keep quiet and bring it to the Lord. Allow him to deal with it and let not those around you spy a drop of venom drip from your person.

We could cite many other helpful directions to help cultivate the strength of character that this verse commends. Let me end with this one though: keep on confessing your sins
You are going to fail. You are going to become irritated. You are going to yell. You are going to roll your eyes and sigh. You are going to give that gesture when that person cuts in front of you on the highway. After you do though, remember to confess your sin. There is nothing more humiliating than having to go to someone and say, “I’m sorry for acting like a fool there. I shouldn’t have left the room or slammed the door like that.”

There are many benefits to this. Asking for their forgiveness though is good simply for the fact that by it you have to face up to you sin and the people who were affected by it. Usually people will walk away from ground zero and try to forget about it. But when you confess your sins to those you affected and to the Lord you are forced to look at how ugly it is. And when you see it for what it is, you will begin to dislike it more and more. And as a result, you begin to avoid it more and more.

Conclusion:
Certainly, we could say a lot more about this subject. There were many more things that I wanted to say, but I don’t know that I can. What is perhaps needed is just the reminder that the volcanic spirit is something that the Lord does not delight in. It doesn’t matter if you are the kind of person who erupts violently and then is done, or the kind that lets the lava burn long and hot below the surface, we must remember that all such hatred is of the devil. We must make it our aim to put off such characteristics and put on a spirit of tranquility.

When you buy a box of matches, sometimes you will get one that will not light. No matter how many times you strike it, it simply will not ignite. That should be the type of character for which we aim. God commends the one who will not let the fires of passion become ignited easily. In God’s eyes the greatest of men is the calmest of men. So let us lay siege to our hearts and beg Christ to storm the citadels of anger within us that our hearts might be subdued by his grace.

Forgiveness is Divine

2009-11-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

King George IV, wishing to take the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, once sent for the Bishop of Winchester so that he could administer it. The messenger who was sent to fetch him dawdled about and did not execute his work with haste as he should have. As a result, considerable time elapsed before the bishop arrived. This of course was to the great irritation of the king. When the bishop arrived, the king complained and inquired as to the delay. Having found out the cause the king commanded that the messenger be brought in. On entering the room he rebuked the delinquent messenger sharply and then dismissed him from his service.

When the scolding was complete the King turned to the bishop and asked him to commence with the ceremony. But the bishop would not. Mildly, yet with great firmness, he refused to administer the sacrament while any irritation or anger toward a fellow creature remained in the mind of the king. Recollecting himself the King said, “My lord, you are right.” He then called the offending person back, and, with great kindness and condensation, forgave him and restored the man to his position.

I don’t know much about King George IV. I don’t know if he was much of a military strategerist or anything of a valiant conqueror. One thing I do know though, he presented in that scene a valor and heroism that is beyond compare. That he could master his own anger and overcome his resentment shows that he is a man of great command.

But what is most glorious about his personal discipline is that he did not just suppress his anger. He didn’t just restrain it. He eliminated it. What’s more, he went so far as to demonstrate the one virtue that stands in direct contrast to anger. The king was able to demonstrate forgiveness.

Last week we talked a lot about anger. We talked a lot about the different forms of anger (such as bitterness and resentment). We talked about some steps that we should take to try and deal with anger. But this morning I want to talk to you about the true end of anger. You cannot say that anger has been really dealt with until you demonstrate a spirit of forgiveness. If you cannot bring yourself to this point, then you show you have not really stamped out the smoldering embers of anger in your heart.

It is one thing to keep yourself from outbursts. I would even say that it is a very good thing that you don’t have fits of passion where you blow up. To demonstrate that kind of control is a great virtue. But ultimately, you cannot be declared a victor over anger until you deal with the residue that still remains in your soul.

I believe that it is very good that we speak about this topic too. We have often talked about relationships, but I’m not sure that we have ever really dealt with forgiveness and what it looks like. We’ve talked a lot about church discipline. But I’m not sure that we ever really considered what we should do if church discipline works.

Throughout this chapter Jesus has been talking about broken relationships and how we are to engage in church discipline. But what is so immensely glorious about our exalted teacher is that he concludes the matter with a discussion of forgiveness. He shows us that it is not enough for one party to be sorry and to demonstrate repentance. The other party must concede as well. No one is allowed to harbor any sour feeling. In the end there must be reconciliation. And for that to occur it must conclude with forgiveness.

When it comes to forgiveness, there are a couple of things that Jesus wants us to keep in mind. I summarize it by saying we need to remember the breadth, height, and depth of forgiveness.
Jesus knows that anger has a tendency to linger. He knows that we are always looking for a reason to prolong our resentment. So He begins this passage by talking about how extensive our forgiveness should be.

I. The breadth of our forgiveness
In our passage Peter comes up to Christ and asks a question about the breadth of forgiveness. He says, “Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother? Seven times? Do you think that’s enough?”

Now the Rabbis at this time said that you should forgive your brother up to 3 times. That was kind of like the common consensus of the time. They said you are obligated to forgive them up to three times, after that you don’t have to forgive them. So Peter probably thinks that he is being really pious here. He probably remembered that Jesus said that your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes. Peter more than doubles the number.

But Jesus says, “Peter, you’re not even close.” Some people debate whether it is seventy seven times or seven times seven (490). I’m not sure that it really matters. The point is that no matter how many times he sins against you—if he comes to you and sincerely repents of what he has done, then you are obligated by God to forgive that person.

What the Lord is saying is that we must possess a generous spirit when it comes to dealing with a repentant person. And I might even go so far as to say that Jesus’ intent is not so much fixed upon that guy who offends you multiple times. I mean, how many times does that really happen? I’m sure it does, but I bet it is typically rare. Typically you don’t need to forgive someone 490 times.

I’m sure that most people don’t deal with repeat offenses all that often. If you do, you typically do something to break the pattern. We say, “OK, we’ve got to do something else.” If a guy keeps putting staples in the wrong way at work, you don’t let him stay on the staple machine. You put him somewhere else.

Repeat offenses are relatively rare. That’s why I think that Jesus is talking more about our readiness to forgive, than the actual number of times we need to forgive someone. I think he is telling us that forgiveness needs to be a way of life for us. In other words, we need to be ready and willing to forgive no matter who it may have offended us or how great the offense may be.

Isn’t that what really tests the breadth of our forgiveness? It isn’t someone who calls us up and says he’s sorry and then later that day does it again. The crucial issue is the hatred we can harbor in our hearts. There are some people that we don’t want to forgive. We like to be angry. We think we are justified in our anger.

Frederick Buechner, in his book Transformed by Thorns, once wrote: “Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king.”

That’s really where we have the most problems, isn’t it? It is not so much forgiving someone for the 70th time that is hard. The greatest challenge lies in forgiving someone for the first time. “But you don’t know what they did to me?” You are right. I don’t, but it doesn’t matter. Even if they had done it to you 100 times, you still must forgive him.

After stating how broad our forgiveness is, Jesus goes on to back it up with a parable. This is what I call the height of our forgiveness. That’s because the parable takes our attention to heaven and God’s forgiveness of us.

II. The height of our forgiveness
The parable has to do with a guy who owes a debt of 10,000 talents. That corresponds to almost a billion dollars. It is an amount that you could never pay back, even if you had multiples lives you could live. And this poor wretch can do nothing other than throw himself at the feet of the king and begs for mercy. He says, “Have mercy on me and I will pay back everything.” That, of course, is a lie. He could never do such a thing—and the king would have known that. He was just giving vent to an overwhelmed heart. It was no matter though. The king, out of his mere good pleasure, decided though to let him go. All was forgiven. Not a penny was held against him.

Jesus then demonstrates how absurd it is that we not forgive others. He compares it to the same servant who goes out and then demands that his debtor pay up. It was an amount of a hundred denarii; equivalent to maybe $50—a pretty insignificant amount by comparison.
Really, that is something we need to consider though. We all want to justify our resentment on the basis of the “offensiveness scale.” We say we have every right to resent them! “Just look what they did! They made me look like a fool.” Or “they left scars with which I still have to deal, even after all these years!”

But if that is the way we act, it just shows that we are not putting it in the context of God’s grace. We are not looking at our own offenses with the right lenses.

Do you recognize how great a sinner you really are in the eyes of God? Throughout the history of CRF I’ve quoted from the Shorter Catechism’s question that deals with the different degrees of sin. Question 83 asks, “Are all sins equally heinous in the eyes of God?” The answer then replies, “Some sins in themselves, or by reason of their several aggravations, are more heinous in the eyes of God than others.” So yes, some sins are worse than others. But we must never forget that every sin is heinous in God’s eyes. And can we even begin to comprehend how infinitely evil each infraction really is in God’s eyes?

God is holy. We say that he is infinitely holy. That is to say, his holiness extends farther than we can even imagine. I actually like what the Westminster Confession says when it talks about God. It says that God is most holy. How can you get more holy than simply holy? You can’t. but to stress the fact that God’s holiness is so incredibly pure, it says that God is most holy. Being that he is that holy, then even the slightest sin becomes utterly detestable.

I’ve used this illustration before. I say if you punch your brother in the nose, that’s not good. But if you were to walk up to one of the elders in our church and do the same thing, that would be 10 times worse. If you were to do it to our president—that I would not recommend, because you could get put in prison; or maybe worse! Now think about God, whose glory excels man’s by infinite measures. How offensive would that same act be?

Think about the very first sin. Adam and Eve at an apple. That’s not a very big thing in the grand scheme of things. Cain murdered Able, now that’s a biggie! But an apple? Come on! But what happened to Adam and Eve? They were cast out of the garden and separated from the bliss of God’s presence. He found that one tiny act so revolting that he had to get immediate separation.

Now when we compare the rest of our sins to that, will we ever really get an idea of how offensive our sins are? Probably not. Yet God wiped them all away.

That’s the context that must guide our forgiveness. That is what we must remember when we are offended. No matter how reprehensible a thing that person done, it is still a petty thing in comparison to what we have perpetrated against God and the grief that we caused Him.
Jesus adds one more thing though that is important to point out. While it is important to remember the breadth and height of our forgiveness, we should not overlook what Jesus says about the depth of our forgiveness.

III. The depth of our forgiveness [23-34]
In verse 35 Jesus says that when we forgive someone we should forgive them “from the heart.”
Have you ever forgiven someone from the lips? That is to say you said, “I forgive you.” But you really didn’t mean it. It didn’t come from the depths of your soul, it only came from the depths of your larynx. You might have spoken the words, but your heart wasn’t in it.

Kids are great at this. When we see them do something to their brother or sister, we get mad at them, and we tell them to say their sorry. So they turn to their brother or sister and say, “I’m sorry.” And we stand there and say to ourselves, is he really repentant? Of course he isn’t. He’s just doing it because he has to do it. He knows that’s what you want to hear, and you won’t get off his case until you do it.

My high school chemistry teacher was great at emphasizing this. He was a guy who you wondered if he had been sniffing hazardous chemicals a little too long anyway. So he was a little quirky. Sometimes he would catch a student chatting in the back of the room while he was trying to lecture. So he would yell at them and tell them to cut it out. Then the guy are girl would say, “I’m sorry.” And he would immediately yell back, “No you’re not!”

And we all know that is often how we are, not only when we are kids, but also when we grow up. We just have had a lot more practice at forgiving people from the lips, so it is a little more concealed. We can put on a little better show; maybe shake their hand or pat them on the back. It is only a stunt though. We only do it to get them to leave us alone. Or we only do it because we know God requires us to do it. So we mouth the words.

But that is all that it is. It is just a mouth full of words. After they walk away, we the embers are still smoldering in our hearts. And we come back from time to time to stoke them. We’ve buried the hatchet, but we left the handled above ground so that we can grab it again anytime we want!
God does not allow that. The only kind of forgiveness that he will accept is a forgiveness that comes from the heart.

Now remember what Jesus said on the cross. He was maliciously treated, and that was just by his friends. But while he was on the cross he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Were those just meaningless words? You know, when you are being crucified, you tend to speak very little. And what you do say is typically only the things that you really think are important and the things that you really mean.

Jesus demonstrated this virtue. When he had every right to be resentful and bitter, he chose to let it go. He forgave those people, and he forgave them from his heart. And He calls us to do the same.

Jesus will not have any external religion. A theologian once said that Christianity is above all a religion of the heart. And Jesus strikes at the heart of the matter. Anger resides in the heart. And if you are going to deal with anger, you must be able to forgive from the heart. You can’t just swallow your anger. You have to be rid of it altogether.

Conclusion:
A story is told about two small girls who had a quarrel. The mother of one of them talked with her daughter and tried to show her the wrong of it and her need to ask God for forgiveness. The two of them then kneeled down to pray. The little girl began, “O God, please forgive me for speaking angrily to Charlotte and for quarreling with her.” So far so good. But then she went on to plead earnestly, “And make Charlotte come to me and ask my forgiveness. O Lord, giver her no rest, by day or night, until she is sorry, and comes and tells me so!”

Obviously, she had not reached the point where she was able to demonstrate true forgiveness.
It is no wonder why they say that forgiveness is divine. To err is human. Anger is one of our chief attributes as sinners. But to demonstrate true forgiveness—one that is as broad and high and deep as Christ requires, this only can be produced in us by the power of God.

Since we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us though, we should make every effort to subdue the spirit of animosity. If we are off on our own and something or somebody continues to aggravate us, it is there that we must call upon God and ask him to help us. We must plead with him and ask him to quite the antagonism that continues to churn within us. But more than that we must ask him to give us a true spirit of forgiveness. For it is only when we are able to pardon that we can raise the flag over the city of our hearts and say that we have conquered our anger.

The Enjoyment of God

2009-11-15T04:23:00.000-08:00

Psalm 73:25-26

An eminent minister had once gathered with some friends for a time of fellowship. After having been silent in their company for a considerable time, someone asked him the reason why he remained so quiet. He responded by saying that he had been absorbed with the thought of eternal happiness. In quite an energetic manner he blurted out, “Oh, my friends, consider what it is to be with the Lord for ever, and ever, and ever.”

Some of us here this morning may find that to be one of the oddest things that has ever been said. I would assume that no one here has ever been so engrossed with God, and I’m sure that some here may find it quite odd.

But you need to understand that this man had pinpointed the heart of Christianity. He was not trying to act pious and put on a “holier than thou” show. No. He was simply daydreaming about the one thing that pleased him the most: his God.

As Americans, we have a wide array of pleasures set before us each day. But because we have so many things that can catch our fancy, it is important that we remember what is to be our primary enjoyment in life.

In our tradition we confess that our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And sometimes I think that we are a bit lopsided. We put a great deal of emphasis on glorifying God, but (I think) we hardly ever consider the fact that we are to enjoy him. We emphasize how important it is to worship him and serve him. But we don’t often talk about the fact that we are to take pleasure in him.

But it is this enjoyment of God that defines a Christian. One who is really a Christian will find that the one thing that makes him most happy is his creator and Redeemer.

That is what we find the Psalmist doing in the verses before us tonight. The Psalmist’s heart explodes as he raises his voice to heaven to express how much he delights in God.

If you are a Christian you should be able to say these words with the Psalmist. You should be able to say that he is all I want, he is all I need, and he is all I’ll ever have.

Look at the words the Psalmist uses to express his delight in God. The first thing he says is found in verse 23. He says, “Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire but thee.”

Basically he is saying, “God, you are the only thing I want.”

I. “You are all I want” [25]
And he says it in two ways. He says I want God more than anything in heaven and more than anything that can be found on earth.

No doubt you’ve been hearing a lot about Islam lately. If you haven’t done any study in Islam, you probably don’t know anything about the religion. CNN isn’t going to give you an accurate picture of what it believes.

But one of the beliefs of the Islam faith is that when an Islamic man dies he goes to heaven and Allah blesses him with all the wine and women he desires. So he gets to indulge all his carnal desires in heaven. That’s the glory of heaven for Islam. That’s why all those guys are willing to blow themselves up. They believe that by doing that that will please Allah, and as a result Allah will give them all those things.

But if you think about it, just for a moment, you’ll see that that is so carnal. Really, in the end, Allah is nothing more than a pimp. Heaven, in this view, becomes nothing more than a giant whore house.

Now I don’t know if there is anyone who may be friendly to the Islam faith here. My aim is not to offend. I really just want to point out the difference between Christianity and Islam. My greatest desire cannot be contained in a bottle. My greatest yearning cannot be confined to a bedroom. My greatest desire cannot even be contained in heaven! A Christian greatest pleasure is not fleshly in its orientation. A Christian’s greatest pleasure is God! He is all I want! “Whom have I in heaven but you.”

Heaven is not really all that glorious to a Christian in and of itself. It’s a place of splendor, for sure. But what makes it splendid is that God is there!

Imagine going to heaven. If you are a Christian, you get to the gates and they are opened to you. You run right in. As you come through the gates you are met with the splendor of the edifices. The buildings are made of gold and gems, and they rise up like skyscrapers. But you take no notice of them. You simply start running down the road.

As you are running you come to a corner where there is an angelic choir is singing. Their as bright as the sun and their voices ring out in such a majestic style—of the likes you have never heard—it’s glorious! But you don’t even pay attention to it because you are looking for something else.

Then you see an old friend of yours. You remember when he died and how it felt like a piece of heart was just torn way from your soul. You remember how you were torn up about it and how you missed them for so long. But now you don’t even stop to say hello. You barely blurt out a “hey,” because you are so caught up with one thing. You want to find Jesus.

Of course, that’s not how its going to be. You won’t have to search for him. He’s going to be right there. But I use that as a descriptive example. It’s what Charles Spurgeon means when he says “A Christian will ransack heaven until he finds Christ.” Heaven wouldn’t be heaven without God there. Even with all its outward splendor, Heaven would be a wasteland if God were not there.

Jonathan Edwards was one of America’s most famous theologians. He expressed it well when he preached a sermon on this verse. He said this: “If heaven were empty of God, it would indeed be a melancholy place. All creaturely enjoyments cannot satisfy the soul; and nothing will content them but God. Offer a saint what you will, but if you deny him god, he will esteem himself miserable.”

Offer him anything on earth, and he will reject it if it means rejecting his God. Ship in treasures from India and they will be turn aside by a godly person. Give him fame and he will turn it down.

Some of you may have seen the new game show “Deal or no Deal.” If you make it far enough you come down to two briefcases—you have one and the dealer has one. You can choose to trade yours in for the other if you want. Someone could play that game with you: They could say I have 1 bizillion dollars here and over here I have a life with God. Which do you want?
As a matter of fact this is exactly what happened with Jesus Christ. Satan came to Christ and offered him all the kingdoms of the world. The only hitch was if Christ would fall down and worship him. Christ said, “No deal.” And because of his desire for the true and living God, we through him may be able to say: “There is none on earth that I desire besides you.” For a godly man the answer is obvious, “Nothing is going to make me happy except my God.”

But a godly man not only says “he’s all I want.” He also says, “He’s all I need.”

II. “You are all I need” [26a]
Look at what the Psalmist says next (verse 26). “My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart.”

Everyone here has faced that wretched catastrophe of having your computer crash on you. You know how it is. You are going along quite happily—you’ve got your term paper almost finished—and bam! It crashes. Of course, your brain has been in the groove so you haven’t stopped to save your work. You’ve lost everything. All you have is a blank screen.

That’s what the Psalmist is saying here. Our lives are like a computer in that way. There is going to come a point where we just shut down. Our flesh and our hearts will fail.

The other day as I was working a screwdriver fell out of my hands. And for a few seconds I just sat and looked at it lying on the floor. I had something of a contemplative moment. You may say, “What’s the big deal, you dropped a screwdriver?” Well, it was the 15,000th time I dropped that screwdriver! I realized that my hands just are not as nimble as they used to me.

And that reminded me of Carlos. Carlos was an elderly man that my wife and I used to visit when we were in college. Carlos was 90 years old and he lived in a nursing home. He lived there because of his poor health. But one of his biggest problems was that his hands didn’t function properly. He really couldn’t move his fingers, and he could just barely move his thumbs. If he wanted to pick something up he could only do it by squeezing his thumb against his index knuckle. I remember he called them his clubs. If he would drop something he would ask us to pick it up for him. “I got club hands,” is what he would say.

He was 90 at the time, and I’m sure, that he has since passed away.

The flesh and the heart will fail. We can try to elude it. We can get our exercise and eat right. We can take advantage of all our medical advancements. But someday death will creep up on us.

In the book Don Quixote, Quixote’s sidekick says, “When death comes knocking at the door she is always in a hurry and nothing will stop her, not prayer or struggles nor scepters or miters.” True words indeed.

Psychologists are known to say that we have a few basic needs in life. They say that there are some things that are non-negotiable when it comes to sustaining life. They list things like love, food, & shelter. But a Christian knows that those are not one’s basic needs. Yeah, they are important. But a Christian knows that even if you have those, you’re still going to die at some point.

Our basic need does not consist in earthly entities. Our basic need is God. And the Christian realizes this. He says with the Psalmist, “My flesh and my heart may fail, nut God is the strength of my heart.”

The word for strength here literally means “rock” or “cliff.” And big boulders or mountains are not known to be things that simply break down and disappear. No, but they give support and refuge. And the Christian says, “God is what supports me.” The Christian knows Christ’s words where he says in the gospel of John, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

Remember where Jesus was when he said that. He was standing there with Mary. Just days earlier she had lost her brother Lazarus. He had died and now they were mourning their loss. And in the midst of their grief Jesus says to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” And Jesus said, “Mary, do you believe this?” Do believe that I am all that you need?

Part of the reason I enjoy my wife is because she takes care of me so much. Some people say when they introduce their wife, “This is my better half.” When I introduce her I say, “This is my better three-quarters.” She makes my life live-able. I am able to survive in life because she is around. In other words, I enjoy her because I need her.

The same is true when it comes to God. Our enjoyment of God is partially found in how much we need him.

The spirit of a godly man says, “God, you are all I want” and “you are all I need.” But he will also confess that God is all he is going to have.

III. “You are all I’m going to have” [26b]
In the last part of verse 26 the Psalmist says that God is his “portion forever.” You might not understand that. I know I didn’t when I first read it. We don’t usually talk like that. A portion is like an inheritance or an allotment. When you are sitting at the dinner table you may say, “May I have a portion?” And what you mean is that you want a part of that dessert or of that meatloaf.

In the ancient times one’s inheritance was called “their portion.” So the Psalmist is saying that God is his inheritance. He is the allotment that the psalmist is going to receive. God is what he’s going to get.

And he’s happy about that! He sounds excited. He’s not saying that he’s getting the short side of the stick or getting stuck with a lemon. No. He can’t wait until the time comes when he finally and fully inherits his God.

If you are familiar with the Bible you may know something about the Levites. The Levites were a tribe of Israel in the Old Testament. And when God brought his people into the promised land, each tribe was supposed to get a portion. The tribe of Judah got a lot of land in the south. That was their portion. The tribe of Ephraim got a portion in the middle. The tribe of Naphtali got a spot in the north and so on. But the Levites didn’t get any land. They were the priests and temple servants. They were to be spread throughout all the other tribes. They were charged with the duty of teaching the people and taking care of all the holy things. God basically said to them, “You are not to have anything in this earth, because I am your portion.”

And, I don’t know this for sure, but I would assume that every faithful Israelite was jealous of them. When they saw those Levites standing in the temple and they realized that all they got to do all day and all night was worship God, those people from Judah or Ephraim would be so jealous. Because every one of God’s people wants to be so close to God.

As a Christian we confess what was symbolized in those Levites. When our lives are done, when our flesh and our hearts finally do fail, we receive the greatest 401k package ever.

John Janeway was once around a group of people who had predicted that Christ would come again on a specific day. And they were doomsday say-ers too. Their talk of Christ’s coming was only to note its gloom and terror. Janeway knew they were acting foolishly to even attempt to assign a date, but he decided to play along. "What then?" said he; "what if the day of judgment were come? If I were sure the Day of Judgment were to come within an hour. I should be glad with all my heart. If at this very instant, I should hear such thundering, and see such lightning, as Israel did at Mount Sinai, I am persuaded my very heart would leap for joy…The thought of the certainty and nearness of it is more refreshing to me than all the comforts of the whole world."

Those are the words who delights in God. Those are the words of a man who finds God to be his portion.

Some people dream of getting that boat or that car or that house. They say, “Someday, I’m gonna have it.” And all their life they seek to obtain the object of their desires. They may be so dedicated to it that they work overtime here and there. They save up every dollar they can until they finally have the money in hand. Then they run off to purchase the thing they had been longing for. When they get it, they enjoy it. They drive out of the lot with a big smile on their faces. They inhale that new car smell like they are breathing in mama’s home cooking. But sooner or later the toy loses its thrill.

You know how that happens, don’t you. After a while, the thing loses its novelty and all you have left are the payments.

You may have a portion in this world. Something may catch your fancy for a while, but you will only enjoy it for a limited time. It might be a few days, or a few months, or if it’s really special it may give you pleasure for a few years. But its glory will fade, and its pleasure will evaporate.

But not so with the Lord. He “is my portion forever.” Long after the world has been burned up in a flame, I will be found relishing Christ. And anyone else who has put their trust in him as his Savior will be doing the same.

Conclusion:
There was a fellow who lived in England. At one time he decided to pay a visit to an aunt, who lived in London. As he visited with his aunt he became quite fond of the city life and indulged himself in all the pleasures of the city life. As a result of his licentious living he incurred a significant debt. Because the debt was so big he determined to leave his native country, and seek his fortune in America. Soon after his arrival, he began to earn a living by teaching in a school in New Jersey. For some time engaged in this business, without any practical sense of religion.

But one evening he was riding at a late hour and the moon and stars shone above him with an unusual brightness. As he gazed on the beauty and grandeur of the scene, he began to think to himself, “how transcendentally glorious must be the Author of all this beauty and grandeur.” But then the thought struck him with the suddenness and force of lightning—'But what do I know of this God? Have I ever sought His favor, or made Him my friend?' This happy impression, never left him until he took refuge in Christ.

This man learned that there is nothing in this world will satisfy your soul. You may try to find your happiness in all sorts of pleasures, but you will find that they only empty your pocketbook and leave you feeling empty yourself.

It is only when the Lord Jesus Christ becomes your chief pleasure that you will find true satisfaction. And when you truly turn to Christ as the Supreme Savior and the Lord of all, you will gladly confess that he is all you want, he is all you need, and all you want to get.

The Question of Divorce: Is Breaking Up Permissible to Do?

2009-11-08T10:50:00.000-08:00

1 Corinthians 7:10-16

As we begin today’s message I have to confess to you that I enter into it with a bit of trepidation. It is not because I am afraid to speak on it. Certainly I am not. I know that it is one of the most needed teachings of the church today. My unease flows from the fact that I just don’t like it.

Today we are looking at the topic of divorce and whether or not it is permissible for a Christian to seek one. And I admit that I don’t like having to think about such things. I’m at least glad that I’m in good company. For the Lord himself says in Malachi 2, “I hate divorce.”

But, again, this is a topic that requires our attention, particularly for our day in age when so many marriages today are ending in divorce. The statistics say that about half of today’s marriages end in divorce. What is particularly sad though is that the church’s ratio is not that much different from that of the world.

Obviously then we need a message like this from time to time. Even if all of our marriages remain strong, it is good to hear the word of God on this matter. That is because we are all going to have some contact with the issue. Most likely we all will know multiple people who are currently pursuing a divorce or will get one in the near future. So it is good for us to have a solid understanding so that we can rightly counsel those who might confide in us that they are having marital difficulties.

In the passage before us we have some of the clearest teaching on the issue of divorce in all of Scripture. I have to say that in studying the passage over the week I have found myself marveling at how the Apostle dissects the question with nothing other than divine expertise. In determining whether or not it is permissible to divorce, Paul says, “It depends upon your situation.” The verses that are before us outline three different scenarios, covering pretty much every possible situation one could find himself or herself in. The first situation he addresses is that of two believers who are married.

I. Marriage between two believers [10-11]
The question is, “If I am a believer and I am married to another person in the church, am I allowed to get divorced? In answer to this question Paul says absolutely not. “To the married,” Paul says, “I give this charge, (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband… and the husband should not divorce his wife.”

You might even say that he appeals to a higher authority to make his case. He appeals to the direct teaching of Jesus (that’s what he means when he says “not I, but the Lord”). That is to say, when Jesus was on earth, he instructed his disciples precisely on this matter. We read one of these instances earlier in first Scripture reading (Matthew 19, clf Matt. 5, Mrk 10:1f). The religious teachers came to Jesus and asked him if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife. Jesus responded by saying, “No. God created them male and female and his design is that they cleave to one another and become one flesh.”

Jesus says clearly that divorce is wrong, and the only grounds a Christian couple has for divorce is adultery.

And I want to emphasize that. Among two people who are Christians there is to be no divorce. Zip. Zero. None. It is not an option. Barring the exception that Christ gives, Christians are not permitted to get divorced.

Paul even takes things one step further. He says in verse 11 that if you are separated from your spouse, you need to remain single. In other words, you need to hold out the possibility of reconciliation. You need to be praying for your spouse (or your ex spouse as the case may be) and the church needs to be working with the couple so that the marriage may be repaired.

Some commentators have put it this way: If a Christian couple gets divorced, they may be divorced in the eyes of the government or society. But in the eyes of God they are still married. Legally it might be void, but ultimately the union still exists—the two are still one. And because God holds that relationship dear, every means needs to be exhausted in order to see that relationship restored to its proper state and reflects the divine reality.

Now I should probably add a footnote here. There is an exception that the church has typically taken on this point of remarriage. There have been some who have said that you may by no means remarry at all. But throughout her history the church has said that if one of the parties rejects the other to the point where they remarry, then the other party is allowed to remarry. I know that sounds like lawyer-eese. You almost have to sound that way in circumstances like this. But what I’m saying is that if one person remarries, the former spouse doesn’t have to remain single anymore. We do not want to go and break up another marriage in the name of reconciling the first.

I could give you further biblical testimony for that if you want it. I don’t know that it is necessary to do right now. If you want it, come and talk to me about it and I’ll try and fill you in further.

What’s more important is that we reiterate Paul’s point: For Christians there are no “irreconcilable differences.” There might be stubborn sinners, but there are no irreconcilable differences. God has created one man for one woman. They are to come together in the bond of holy matrimony: to have and to hold, for richer and for poorer, as long as they both shall live. That means they need to work out their problems. They need to seek help, get counsel, and strive to maintain their marriage.

I’m not going to give an overly romantic view of marriage. Marriage is wonderful. It is great when you order it the way the Bible tells you to. But let’s be real. At times it can be tough. A lot of issues can come up and put a lot of strain on a couple. Nevertheless, Christians are called to work it out. They are called to seek reconciliation. That means possessing a spirit of repentance and selfless love.

Over in Ephesians Paul says that the marriage bond is a picture of Christ and the church. Now, that alone should be enough to remind us how sacred the bond is of marriage and how we should aim to preserve it with all our might. And we should all make that our highest aim if we are Christians.

Now, I know what you are probably thinking. You are thinking about all the “what if’s.” What if this… What if that…? You are probably thinking of the classic one: What if the husband is beating the wife? Can she get divorced? Is that grounds enough? Well, I’m going to put a little suspense in the sermon. I’m going to deal with that in just a second. Let it be enough for now to say, that for two believers, divorce is not an option—except of course on the grounds of marital infidelity as Jesus said.

Alright? Let’s move to the second scenario with which Paul deals. In verses 12-14 Paul deals with someone who is married to what is called a consenting unbeliever. That is to say this person is not a Christian, but is willing to continue being married to you.

II. Marriage to a consenting unbeliever [12-14]
Now you can understand why the Corinthians were asking about this. It is a question a lot of people probably have today. The reasoning goes like this: I became a Christian, but my spouse hasn’t. Now what do I do? I know that Christ doesn’t want me to be unequally yoked. So a person would probably suppose that Christ doesn’t want him to defile himself by continuing in this relationship.

What does Paul say regarding this? In verse 12 it is clear that he says, no, divorce is still not an option. He says, if your spouse consents to live with you, then you should remain married.

Now, just a clarification here before we go any further. In verse 12 Paul says, “To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord.)” You need to be clear what he means. Some people have said that this is Paul’s way of saying that this is something that is not inspired. They say that it is more Paul’s pious advice or a suggestion and not directly from the Holy Spirit.

That’s not what it means though. Paul is just stating that this is not something that Jesus spoke about during his earthly ministry. We know what Jesus said about divorce. We can look it up. But Jesus never commented on this kind of situation—of being unequally yoked. So Paul is now addressing something new, and doing so with the full weight of apostolic authority. So yes, this is inspired teaching. This is not some second class Scripture. It is just as authoritative as the previous verses.

Paul is just saying that since Jesus never said anything about it, I now, as his apostolic messenger, am going to tell you what you need to do. And what is it they need to do? He says that they need to remain married. As long as your unbelieving mate is willing to tolerate your new religion, you are free to remain married.

Then he goes on to explain why. He says that the unbelieving spouse is “made holy” or “sanctified” or “set apart” because of the marriage to the believer. Now, again, we need to clarify. This does not mean that the unbelieving spouse is saved. No one can get into heaven by piggy-backing on someone else’s faith. Everyone is responsible to look to Jesus Christ with his own faith.

When it says that they are set made holy it simply means that they are set apart. You remember that in the OT Israel was a nation that was holy to the Lord. Did that mean that everyone in the nation of Israel was going to be saved? No. It just meant that God had chosen this nation and had set them apart from all the other nations of the earth. Israel was different from all the other nations because they stood in a special relationship to God. God blessed them and gave them privileges that the rest of the world did not receive.

That’s the same idea here. If you are married to an unbeliever that person now is set apart. He or she stands in a unique relationship with God where they receive special blessings and privileges because of their union to you.

The same goes for the children of such a marriage. This is one of the reasons why we baptize our children: Because these children stand in a unique relationship to the Lord and get to receive special blessings and privileges that the rest of the world does not receive.

This isn’t a sermon on baptism though. So if you want to talk that one over some more, we will have to get together for a cup of coffee. This is a sermon on divorce and whether or not it is permissible. And in this case, if you happen to be married to an unbeliever, the answer is no. You have the responsibility to go on loving that person and rejoicing in the bond God has established between you.

That brings us to the last scenario. What if you are married to an unbeliever who does not consent to live with you?

III. Marriage to an unbeliever who wants out [15-16]
Paul’s words here are just as clear as the above cases. Look at verse 15. “If the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved.”

When Paul says that you are not enslaved, that’s just his way of saying that there is nothing that requires you to hold on to this person. If he or she wants to leave you, then you should let them do so. And while you may certainly hold out the possibility of being reconciled to them, you do not have to do so. In this case, you are free to remarry if you choose to do so.

The reason why this is so is because “God has called [us] to peace.” In other words, we don’t want to make this person any more agitated than they already are. Obviously, if they want to leave, they’ve got some serious issues with which they are dealing. Most likely they are pretty torn up inside. So we shouldn’t fight it or make them work it out. That would only add fuel to the fire. The peaceful thing to do in that situation is to just let them go.

I think that is also why Paul goes on to say, “How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?” You can imagine someone saying, “If I let them go, then how will they ever be saved.” It is sort of a warped understanding of Peter’s words in 1 Peter. Peter tells the wives to submit to their unbelieving husbands so that they might win them over to the Lord. Now the Corinthians are saying, “If I get divorced, there may be no hope for them!” But Paul says, you don’t know if God will save them or not. We have to remember that God’s grace isn’t dependent upon us. If it is his will to bring them into an estate of salvation, then he will do it. He doesn’t need us one way or the other.

So that is the summation of being married to an unbeliever who wants to leave the marriage. Sometimes you will hear people talking about divorce on “the grounds of desertion.” That notion comes from this passage.

Now, you’ve been wondering about being married to someone who treats you maliciously. Let’s say that when you were married, both of you were faithful members of the church. Later on though, things started going south. Things progress to the point of serious emotional and physical pain. The question is, “Is that enough to warrant a divorce?”

Well, first let me say that every situation needs to be dealt with individually. The wife or the husband needs to take counsel with the elders of the church, and they need to work through these issues with the wisdom of their spiritual leaders. You need to recognize that no one has the right to up and make the decision by themselves. I know that’s the way things are typically done today. But that’s too caviler, and it is not permitted.

What you should do if you are in that kind of situation is go to the church and have the leadership get involved. If your spouse is mistreating you, this is something that calls for church discipline. If this person is a true believer, he or she will respond to the correction that Christ administers. If that person continues in his rebellion, it may come to the point where he or she is excommunicated. If that happens, then this person may be treated like an unbeliever.

It is at this point that the church has typically said that you are permitted sue out a divorce. This person is not to be considered a consenting unbeliever either. They may be willing to live with you and keep the same house, but you are not obligated to stay if your welfare is in serious jeopardy. They may be personally present, but they have disserted you and forsaken the vows that they took when they married you. If they just want you to be their slave: cook their meals, clean their clothes, and provide them with physical relief, that is not marriage. They have disserted you as a husband or wife, and you are no longer bound to that situation.

I know that there are people out there who object to this viewpoint. But this has been the majority interpretation throughout the history of the church. I did clarify too that each situation needs to be addressed individually. And I did say that this needs to be done only after the long and careful process of church discipline has been enacted. This is not something that we do overnight or do very lightly. But this is what the church has historically said. And sadly, it does happen from time to time.

Conclusion:
You know, we sometimes talk about “the solemnization of marriage.” That is to say, marriage is not something that we enter upon lightly and without much forethought. And when two people come together to be married we have a ceremony that recognizes the gravity of what is about to transpire as the two take their vows before God.

Well, we can say the same thing about divorce. We are living in a time when people up and leave a marriage without much forethought. Contrary to what the pop song has said, “breaking up is easy to do.” But we should remember that divorce is not something that we should enter into lightly. Even talk of such things should be carefully handled. For to joke about it trivializes it and does damage to the solemnity of the marriage bond.

Nevertheless, we do recognize that there are some cases where divorce is permitted. I would also say that on the basis of what the Lord says in verses 15-16, it is sometimes required. But this shows you just how messy divorce is and how hard our hearts can be. God hates divorce, yet he must make exceptions to even require it in some instances.

And it is because divorce regularly happens that we need to remember, not just how stern God is, but as well we must remember how gracious and forgiving he is.

You know that we are never to presume upon God’s grace. That is to say, “Well, I know God will forgive me, so I’ll get the divorce.” You know that’s not right. But for people who are in that position or once were in such a place, we have to remember that Christ died for this too. His blood covers the sin and cleanses the soul. And we shouldn’t forget that. Grace is there to be received; forgiveness is given to those who look to Christ.

You may even remember that God once divorced his people. He sent them away because they went and played the harlot with other nations and other gods. But he didn’t leave them completely. He came to them again and renewed his relationship with them.

So too we must remember that God renews his love for us. Despite our sins—whether we break up a marriage, or just beat up a marriage with our selfishness and foolishness—he continues to pour out his grace. We need only to receive it and renew our love for the Lord.

Truly this is the best remedy for broken people, let along broken marriages. We must all look to the Lord our God and remember that it is by his love that our lives may be prolonged and our relationships sustained.

The Spirituality of Sexual Intimacy: The Reformed View of Sex

2009-11-01T04:54:00.000-08:00

1 Corinthians 7:1-9

Recently I had a conversation with a pastor who had done a series of sermons on sex. I told him that I’ve talked with a number of people in his congregation about it and I told them that they were really enjoying the messages and finding them quite insightful. I told him because I wanted to just pass on a word of encouragement and let him know that what he was doing was a great thing.

I could tell he was grateful for the vote of confidence, but his response to me was somewhat interesting. He said, “Yeah, well. It has taken me long enough to talk about it.” (He has been in the ministry for a number of years now).

I thought, “Boy, I tackled that one in the first year and a half of my ministry!” We had a number of sermons on it when we were going through the book of Proverbs. And here we are, only 5 years into the life of our church and we are hitting it again pretty in depth!

You know, this is just one example of how the church needs a healthy balance. For a long time this was an issue that people didn’t speak about in the church. It is sad too, because our culture is so oversexed that we need solid biblical teaching on the matter. In fact, much of our ills today come from a lack of emphasis on the proper notion of sexual intimacy.

Today is Reformation Sunday and you know, this is a great topic for it. We need to think like Reformed Christians on the topic of the marriage bond.

Since it is Reformation Sunday, it is only proper that we begin with a quote from Luther, isn’t it? Luther once said the church can often be like a drunk that tries to mount a horse. You can understand the analogy that he uses when you imagine it. Here you have the inebriated fellow putting his foot in the stirrup and hoisting himself up. But because of he is so intoxicated he fails to maintain the proper balance. So what happens is that his momentum takes him flailing over the other side and down to the ground with a thud.

Luther says that this is a picture of the church. One moment she is on one side of the horse, involved in some extreme practices. Then she reacts and strives for reformation. But the balance is lost. Her momentum only causes her to topple over the horse and land in another extreme.

This is exactly what we’ve experienced with the notion of Christians and intercourse. For a long time, such teaching was repressed and seen as taboo. But what has happened? The church has had a knee jerk reaction. Things are now at the other extreme. Immorality is at high tide.

The church is always in danger of extremism. And certainly it was the case here in Corinth. For the last couple of weeks we have been dealing with the issue of purity when it comes to sexual relations. We’ve seen & heard that the Corinthian culture was a cesspool when it came to such things. It was a debauched society, and the church wasn’t much different. But in the midst of all the immorality there, there arose a group that went to the opposite extreme. And that’s what we see in this passage.

As you see from the first verse Paul begins to address some questions the Corinthians had posed to him. They wanted some clarification on the matter of celibacy. Apparently people were beginning to think that abstaining from sex was a greater form of spirituality. You can see how it works, “Sexual immorality is a terrible problem here. So let us be gone with it altogether!”

Really, we need this teaching. This is a great teaching for our day because we are at a place where we can be in danger of doing that knee jerk reaction, and many people within Christian circles already have. So it is good for us to initiate a reformation on the topic and consider the spirituality of sexual gratification. I want us to think about the Reformed view of sex.

The first thing that I want us to talk about is our sexual orientation.

I. Our sexual orientation [1-2, 6-9]
Now I recognize that when you use the word “sexual orientation” today it has to do with whether a person is a homosexual or heterosexual. That’s not what I’m talking about though. We all know that homosexuality is wrong. Paul just mentioned it in the previous verses.

When I say sexual orientation I am talking about how we are divinely oriented towards sexual intimacy. That is to say, God has worked into our system the natural desire for sexual fulfillment.

Paul brings this out a number of times throughout this passage. Look at the first verse. He says, “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.”

Now a lot of people have taken this verse the wrong way. They say that Paul is here pushing the single lifestyle because he says it is good. That is to twist what Paul is saying though. Paul is not saying that the single life is good in that it is a higher spiritual life or better than being married. He is saying that if you are able to do it that’s fine—i.e. if you have the gift, it is not wrong for you to remain in that state. However, that’s not the norm!

Paul is saying that typically, people who are single struggle with sexual temptation. Why is that? It is because they have hormones! And from whence came those hormones? The answer is that they came from God. That’s the way he created us! He has planted within us that desire—he gave us that orientation that longs for that intimacy. So, when you reach a certain age, you start to have those cravings.

And Paul points out that’s why God created marriage. It is because those desires that he gave you are so strong. Moreover God wants you to fulfill those desires in a way that brings you the most pleasure. That’s why Paul says at the end, if you can’t control yourself, get married. It is better to marry than to burn. God doesn’t want you to suffer. He gave you those desires for your greater happiness.

Do you hear what I’m saying here? True spirituality is not consist in thinking that these desires are sinful and pleading with God to take these desires away. God has given us sexual desires. A person is not to be considered a monster when they have these yearnings.

Too often I have heard Christians talk about how we shouldn’t even have the desire for sexual intimacy until we are married and if we do then that young person is sinning. And this has lead to too many of our young people becoming mixed up and living in so much frustration

To say such a thing is not true. To say that that we shouldn’t even have those feelings is to devote the good things of God to the devil. I’m serious, that kind of notion give the devil a creative power that he doesn’t really possess. It is to say that somehow Satan zapped us and planted those desires in us so that he could tempt us and torment us. That can’t be true though. Satan doesn’t have that power. He can’t create anything. He can only tempt us to twist or abuse the good things that God has created.

Do you remember what happened after God created Eve? Do you remember what happened when she and Adam met? Adam didn’t go up and shake her hand and say, “Hi I’m Adam. Nice to meet you. Can you help me change the oil in the tractor?” No! Adam was immediately spell bound when he laid eyes on her. The tractor was the last thing on his mind. As a matter of fact, he sang a song: “This is at last bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!” Why do you think he said, “This is at last”? It was because he was very happy to see her! Evidently, he was longing for some deeper companionship that he couldn’t get from the rest of the animals.

Now don’t think that I am saying that Adam was lusting. Of course he wasn’t. He was still in his upright state. The desires he had were pure and they were good because that’s the way God had made them. That same orientation has continued on down to today.

So we all need to recognize that God has given us an orientation towards sexual intimacy. He was the one who built those passions into our system. That’s why he says that every man should have his girl and every woman his guy, unless he has the gift—that is the gift of celibacy as mentions in verse 6.

I don’t know if I need to mention or not that this is why the Roman Catholic Church has so many problems with its clergy. There are so many pedophiles and perverts there because they make their priests take a vow of celibacy. But that’s a vow top which they cannot live up. To even take the vow is to defy our divine design. It is to open the door to all kinds of sexual immorality.
They think they are being so spiritual though, don’t they? I’m going to be married to the church and I am therefore renouncing all women. That’s not spiritual. That is unspiritual.

If you don’t mind me doing so, I’ll quote from Martin Luther again. Luther said that true holiness consists in taking up your daily duties before God. He said there is nothing more holy than a man who digs a ditch, a woman who changes a diaper, or a young couple who engages in sexual intercourse.

Why did he think that? It is because those are the kinds of things that please God. God is pleased when we start thinking this way. Or perhaps a better way to say it is, “God is pleased when we start acting this way.” Because he has created us to be sexually oriented creatures and he has created marriage for the gratification of the desires he has placed in us.

Being that we are on the topic we can easily transition to our second point. Now that we’ve talked about our orientation towards sexual intimacy, we can talk about our obligations regarding sexual intimacy.

II. Our obligations regarding sexual intimacy [3-5]
Paul is very direct here. He tells us that if and when we get married, we are duty bound to satisfy the desires our spouse. Look at what he says. In verse 3 he says, “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights,” and vice versa. And he even gives the reason, “you body is not your own.” As Alistair Beg says, when you get married, your spouse becomes an equal shareholder!

Then he goes on to reiterate what he has just said with even stronger language. He says, “Do not deprive one another.” There is to be no withholding going on, unless it is agreed upon. And even then, Paul limits how long you should abstain. It should be for a limited time, he says! And as soon as the time is up, you should come together again.

A lot of people think that the puritans were a bunch of prudes. But that is not true though. The puritans had a very high view of sex, and they did a good job of teaching on this subject—to the point where most of us would blush. They preached that a husband and wife were to keep the marriage bed hot. That was the title of an actual sermon in those days! “Keep the marriage bed hot!” They took the subject seriously.

In a sermon on this topic one puritan said that our spouse is to be considered “a playfellow who has come to make our age merry.” Think about that! A play fellow!

All this is to say that the puritans understood the reformed view of sex and they emphasized the fact that we are divinely obligated to be not just husbands and wives, but lovers of the most erotic type. As a matter of fact, there is one instance recorded where a man was put under church discipline because he was not attempting to gratify the physical desires of his wife! I would also go so far as to say that if your spouse is not providing for you, you may have the right to divorce. That would be the grounds of sexual immorality and desertion.

But why would they put a man under discipline for such matters? It is because they understood this teaching right here. They understood that God commands us to keep the marriage bed hot. And if there is one thing that we need today it is a red hot Reformed understanding of intimate love.

Do you know why there is so much infidelity today? There are a lot of reasons, but part of it is because people are not obeying what God says here. A man or a woman are not having their desires satisfied. As a result, they are looking to other places to find that gratification. It is as Calvin said in his commentary; the remedy for fornication is a right teaching regarding the marriage.

As I said, there are a lot of other factors, but that is one. Let’s just pose a scenario. Think about it this way. A man and a woman get married. Rather than following the Biblical ideal, the woman takes a job. She wants to find her fulfillment in her occupation and the newlywed couple can earn a lot of money. Already you see that their priorities are not right.

So each morning the two wake up, make their lunches together, and then they head out for work. After 9 hours of being on the job they come home. Then they have the rest of the day together. The first few years go along just fine. They are happy and they end up having a couple of kids together. But that’s when life starts getting rough. Now, after a long day at work—dealing with the hassles of a grumpy boss and grouchy clients—the couple comes home to two incredibly demanding kids. Both are already exhausted, the wife probably more so because she is the weaker vessel. But they both then have to pour more energy into the kids. After finally getting them calmed down and settled down into bed, they collapse into bed themselves.

All energies for any other sort of extracurricular activities is gone, particularly of the woman.
With a lifestyle like that, it is not going to be long before one is going to start looking to find other wells from which to drink.

That is just one scenario. A million more could be posed. What is important to understand here is that a woman’s focus should be on fulfilling her man’s desires. The man should be focused on being everything that a woman wants.

Your goal as a couple is twofold. We know that God commands us to keep the marriage bed pure. That’s a no brainer. But it should also be our goal to (as the puritans said) to keep the marriage bed hot. As a matter of fact, we keep it pure by keeping it hot.

We make the joke sometimes about people come to church twice a year, on Christmas and Easter. But there are marriages that operate on that principle too. Along comes Valentine’s Day and the anniversary and, well, we got to muster up the strength. You know that I’m exaggerating so some degree here. But you understand what I’m getting at. That can be the mindset we have. But that is sinful. That’s not the way we are to be.

You should ask yourself, “If the thermostat were kept in our bedroom, would that affect the rest of the house?” Now if you answer that question by saying things get pretty cold in that section of your house, there is something very wrong.

Yes, that’s right. It is wrong. It is sin. These are divine commands and if you stand in opposition to them you are rebelling against God. As a matter of fact, I will go so far as to say that if you are a good husband or wife in every other way, yet you do not fulfill these obligations, then you are not a good spouse at all because this is the ultimate expression of love.

If you would, allow me one more quote from Martin Luther. In the book, “A Rhapsody of Love and Spirituality” David Fekete puts outlines Luther’s view of love. And he deals quite a bit with the notion of sex. Luther is quoted as saying this,

Conjugal excels all other forms of love. The love towards one’s spouse burns like a fire and seeks nothing but the person of the spouse. It says, “I do not desire what is yours, I desire neither silver nor gold, I desire neither this nor that; I desire you yourself; I desire you entirely, or not at all. All other love seeks something else than the person of the loved one. Conjugal love alone wants the entire person of the loved one himself.

If you need any more proof, just go and read the book of Song of Songs. There in that book you see to people who are enraptured with each other. Their love finds its fullest expression in their union.

And yes, this passage does find its fulfillment in Christ. The intimacy of the marital union finds a correlation in our union with Christ. Christ said in his high priestly prayer, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." There could be no better expression of closeness or love than that. This is the notion of the two becoming one in its highest sense. There is a oneness and union that is beautiful, and the love of Christ is replicated in the union that we have in the context of the marriage bond.

Conclusion:
So here in lies the essence of true spirituality. True spirituality does not consist simply in sitting in a corner of your house all by yourself with a bible in your lap. It may involve that from time to time. You need also to realize that being off by yourself may sometimes be a direct revolt against true spirituality.

God has ignited within us the fires of passion, and he calls us to let that love bloom and blaze with passionate strength. His design is that we kindle these embers of love by seeking out one with whom we can share these desires and likewise make merry.

Ultimately, the pleasure derived from the Reformed view of sex is triune in nature. We gratify our own God given desires and those desires of our beloved. And ultimately, God himself is pleased. For he delights when his law is obeyed, and he receives the greatest pleasure when his children delight themselves in each other.

Maintaining Sexual Purity in a Sex Crazed Culture

2009-10-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

One of the assignments I have my juniors when I taught high school Bible was to create a pamphlet for tourism. We were studying the missionary journeys of Paul, and I asked them to choose a city and research it. They were then to create a pamphlet that would introduce the city and give an idea of what it was like at the time Paul came to it.

I remember well one of the student’s pamphlets, mainly because it was so vulgar. It made me think that perhaps I should have thought through the assignment a but more thoroughly. He had chosen the city of Corinth. The title on the front of the pamphlet was “The City of Sin!” And when you opened up the flyer, there were some pictures that would not necessarily qualify as pornographic, but were certainly pushing the limits of being in good taste.

While my student’s project was overtly offensive (and lacking tact for a school assignment), I couldn’t help but say that he depicted well the lascivious lifestyle of the Corinthian people. A depiction of the city of Corinth would have to read like an guide to the Hugh Hefner mansion if it was going to be anywhere accurate to the reality

To say that the Corinthians were a promiscuous society would be perhaps the understatement of the century. The lewdness of the city was so notorious across the Roman Empire that the term “to corinthianize” was coined, and it referred to the idea of sexual indulgence or any other sort of corrupt practice.

And it was within this sex crazed culture that a church was born. As is the case at all times, the church had a hard time separating herself from the culture in which she existed. So it would be inevitable that Paul would have to spend a great deal of time outlining the biblical notion of sexuality.

Certainly we find yet another reason why this book is a book for our time. Each of you knows well that I don’t have to spend a lot of time detailing how our contemporary culture shares the addiction to sexual fornication. To see how debauched we are all you have to do is turn on your television or stand in the checkout line at the grocery store.

There is no doubt that churches today need to renew their interests in what the Bible says about the proper boundaries of sex. And we can begin to do so as we look at what the Lord teaches in the passage that is before us this morning.

Paul’s argumentation here is splendid. To combat the sexual immorality that was rampant there in Corinth Paul does two things. First, he attacks the antinomian spirit that the Corinthians had embraced, and then he articulates a theology of the body—something that would have been quite new to them. Being that those two lessons are so very much needed in our day, we will do well to listen to these points.

Now, to maintain sexual purity in our day the first thing we must do is resist the theology of “anything goes.”

I. We must resist the spirit of “anything goes”
One of the greatest problems we have today is what is called “antinomianism.” That’s the belief that we are forgiven in Christ, so we can do anything we want. Oddly enough, this is nothing new. The Corinthians did the same thing. You can see that in verse 12. Paul quotes a motto that was frequently touted throughout the church. The Corinthians were going around saying, “All things are lawful for me.”

What had apparently happened is that the people had heard that they were free in Christ. No doubt Paul would have preached like he did to the Galatians that for freedom Christ has set us free. But they had twisted that idea of liberty. Their mindset had come to believe that when it comes to the Christian life they didn’t need the law anymore.

And this is true of many people today too. This same mantra is used today. But that’s not true. All things are not lawful for us. This is a twisted notion. And we know that it is twisted for at least three reasons. One reason is because it disdains the propriety of the law.

A. disdains the propriety of law,
When we say we are freed from the law, that is a very true statement. But it can be misleading if you do not take it in the right way. When we say that we are free from the law, what we mean is that we are freed from the curse and condemnation of the law. We are free from the punishment that we deserve as lawbreakers because Christ has taken that curse for us. But that does not mean we are freed from the law in its entirety. We cannot cast it off as something that is null and void and completely useless.

Think about a man who has been sent to prison for murder. After he does his time and gets out, is he free go murder again? Of course not. He is still obligated to honor those laws. He’s been freed from law’s condemnation, but its obligation is still in effect.

Christ has set us free from the curse of the law because he has taken that law. However, he has not set us free from the obligation of the law. If anything, he has set us free so that we can begin to obey the law.

Let me put it this way. In the history of the church there have been defined three uses of the law. One use is that it acts as a civil restraint. When people see and hear the law, it restrains them from doing evil. This is why so many people want the law out of public places. They want to be free to do as they please and live a life of sin. If that law is there, they are restricted from doing that.

Another use of the law is that it points out our sin and drives us to Christ. In other words, it shows us that we need a savior. The third use of the law is that is serves to show us how to live as Christians. It is our guide on how we may please God. This third use is what many people forget. The law doesn’t only drive us to Christ. It is there to help us live for Christ.

So we need to watch out for this antinomian spirit. It is twisted because it disregards the propriety of the law. But our passage also shows us that this antinomian spirit attacks the wellbeing of our neighbors.

B. attacks the wellbeing of our neighbor
Paul says, “‘All things are lawful for me’, but not all things are helpful.” Paul is saying, “let’s say for a second that everything is lawful. Even if that were the case, there are still some things that are not helpful. That is to say there are things that are harmful and infringe upon our neighbor’s personal estate.”

We know that this is true of things that are not necessarily wrong in and of themselves. Is there anything wrong with having an alcoholic beverage? Of course not. The Bible permits that. But what if we are drinking a beer in front of a bunch of guys who are former alcoholics, is that wrong? Of course it is. What is permissible isn’t helpful in that situation.

How much more harmful then, are those things that God forbids? This is especially true when it comes to sexual immorality. That’s what we will talk about more deeply in a moment, but it serves well to note it here. Sexual sin is one of the most dangerous sins because of all the damage that it does, be it to yourself or to someone else. We live in a day where sexual sin is thought to be no sin at all and that promiscuity has no repercussions. Just look at the television sitcoms. People hook up and sleep together, and it is portrayed as a wonderful thing. Then the episode ends. It doesn’t show all the consequences that follow: the heartache, the worry, the shame, and all the other ramifications.

This is why the Lord said in the Old Testament, “do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it might go well with you.” What this is saying is the exact opposite. When you don’t follow God, you will find that the all round well being of your neighbor will suffer.

There is one more thing that you should note about this antinomian spirit though. It not only disdains the law and attacks our neighbor. It destroys our liberty.

C. destroys the notion of our liberty
In verse 12 Paul talks about being enslaved. He says that we should never be enslaved by anything. What he is talking about is an addiction. He is talking about something that has come to dominate your life. At one time you may have had a hold on it, but now it has a hold on you.
Some of you might have seen those toy tubes, where you put a finger in each end of the tube. Somehow your fingers get stuck in there, and the more you try to pull, the tighter the grip becomes on your finger.

This is the idea that Paul is talking about here. We can toy around with something for a while. We can think that it is nothing. But we can become trapped in it if we are not careful. Of course, it doesn’t begin all at once. It happens over time. You dabble in it for a while. Perhaps you started and there was no thought ever of sticking with it. But you did it once, and you decided to do it again. After a while a pattern is established. You become hooked on it. Then one day, you find that you cannot live without it. You are addicted to it. You have become enslaved to it.

When Christ came into our lives, he came to set us free from this slave mentality. He came proclaiming liberty to the captives. And if we turn our backs on his law—or if we brush it off like it means nothing, we destroy the notion of true liberty. What we do is put our hands out to the shackles of sin.

We have to understand that the antinomian spirit is not a Christian spirit. It is the spirit of the devil. It is the spirit of the anti Christ. So we have to resist it. And if we do, we will be well on our way to guarding against sexual immorality.

But to remain sexually pure, you must not only resist the anything goes spirit, you must also develop a theology of the body. And that’s what Paul does in the rest of these verses.

II. We must develop a theology of the body
The Corinthians had a terrible theology of the body. That’s what you see in verse 13 where it says, “food for the stomach and the stomach for food.” And then it goes right into talking about sexual immorality. Apparently they thought that the craving for sex was just the same as the craving for food. So you fill the craving of one like you do for the other.

I don’t know if that mentality exists today. But we don’t have any better thoughts about the body. We typically think that we can do with the body what we like. It is as disposable as tissue paper. We don’t have a high view of the body.

But Paul here shows us that we should. This passage is great because it shows that our body relates to each person of the Trinity. It begins by telling us that…

A. Our bodies are consecrated to the Father.
Look at verse 13. He says, "The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” Then at the end of the passage he says, “You are not your own, you were bought with a price.”

The language there is that of the slave market. Slaves would be bought and sold at auctions there in the public square. And once he was purchased, he was to devote his body to the service of his master.

What Paul is saying that our bodies are to serve a higher purpose now because the Father owns us. God the Father purchased us with the blood of his Son. He sent his Son to die in order to pay the redemption price. Now we belong to him, and our bodies are to be dedicated to his service.
When the Lord redeemed Israel from the land of Egypt, they were supposed to be devoted to the Lord. They were no longer slaves in Egypt. They were the Lord’s people. After coming out they were to be consecrated to his service.

That’s what has happened to us. We do not have the right to do whatever we please with our bodies. They are God’s property and they are to be used in the way that he wants them to be used.

But not only are our bodies consecrated to the Father, they are united to Christ.

B. Our bodies are united to Christ
Look at what Paul says in verse 15. “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! (16) Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." (17) But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”

Paul is talking about how we have been united to Christ. It is one of the most fundamental teachings of Paul. He is saying that we now have a spiritual union with Christ, and that spiritual union has physical implications. It shows us that sexual activity is no just a physical thing that is neutral spiritually. Because we are united to Christ, we are bound to be pure as Christ was pure.

The third person of the trinity is mentioned in verse 19. Paul tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. By that he means that our bodies are indwelt by the Holy Spirit

C. Our bodies are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
In the OT the temple was the place where God was said to reside. And the Jews took the greatest care to keep the temple from being defiled. When it was defiled, that was an extremely profane thing.

Likewise, when we become Christians, the Spirit makes his home in us. And it would be a horrible thing to defile the place where God lives.

In the OT it talks about the abomination that causes desolation. What that refers to is the time when the temple was desecrated. There is one instance where Daniel prophesied about in Daniel 11. Many scholars believe that Daniel was prophesying about a guy by the name of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. About 165 years before Christ Antiochus came and sacked Jerusalem. But taking the city wasn’t enough for him. He went so far as to desecrate the temple. It is said that he made all sorts of pagan sacrifices in it. But he also is said to have sacrificed a pig right on the alter just to spite the Jews. Now to a Jew, that would have been a horrendous thing.

But that defiling of the temple is the same sort of thing that a Christian does if he goes off and fornicates. Our bodies are not just physical entities like the Jewish temple. The Holy Spirit really resides within us. So we should be even more motivated to keep it pure and free from immorality.

Certainly there is more that Paul could have said about our bodies. This isn’t a full blown theological dissertation on the body. But it does point out that every person of the Godhead has some dealing with our physic, and that should be enough to make us realize how important it is to keep ourselves from being sexually immoral.

Certainly this will not be his last word on the matter of chastity either. The next chapter will continue to focus on it. But this initial teaching provides some strong points to ponder. So let us remember how important it is to remain sexually pure. God calls us to flee the mindset that we can do anything we want anytime we please. We don’t live by the belief that “anything goes.” God has given us his word to direct us on how to live. Christ has set us free, but he has set us free to live now in obedience to him.

Christians and the Civil Courts

2009-10-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

1 Corinthians 6:1-11

In coming to chapter 6 we find that we are entering into another division within the book of first Corinthians. This section has to do with lawsuits among believers and how they should be handled. Here again it is amazing how our culture is almost like an identical twin to that of the Corinthian culture. The Corinthian culture was a highly litigious society. As a matter of fact one archeologist has said that the one thing that he most frequently comes across in his excavations are verdicts of court cases. It will be a piece of pottery with some sort—because paper wasn’t readily available—of verdict etched in it. It will say, “So and so must pay so and so x amount of dollars.” That’s how common litigation was in those days.

Like our day it was more than a mere occupation. Today we like to watch courtroom cases on television and use it as entertainment. We have things like Law and Order, Judge Judy, or back in the day there was the People’s Court. The same was true in Paul’s day. The courtroom was an outlet for entertainment. Sometimes juries could be up to 6000 people, and that’s not including the people who would come and just watch for the fun of it. Just like you would say, “Did you catch that last episode of L.A. Law?” the court cases of the Mediterranean world were the talk of the town. It was just fun and provided some thrill to a otherwise mediocre day.

Being that this was the pervading mindset of the day, it is easy to understand then why these practices were carried over into the church. It was merely second nature. But when Paul catches wind of this fact, that brothers within the church were suing one another in pagan courts, he is aghast. And in this passage we see just how appalled he is for he denounces it with quite strong argumentation. Indeed, Paul himself acts as a litigator here to make his case on why Christians should not go to the worlds courts to solve their problems. And he makes his case by telling us that it is stupid, shameful, and suspect to do this.

Now, as we consider this subject, the first thing we should understand is the absolute stupidity of taking our grievances outside the church to pagan courts.

I. The stupidity of it [1-5]
In the first five verses you can sense from the Apostle’s tone that he thinks the Corinthians are acting like a bunch of fools. The very first question he asks indicates this. “Do you dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?”

Perhaps you’ve caught the humor in this (or, the insult). The Corinthians were boasting in their human wisdom. They thought they were so wise, so intelligent, so incredibly shrewd. Well, if they are so smart, why can’t they take care of their own problems? Why do they have to take these matters to pagans to decide them? Their actions reveal that they are not as smart as they think.

The truth of the matter is that we are wise. Now that we have been redeemed we have the mind of Christ. A new mind gives us new understanding, and the word of God guides us into truth. We shouldn’t have to take things outside the church.

The Reformation/Geneva Study Bibles have a really good note here. It begins by linking this passage to the last passage we studied. Last week we saw that in Church discipline, we are not to judge those who are outside the church. In the same respect, those who are outside the church should not judge matters that go on inside the church. Then it gives the example of Israel in the wilderness. Just think how ridiculous it would be if the Israelites went to some pagan court for justice. What would that have said about the God of Israel?

This is not condemning secular courts or making any comment on their legitimacy. It is simply stating that church matters should be dealt with in the church. That’s because they are more than civil matters. These are spiritual matters. The issues that come up between brothers and cause them to become pitted against one another are issues that pertain to our relationship with God. So they should be dealt with in the courtroom where Christ presides.

Don’t get me wrong. We do not discount the courts of the world. However, we should remember that the courtroom of Christ is superior to the courts of the unbelieving.
The next couple of verses highlight just how superior it is too. Paul goes on to say that it is stupid to go to secular courts because the church is more than qualified to take up these matters. I want you to understand too that it is not just qualified, but more qualified than the unbelieving courts to deal with these matters!

Paul uses the argument from greater to the lesser. In verse 2 he says that we will one day judge the world. In verse 3 he says we will judge angels. Imagine that. When Christ comes back, he is going to put us on the bench with him. We will be part of the jury that decides the eternal fate of the unbelieving and angels.

Certainly we do not understand the whole import of what Paul means by this. We just know that we will play some role in the decision process. But the conclusion is obvious: if we are going to assist in passing judgment on matters pertaining to eternity, should we not be able to take care of these petty worldly matters?

It is no wonder why Paul says the least of us should be able to give an adequate judgment!

Do you realize now how foolish it is to go to pagan courts? The church is more than able to provide arbitration for you. We shouldn’t have to go outside the church to solve the problems that pop up within the church. As we see here, it is stupid to do so.

But it more than just stupid to go to outside the church. It is disgraceful too.

II. The shame of it [6-8]
In verse 5 Paul says, “I say this to your shame.” In other words, what has been said so far should make you think twice about going to an unbelieving court. But in the next few verses he really lays it on thick to show how shameful it really is. He says that it is a disgrace to go to these courts for two reasons. The first is because our standards are to be higher than that.

A. Because our standards are to be higher
Look at verse 6. It says, “Brother goes to law against brother.” And in verse 8 says, “You yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!”

What does it say about a group of people if they have to go to court? It says that one of them is a cheat. Courtrooms exist because people sin. People sue one another because they fail to honor one another as Christ commands them to.

Now we should expect unbelieving people to cheat each other and blow one another off. And we should expect that they would treat us with that same kind of disrespect. But that shouldn’t be true of us! We are to live by a higher standard. Our lives are to be more pure than that. We should never be even accused of having wronged anyone, let alone someone who is our brother in the Lord!

The Bible says that we are to flee even the appearance of sin. That’s how pure our lives are to be. So when we sell something, we should sell a quality product for a fair price. If for some reason we are negligent, we admit we are wrong and we correct the matter. Or if there is some contract that we enter into, it should be expected that each of us will live up to our end of the contract.

The Corinthians were not doing that. Paul calls them out because they were not living up to God’s standard. They were acting just like the pagans.

But it is a disgrace not only because our standards are to be higher, but because our witness is to be better.

B. Because our witness is to be better
Look again at verse 6. It says, “Brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!”

What is Paul talking about here? He’s talking about how the outside world will perceive us! What kind of testimony to we give the world if we are always dragging our own brothers and sisters before them? What does it say about us if we are always taking our problems to them to solve? What kind of message are we sending? They are going to look at us and say, “What’s with these Christians? There is not much that is Christian about them!”

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that we should put up a façade and try and portray that the church doesn’t have any problems. That would be a foolish thing to do. But we should show that we have fewer problems. And we should show the world that we can handle our problems and we can handle them in a better way!

In other words, we should be giving the rest of the world the impression that Christ can (and does) take care of his people. They should see a difference between the way we act and the way other people act.

That’s why Paul says, “Why not rather be defrauded? Why not rather suffer wrong?” In other words, if the only option you have is to go out to the secular courts and drag Christ’s name through the mud, wouldn’t it be better to just take the hit and bear the injustice?

The church has a reputation to keep, and we should be aware of that. Everywhere we go, we bear the name Christian. And it should be our personal aim to keep the reputation of the church from being sullied.

I wonder if this might be part of the reason why we have seen the growth of counselors and psychologists. Maybe people don’t feel comfortable coming to the church with their problems because they have so frequently seen Christians not being able to take care of their own problems. If that is true, just think how many souls may have been lost over the years. What a shame that would be to us!

In verses 9-11 Paul points out one more thing about these courtroom ventures that the Corinthians have been involved in. He says that it is not just stupid and shameful. But it makes their salvation suspect.

III. The suspect of it [9-11]
In verse 9 Paul says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” He then goes on to list lifestyles that are incompatible with Christianity. The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who practice homosexuality, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, swindlers: none of them will be saved on the last day.

What Paul is saying is that Christians don’t live like that. Christians act differently. If you have a litigious spirit and all you care about is getting back at someone (or getting money out of someone), then that shows that you are not really a Christian at all. If you idolize money and are out to bring everybody else down, then there is reason to question the validity of your salvation.

Whenever I post my blogs I frequently get people who comment and say that my faith is suspect. Some have even gone so far as to call me a false prophet. But the only thing that I do on my blog is apply the law of God to the various issues that come up. For that I am criticized.
What these people do not recognize is that their faith is the one that is suspect. If the whole orientation of your life is contrary to God’s law—without any sort of repentance, then you need to be aware that grace has not entered your life!

People who have experienced the grace of God orient their lives around the law of God. They don’t continue to jettison it. If they do, then it shows that they haven’t really experienced grace at all. Grace transforms you.

And that’s what Paul says of us. “Such were some of you. You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.” Your lives have been radically transformed. Your lives are to no longer be characterized by lawlessness.

This is the real problem I have with Alcoholics Anonymous. They have their people get up and say, “I am so & so and I am an alcoholic.” Okay, they have a point. It is good to confess you that you have a problem. But the Christian can’t say that he is an alcoholic. If he was a drunk in the past, he doesn’t say, “I am an alcoholic.” Even if he is struggling with drinking still, even if his flesh still yearns for the booze—he does not say, “I am an alcoholic.” He says, “I am a Christian. I have been baptized and marked out by the Holy Spirit. I have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and now live by faith in the Son of God.” Alcoholism, as a lifestyle, is a thing of the past for him.

As Christians, we go through a moral revolution. Our world is turned upside-down so that the patterns of our lives change. Not everything is dealt with immediately. We know that. But the power of sin is destroyed and the remnants are progressively subdued.

So we can say quite candidly that we are not gossips here. We are not liars or promise breakers. We are not sexually immoral; we are not addicted to pornography. We are not idolaters. Those were things we may have been before, but they are no longer true. We are the redeemed of God, and we have turned from that way of life.

Only those who have not been redeemed will persist in that kind wickedness.

Conclusion:
It is wonderful the way this passage ends. Despite all the cold hearted-ness and the loveless-ness that is taking place within the Corinthian church, Paul ends his message with the tenderhearted love of God. He reminds them of the immense grace God has bestowed on them so that the poor souls might learn to demonstrate love to one another.

It is awesome that as he talks about being in the courtroom, he takes us to the courtroom of heaven. He reminds us that we have, by the full grace of God, been justified in God’s court. That is to say, we have been fully pardoned of all our offenses before the Supreme Judge of men through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And there is no better ending to such a sermon than to remind us of what has been transacted in highest court in the land. When we went to court, we were let off scot free.

We know that there will be grievances that need to be addressed. As sinners we’ll find that that is the case. And that is why we have the church. But we are also reminded that the principle that is to guide our daily lives is the principle of love.

The Need for and Nature of Church Discipline

2009-10-11T11:53:00.000-07:00

1 Corinthians 5

The topic that we address this morning is a serious and solemn one. And yet, it is a subject that is frequently neglected and ignored. The issue is perhaps one of the greatest needs of the church today, yet it is rarely ever discussed within American churches, let along practiced by them.

What we are talking about is the matter of church discipline. When Christ came to earth, he committed to the church the keys of the kingdom. And the church has traditionally understood there to be 2 keys: the preaching of the word and the practice of church discipline. By these two keys the ascended Christ exercises his authority in the world. By them the kingdom is opened and shut to people.

I don’t think I have to labor how awesome a responsibility this is. Certainly it is an important responsibility too, especially for our day. We live in a time where licentious living is on a rampage. One of the main attributes of the church is to be her holiness, but much of the time we cannot tell the difference between Israel and the Canaanites.

The church has been much to blame for this. We have not been in the habit of practicing church discipline. One reason is because we have been overly concerned about other people’s self esteem and nobody wants to step on any toes. For some reason we have this phobia of “making people feel bad.”

Another reason is because churches today are too caught up in the numbers game. Since we have embraced the business model of doing church we think that the church that has the most consumers is a healthy church. Obviously then you will ignore the command to discipline your members if that is your philosophy. The thought process goes like this, “If we discipline them, then they might walk away and never come back.” Then of course, you won’t have bragging rights as to how big your church is.

In sum, the practice of church discipline has become almost extinct in our land. But when we look into the Bible we see that it commands us to practice church discipline. Even though so many churches today are adverse to it, when as we look into the Bible we understand that any true church must heed the command to do it. And when we look into the passage before us this morning it teaches us why we must practice church discipline and how we are to go about it.

I. Why do we need to practice church discipline?
Paul gives us three reasons why we need to practice church discipline. The first and foremost reason is so that we might maintain the honor of Christ.

A. Vindication of the honor of Christ
Whenever a person who professes to follow Christ is involved in sin, he sullies the name of Christ. He gives those who are outside the church a reason the blaspheme God.

You can just look at the first two verses here to see that. Paul addresses the Corinthians because right there in the church was a man practicing a horrendous sin: he was involved in sexual immorality—and it was of the sort that the pagans would not even do. He was in an unlawful relationship with his stepmother. This guy was degrading the name of Christ.

But it wasn’t just him! I would love to pause here and take a little poll. The question I would ask is, “With whom is Paul angry?” There is no doubt that Paul is livid. He is irate. But a good question to ask is, “With whom is he angry?” You are probably going to say that he is angry they guy who is fornicating. That may be true. But he’s not the one Paul rebukes. Paul is mad at the rest of the church because they are tolerating this guy and his sin! He says in verse 2, “You are arrogant!” They were actually proud of this guy! They were not only condoning it, they were applauding it!

No what does that say about the church! If people are out there parading around in a lifestyle that is corrupt, and they are doing this so that all the world may see, what are the people outside the church going to think of Christ? Is this what Christians do? Who wants to follow Christ if that’s what Christianity is all about?

We cannot let that happen. Christ’s name must be vindicated. People outside the church must see that Christ does not tolerate any kind of behavior that is immoral. They must see that Christ requires his people to be holy, even as he is holy. So one of the reasons we practice church discipline is to uphold Christ’s reputation and maintain his honor among the unbelieving.
But there is another reason why we must practice church discipline. It is not only for the vindication of Christ’s name, it is for the restoration of the sinner.

B. Restoration of the Sinner
If you look at verse 5 this becomes clear. At the end of verse 5 Paul tells us that the church should discipline this guy who is living in sin “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” Paul’s point is that this guy is not living like a Christian. Even though he has been a part of the church, he is not walking with the Lord. Paul doesn’t want him to think that he can go on like this and be a Christian. No one who lives like this can enter the kingdom of heaven. So Paul says, “If you do this, he may come to his senses. He may repent and his soul will be saved.”

Please recognize this: The whole reason that we do church discipline is not because we want to punish someone. It is because we want to see them restored to a right relationship with God. We want to see them walking faithfully with Christ and enjoying communion with him.

A lot of people object to Church discipline because they think that we might offend the person who is sinning and we might turn them off to the gospel. But that is a fallacy. The truth of the matter is that, if they are living this way, they are already turned off to the gospel. We shouldn’t then let them go on thinking that they are OK. What they need is to be jostled so that they wake up out of their stupor.

This is what we are to do with our kids, is it not? We have all heard the proverb, “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” That is to say, if we do not discipline our children, they are going to grow up to be corrupt citizens. They are never going to come to understand how God wants them to live.
And that’s what we hope to accomplish with church discipline. We hope that a person will wake up and say, “I haven’t been living in a right relationship with the Lord. I’m sorry I haven’t been heeding his word and following him.”

So you should see that church discipline is not mean spirited. It is done out of a love for the sinner. It is done by people who long for their spiritual well being.

But there is one other reason why we need church discipline. It is not only to vindicate the name of Christ. It is not only because we want to see the sinner restored. We practice church discipline because we want to preserve the purity of the church.

C. Preservation of the Church’s purity
Look down at verse 6. It says, “Your boasting is not good. Do you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” Do you know what that means? It means that one sin, if left unchecked, can become contagious. It can be like a cancer that spreads and affects other parts of the body.

Paul uses the imagery of leaven. Those of you who cook with yeast know that if you put a little bit of yeast in dough it spreads throughout the whole lump. His point is that if we do not put our foot down and nip it in the bud, that one sin can infiltrate the rest of the church. In the end, the purity of the whole church can be compromised.

This is how depraved we are. Our nature is so vile that we say, “Well, so in so is getting away with it, why can’t I?” That’s why we have to deal with sin through church discipline. That way people see that this is not something that is acceptable.

Jack DeWolf gives a good example of how sin can easily permeate the larger body. In a conference on conflict resolution in 1994 he told about a man on staff with Chuck Swindoll who became sexually involved with his secretary. The good thing is that the church did seek to deal with the matter. The bad thing is that they did not deal with it publicly. The next year 17 marriages of senior leadership people in the church broke up!

You will note too that these were not just ordinary lay people. These were leaders of the church—the people who were supposed to be superior in their piety!

The Scripture makes clear that sin is like a plague. It can quickly infect many others if it is not dealt with properly.

Hopefully you recognize now why church discipline is necessary. But now that we understand the need for it, let’s take a second and talk about the nature of it. In order to practice church discipline, what must we do?

II. What must we do in church discipline?
Paul says that two things must happen when we practice church discipline: We must formally excommunicate the sinner and then keep our distance from him.

A. We must cast them out
Let’s begin with the formal act of excommunication. He mentions it a couple of times. In verse 2 he says that the sinner should be removed from their fellowship. Then in verse 13 he repeats himself when he says, “Purge the evil person from among you.”

But I want to focus your attention on verse 5. In verse 5 Paul says that they are “to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.” Those might come across as some shocking words, and I want you to be clear on what it means. What Paul says here helps us to understand what God does in church discipline and how it works.

It is interesting to note that Satan, at least in this instance, becomes God’s instrument in the restoration of sinners. Satan is typically adverse to the things of God and the opponent of his kingdom. But here you see how God is sovereign and Satan’s works are self defeating.

Now, when we hand someone over to Satan, what we are doing is removing that person from the safety of the church. When someone is cast out of the fellowship of believers, they are cast away from the rule of Christ and from his protecting arm. To put it mildly, he is on his own. He now has to fend for himself. It is hoped that as he joins the world in following Satan and indulges his flesh that he will suffer so much that he will turn back to the Lord.

It is no secret that sin has consequences. The more you sin, the more you suffer. That’s what Paul means when he says that we deliver him over “for the destruction of the flesh.” He is talking about the physical and emotional pain that sin causes. Paul’s hope is that as this guy suffers more and more the consequences of his sins, he will wise up and turn back to Christ.

I once read somewhere that some ancient civilization used to take criminals and tie them to rotting trees. They did that so that the rot of the tree would begin to destroy their flesh.

It obviously was a slow and gruesome death. But it was one that serves to illustrate what happens in excommunication. When we cut them loose from the church, they become bound in the grips of Satan and tied to their sinful lifestyle. We can only hope that the decay that they then experience will bring them to their knees.

I have only been a part of one excommunication in my ministry so far. Hopefully, the Lord will spare me and it will be the last. But one of the ministers in our presbytery had to be excommunicated. Charges were brought against him because he was cheating the church out of money. He was called to appear before a court made up of ministers in our presbytery, and he failed to show up to every appointment that was made. Since he would not repent (or even show for his trial), the presbytery had to be excommunicate him.

It was an awesome event. Not in the sense that it was exhilarating, but in the old meaning of the word awesome: that of being overwhelmed with a sense of awe and wonder. In that moment we actually cut him loose from the church’s protection and handed a man over to Satan. It was a profound experience, one that I cannot even begin to describe. I can only say that it was a incredible moment—so grave and serious, when we cast this man out of the kingdom and closed the doors behind him.

To this point, the man has not repented. We can only hope that he is not becoming hardened, but rather that his sins are producing a misery that will lead him to repentance.

The formal act of casting someone out of the church is only one part of the excommunication though. We need to remember that after this our contact with them should be cut off too. That is to say we are not only supposed to hand this person over to Satan, we are to distance ourselves from them

B. We distance ourselves from them
Paul brings this out in the last section. In verses 9-10 he clarifies that you are not to distance yourself from the ordinary unbelieving person in the world. If we distance ourselves from them, then we will never be able to witness to them. But in verse 11 he says, “I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.”

In other words, we are not even to sit down to a cup of coffee with them. Obviously this has something to do with what we talked about earlier, about being influenced by their lifestyle. We are to cut off our relations with them so that we will not come to share in their corruption. But there is another side of it. Losing friends is part of their punishment. Part of their chastisement is that they are to be deprived of our fellowship.

You all know what it is like to lose a friend. No doubt it has happened in your life at some point. It hurts. It hurts bad. And losing a brother in the Lord is even worse. You not only lose a close friend, you lose the encouragement of Christ that comes through them.

Within the church we develop some of the greatest bonds. It is more than friendship, it is family. Loosing that relationship can (and should) be heart wrenching.

But this is supposed to be part of the pain they experience. As they drift off into the world, hopefully they will experience the loneliness of it. I don’t think I need to tell you that pagans don’t make very good friends. Most friendships tend to be very shallow and self serving. In other words, they will love you as long as they can get something out of you.

You can see that this can be a severe blow to take. But we should not think that we are being mean spirited when we do this or that those who do these things hate that person. The loss of the church’s protection and the withdrawing of its fellowship is something that God uses to draws his people back. We may grieve the sin and that these measures had to be taken, but the act of discipline is something in which we are to delight.

Conclusion:
Before we end, we should note one last thing about this case of discipline in Corinth. You should know that it has a happy ending. In 2 Corinthians 2 Paul tells the Corinthians that they should receive the repentant one back into their fellowship and affirm their love for him. In other words, it worked. Just in case you are the skeptical type and you need some proof, there it is. God uses this stuff. He doesn’t just tell us to do this because he likes to see the gates slammed in someone's ’ace. He tells us to do it because this is his means of taking care of his people.

Lord willing, nothing like this will ever have to happen here. I pray that it won’t, anyway. But if the Lord should permit it sometime, let’s remember to trust in the Lord with all our might and lean not on our own understanding. We might be tempted to overlook the fault and keep a person in the church, but that will do nothing for anyone. If we really love the Lord and want to see God work, we will faithfully obey his command and practice discipline when it is needed.

Calvin's Doctrine of The Self Authentication of Scripture

2009-09-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

“These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.”
1 Cor. 2:10 (ESV)

The topic for this morning’s discussion is the general topic of Sola Scriptura. Specifically speaking, the topic is the doctrine that Calvin developed known as the self-authenticating Word.

Now I don’t want you to be turned off by the big, fancy words. Don’t let it confuse you or intimidate you. The doctrine is quite simple. And I think you will come to see that. But what I think you will also see is that this doctrine is also very practical, particularly in regards to your evangelism and what you should be doing in your worship services from week to week.
What we are dealing with here is the unique power of Scripture to prove itself to be what it is: the very word of God.

Do you know what epistemology is? Epistemology is simply the study of knowledge. Specifically it deals with how we know what we know. The question at hand regards the authenticity of the Scriptures: how do we know that the Bible is indeed the word of God?

And the question is an important one for our contemporary context. For we have a whole host of books that claiming to be the word of God. We have the Quran which claims to be of heavenly origin. The Mormons have the Book of Mormon and a number of other writings that they claim to be divine in nature. And we could go on to name every other religion in the world because they all have writings that they claim are sacred because they claim to be the word of God (or of some god).

So the question facing us is important one because it has to do with certainty. How can we be sure that the Bible is indeed the word of God? If we are going to acknowledge the Scriptures as our supreme authority for life and faith, then we must first be convinced that they are indeed the very words of God. If we are not persuaded that God is their Author, then the Scriptures will not mean anything to us. It will only be a book like any other, containing fanciful stories like Moby Dick or perhaps a work similar to Plato’s Republic.

So the question that remains to be answered is: How do we come to this conviction that the Bible is the word of God?

Only the Spirit Can Convince the Unbelieving of the Bible’s Veracity
Someone might posit that the way we get this conviction and affirm this belief in others is by simply laying out a list of arguments that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is so. We might even draw an analogy to a courtroom situation. The Bible’s authenticity is on trial. The defense, an upstanding Christian who is zealous to commend the faith, stands to make his case before the judge and jury (i.e. any given unbeliever). He then begins to make his case. As in a trial we understand that the more arguments the attorney makes, the more convincing his position becomes. So our Christian friend begins to articulate various proofs to make his case.
For instance, he will talk about the antiquity of the Scriptures and how they were put together over so many hundreds of years by various authors. And he might point out that many people throughout history have died for its doctrines. His eloquence is beyond comparison, and he masterfully demonstrates that the Bible is undeniably divine in its origin with one proof after another.

Now, let’s think about the implications of this approach. If we take such a tactic, what have we done to the unbeliever? I would suggest to you that what happens is that we elevate the unbeliever to a position that he does not rightfully occupy. That is to say, We have made him the judge of the word of God! Rather than submitting himself to the Supreme Judge of men, we have put this lowly man (a wicked man at that) in a position to decide whether or not God’s word is true. I hope you understand that this is a complete flip flop of roles and a direct attack on Christianity.

But this is exactly what happens. As a matter of fact, you might have heard of the books by Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict. On the cover of these books you typically find a gavel sitting over top of a Bible. The implication is: You are the judge! I’m also told that the cover of one of these books (perhaps an earlier addition) had a picture of a courtroom taken from the judge’s bench. So you saw the gavel laying on the bench, then overlooking the bar you saw the rest of the courtroom. The picture is quite telling! You are the judge and God is the one who is on trial.

But that is not the way it is to be. Man is not to judge God or his word, but to submit to the Judge and let His word do the judging.

So you see then that the very nature of this tactic undermines God’s authority. But another thing could be said about this tactic of trying to prove the Bible by these various evidences. (This might be considered a more pragmatic approach) In the end, if we use such a tactic, will it work? That is to say, “Will we have convinced our unbelieving listeners of authenticity of the Scriptures?” We can easily imagine a scenario where, after having endured the litany of proofs a man simply turns and walks away very much unaffected.

I can take you back to our McDowell books again. If you do a simple search on his books, you will come up with many critiques, many of them by atheists. One of the critiques mocked McDowell with its title, “Evidence that Demands a Refund.” In other words, after reading McDowell’s book, he is no closer to accepting McDowell’s position than when he first began.
Indeed, this is where Calvin stands. Calvin would affirm that no matter how many of these proofs may be added add to one’s argumentation, they would still elicit the same response. In his own words, he says,

If we desire to provide in the best way for our consciences…we ought to seek our conviction in a higher place than human reasons, judgments, or conjectures, that is in the secret testimony of the Holy Spirit.

For Calvin the answer to this question of how we know the Bible is the Word of God is quite simple and straight forward. If I could sum up his answer it would go something like this: We know that the Bible is the Word of God because the Spirit of God convinces us of it as it is read or preached.

Throughout this section of his Institutes Calvin uses unique phrases to communicate this idea. He uses phrases like “the testimony of the Spirit” or “the inward testimony of the Spirit.” He also mentions “the witness of the Spirit” and “the persuasion of the Holy Spirit.” Calvin affirms that a greater proof is needed than the testimony of men. We need something that transcends the logic of orators and the stubborn faculties of their hearers. And that is what happens when Scripture is read. The Spirit of God impresses upon our hearts that what we are hearing is not the word of men, but it is, in fact, God speaking in his word.

Calvin poses a similar situation to the courtroom illustration that I just mentioned. He though concedes even more ground that I did. He says, “Men may proceed by arguments and advance many things that would [be] easily proved by arguments, such as that the law the prophets and the gospels come from God.” Calvin even says that those who are the most adverse to the Bible might even be refuted so well that all of their cavils regarding Scripture can be dashed to pieces. But Calvin says, “even if anyone clears God’s Sacred Word from man’s evil speaking, he will not at once imprint upon their hearts that certainty which piety requires.” In other words, even though Joe Unbeliever might admit that his scruples have been eradicated, he still will not be any more ready to receive the Scriptures as authoritative for his life. This will not happen until the Spirit sovereignty moves his heart to accept it.

This is what leads Calvin to say, “The testimony of the Spirit is more excellent than all reason. For as God alone is a fit witness of himself in his Word so also the Word will not find acceptance in the men’s hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit.”

Proofs Do Have a Place
Certainly Calvin does not denigrate any of these “evidence” based arguments (or what he calls “external proofs of Scripture”—as opposed to the internal proof of the Holy Spirit). He himself outlines many of these external proofs in his Institutes and says that they have their place. For instance, he speaks of the style of the Scriptures as wholly incomparable to any other book in the world. He says that when you read the Bible it is sure to delight you more than any of history’s greatest works; be it Cicero, Plato, Aristotle or a host of other writers. He says of its style that “it is easy to see that the Sacred Scriptures…breathe something divine.”

He also speaks of how the Bible has survived throughout history as a proof of its divine origin. No doubt that the Bible has been attacked like no other book in history, but yet no other book continues to remain intact and at the top of the best seller list.

Calvin mentions many other such arguments that men might use to certify the “divineness” of Scripture. And, as I said, he speaks highly of them all. Things like fulfilled prophecies, the consensus of the church, the majesty of the content of Scripture and the consent of all its parts; these have their place. But their place is limited to the realm of those who are already Christians—that is, those who the Spirit has already convinced.

I might present my wife as a good example here. My wife is a dedicated God-fearing lady. But she occasionally struggles with this question. Sometimes she will turn to me and ask, “With all the other religions in the world how can we be sure that these Scriptures are God’s Word.” And I am sure that many other mature Christian people have the same question cross their minds on more than one occasion. Do we doubt whether they are a Christian? Calvin would say no. It is just that the Spirit of God has allowed them to become weak and question their faith.

We might use the analogy of a candle. There are times when the candle’s flame burns large and with great brilliance, but there are other times when the flame can become quite diminished in size. But no matter how small it may become, the flame is still visible.

Similarly, the Christian’s certainty of the Scriptures may frequently burn large and bright. But there can be other times when their faith is greatly diminished. But no matter how small it might get, the flame of their certainty is still glowing. That is to say, with the Spirit still in their hearts they are still convinced that the Bible is the word of God. But their conviction has ebbed to a lower point. It is in these times, says Calvin, that these external arguments can be used to bolster one’s faith…to fan the flame so to speak.

But we must remember the distinction that Calvin makes. While these proofs can help to substantiate faith that already exists, they cannot create that faith where it does not exist (i.e. the unbelieving). Or to put it another way, these evidences can confirm in believers that the Bible is God’s Word, but they cannot convince unbelievers of that fact.

Regarding the external proofs he says,

Of themselves these are not strong enough to provide a firm faith, until our heavenly Father, revealing his majesty there, lifts reverence for Scripture beyond the realm of controversy. Therefore Scripture will ultimately suffice for a saving knowledge of God only when its certainly is founded upon the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit.

What is Calvin saying here? Basically it is this: men can do nothing in and of themselves to prop up the word of God in the minds of the unbelieving. The only way they will come to this conviction, as I said before, is through the testimony of the Spirit in their hearts.

Those of you who are familiar with Calvin and Calvinism might see that Calvin’s doctrine of the self-authentication of Scripture goes hand in hand with his doctrine of regeneration. While he doesn’t make that connection in his Institutes, you can readily see that they overlap. Both doctrines assume that the hearts of men are so adverse to God that they will not naturally embrace anything divine (1 Cor. 2:13). It is not until the Holy Spirit regenerates the heart and produces faith that unbelieving man will accept these teachings. When the Holy Spirit changes the heart he also opens the mind. So at one and the same time the person becomes convinced that what the Bible teaches is true and puts his faith in Christ alone for his salvation.

This all might seem a bit esoteric to you. But really, it is the experience every one of us has had if we are a Christian. Some of you most likely grew up in the church and in a Christian home. You most likely had a minister who stood in the pulpit and said time and again that the Bible is the word of God. Your parents most likely reinforced this at home. But at some point you had to believe it for yourself; not because someone told you it was so. What accounts for this change? Why did you not believe it at one point and then did at another? Calvin would say that it was the Spirit’s working in your heart with and through his Word.

Perhaps the story of one man in particular will illustrate this a bit more vividly. Ronald Wallace was a professor of Biblical Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary a few years back. But when Ronald Wallace was a young man growing up in Scotland he was an atheist. He thought Christianity was stupid and he loved atheism. As a matter of fact, he would go to all the conferences on atheism. And one time there was a big atheist speaker coming to his area to speak. Wallace could hardly wait for this conference to get some more ammunition to rip apart Christianity. And when the time came for the conference, Wallace took his seat in the auditorium. And the conference was doing everything Wallace wanted it to, it was ripping apart Christianity. In the middle of the lecture the speaker said, “To show you how absurd Christianity is, I want to read to you this section of the New Testament.” So with a tone of mockery he reads this section about the death and resurrection of Jesus out of the New Testament. As soon as that passage was read Dr. Wallace was converted.

Funny, isn’t it? He hadn’t come to be converted. He didn’t want to be converted when he entered. But right there in the midst of all the mockery, God’s Spirit persuaded him that the Bible was indeed 100% true. No evidences were given. As a matter of fact, you can pretty much guarantee that they pulled out all the stops to try and show that Christianity wasn’t true and that the Bible was nothing but a bunch of rubbish. But at that moment, when it was read, Wallace came to believe that that book was in fact, the very Word of God.[1] The Spirit had done its work.

This of course leads me back to the main point of my message. You remember that I began this message by saying this will influence how our worship services are constructed. This doctrine forces us to return to the regular ministry of the pulpit: the preaching and reading of the Bible. And this can be our only conclusion: If the Spirit of God convinces us that the Word of God is the Word of God, then should we not make it possible for the Spirit of God to do his work? If, as Calvin says, “The highest proof of Scripture derives in general from the fact that God in person speaks in it”, then should it not follow that we should saturate our services with the Bible?

Charles Spurgeon is certainly one of the greatest evangelists that ever lived. I believe he summed up Calvin’s doctrine in perhaps the best way—at least the most illustrious way I’ve heard. When talking about his evangelistic methods, he was once asked how he defends the Bible. He responded by saying, “I don’t defend the Bible. You don’t defend a lion, do you? Of course not. You just let the lion out of the cage!”

This is certainly is true of the Bible. We do not need to defend it. We do not need to prop it up in the minds of men. We only need to unleash it and allow the Holy Spirit to do his work. We only need to read it and allow the Spirit to impress upon men’s minds that the Book that He wrote, is in fact from Him.

Other Pertinent Scripture
Isaiah 54:21—The Spirit is upon thee and His words are put in their mouths
John 16:13-14—He is the Spirit of Truth
1 Cor. 2:10-13—see quote at beginning
1 John 2:20,27—Received an anointing and that anointing teaches all
Matt 13:11—Only those to whom it is given can comprehend the mysteries of God

Bibliography
Westminster Confession of Faith, particularly Chapter I, sections 4 and 5.
Westminster Larger Catechism, particularly question and answer #4.
Morecraft, Joe. “Sermons on the Westminster Larger Catechism: Reality of Divine Revelation.” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2708152499
Calvin’s Institutes. Book I Chapters vii-ix
Calvin’s Institutes: A New Compend. Hugh T. Kerr, editor.
Paul Helm. John Calvin’s Ideas. Oxford University Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=QUVlxBhfdGQC&pg=PA247&lpg=PA247&dq=calvin's+doctrine+of+self+authenticating+Scripture&source=web&ots=kz3lf3WYaY&sig=lOy_AisbFo2kbv2TNrFl5IAPH_A&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA247,M1

[1] Related by Joe Morecraft in “The Reality of Divine Revelation, Pt 7 WS058.” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2708152499

What We Can Learn from a Sluggard

2009-09-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 6:6-11

In every culture you have those who you would consider a “low life.” These people are just about on par with vermin in the eyes of most people. While the Bible points out there are many vile things, it certainly does have it’s “low life’s.” Chief among them is the one we look at tonight: the sluggard, or the lazy person.

One New York man testifies to just how vile a sluggard really is. The Associated Press once reported on a man who was the embodiment of the Proverbial sluggard. He was quoted as saying, “I like to live decent. I like to be clean.” There is nothing wrong with that; His problem was that he didn’t work. He had to find ways to satisfy his cultured tastes.

It was reported that he would go to a fine restaurant, order top cuisine and choice liquor, and then, when the check arrived, he would shrug his shoulders and wait for the police to arrive. The sometimes homeless man actually wanted to end up in jail because he would receive 3 meals a day and a clean bed. He has pled guilty to stealing meals 31 times. And over a 5 year period the people of New York have paid over a quarter a million dollars to house and feed one lazy man.

Throughout our study of the Proverbs our Heavenly Father has been addressing us directly. He has frequently opened his lectures with those familiar words “My son.” But tonight we are called to learn by an indirect method. We are to learn the folly of a sluggard as we watch this low-life being rebuked. And if we listen to this tongue lashing we can learn 3 things about the sluggard. The first of which is that a lazy person…

I. Defies what is embedded in God’s Creation [6-8]
Solomon often uses God’s creation as our teacher, as is the case here. He points us to the earth. In verse 6 it says, “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.”

Why does he use the ant of all creatures? I think it is because it is one of the smallest of all God’s creation. And his argument is “if this is true for an ant of all things, how much more should this be true of you who are much more significant (i.e. much more advanced).

So what then do we learn from the ant? It is the basic lesson of diligence. Verse 7 says, “Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.”

Have you ever had an ant farm? Or at least ever seen one? There is soil sandwiched between two pieces of glass. In that little viewing screen you can watch ants build their colony. They burrow their holes and busy themselves looking for food. If you ever had one of those, did you have to wake the ants up every morning? Did you have to say, “Hey guys, you better get moving.”

Of course not, ants work by instinct. It’s part of their nature. That’s the way God has created them. He doesn’t even need a leader to motivate him or direct him! He sees what lies ahead (a foodless winter) and he gets busy.

So often today it seems that people not only need a foreman or supervisor, what they need are cheerleaders. They have to have someone give them a pep talk so that they will do something. It’s like the sluggard here. Solomon is virtually trying to light a fire under the guy.

The Lord is showing us that this is sinful. That is not the way our lives are to operate. When God made us he made us to be laborers. When Adam was created he was placed in a garden and commissioned with the responsibility to tend the garden. It may have been paradise, but it wasn’t a holiday resort. He was to work.

How much more should this be since the fall of man? If our curse included thorns and thistles and our bread was only to come by the sweat of our brow, it is even more imperative that we go about our duties with the utmost diligence.

And yet, in our sinful nature, we are prone to sloth. It’s only when the boss is around that we will pick up the pace. Or instead of going above and beyond what is expected, we will coast. We will do just enough to fill the quota. Hey, nobody can say we aren’t working, right?

Isn’t that what we do in our spiritual lives too? Yes, God calls us to go to church, and sure I’ll go. But to go twice on the Lord’s Day? Or to spend some time in personal prayer. Well, that would mean I would have to cut out part of my favorite television program.

If that is our attitude then we who are supposed to be the apex of God’s creation must admire and be taught by a lowly ant. A commentator named Charles Briggs even says “What a proof it is of the degradation of the fall, that man, who is created in God’s image and made wiser than all of the creation, should be sent to this insignificant school of instruction.”

Avoiding our God given duties, neglecting them, or taking advantage of our unregulated position is sin. It defies what God has created us to do. It defies the very basic order of His creation. And we as Christians should take care that we are not imitating the sluggard in any way. One of the greatest witnesses we have in this fallen world is diligence in our callings.

But we should not only note that a sluggard defies what is embedded in creation. We should also note that he…

II. Abuses what is given for our refreshment [9]
Verse 9 says, “How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?” It seems that the sluggard has hit the snooze button a few too many times (if the alarm was even on!).

Let’s be clear here. The sluggard is not condemned because he sleeps. He is rebuked because he sleeps too much. He is in love with sleeping.

Remember: Rest is a gift. When God made us He made us in his image. But he did not make us exactly like himself. He made us in such a way that we become weary. So rest is a necessity. You could say that it is part of our God given calling to sleep (or to rest). We need to sleep so that we might be properly refreshed and enabled to continue to go about our God given tasks.

Rest (or sleep) is also something that is given for our enjoyment. In a way, it is just like food. It is a necessity, but yet, at the same time, satisfying it is pleasurable. The Bible even talks about how God gives rest to those he loves (Ps 127). That is to say, he allows us the pleasure of a good rest.

Moreover, God has designated a whole day for the purpose of our refreshment. When God finished creating the world, he rested. And he set that as a pattern for us. So six days we are to labor, and the seventh day we are to set aside our regular employments to allow our bodies a break. And while our bodies rest we are to refresh our spirits with God’s Word.

Now, none of us here are going to deny how wonderful a good night’s sleep is, or how refreshing an afternoon nap can be. But, as with all of God’s creation, we must remember that sleep (or rest) can be abused. When our rest and refreshment intrude upon what God has called us to, then we no longer sleep to the glory of God. When our refreshments exceed their rightful parameters, we sin.

Of course the parameters for our rest can change and be different for each person. If you are sick or infirm in some way, obviously you need more rest. God has called you, at that point, to recuperate. And it can be argued that some people need more sleep than others. But it should never impinge upon our calling.

In our day the Christian virtue of diligence is going to become a rare and valuable thing. This is because we live in a culture whose whole orientation is the love of pleasure. Young people, there is a view of life radically different from Christianity called Hedonism. Hedonism is basically the love of pleasure. If you are a hedonist, your whole goal in life is the pursuit of pleasure. And one of the outcomes of this worldview (which is prevalent in our culture) is that people become lazy. People love not working.

If you ask any employer what is the most consistent problem they have with their employees, I bet you that you will find that it is having people who are late to work or who aren’t diligent in their work. I wish I could remember the statistic that talked about how much money businesses lose because their employee’s spend so much time lolly-gagging around: talking with their coworkers, playing on the internet or some other form of idleness. It was a staggering number, big enough to catch the eye of the news stations that reported the study.

As Christians we must remember that pleasure has its place, but it should never overstep its rightful boundary. As Paul says, whatever we do, whether we eat or drink (sleep or play), we must do it to the glory of God. That means we should have our rest (or whatever other sort of recreation), but we must enjoy it in the way God wants and to the degree he wants. Then we must promptly take up our regular employments, doing them to the glory of God. Be it taking care of the house, setting off to school, or going out the door to work, we must recognize that this is God’s will for us, this is what God has called us to do. Neglecting these duties is a sin and makes us worthy of the title “sluggard.”

Now I know we have a number of people in this congregation that are retired. You are probably thinking, "Well, this sermon doesn't apply to me!" But let's think about this for a second. Have you ever considered what the Bible says about retirement? Let's pull all the Bible verses together that speak about retirement... I can't think of any either!

I take that back. I can think of one. In Numbers it talks about how the priests are allowed to retire from their work in the temple. But most scholars understand that the preists would not retire completely. They would probably step down from their sacrificial duties, and you can understand why. It was physically exerting work having to lift those bulls and lambs up on the alter and then cutg them up. Most scholars believe they would have taken on some lighter duties, such as teaching the younger, up and coming priests or doing some other sort of light work.

Besides that, there isn't anything said about retirement! In other words, God wants us to work all our lives. It may not be the same kind of work that we did when we were 20 or 30 years old. It might be a different line of work and/or working fewer hours a week, but it is still being productive.

All around us though we see people who think that when you turn 65 you grab the fishing pole! They think, this is my time to relax! And life becomes one big nap for them. "The Golden Years" they call it. It is more like "the Lazy Years!"

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you have to put in a 40 hour week. God does require that you be productive though. God doesn't want elderly sluggards any more than he wants a 20 year old sluggard.

The sluggard defies what is embedded in God’s Creation and he abuses what is given for our refreshment. But he also…

III. Experiences what is consistent with his ethic [10-11]
Verses 10-11 warn, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”

If you don’t work, then you will not eat. You will come into a state of desolation. Poverty will overtake you like someone coming to mug you on the street. One moment you are enjoying the wonders of a day, then the next moment you are left standing with nothing.

In the book of 1 and 2nd Thessalonians Paul addresses the topics of working and a work ethic. His conclusion is the same, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” Let a sluggard be deprived of his very life sustenance.

You would think that Paul (an Apostle of all people!) would have compassion on those who have become deprived. Surely he does care for the needy, as he worked hard to take up a collection for those suffering in Jerusalem. But those in Jerusalem were people who became destitute by circumstances out of their control. Those (like the Thessalonians) who have the ability to provide for themselves but don’t, Paul is merciless. He says, “let them reap what they have sown! It’s God’s judgment upon them.”

I think it would be good to note a little addition to what I mentioned earlier here. I mentioned retirement. Those of you drawing social security need to recognize that the tremors are already begining to appear. It is not going to be long until it busts. I know that a lot of people depend on that. They get their check and they head out to enjoy their play. But it is going to bust, and when it does, a lot of people are going to be left destitute. It is going to come on them like a bandit. One moment they will be having the time of their life, the next moment they will be left with nothing.

If that describes your situation, make sure you come to terms with God's ways and look to remedy it. It isn't going to be pretty when it happens.

Of course, I would be most remiss if I did not apply this to our spiritual lives as well. Our catechism does a fine job of catching this very understanding. After talking about the Law of God and the wrath of God that comes upon man, it asks the question, “What does God require of us that we may escape his wrath and curse?” The catechism answers: “To escape God’s wrath and curse due to us for sin, God requires of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, and diligent use of the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption.”

In other words, if we are going to have thriving spiritual lives, we must do what it takes to have it. If we are going to flourish in the faith, we must give ourselves to prayer. If we are going to better our personal estate, we must attend to the Scriptures with diligence. If we don’t, then what will happen? Our faith will starve. Our lives will lack God’s blessing. If we ignore the Scriptures all out, we may even prove ourselves not to be disciples of Christ at all! We will end up being deprived of salvation itself! What poverty that would be! Indeed he does come like a thief in the night!

Jesus even tells the parable of the 10 virgins to back this claim. 5 virgins diligently worked to prepare their lamps with enough oil. And their work was rewarded as they were able to meet the bridegroom in the night and enter into the feast with him. 5 virgins were lazy. They didn’t buy enough oil for their lamps. As a result, they were left outside of the kingdom.

God gives us godly disciplines: prayer, the scriptures, the sacraments. All of these are means whereby we might grow in grace and flourish in faith. But if we do not use them, we will suffer for it.

Conclusion:
You have to wonder, is there any hope for the sluggard? Well, certainly there is. This rebuke is a warning. It is saying what can and will come if one continues in their way. Our gracious Heavenly Father gives even this vile man hope of reform. But let us remember that words are not enough. Rebuke is good for the soul (the bite of poverty is good too!). But one will never move to diligent labors by them alone.

No, we must see God’s benevolent grace. And we see that in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was he of whom it was said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

Christ’s heart was set upon the work God had for him. He was “the Man of Works,” even for us and for our salvation! He was the one who would even say, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” Now all of us who are sluggards by nature must hear and be glad. We must turn to him, receive his grace again, and endeavor diligently after new obedience.

Measuring Ministers by God's Standard

2009-09-13T04:58:00.000-07:00

It is said that one of the most magnificent diamonds in Europe, which today blazes in a king’s crown, once lay for months on a stall in an Italian market place with a label that read, “Rock-crystal, price: 1 franc.”

It sounds like something you would hear on an episode from Antique Road Show. You have this priceless gem laying out in the open, right there in the public square. But nobody gives it a second look. But why? Why is it that this precious jewel was neglected for so long? It was because no one had looked at it closely. Since it was not appraised by the proper standards, nobody gave it the time of day.

In a sense, that was the sort of thing going on right there in the city of Corinth. The city of Corinth had a wealth of spiritual riches. The city had been blessed in that God had given them many good teachers. Unfortunately, many of these spiritual jewels were being neglected. The reason for this was that they didn’t know how to really appraise a minister.

Now they thought they did. They had criteria by which they judged whether or not a minister was good. Some evaluated a minister based on his knowledge. Some judged them based on their eloquence. Others were concerned with the minister’s social standing. They had all kinds of categories they used for evaluating a minister. None of them though were measuring ministers by God’s standards. They were being evaluated by human wisdom and human standards.

That’s why Paul writes this section of Scripture. In this passage he gives us the right criteria for measuring a minister. And this is something to which we all need to give our attention. That’s because we are all in the habit of grading ministers.

John MacArthur says it is a little game that we all play. We look at a church leader and we automatically formulate an opinion of him. And typically it is based on the wrong criteria, like how big his church is, or how big his staff is. Or we evaluate him based on how many degrees he has or from what institution(s) he got those degrees.

I think it is more practical than we even think. Whenever you move to a new town, you have to start looking for a church. And typically you start to church shop. In the main, you go to one church a Sunday and whatever impression you get, that’s the impression that sticks. You grade that preacher on the basis of that one meeting, and his performance on that day.

We will all judge a minister. There are a lot of ministers here in Ashland, and I’m sure we all have certain opinions of each one. But are our opinions right? Or are we neglecting some spiritual jewels?

Well, let’s look at this passage and see the criteria that God wants us to use in evaluating a minister. In verse one Paul tells us a little about a minister’s calling.

I. Calling [1]
If we are going to evaluate a man, we need to know something about what he is supposed to do or be. If we don’t, we’ve already misjudged him. You can start yelling at a guy that he didn’t do the electrical work right, but he may look at you and say, “Ma’am, I’m a plumber.” What’s wrong is that you haven’t evaluated him according to his calling. You’ve imposed a foreign concept on him.

That’s exactly what we can do to a minister if we are not careful. If we don’t begin with a right knowledge of his vocation, obviously then we will misjudge him. So that is where Paul begins. He says, “This is how one ought to regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” The calling of a minister is to be a servant and a steward.

A. Servant of Christ
Now make sure you understand what Paul means when he says that we are servants of Christ. Some of you are probably already thinking, “O, he means you are a slave.” If you are saying that you are right, but you don’t have the full picture yet. The word here for servant is the word “huperetes.” A huperetes was the lowest of all the slaves. A huperetes was a guy who would be found rowing the oars on the lowest level of a roman ship. A huperetes was a guy who was just out to do what he was commanded to do. There in the belly of the ship, he could only see one thing: they guy standing at the front saying, “Stroke.”

Paul is saying that is what we are. We are lowly, nobodies. The only thing we do is keep our eyes on Christ and do what he tells us to do.

Doesn’t sound all that glamorous, does it? You want to make a big stink about a certain minister? It would be like making your hero one of the lowliest people in the Roman society. Perhaps the equivalent today would be the prisoner who gets stuck with toilet cleaning duty. That’s the lowest of the low. He’s just doing the job that he is told to do.

And that’s what a minister does. A lot of guys go into the ministry because they think it is a great position. People will look up to you and give you special attention, but a minister’s calling is not that prestigious.

So if you want to evaluate me, you have to see if I fit that profile. Am I doing God’s grunt work? My job is to do what God commands me to do, nothing more, nothing less. I’m just a lowly slave.

Not only am I a slave, but I’m also a steward.

B. Steward
Now we are all probably familiar with what a steward is. The idea has not changed much over the centuries. When you go on a flight, you typically have a steward or stewardess who will hand you some peanuts or a drink. That steward or stewardess’ job is to distribute those items. They do not own those peanuts. They are just taking what belongs to the company and distributing it as necessary.

That’s what a steward was in ancient times. He was the top slave in the house. He was the one entrusted with the household finances or household goods. He would be responsible for distributing his master’s goods. You can get the sense of it in the original language. The word for steward is “oikonomos.” We derive our word economics from it.

That’s what a minister does. He takes what belongs to God and distributes it to the people. What does he distribute? Paul says he is a steward of the mysteries of God, which is Paul’s way of talking about the gospel. My job is to make sure that God’s gospel is distributed to his people.
Basically, I am a gospel waiter. I hold forth Christ and allow others the opportunity to take him and the forgiveness and eternal life that there is in him.

I might insert here that this is why we don’t let just anyone administer the sacraments. In the history of the church this has also been the verse that is used to point out that ministers are the ones who are to administer the sacraments. I think you can understand why. The sacraments belong to God too. They are part of that gospel ministry which ministers are in charge of distributing.

There is a lot of this going on today though. That’s why I thought I would mention it. Any Joe thinks he can baptize someone. Or if a group of Christians get together for a small group meeting, somebody might get the bright idea of celebrating the Lord’s Supper. This shouldn’t be done though. God has charged a minister with that particular duty.

He has charged the minister with the responsibility of distributing the whole of the gospel, word and sacrament. And if I’m not doing that, then I’m failing in my work. And I might say that this gives me a great opportunity. The gospel is here and free for the taking. I’m God’s waiter and I am offering you Jesus Christ. And if it is my job to offer him, it is your job to receive him. Those of you who have been struggling with your sins, I want you to know that Christ is yours for the taking. You don’t need to be all up tight about your status with God. Rest in Christ again. Find him to be your God and all sufficient savior.

That sums up my job right there. I have been called to be a servant and a steward. An under-rower and a gospel distributer. I shouldn’t be esteemed in any other way.

When you look at a minister, you need to consider his calling. And along with his calling you need to factor in his commitment.

II. Commitment [2]
Paul finds that it is important to point this out. For in verse 2 he says, “Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful [or trustworthy].”

It is one thing to hold the office, but it is a completely different thing to fulfill the function of the office. God requires us diligence in holding forth that gospel. He requires that the gospel ministry be held forth in an unadulterated way.

I want you to recognize that God does not require a minister to be popular or well respected in the community. He doesn’t require him to be charismatic or charming. He doesn’t need to be an extrovert or possess a great deal of social skills. What is required of him is that he is faithful.

Do you remember the parable Jesus told about the shrewd “oikonomos” (manager). Here was a servant who had been entrusted with the responsibility to watch over the master’s finances. He was to distribute the accounts in a responsible way. But the Master came and found that he had been embezzling some of his master’s money. He was a cheat. He wasn’t faithful. So he was going to be fired. He was going to be thrown out.

Now what would motivate the guy to be unfaithful like that? It was his greed right? That’s what ministers have to watch out for. Pastors can get greedy. We can get greedy for all kinds of things. One of them is praise. Praise is an exhilarating thing for a minister. You can get high off of it. Sometimes guys get hooked on it. They get addicted to it and they will do anything to get it.

You know the Pharisees were like this. Jesus said that they liked to be greeted in the marketplace and they liked it when people bowed before them. But what happens when you need someone’s praise. Most likely you aren’t going to be doing your job. The Jeremiah’s of the world don’t get much praise. They typically get thrown in cisterns. So a minister might be unfaithful in the gospel ministry in order to boost his glory.

He can also get greedy for growth too. How do we typically measure a minister’s success? Is it by his faithful exposition of the word? Do we measure them by their regular visitations and the personal exhortations they offer? Not really. Most pastor’s are measured by how big the budget is or what your average attendance is per Sunday. Some even are measured by how many baptisms they do or how many cards are turned in with people making first time decisions for Christ. We measure ministers by pragmatic output—by the results he gets.

There is always one question a minister gets asked. It never fails that when a minister gets into a conversation with somebody they will eventually ask how big your church is. They usually start out by saying something like, “How’s the ministry going?” or “How’s the church doing?” That is typically followed by a question of clarification, “Now, how many are in your church?” That feeds a minister’s feeling that he needs to have results. It can feed his greed.

But again, what is the easiest way to populate a church? It is not by expositional preaching. It is not by preaching through books and by being faithful to preaching the whole counsel of God.
They can be greedy for gain too. It’s not just glory or growth. It can be the love of money that motivates a minister. I think that I’ve mentioned the pastor who didn’t really believe in the resurrection or the virgin birth of Christ. When asked why he became a minister, he explained, “It’s a good job.” That is, it pays well. You can also look at the best selling Christian books. Not all that is selling out there is sound theologically. But the authors are really raking in the profits.

Obviously, if your thoughts are focused on how big the bottom line is, your thoughts are not going to be focused on a faithful proclamation of the gospel.

Nevertheless, your esteem of a minister must be based on his faithfulness. You need to ask, “Is this man preaching the Bible? Is he faithfully administering the sacraments. Is he fulfilling his duty to pray for the flock of God and visit them in their homes?” If your going to criticize a minister, you need to make sure you are measuring him by his commitment to those things. And not by any personality quirks. The question that you should ask is, “Is he a faithful huperetes? Is he a faithful steward of God’s mysteries?” That’s what God requires.

Another criteria a minister must be evaluated on is where his main concern lay.

III. Concern
Paul makes it clear where a minister’s concern is not to be. Paul says in verse three that he is not concerned with what the Corinthians thought about him. Whether they were speaking disparagingly about him or whether they were touting his excellence as a teacher, he says it doesn’t really matter to him. That’s what he means when he says, “It is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.”

It is funny too. When you read the New Testament, and particularly the letters of Paul, it seems like he is always having to defend himself and his ministry. A lot of people were antagonistic to him. You would think that Paul would be elated that at least there was a small contingent that was touting his excellence. But Paul doesn’t care one way or the other.

A lot of ministers do care though. They need the affirmation of the people to keep going. And it seems like they are always taking a mental poll as to where the people stand. Do they like me? Or Do they not like me?

I understand that every pastor needs to be encouraged. And don’t think that I’m telling you that you can never compliment me on a message or anything like that. I don’t want you to feel like I’m suppressing you. I just want you to recognize that a minister isn’t supposed to be all caught up in what people think about him.

If a guy is always concerned about how people feel, he’s not going to be very effective. If he is always stressing about what Margret Jane said about his sermon or about a given elder regards him, that’s not healthy.

If you see a minister like that, then you might want to watch how much you esteem him. Paul tells us that a minister isn’t supposed to be concerned with the judgments of the populous. His concern is to be focused on the judgment of God.

Paul says, “It is the Lord who judges me.” And then in verse 5 he says, “He [i.e God] will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts.” Paul’s focus is on the last day when he is called before God to give account of his work here on earth. He is more concerned with what transpires on that day when God judges him.

That’s where a good minister will place his heart. His main concern is that he hear those words, “Well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.”

Really, that’s what keeps a man going in the ministry. Have you ever thought about Jeremiah? Have you ever wondered what kept him going all those years? It wasn’t the praise of men, that’s for sure. It was his focus on God’s glory. It was the fact that God was his highest priority. If he had been looking to the people of Judah he wouldn’t have been the Jeremiah we all know. But since his eyes were on God, he was able to do what he did. He was able to preach that tenacious message. He was able to lose his family. He was able to have his own town turn their backs on him. He was able to be thrown into a cistern.

That’s what you want in a minister. You want someone who cares more about what God thinks of him and of what God will do to him, than anything else.

Conclusion:
What this passage amounts to is that you want a minister who is going to be infatuated with Jesus. A minister’s calling is the calling of Jesus, a calling to preach Jesus and to do the work Jesus wants him to do. A minister’s commitment is a commitment to Jesus, and not to himself or to any other man. A minister’s concern is a concern about the judgment Jesus will one day pronounce. So, if we could boil it down to one thing, how you evaluate a minister should be based on whether or not he is 100% sold out for Jesus. Is Jesus the highest priority for this guy.

Certainly no minister will live up to these criteria fully, but a good minister will certainly measure up well to these criteria. The one thing that behooves us though, is that we not just evaluate the minister. But after having measured them and found them worthy, we must then embrace them and submit ourselves to them. The Corinthians were guilty of neglecting God’s the gifts that God had given them, and we must not do the same. Once we see that they fit God’s criteria, we should remember that they have been sent from God. We should then embrace them as treasures of the greatest worth.

Worldly Wisdom Muddies Your Mind

2009-09-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

The New England minister Jonathan Edwards, is considered by many to be one of the greatest minds America has ever produced. Some even rank him as one of the greatest minds since the Reformation—that covers a lot of space and time. What is surprising is that Edward’s accolades come not just from Christians. Many secular sources praise his capabilities too.

One such person is Perry Miller. Miller was professor of literature at Harvard in the middle of the 20th century. Certainly he was no friend to Christianity either. He was a professed atheist. Yet he said of Edwards,

Even though he devoted his genius to topics derived from a body of divinity [that was his way of saying that Edward’s was wasting his time.] on the will, virtue, and sin, he treated them in the manner of the greatest speculators (in the line of Augustine, Pascal, Aquinas).

It is high praise, coming from an atheist. Nevertheless it is mixed, isn’t it? The acclaim that he receives is at the same time a put down. His mind was one of the greatest of all time, but it was devoted to the basest possible content.

Those words crystallize for us what Paul has been saying here in the opening chapters of 1 Corinthians. That is just one example of how the cross is folly to the world. And yet, despite the world’s appraisal, we know that Christ’s wisdom is superior in every way.

And when Christ calls us to himself, he calls us away from that kind of thinking. As Lord of our lives, his word is to dominate our thinking, so that not one thought goes astray. Every single mental synapse is to be given to Christ, and not one is permitted to be defiled by the currents of this present world.

To be sure our lives, as Christians, much resemble our national representatives. Before a president goes to a foreign country he has to be briefed on the customs of that land. What happens is that he gets a quick lesson in that country’s traditions. This is so that he doesn’t offend anyone in that country, particularly the leaders he is going to be introduced to. But what it amounts to is that he has to begin thinking less like an American, and more like a native of that land.

This is what is required of us. Now that we have become natives of our heavenly country, we must begin to put off our worldly way of thinking.

Paul has been urging us to do that all through these first few chapters. And in the passage before us this morning Paul urges he does it once again. But in this passage he tells us why it is important to put off that worldly way of thinking. He says that worldly wisdom is like a fog that clouds our minds. It blocks our mind’s ability to perceive the truth.

You know how it is when you are driving and your windshield wipers are not working properly. You can’t see the road very well. Everything is blurred, and some things are completely blocked from your vision.

That is what Paul says worldly wisdom does. It clouds our ability to perceive the truth about certain things. What is it that we can’t perceive correctly? Well, if you look at the first line we read you see that worldly wisdom affects our perception of ourselves.

I. Worldly Wisdom clouds our perception of ourselves
Paul begins by saying, “Let no one deceive himself.”

Do you know what it means to be self deceived? It means you are so messed up you don’t know it. There are some people who know there dumb. And that is always a good thing. Because when you know you are dumb, you typically don’t say anything. However, there are some people who don’t know they are dumb, and those are the dangerous ones. These are people who are not afraid to comment or get involved in something because they actually think they are an expert. But in all reality, they don’t have a clue.

The best example of this is a man behind the wheel of a car. Why is it that every man thinks he has a built in global positioning system? When he gets into a car, he automatically knows where he is going and nothing is going to make him stop and ask for directions. Guys, we never get lost, do we? We just take detours. We like to take in the scenery.

Ladies, you know what I’m talking about here. Sometimes guys will get lost and you will ask, “Are we lost?” He will say, no. It should be right up here. When he says that you know he’s lost. So you say, “Maybe we better ask for directions.” But he’s not going to admit that he’s lost though. He really thinks he knows where he is going. He will drive miles on end before he comes to the grand conclusion that he’s lost.

That’s what it means to be self deceived: You think you know something when you really don’t. Your perception of yourself is so clouded that you actually think that you are an expert. In all reality though, you don’t have a clue.

The reason why you don’t know anything is because you will not bow your knee to Jesus and look to his word for guidance. That is why Paul says, “If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may be wise.” What is it that is the most foolish thing in the world? It is asking the question, “Well, what does the Bible say about this?” Sinful man considers it absolutely foolish to trust a book that claims to be divine in origin and was written over 2000 years ago. To stop the car and ask God for directions would be considered completely moronic by most people.

The trouble today is that we have so many people who are self deceived. No one wants to ask for directions. The big conversation now is healthcare, right? Have you heard one person say, “What does the Bible say about healthcare?” I do not know of one politician who has asked that question.

I don’t know. I wonder if the God who created the world and knit each of us together in our mother’s womb has anything to say about how we take care of ourselves?

No one is asking what that question though. Everybody already thinks they know the answer to the question of healthcare. They are just driving along thinking they are wise in this age. They are not willing to become fools in the world’s eyes by submitting to God.

The problem is that most people haven’t thought about the majority of life’s issues from a biblical perspective. They think they have the answers already. They think they are pretty wise. So they go on doing what they think is right, and everything seems hunky dory to them.

But we must not be so deluded so as to act like that. To think that we are wise and think that we have the answers when we have not consulted the Word of God is to be self deceived. And we must be willing to become a fool in the world’s eyes. We must be willing to say, “I believe that God exists. I believe that he has spoken in the Bible and that book is a sufficient resource to guide me for everything in my life.” When we do that as it says here, we will be truly wise.

When we get our answers from the Bible, we have a right sense. When we get them from the world (or draw them out of out of our own minds like the rest of the world does), our minds are going to be clouded. We are going to have a skewed view of life and we will be self deceived.

So that is the first lesson we learn about worldly wisdom. If we do not bow the knee to Christ our perception of ourselves is going to be clouded. Of greater significance though is that it clouds our perception of God.

II. Worldly Wisdom clouds our perception of God
Verses 19 and 20 point this out. Look at what it says there. “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness," and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile."

What this verse is telling us is that a worldly wise man is so deluded that he actually thinks he is smarter than God. That’s why he doesn’t have to consult his word. God doesn’t know as much as me. God can’t control the world, that’s why I’m here.

Better yet, the worldly wise man thinks he can outwit God. It says that God catches him in his craftiness. Imagine what it is saying here. The idea is like a mouse running through a maze. The mouse thinks that it is got this great scheme that it is unraveling. But the whole time the lab scientist is there watching it. And the whole time the mouse is moving through the maze he is moving ever more close to a trap that has been set for him. Just when he thinks he has accomplished his scheme, he falls into the trap and is ruined.

That’s the worldly wise man. All his plans and all his schemes and all his trickery amount to nothing. He doesn’t think that God can keep up with him. But inevitably, at the pinnacle of his human intrigue, he finds himself ruined. God catches him in his net.

Some commentators have said too that this line means that he weaves his own demise. So when it says, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” it may mean that their crafty scheme that they have laid out to get them ahead only ends up backfiring on them. Instead of getting ahead, it leads to their demise or puts them farther behind.

I guess what they are talking about is the Wiley Coyote disease. Those of you who grew up on Loony Tunes know what I’m talking about. There was the cartoon of the coyote and the road runner, and the coyote always was laying these elaborate traps to catch the road runner. But somehow, it would always backfire on him. The rock would fall on him or he would end up running over the cliff rather than that little bird.

That’s the idea I think that this passage is trying to communicate. God is the all supreme one who just laughs at anyone who won’t listen to his word. He allows them to do their thing, but what ends up happening is that they weave their own web of destruction.

So you better remember that. God will not honor worldly thinking. He only honors Biblical thinking. The only ideas that He allows to prosper are those that are rooted in Him. So you better acknowledge him and let his word order you life.

What we seen so far is that unbiblical thinking will cloud our perception of ourselves and God. But the passage also tells us that it clouds our perception of others.

III. Worldly wisdom clouds our perception of others
Paul says in verse 21, “Let no one boast in men.”

The Corinthians were going about touting their favorite teacher. “I am of Apolos.” “I am of Paul.” No doubt then they thought they were pretty great because of it.

It is like the guys who go back and forth on their trucks. You have the Chevy only guys and the Ford only guys. And the Ford only guys think the Chevy only guys are completely nuts, and vice versa. You see how there is pride there. One group looks down on the other group as inferior.

Now notice something here. The problem in Corinth was not that they liked one teacher more than another. There is nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact, that is perfectly natural. Sometimes it is even commanded! Obviously, we are not to be following false teachers. However, even among teachers that are orthodox, some are just more gifted than others. Some are just better communicators or have better skills when it comes to interpreting the word of God. So if you say, “You know, I like Alistair Beg a lot more than Matt Timmons.” I will respond by saying, “You know what? I do too!”

The problem here in Corinth was that they were being divisive over the subject. Paul might have conceded that Apolos was a better communicator than he was. That’s not that big of a deal. What was evil was that they were getting a complex of superiority. They were looking down on the other members of the church and thinking that they were too good to associate with these low lifes.

That’s the result of worldly thinking. When you are not thinking biblically, the people around you are going to lose their humanity. They are going to become less human and therefore less worthy of your respect. What’s more is that you will become less human too. You will become more godlike in your eyes. You are going to deify yourself.

What is required of us is that we have a truly ecumenical spirit. I love the PCA, and I hope you do too. It is a great denomination. It is by no means a perfect denomination, but it is a pretty good denomination. However, we cannot let our love for the PCA come to cloud our perception of other people and other denominations that are faithful to Christ. There are some people who get so caught up in their denomination that they can’t associate with people of other affiliations. Or when they do associate with them it is like eating lima beans. They have to hold their nose, endure it and hope to get through it as fast as possible.

Now you all hear me joke about being a Presbyterian and make cracks about other denominations, but it is all in jest. Don’t think for a moment that I am putting us up on a pedestal and giving us a right to stand in our own little holy corner. No way. Whoever professes Christ is our brother, and we are to stand with them. We are to fight with them, not against them.

That’s why we need to be renewing our minds and being transformed. For when we conform to the world, we will end up spoiling our relationships with others. We will end up treating people as our enemies rather than people we are to love.

So it is important to become fools. Worldly wisdom does us no good. It clouds our perception of ourselves, God, and of others. And you know what? This might sound odd, but our passage says it also clouds our perception of our possessions.

IV. Worldly Wisdom clouds our perception of our possessions
Verse 21 goes on to say, “For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.”

The Corinthians were saying, “I got this!” They were taking pride in the possession of one particular teacher. But Paul says, “You guys are a bunch of idiots! You think you have so much, but you are really limiting yourselves. You embrace this one thing, but you are neglecting infinite number of other things that are actually yours.”

Worldly thinking always does this. It always zeros in on a smaller portion of what really belongs to you.

I think we see this most vividly in kids. Remember last week or the week before I talked about getting two 2 year olds in a room filled with toys. It only takes a few seconds for an all out war to break out. One of those kids grabs a toy and starts playing with it. Suddenly, that toy becomes the most desirable thing in the whole room. So he marches over and grabs it, which immediately ignites the other kid. But there is a whole room full of toys. All of those toys are there for the taking. The kids just don’t know how to think biblically about their situation. They are consumed with a covetous spirit. So they end up neglecting the larger portion of God’s goodness to them.

That’s the way it is with teenagers and grown ups too. Paul says here that God has given us everything! Paul even gives us an inventory of things that God has given us. Teachers are ours, the world is ours, life and death is ours, this present world is ours. The world to come is ours.

You are a fool to boast of any particular proprietorship. Because when you do that, you’ve automatically sold yourself short. You’ve limited yourself and have failed to recognize that everything in this world is given to you by God for your enjoyment and for your ultimate benefit.

You remember when God created Adam, he put him in the garden. And he said, “Go subdue it and take dominion of it.” That’s language of ownership. In other words, “Adam, it’s all yours. Go get it. Enjoy it. I’m giving it all to you.”

It wasn’t just to Adam that he said that. He says it to us. He even reiterates it in Romans 8 where he says, if he has not kept back his one and only Son, how much more will he give us all things?

Charles Spurgeon puts it this way,

God has all good, there is no good apart from him, and there is no good which he either needs to keep back or will on any account refuse us, if we are but ready to receive it… This is true, not of a favoured few, but of all the saints for evermore.

If we ever become territorial, what we have done is started thinking like a pagan. Our perception of our possessions will be skewed. God’s gifts come not in drips, but in a measureless title wave. He holds out everything to us, and he always give us more than we are able to receive, to hold, or to store.

To enjoy it though, you must first become a fool. You have to be willing to put off the conventional thinking, and begin to see the world through Jesus’ eyes.

Conclusion:
In the evenings we are starting to study John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. There is one part of that book where the main character, whose name is Christian, and his friend Faithful come to a town called Vanity Fair. The town is basically a continual carnival where you can indulge yourself in every sort of personal pleasure. All sorts of goods are sold there, and those who live in the town are very worldly minded.

When Christian and Faithful walk into the town immediately heads begin to turn. People notice them and begin to look with disgust upon them because they are dressed so queer and their language has such a different tenor to it. One person mockingly called out to them, “What will you buy?” Their response was, “We will buy the truth!” The people immediately began to revile them because what they said was so absurd.

That is a picture of what Paul is talking about here. No matter how foolish it might seem in the world’s eyes, we must buy the truth. We must seek the wisdom that comes from above, rather than the wisdom from below. The wisdom of the world will only muddy our perception of things. But when we see through the lenses of Scripture all things become clear and Christ becomes exalted.

Big Babies

2009-08-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Introduction:
Newsweek magazine recently said that 70% of young men in America have not grown up by the time they are 30 years of age. They also mentioned that this is up 30% from 1970.

That is an amazing statistic considering the fact that throughout history, and still in many places around the world today, 30 years of age is considered halfway through life! In most of the world 30 year olds are the movers and shakers of society. They are the one’s leading in their cultures. They are the ones out being fathers, rulers, farmers, manufacturers etc.

My parents and I saw an evidence of this just this week on the History Channel. We watched a program that detailed the clash of two empires, the Hitties and the Egyptians. The leaders of those vast kingdoms were both men who were in their 30’s.

But in our culture, you would be hard pressed to find a guy that age qualified to run a lemonade stand, let alone oversee a whole empire. Instead of being out there taking dominion of the world, guys in our society are busy playing their video games and fiddling around on their Facebook pages or watching television. Our guys are not growing up.

This is also why people are putting off marriage until much later in life. I have heard women asked, “Why are you not even considering marriage?” Their response is that there isn’t anyone to marry! I know what they mean by that. It is not for a lack of males. It is the lack of men. There isn’t anybody who can take care of them and provide for them. That’s because the guys are still so dependent themselves. They are not dependable, and they certainly can’t have a wife and kids depending on them.

What’s happening is that we have become a nation of babies. We’re big babies. Physically we’ve developed, but socially we’re still in diapers.

Do you know why I mention this though? Certainly, it can be of benefit for those of us who have children. It reminds us that we need to be preparing our children for adulthood. While that is a lesson you certainly may draw, that is not the main reason why I point this out though. The main reason I point this out is because the church has very much copied the culture in this respect. Perhaps I could even go so far as to say that it is the church that has led the culture down this road!

Whichever it is, there is no doubt in my mind that the church in America is radically delinquent. There has been a huge stagnation of growth when it comes to the faith. All around us we are finding people who have professed Christ for quit some time, but they are still acting in such an infantile manner, like a bunch of big babies.

It might be one thing for our culture to consist of babies. But it is something completely different for the church to be made up of them. It is an odious thing in God’s eyes, and it needs to be corrected.

As you see from our passage this morning, Paul takes the Corinthian church to task because of their immaturity. Paul points out that the reason they were experiencing all these problems with division in the church was because the Corinthians were acting like a bunch of babies. (We’ve all head of people having growing pains. But here is a warped twist. These were un-growing pains!)

It should be obvious that an immature church that isn’t growing is going to be healthy church. It is going to be plagued with problems. So, if we want our church to be healthy, it is important that we grow up in the faith.

To help the Corinthians grow, Paul begins to chastise them for their immaturity. And as we listen to what Paul says about their immaturity, perhaps be stimulated to grow too.
The first thing we must do is be clear as to the kind of immaturity with which Paul is dealing.

I. The nature of immaturity
We see something of the nature of their immaturity when we look at verse 1. Paul says, “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.”

There has been a mistake made by some in recent history, on the basis of this passage, to divide humanity into three types of people: the natural, the carnal and the spiritual. The natural person would be the unregenerate person. They are the people who are not saved, have no interest in Christ whatsoever, and live as they please. The one who is on the throne of their hearts is themselves.

Then there is the Carnal (or Fleshly) person. This person is a Christian, but they still living according to the flesh (or the sinful nature). To put it another way, you could say that they still have themselves on the throne of their heart. That is to say, this person has accepted Jesus as their savior, but he still lives as if he hasn’t. So, they would argue, they are going to heaven (because jesus is their savior) but they haven’t taken that next step in taking him as their Lord.

That’s where the next person is, the spiritual person. The Spiritual person is a person who has not only taken Christ as Savior, but they have also devoted their life to serving him. This is the person who has stepped off the throne of their heart and let Christ ascend to it.

This is a view that is pretty popular today. A lot of it has to do with the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ and Bill Bright promoting it.

But when you look at what this passage is saying in context, it becomes clear that there are only two types of humanity, the natural and the spiritual. Paul says that he cannot “talk to them as spiritual,” but he doesn’t mean that they are not spiritual.

You say, “Matt, that doesn’t make sense. They are spiritual, but he can’t talk to them as spiritual?” Hang with me for a second. Look back at 2:12. It says there, “We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God.” So these Corinthians were spiritual. They had the Spirit dwelling in them and were currently under the influence of that Spirit. The problem was that they were not listening to the Spirit. They were not obeying the Spirit.

Let’s take another example. Go back to chapter 1. Look down at verse 2. Paul says to those sanctified in Christ, called to be saints. Remember what we said about that? They had this status of being sanctified, but practically speaking they were anything but sanctified. They were called to be what they were.

The same is being said in chapter 3. They were spiritual people, but they needed to start acting like spiritual people. The problem was that they were not being what they were.

The problem with the Carnal Christian view is that you can end up with people thinking they are Christians when they are not. You cannot come to Christ and not take him as Lord of your life. If you want him as savior, you have to take him as lord too.

But that’s what a lot of people believe and are taught. They hear about hell, and they don’t like the sound of it. But they know that if you become a Christian, you have to change your life. So this whole carnal Christian thing sounds good. You can get out of hell, but you can go right along living the way you please. It’s a real good deal!

The only problem is that it is wrong. As John McAuther says, there are only two kinds of people, the saints and the ain’t’s. There are only the believers and the unbelievers.

I’m not saying of course that Christians cannot act carnally. Every time we sin we are acting carnally. You might behave carnally from time to time, but you cannot live in a state of Carnality where Christ is not your lord.

So be clear on that. What Paul is saying here that every Christian is a spiritual Christian. It’s just that some Christians are living like they are spiritual. They are living like they are unbelievers, and that is wrong! And you need to be careful, because if you are consistently living like an unbeliever, you might very well be an unbeliever. If you live like hell, chances are you are on your way there. But if you have the status of being spiritual, you need to start acting like it.

Alright? Everybody got that? There is no such thing as a Carnal Christian. Christians can act carnally, but you can’t be a Christian and stay in that state of immaturity. That sort of belief is not only unbiblical, but it is destructive.

Good. Now that we’ve addressed the nature of this immaturity, let’s talk about the embarrassment of it.

II. The embarrassment of immaturity
As you read this passage you can’t help but feel how utterly ridiculous it is to be a Christian so long and yet so immature. Paul uses the imagery of being on the bottle. “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it.” Okay. That is one thing to need it when you were first born. However, he goes on to say, “And even now you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh.”

After 4 years, there should have been some development, don’t you think? Here you are though, still in the exact same place you were 4 years ago.

Imagine going over to someone’s house. You get invited to lunch with some friends you met. They are really interesting people, and you can’t wait to get to know them more. Once you get there, you all gather around the table, and everyone pops out their bottle of formula. They just tear into those things and start sucking away! There would be something really strange about that, wouldn’t there? It is so unnatural. That’s the way it is for some people though. They just don’t grow up in the faith.

We have a real good (well, not good in the good sense of the word) illustration of this today in Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. The leadership of that church recently did a major internal study of their organization. They spent a bunch of money and time to poll their people to determine the status of their church and its needs. At the end they published a book with all the results. In that book admitted that the methods they were using for doing church weren’t working that well. Sure they were getting people into the church. That they were experts in. But once they were in the church, they weren’t going anywhere significant. They weren’t growing! You know what the sad thing is. This church was started in 1975. Do you see how embarrassing that is? Thirty years have passed and they are still putting out babies.

There comes a time when you got to grow up. When you are an infant, you need to be nursed. You need simple truths in simple ways. However, there comes a time when you start feeding yourself and you develop beyond milk.

Now when we are talking about the difference between milk and meat, we are not differentiating between doctrines (some being the elementary doctrines and others being the intermediate level doctrines). What we are talking about is the difference of how these doctrines are taught.
Listen to what Calvin says, “Some may ask if Paul presented a different Christ to different people. I answer that this refers to his manner or form of teaching, rather than to the substance of what he taught. For the same Christ is milk for babes, and solid food for adults. The same truth of the Gospel is handled for both, but so as to suit the capacity of each.”

Let me give you an example of what that means. Some people think that predestination is the real meaty stuff. But it can be milk too. When Jesus spoke with Nicodemus they were talking about the sovereign work of the Spirit in the heart; what we sometimes call effectual calling or irresistible grace. You remember that Nicodemus didn’t get it? Jesus said to him, ‘You are Israel’s teacher and you do not know these things?” In other words, “Nic, you have a Ph.D. in religious studies, but you don’t get it? This is elementary catechism stuff. You should have learned this in you Sabbath School classes.”

It’s true. We have what’s call the children’s catechism. There is the larger, the shorter, and the children’s (for the real young ones). And my wife and I were using this with Katelyn years ago. One of the questions was, “For whom did Jesus die?" Answer: All his chosen people. Again it asks, "Who can change a sinner's heart?" Answer: The Holy Spirit alone. My daughter might not get all the implications, but at least she understood a little.

But if you want to teach me about predestination, I’m going to need a little more than that. I’m a little familiar with the milk of the doctrine. I’ve applied the simple truths to my life. My capacity is a bit larger so that I can handle more substance.

John McAurther gives this as an example: He says, the most infant Christian can say, “Jesus died on the cross for my sins.” But if you say that to a seminary professor that, he’s going to be thinking on a whole different plane. All sorts of things are going to be running through his head: propitiation, expiation, reconciliation, justification, atonement, and all that. He’s operating on a different level.

For the believer there ought to be a growth in that process. You need to be able to be taking in the deeper meaning and significance of God’s word. And as you do you should be able to make deeper application of those truths.

But if you don’t, that’s really embarrassing. If my daughter is still saying the children’s catechism when she is 15 years old, she hasn’t made much progress. Moreover, if you are not able to take the things you are learning and make application, then there is something really wrong. So we need to be moving onward and upward in the faith.

Ok. So let’s determine whether or not we are immature. That’s the important thing. The thing about being immature is that you don’t typically know it. The thing about being immature is that you think you are mature, but you are not. So what are some of the signs of immaturity?

III. The signs of immaturity
And basically you can tell if you are mature or not by the way you act and think. If you look at verse 3, you see that Paul says that there is jealousy and strife among them. In essence, he says that the Corinthians were not acting or thinking like mature Christian.

A. See it by their failure to act like mature Christians
Here are two vices, jealousy and strife (or quarreling), that are not characteristic of a mature people. Mature Christians just don’t do this. Only those who are juvenile do.

Think about it, who are the people who are most likely to be envious of people and fighting back and forth? Kids! Whenever you get a bunch of 2 year olds together, you know that at some point they is going to be a spat. If one of those kids picks up a toy and starts playing with it, all of a sudden that the other kid finds that toy to be the most desirous toy in the whole room. It wouldn’t matter if the room was filled with toys. They could be playing in KB Toy Store. That one toy is going to be the one he/she wants. So he’s going to walk over and snatch that thing away. Then the other is going to burst into tears and grab it back. In a matter of seconds you have a 2 year old tug of war going on.

Here’s a better example: teenage girls. Why is it that teenage girls are the most catty group of the entire human race? It is because of their lack of maturity. They don’t understand what it means to be content, be it with their clothes, their looks or their friendships. So they end up tearing into one another, bickering and fighting.

That’s the way it is with immature Christians too. Immature Christians are people who are consumed with themselves. They easily become enflamed with envy because they think only of their own happiness. Or they get to bickering or quarreling because they don’t know how to overlook a fault. If they get wronged, they can’t let it go. They have to get back or get even.

Mature Christians are not going to do that. They are going to be more concerned with the well being of others, and not themselves. That’s the difference. That’s where their maturity is manifested. They love with the same sort of love that Christ himself displays. A love that looks not to one’s own condition, but to the condition of others and what’s best for them.

So that’s the first question you must ask. Am I living for others? If you are then you can rest assured that you are not being fleshly. But if there is strife in your life and you are filled with bitterness or resentment, then chances are you are not a mature Christian (or at least you are not acting like one).

Of course, if you are acting like an immature Christian, chances are you are not thinking like a mature Christian. That’s what you find in verses 4-9.

B. See it by their failure to think like mature Christians
Paul says that Apollos and he are both ministers of God. They might have had different jobs (one planted, the other watered), but they were both doing the work that God gave them to do. And ultimately, it isn’t their ministry that was of any significance. God was the one who was to receive all the praise and glory. Not the men.

Now the Corinthian Christians understood something of the ministry. They knew that God had raised up men to preach. But they hadn’t thought through it enough. They hadn’t developed a theology of ministry and seen the implications of their beliefs. That’s all that Paul does in these verses. He helps them to develop the kernel of knowledge that they already had.

I find this very embarrassing, don’t you? Isn’t this simplistic? But that’s what Paul has to do. He has to treat them like babies and take them by the hand and lead them, just like you do for a baby.

We spend a lot of time here pointing out how important it is to learn more about the Bible. I want you to realize though that sometimes it is not so much how much you know, as it is how you are using what you do know. A mature person may not know much in terms of theology, but they will be able to demonstrate a great deal of wisdom because they are letting the little they have guide their life. He is thinking through what he knows.

I had a great example of this just this week. I was doing some reading down at the seminary and a man came up to me and introduced himself as an inspirational speaker. He found out that I was a pastor and he immediately started into why I should have him come and speak to our church. When he was done giving me his pitch, I began to ask him about his ministry. One of the things he said was that he wasn’t part of a church, but the church he started was an online church. He said everyone in the world can come together and learn about God.

I started to press him on that. How can you have church online? A church is supposed to be under the authority of elders. How can you do that online? Then I found out that he himself was not accountable to anyone. That’s pretty convenient, isn’t it? When there is no one to watch you, you don’t have to worry about being told you are wrong. You don’t have to worry about being in sin.

It was quite obvious that this man was not a mature Christians and certainly shouldn’t be responsible for other souls. You could say that he didn’t know much about the Bible. What may be more accurate thought is that he simply wasn’t thinking through what he did know.

Mature Christians do not have to be led through simple thought processes. If you are a mature Christians, you will not have to have people connect the dots for you all the time.

Conclusion:
A while back my wife and I were talking to a lady about her son. Her son was about to turn 16 and she was thinking about getting him a car. My wife and I were surprised at this because, for most of the conversation, this lady had talked about how her son was so immature and how he was always getting in trouble. But her conclusion was, “I guess he needs a car though because he is turning 16.”

Afterwards my wife and I reviewed the lady’s reasoning together. We both thought it was a rather foolish thing to do given all she said. In the end I said, “People have to realize that age is not an indicator of maturity.”

We need to remember that that is true in the spiritual sense too. The passage of time alone does not make us mature in Christ. We might like it if it did, but that’s not how we develop. It is required that we not only be growing older in the faith, but be growing up in the faith too. We affirm that it is good to have child-like faith where we simply trust Jesus. But our faith should never be childish. It should always be ripening with age and developing stronger characteristics of godliness.

In every way we should pattern our lives after Christ. You remember that he grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men. When he was only twelve years old he was impressing the religious leaders with his maturity.

We might not be able to attain to that level, but it certainly is to be our goal. If we dedicate ourselves to the exploration and application of God’s word we can (and will) develop a good measure of Christ-likeness.

The Art of Divine Eloquence

2009-08-09T05:42:00.000-07:00

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

After he was done preaching the 18th century evangelist, John Wesley, would often ask two questions. The first was, “Has anyone been converted?” The second was, “Did anyone get angry?”

Wesley recognized that the preaching of the cross was a doubled edged sword. For those who were being saved it was the power of God. For others, it was completely offensive. They hated it and considered nothing but foolishness.

We’ve been looking at that very theme here in the book of 1 Corinthians. We’ve noticed that God has his own ways; ways that are opposed to the mindset of the world. As a matter of fact, God intends his ways to be laughable in the eyes of the world. That way he can scorn the wisdom and pomp of the world.

Every time I think of this I am reminded of the story of Shamgar in the Old Testament. The story of Shamgar is perhaps one of the silliest sounding stories in all of the Bible. You might not know who Shamgar is. He is mentioned only twice in the Bible and both times it is very brief. You find him in the last verse of Judges 3. It says that Shamgar, “killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad, and he saved Israel.”

Now is that ridiculous, or what? An oxgoad was just a piece of wood with a little mettle pointer on the top. Someone probably saw him walking by and said, “Hey, Shamgar. Where are you going with that oxgoad?” “I’m going to deliver Israel from the Philistines!” You can imagine the laughter that would ensue. The Philistines were probably decked out in full armament: swords, spears, shields, horses, chariots. Shamgar and his little oxgoad had to look ridiculous!

Or you can think about Gideon and his army. He was to deliver Israel from the Midianites. He had 32,000 men rounded up to fight. But God said, “That’s too many.” And he sent away 2/3rds of the army. He was left with 10,000. But God said, “That’s still too many! Take them down and let them drink from the brook. I want you to take the ones who bend down and lap like dogs.” When he was done, he had 300 dog lapping men. Hardly a winning team in the eyes of the world.

But those are the kinds of odds God likes. God likes the foolish things. He uses those weak and insignificant things to usher in his kingdom. And that’s why he uses the preaching of God’s word.

It might be foolish in the world’s eyes, but it is the power of God. And it is the means that God has appointed in this era to usher in his kingdom. And because it is his means, it is important that we know something about the art of preaching.

You might wonder why on earth we need to focus on that? Why is it that we have to think about the logistics of preaching? I mean, that’s something the pastor should do! You might say, “I’m not going to be a preacher.” That may very well be true. But you are at the very least someone who listen’s to sermons. You should consider yourself a connoisseur of sermons. And to be a good connoisseur, you need to know something about the format of a Christian sermon.

Perhaps we can find a better reason in the words of our Lord. Jesus said, “Be careful how you hear.” In other words, Christ commands us to scrutinize that which enters through your auditory canals. And there is no better way to do that than considering the art of divine eloquence.

Fortunately for us, Paul here gives us some guidance on what makes up a Christian sermon. And the first thing he points out is that, when it comes to a Christian sermon, the style must be simple.

I. The plain style:
In verse 1 Paul says, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.”

What this means is that when Paul preached, he delivered the message in a way that might have been considered crude. That is to say, it wasn’t flowery or dressed up with ornate rhetoric. It was plain.

You know the Corinthians like the flowery stuff. They were in to rhetoric and they liked a good speech. Some of you might know something of architecture. You may be familiar with the columns in the ancient days and the different ways they were topped off. At the top of these columns were decorative pieces called capitals. And there were different styles of capitals. On the one hand there was the Doric and the Iconic capitals. They were very simple, yet very beautiful with their clean lines and symmetry. Then there was the Corinthian capital. It was large. It was very vivacious. It was elaborate and ornate. And that is typical of the Corinthian lifestyle. And it was typical of the kind of speeches they enjoyed.

But that’s not the way Paul preached. Paul’s model was more discrete. It was simple. When people heard it, it probably was as flashy as a cardboard box.

And certainly we find that our culture does not differ all that much from that of Corinth. We live in a flamboyant, razz-ma-taz culture too. We want to be impressed. We want verbal shock and awe.

I remember years ago I happened to be in a office supply store. I picked up a daily planner and picked through it. I was just curious to see its contents. Inside was everything a business person would need. There was a calendar for marking important dates and event, a place to hold one’s pens, a pad of paper for making notes, and lots of pockets to hold your extra junk. But there was one other thing that caught my eye. It was a piece of paper with a list of words all down it. At the top was the phrase “Power Words.” This was a list of words that, if used, it would help you get the sale.

Every business man needs to make a sell. And that means that he has to be persuasive. He has to be a master of rhetoric and skilled in the art of persuading people. So his language has to crafted in just the right way. He has to sound slick and make his product sound tantalizing.
That’s typical of our culture. We want high flatulent language. We want lots of color and drama. We want to be aroused, and we want that little bar of soap you are trying to sell to have some real sex appeal!

And certainly the church today has been influenced by this tide of glitz. We can’t just talk about God. We have to have the perfect lighting for the stage. We can’t just have the words of the songs on the screen up in front. There have to be visual effects accompanying the songs because the words on a wall are just too plain. The whole tenor today is that we just have to spice up church.

And into this culture walks a guy like me who just wants to talk about God. No wonder people fall asleep so easily! I is no wonder why people are turned off by the regular preaching of God’s Word. There’s nothing here that’s going to dazzle you. It’s not going to tantalize your carnal senses. I can’t turn a slick phrase or dress up the word. What you are going to get is a simple, plain spoken sermon.

And hopefully you take comfort in that. Because the gospel is simple, and it is meant for simple people. I’m not trying to get you to buy something that isn’t worth that much. I’m not trying to fool you or impress you. I just want you to tell you about Jesus Christ. I just want you to believe in him and trust him with your whole heart.

So the first lesson in sermon delivery is that of keeping it simple. But just as the style must be plain, the content must be evangelical.

II. The evangelical content
What I mean to say is that it focused on the “evangel” or the good news or gospel. When Paul came to Corinth, this was the only thing on his mind. He says in verse 2, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

Paul’s point here is that all that he wished to speak of was the gospel of Jesus Christ. The whole time he was in Corinth his theme would be nothing except Christ.

It would be so good today if more ministers would choose to do the same. You’ve heard me before lament the state of preaching in our day. It is terribly poor. But its worst blotch is that people fail to talk about the gospel.

I read a recent survey that polled a number of people who claimed to be Christians. Of those surveyed, only about 40% of them knew the basic tenets of the gospel. Now, I am not talking about the intricacies of predestination here. I’m talking the most fundamental truths of the faith, a basic outline of how to be saved! I read another statistic that asked people if they were evangelical Christians. If they responded yes, they asked what the word evangelical meant. Most of them couldn’t even tell you!

This does more than tell us about the state of the church today. It tells us about the state of preaching. If people do not know what the gospel is, it can only be an indicator that preachers are not talking about it in the pulpits.

I remember one church I attended for a number of months. I sat in the pews for six months and I never once heard the gospel proclaimed. I barely ever heard the name of Christ. After each sermon, they would have the invitational—a time where people could come forward. But I always wondered, to what are they invited? They weren’t to come forward and receive Christ because Christ was never offered to them. And this was from a church whose whole purpose was said to be evangelism! But where was the evangel? We were there for 6 months and never once heard a thing about grace, or forgiveness or about what Christ has done on our behalf!

At best most preaching today is nothing more than a bunch of moralisms. What I mean by that is that you have a man who gets up into a pulpit and gives you some advice on how to live. He will give you 5 ways to have a good marriage, or 6 keys to successful living.

But that is not the essence of preaching. The key to preaching is that you “make much of Jesus.” That is how it has often been said. Anyone who does not do that is not preaching. If it fails to mention Christ and exalt him as Lord and Redeemer, it is not a sermon that you have heard. You might be surprised to hear this, but the main focus of preaching is not to tell people how to live. It is declaring what God has done in Christ for our redemption. Certainly, that entails that we will unfold the law of God. But the message is not a sermon until Christ has been lifted up.

They say that good ministers only really have one sermon. It’s true. Good ministers only have one sermon. They can only preach about Christ. They will use different words each week. But it is always the same message week in and week out. Because the minister’s job is to point the people to the only place where salvation is to be found.

That’s the way it was for Paul. His goal was to know nothing except Christ, and him crucified.
Now I want you to recognize the significance of that last part (the Christ crucified part). A while back we learned that the natural man considers the cross foolishness. But Paul’s main text was the crucifixion of Christ. That is to say, his preaching consisted of only that which was base in the eyes of the world.

Obviously, Paul had never heard of the “seeker sensitive” movement. The seeker sensitive people say that we have to be sensitive to those who are not believers, and make sure that we appeal to them by talking about things they like so that they can come to faith. But Paul would have none of that. Paul was decidedly seeker unfriendly!

To talk about the gospel (and Christ crucified) you have to talk about other things that are personally offensive and unappealing. You have to talk about sin. You have to talk about hell and judgment. And you have to talk about the law of God. Those are topics that are quickly avoided, in Paul’s day and in ours. Everybody wants to have Their Best Life Now, don’t they?

But that was not Paul’s strategy. He wouldn’t appeal to the masses. He would not bend his message to make it more tolerable or intellectually acceptable. He could only proclaim what God had revealed in Christ. And every man who stands in a pulpit is required to do the same. Every sermon you hear must be evangelical, otherwise it is not a sermon.

But when it comes to the art divine eloquence there is one other thing that we must consider. In the last part of this passage Paul details something of his presentation. And when you consider what he says you come to find that it is altogether unimpressive.

III. The unimpressive presentation
In verse 3 Paul says that he came to the Corinthians “in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.”

This is perhaps the greatest comfort to anyone who is called upon to speak for Christ. It is a daunting task, even if you are not in a situation like Paul where your life may be threatened. When you are faced with the job of ministering for the Lord, you often feel overcome by the immensity of the task. You are also faced with perspective of those you minister to. What will they think of you? What will they do to you? Will they think you are some religious freak or a fool?

These feelings are common to man, and it is comforting to see that even the Apostle Paul was like unto us in this way. This, of course, is not an excuse we can use to not share the gospel. These emotions shouldn’t prevent our boldness. But they are common. And it shows us that assertiveness isn’t necessarily a mark of true preaching.

Most of you were there when we watched the movie about Luther last year for our Reformation Celebration. One of the most memorable moments in Luther’s life is when he was called to stand before the all the cardinals of the Catholic Church and the Emperor himself and recant his teaching. You may remember that when he was first called upon to recant it looked like he might waiver. He ask for an extension that he might consider the question. You can understand why! He was under incredible pressure. If he didn’t recant, the emperor could have had him arrested and he could be put to death on the spot.

We don’t know what happened during that interlude. The movie showed him back in his cell in great mental, spiritual and emotional distress. He was portrayed as beating the air and flinging himself around the room as if physically trying to fight the devil. In the midst of it all he would cry out against the fiend and cry out to God for help.

The next day he was called in again to make his confession. He then gave a short speech which climaxed in the words, “Here I stand, I can do no other.”

The whole scene was the epitome of weakness and fear and much trembling. Yet, the testimony Luther gave was a demonstration of the power of God.

Isn’t it true that God shines the brightest where there is no human power? I believe that God intentionally brings us to the end of ourselves. He does it simply for the purpose of displaying himself. God likes to have the packaging of human weakness because it is up against the shambles of humanity that his might is made know.

Conclusion:
A poem has been written, its author unknown. But it summarizes well the teaching of this passage. It summarizes well the minister’s duty in preaching, but it puts it in terms of holding a lamp. It goes like this:

He held the lamp each Sabbath day,
So low that none could miss the way,
And yet so high to bring in sight
That picture fair of Christ the Light,
That, gazing up, the lamp between,
The hand that held it was not seen.

The sermon is to be so plainly spoken that not even the lowliest of the low will miss the way. Yet, at the same time, it reaches to the heavens to lift up Christ as the Lord and Redeemer of men. But ultimately, the preacher is not to be seen. It is not his skill or strength that is most apparent. Rather what is witnessed is the mighty hand of God.

May God grant us to have such preaching. And may many more be raised up in our day who have mastered the art of divine eloquence.

Our Esteem of Preaching

2009-07-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

"For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. [18] For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
1 Cor. 1:17-19 (ESV)

With the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth being this year, there has been a lot of literature that has been produced about Calvin. If you have seen the advertisements for books and conferences you might have seen a number of pictures of Calvin, be it on a book cover that has just been released or on a banner announcing an upcoming conference. One of the pictures that you might have seen is of Calvin looking down upon his congregation from his pulpit and with one arm stretched out over their heads, as if making a dramatic point.

What is interesting about that picture is that Calvin seems to be hovering over the people. Many of the pulpits at that time were not just fixed at the front of the church, but they were raised a good distance above the heads of the congregation. Some of you might have heard the phrase, that a minister is “mounting the pulpit” when he gets up to preach or begin a service. This is where that phrase originates. In those days preachers would have to climb up a set of stairs, he were a cowboy getting ready to mount a horse that is locked in the gates.

In that picture though you kind of sympathize with the poor souls who had to sit or stand in the front row of the church! The poor fellows must have had a horridly stiff neck by the end of the service. That’s because for the duration of the sermon, if he wanted to look at the minister who was speaking, he would have to cock his head straight back.

I remember when we used to go to the mainline Presbyterian church here in town. Our youth group would sit towards the front of the building. But I remember having quite a crick in my neck by the end of the service. That the pulpit was raised just a couple of feet off of the floor. It was nothing compared to the one from which Calvin was to have preached.

One wonders though, what motivated them to put their congregations through such torture? And when you consider the emphasis of the Reformers, you will recognize that these sky-scraper-esc pulpits were designed for a specific purpose. Someone might first assume that it was to help the guy way in the back to see and hear. No doubt that was achieved, and certainly it would have been a factor.

But the main reason was for the visual effect of it all. With this gigantic looming pulpit, everyone would have understood that the emphasis was no longer on the mass. The emphasis was now placed where salvation was truly to be found. The emphasis was upon the authority of God’s Word. In essence, the people came to understand that when a minister spoke they were receiving a word that was coming directly from heaven itself.

While the logistics of it might have been a little painful to bear, the symbolism was certainly accurate. The parishioners in those churches came to understand the importance of the Bible in general, and sound exposition of Scripture in particular. Or you might say that the raising of these pulpits helped to raise their regard for what went on in the pulpit.

Though I am not about to bring a step ladder to church, it is my hope that you all come to have just such an experience. For when we look into the Bible we see that it calls us to place a high esteem on this thing we call preaching. And certainly that is the lesson we glean from these two verses.

This passage contrasts for us two standard views regarding the preaching of God’s word. We have the typical, worldly minded view and the, of course, the Biblical view. We have portrayed for us what the people normally think about the preaching of the Bible and then two reasons on why we should hold the preaching of God’s word in high regard.

And I want to start by addressing the view of the majority of people. We can ask, “What do people typically think about preaching?”

I. What is the typical view of preaching?
And Paul sums it up in a single word. He says in verse 18 that “The word of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing.” In other words, they think it is the most absurd act and that it is a complete waste of time! Perhaps Paul’s language is even a bit stronger than our English Bibles will permit. The word that we translate “foolishness” is the Greek word, moria. It comes from the Greek moros.

Most likely you can already figure out what English word we get from moros. If you want an example of it you can come and watch me play basketball each Tuesday and Thursday morning. Because 9 times out of 10 I will at some point fumble the ball or bounce it off my foot so that it goes out of bounds. And though they are kind enough not to say it, I know what everyone is thinking! “Way to go, you moron!”

That’s what the majority of the world thinks of preaching! They think it is utterly moronic. And you can understand why they think that way. If you are going to invent your God and style your religion after the whims of your own heart, certainly you won’t put a high emphasis on preaching. And there are a few different reasons for this.

First of all, you can think about in terms of is method. Preaching is not all that attractive, is it? What is the biggest complaint about preaching? Young people, I could probably have you all say this in unison: It is it is so incredibly boring!

Look what Paul says in verse 17. He says that when he preaches the gospel it is not with words of eloquent wisdom. In other words, it is not all that flashy. It is just a guy getting up and, in plain and simple terms, speaking the truth of God.

The Corinthians didn’t care much for that. They liked the flashy stuff. They liked things that were intriguing and stimulating to the funny bone. I tell you, the same thing is true today. How many channels do you have on your television that are devoted strictly to preaching (and I am not talking about the guys who are always asking for your money)? How many radio stations do you know of that are dedicated to having men expound the Scriptures, and all they play are sermons? Compare that to the number of comedy channels there are. Compare that to how many rock channels there are.

Stand up comedians will keep you coming back for more. The guy with the guitar can keep you spellbound. And you won’t want to miss the pretty little lady who reads the news to you at 6:00. But when it comes to preaching, if your heart is deadened to God, it isn’t all that much to behold.

But the method is not the half of the problem. The content of preaching is the real stickler.
Why do people think that preaching is moronic? It is because its essence is, as Paul says in verse 18, the word of the cross. This has to be the most moronic thing in the world. Jews seek signs, Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.

A crucified Jew. That is what is the main attraction when we open our mouths. No wonder people look at us like we are some freak show at the circus. Because to talk about Christ on the cross is to talk about atonement. And to talk about atonement means to talk about sin, death, hell and repentance. And you know how appealing those topics are.

But they don’t want any of that. They want something grand! They want something provocative. But all we have is a condemned Jew, who underwent one of the most crude forms of execution to bring sinners into heaven. In our world where self help gurus abound and the philosophy of individual existence and the freedom to define yourself (existentialism) permeates culture, this Jew on the cross sounds quite moronic.

It is no wonder why we see so many churches downplaying preaching; if not remove it altogether. There are many other things that can help to get people into the church and keep them there. This is why we’ve seen things like dramas and video clips introduced into church services. This is what accounts for the vast multiplication of praise bands and choruses. It is not so much because they are growing out of a high level of spirituality, which was characteristic of most of the hymns that are in our hymnbooks. It is mainly because these things are much more attractive, much more stimulating to the carnal mind.

Having a man get up in front of a congregation and talk about how we are all under sin and need to repent is a real turn off. And such a thing doesn’t always pay the bills. But if you can get a cute little girl with a nice voice to stand up in front of the congregation and sing, then you are probably on to something.

Really, we are seeing in the church exactly the same thing that happened to the weather channel a number of years ago. I don’t know if it is possible, but if you could go back a number of years and watch some of the earlier episodes (do they have episodes?) you will immediately notice that things have changed quite dramatically. Perhaps the most significant change you will notice is that back then they were concerned with reporting the weather, and they didn’t care exactly who did it. But after a while they became more concerned with their viewership. And everybody knew that watching the Weather Channel was not all that stimulating because the weather is not all that grabbing.

So what did they do? Things began to get revamped. The old weather anchors began to be replaced with young, more attractive ladies. While it might not have been directly stated, their hopes were that you would be looking at more than just the high pressure system that was coming into your area. And in looking at what you were looking at, you would be more prone to stay.

And the exact same thing has happened to the church. Preaching the Bible doesn’t stand up to the other in your average a taste test. People will typically choose the other leading brand because it is more attractive. It is foolish to say that something is wrong with us and it can only be fixed through God who became incarnate man.

But while the world turns its head in disgust from it, you and I are called to give a special regard to the preaching of God’s word. That’s the Biblical view of preaching. Our hearts are to leap for joy when a minister stands in a pulpit and speaks the truth. The preaching of God’s word is to be regarded with the utmost affection. And we should be convinced to do so when we think about the prominence and the potency of preaching.

II. Why must we regard it with such high esteem?
Now a person walking in here this morning and hearing all that I have said so far might wonder why we are to have such a high esteem of the preaching. And one reason is because of its prominence as an ordinance of God.

A. Its prominence as an ordinance of God
If you were a member of the Roman Catholic Church and you came in here today, verse 17 would shock you. It says, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”

In the Catholic tradition baptism is absolutely necessary for salvation. If you don’t get baptized, according to the RC tradition, then you cannot be saved. But Paul here says that his main job wasn’t baptizing people. Now if baptism is necessary to your salvation and Paul wasn’t baptizing people, something is wrong, isn’t it? A good Catholic will look at this verse and say, “Paul, what are you doing? You are not getting people into the kingdom.”

So it is obvious, from this passage, that Paul doesn’t believe that baptism is absolutely necessary for salvation. But don’t think though that he is minimizing baptism. Certainly not. Surely he had a high view of baptism. He would emphasize that even though baptism might not save you, it still is to be one of the first things that you do when you are saved. But his point here is clear. Baptizing people was not what he was called to do. His primary duty was to preach the word. So he acknowledges that the preaching of God’s word ranks at the top of the ordinances that God has instituted.

We could then extend that to other aspects of worship. In most Protestant churches we typically think that the music is the most important part of the service. We say things like, “Well we finished worship and now we are ready for the sermon” as if the sermon didn’t have anything to do with worship.

I once worked with a guy and we got to talking about church things. And I asked him why he went to the church he did. He said he went there because he liked the music. He used to be a drummer and he liked the style of music the church had.

His emphasis is quite typical of today’s church. People believe the singing and the music are the most important features of a worship service. But that’s not true. The sermon is the most prominent part of the service. You could have a stellar choir or an internationally known praise band. But it doesn’t matter how good it is. It still ranks behind the preaching of God’s word. And our focus in a church shouldn’t primarily be what comes out of the piano or the drum. It should be upon what comes out of the pulpit.

We are to give highest reverence to the preaching of God’s word. But we should esteem it not only because of its prominence as an ordinance of God, but because of its potency as a means of salvation.

B. Its potency as means of salvation
You may have noticed that the word “power” is used twice in these two verses. Both have reference to the cross and the preaching of the gospel. But verse 18 brings it out the clearest. It says, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

It is interesting to analyze the language here. Of course the thing that has the real power is the cross, isn’t it? That’s what verse 17 emphasizes. Paul is concerned that the cross of Christ not be emptied of its power.

But the cross and the message of the cross are basically synonymous. Paul uses them almost interchangeably. It is as if you cannot separate the gospel from the proclamation of the gospel. You might even look at this and wonder, “Well, which is he talking about, the cross or preaching the cross?” It just shows how interconnected they are.

So you might ask, “How do we get people saved?” The answer is that you bring them to the cross. And the way you do that is not by showing them the Jesus film. It is by speaking to them about the cross and its significance.

We must understand that what is going on here and now is God’s appointed means for drawing people unto Christ. The preaching of the cross is the power of God. It has the power to bring sinners to their knees in humility. It drives them out of themselves. When God’s word is spoken, people become conformed to the image of Christ, they are comforted with the salvation that comes through him, their wills are subdued to his.

You should recognize that at this very moment, God is using the words that are coming from my mouth. He is making you to be strengthened against temptation. He is building you up in grace and establishing your hearts in holiness.

From time to time I will be talking with people and they will talk about some video they saw on youtube or some painting they saw at a show. And they will say of that video or that painting, “It was really powerful!” But hardly ever do I hear someone say that about what is spoken from a pulpit. But this, my friends, is the most powerful tool in the Christian’s arsenal.

And I can tell you this: If you want things to change in the political arena of our nation, the way to change it is not though elections. Your best option is not through the political realm. You can try to get certain personalities elected to the Senate or the House of Representatives, but that really won’t change much. If you want our nation to remain a free country, you are not going to get it by pushing for certain legislation. The only way we can save our nation is if God gives us men who can preach the Word and tell people about Jesus Christ! If that doesn’t happen, it doesn’t matter who gets elected. The nation will continue to slide down into oblivion.

The only way to preserve liberty is that we come to embrace a spirit of repentance. And that will never happen until men’s hearts are wounded and they are driven to the cross for the forgiveness of their sins. And that will only happen when the power of the cross is unleashed through the mouths of holy men across the nation.

Conclusion:
Some will most certainly say to me, “That is ridiculous!” I know that will happen. People are going to mock me, and tell me that that is foolish. I know. They think it is impotent. They will compare it to the children’s ditty, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

But those of us here must give reverence to this God ordained method. For we know that it is of good linage. When God created the world, he did it by means of his spoken word. When Lazarus was brought up from the tomb, the voice of Christ was instrumental. And it is that same power that is manifested in the preaching of Jesus Christ. When a minister opens his mouth and declares the wonder of the gospel, it is as if God rumbles from heaven. The demonic world and all the principalities of darkness tremble and quake when even the weakest of voices dares utter the glories of Christ. God’s word is a hammer. Even the hardest of hearts can be shattered by its force.

Dear people, let us ever remember that salvation is of the Lord. But the Lord extends his saving hand through lips he has anointed to preach. It is this hour that God demonstrates his mighty strength, though it be a power unseen and unfelt.

May we then give the word its place and pay it our highest respects; not as the Pharisees do, in word only. But in action. Let our esteem of it be displayed openly and to all as we take heed to every word that is spoken; not letting one fall to the ground. When the Lord ’s Day is at hand, let us be properly rested so that our hearing is not impaired or our minds given to sleep. And may we pay our respects by locking as much of it as we can in our hearts. Not simply hearing it, but listening to it that we might meditate upon it in the rest of the week.

Above all, may those of you who now feel the power of God working upon your hearts respond to it appropriately. If your heart is heavy with conviction, go to the Lord. If your sins do weigh upon you like a load of bricks, find relief in the only place where it can be found: in the cross of Jesus Christ. It, and it alone, is sufficient to deal with your need.