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| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Breastplate of Righteousness | 03 Nov 2024 | 00:38:41 | |
What does it mean to be a Christian? How do you know that you are a Christian? What assurance can you have that you will remain a Christian? Well it is mentioned over thirty times in Ephesians, in fact we are told about 10 times in the very first and very long sentence that makes up the first 14 verses of Ephesians:
To be a Christian is to be a person who was once spiritually dead, but now is alive with Christ not because of any religious activity on our part, but only because of the work of Jesus on our behalf (Eph. 2:1-9). This is what it means to be a Christian, but how does one become a Christian? I believe that in the same way that you become a Christian, is the same way you put on and take up the breastplate of righteousness.
Some of you will remember our time spent in the sermon on the mount during my sermon series, “Something Greater” just over two years ago. In fact, if you are trying to make sense of the rhetoric and animosity that we are experiencing in our nation, I encourage you to read the first manuscript in that series from May 22, 2022. If you were here for that sermon series, you discovered that not only is the sermon on the mount the greatest sermon ever preached, but Jesus’ sermon shows us what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
During our time in the beatitudes I shared that the first three beatitudes, which are also known as “beatitudes of need,” reveal what is essential for any person to understand what is necessary for the salvation of your soul. Let me walk you through it because it will help you appreciate just how encouraging the breastplate of righteousness really is. So here are the first three beatitudes from Matthew 5:3-5, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
“Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth.
To be poor in spirit is to arrive at the cross of Christ with empty hands, recognizing that you are spiritually bankrupt of any moral virtues adequate to earn or gain God’s forgiveness for sins committed against Him. Those who mourn are those who see and understand their sins for what they are and grieve because of them. The meek are those who understand that their problems are beyond them, their problems are because of the sin in them, and their problems are of their own doing.
To come to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins is to come to Jesus knowing that there is no righteousness in yourself; it is to mourn over the reality that your sins offend the God who is infinitely righteous, and to come to Jesus knowing that there is not one thing you can do to generate the kind of righteousness necessary for your salvation. The person who has been truly born again is one whose experience is now the fourth beatitude: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6). In Jesus, “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us” (Eph. 1:7-8).
What is the Breastplate of Righteousness? The Roman soldier’s breastplate was most likely form fitting and extended from the base of the neck to the top of the thighs, covering the thorax and abdomen for the purpose of protecting the vital organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, and bowels. The breastplate is the second piece of God’s armor we are told to put on, but what kind of righteousness does it represent?
Is the breastplate of righteousness the righteousness of Jesus that has been imputed upon you the moment you were saved through faith by Christ alone? The imputed righteousness of Christ is when the righteousness of Jesus is applied to you the moment you believed the gospel as we are told in verses like 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Here, consider another passage that concerns the imputed righteousness of Christ from Romans 5:18-21, So then, as through one offense [Adam’s sin] the result was condemnation to all mankind, so also through one act of righteousness the result was justification of life to all mankind. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. The Law came in so that the offense would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In other words, the imputation of Christ’s righteousness is good news because God the Father no longer sees you as a sinner because of your sinfulness but sees you as righteous because Jesus’ righteousness has been applied to you permanently.
Do you remember last week when I showed you that the belt of truth includes your identity in Jesus and that He is now your truth? The One we follow is, “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6), and now we follow His way, we walk in His truth, and we are united to His life. Some of you, like John Bunyan, really struggle with the tension between what you know the Bible says about your salvation and your very real frustration over your sin. John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, a book he wrote while in prison for preaching the gospel, it has now been translated into more languages than any other book, except the Bible. Bunyan also wrote other books, and one such book so profoundly helped me with my own struggle of desiring to live for Jesus while struggling with my own sin. One day, while Bunyan was taking a walk, he discovered something that we dare not miss concerning the righteousness of Christ; he wrote about it in his book, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: One day, as I was walking in the field, my conscience still somewhat wounded and still fearing that all was not well, these words suddenly entered my soul: “Your righteousness is in heaven.” And I thought, moreover, that I saw, with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God’s right hand. I say, my righteousness was there [in heaven]; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, ‘He is in need of my righteousness,’ as my righteousness was right in front of him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good state of heart that made my righteousness better, nor even my bad state that made my righteousness worse, since my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, ‘the same yesterday, today, and forever’ (Heb. 13:8).
Now indeed the chains fell off my legs, and I was loosed from my afflictions and irons. My temptations fled away too, so that from that time those terrifying Scriptures of God stopped troubling me; I now went home rejoicing in the grace and love of God. So when I got home I looked to see if I could find that verse: ‘Your righteousness is in heaven,' but I could find no such statement. So my heart began to sink again; the only words which came to mind were these: ‘Of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).[1]
Bunyan’s book was first published in 1666, but his words echo what so many of us struggle with today as we seek to “walk in a manner worthy of our calling” (4:1). But is this the breastplate of righteousness that we are to put on along with the belt of truth? The answer to that question is yes... and no. The answer is “No” in that if you are a Christian, you do not need to apply the righteousness of Christ to your life, that is something that only God can do and already has been done for you (see Eph. 1:7-12)! If you are a Christian, you can say with the apostle Paul, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith...” (Phil. 3:8-9).
So in what way is the breastplate of righteousness the righteousness of Christ then? We put on the breastplate of righteousness when we live and walk in the confidence and reality that all we have is Christ, and His righteousness is righteousness enough! John Bunyan said that after he realized that all his righteousness was before the Father because Jesus is our righteousness and sanctification before God. He went on to say, “Having reached this point, I rested very comfortably here, for some time, at peace with God through Christ. ‘Oh,’ I thought, ‘Christ, Christ!’ There was nothing but Christ before my eyes.... Oh, I saw my gold was in my trunk at home, in Christ, my Lord and Saviour. Now Christ was all – all my righteousness, all my sanctification and all my redemption.”[2] This my dear brothers and sisters is what it looks like to take up and put on the breastplate of righteousness. It is God’s to give, and it is now yours to rest, stand, and walk in!
Why is the Breastplate of Righteousness Needed? I am not sure I need to say much to convince you why the breastplate of righteousness is needed, but to be sure that you not only understand why it is needed, but that you are able to celebrate that it is yours to wear, I feel the need to point out a few more things.
One of the great expositors and pastors of the 20th century, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, said of this piece of God’s armor: “You do not put on ‘the breastplate of experiences’, you put on the breastplate of ‘righteousness.’” The breastplate of righteousness, like the belt of truth, is not something you generate or create out of your own strength.
When Paul described the armor of God, he didn’t invent it based on what he saw the Roman soldiers wearing around him while in prison, his understanding of the armor of God came from various passages in the Old Testament such as Isaiah 59. In Isaiah 53 we are promised a suffering servant who would be “pierced for our offenses and crushed for our wrongdoings” and that suffering servant was Jesus who was punished for our sins (see Isa. 53:5-10). Then when we come to Isaiah 59, the suffering servant is now the divine and righteous warrior who will come to rescue His people from their sins. Isaiah 59 begins with these words: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short That it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear” (vv. 1-2).
As we read on, we discover similar language that is used in Ephesians 2:1-3 used in Isaiah 59:12-13, “For our wrongful acts have multiplied before You, and our sins have testified against us; for our wrongful acts are with us, and we know our wrongdoings: Offending and denying the Lord, And turning away from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.” Now listen to how desperate the condition of sinful humanity according to Isaiah: “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and one who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the Lord saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice” (vv. 14-15).
So what does Yahweh do to address the unrighteousness of His people? He made salvation possible for those who could not save themselves! It is in Isaiah 59:16-17 that Paul was referring to in Ephesians 6:14, “And He saw that there was no one, and was amazed that there was not one to intercede; then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a cloak” (vv. 16-17).
The Divine Warrior promised in Isaiah 59 is He who would conquer our sin by suffering the wrath of His Father for our sins in our place! The only truly and perfect righteous One hung on a cross for unrighteous sinners! Upon His head was a crown of thorns to serve as a reminder of the curse of sin that He bore in our place, and once He declared that it was finished, the Divine Warrior bowed His head in death to become our salvation!
Oh, dear brothers and sisters... do you see how critically important the breastplate of righteousness really is? Jesus is not only our Divine Warrior who is qualified to save rebel sinners, but He is the One also promised in Jeremiah 23, “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. 6In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will live securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord Our Righteousness’” (vv. 5-6).
Jesus is our righteousness and to put on the breastplate of righteousness is to walk in confidence that He is enough because His mercy is rich, His grace is sufficient, and His love is great! Charles Spurgeon described it this way: “Saints are so righteous in Jesus Christ that they are more righteous than Adam was before he fell, for he had but a creature righteousness, and the Christian has the righteousness of the Creator. Adam had a righteousness which he lost, but believers have a righteousness which they can never lose, an everlasting righteousness.” To put on the breastplate of righteousness is to stand, walk, live, and run in consideration of Jesus as your truth and as your righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness is important because when you put it on, it protects the vital organs of your faith, such as your heart.
Your hope and salvation are not bound to a nation, or whoever the next president will be. Whatever happens today, tomorrow, on Tuesday, or any day before you, your Sovereign is Jesus, and it is He, Who walks on the waters Who speaks to the sea Who stands in the fire beside you He roars like a lion He bled as the Lamb He carries your healing in His hands!
He has said, “I am the first and the last, and the living One; I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades” (Rev. 1:17-18). Amen.
[1] John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (Auburn, MA: Evangelical Press; 2000), pp. 113-14. [2] Ibid, p.114. | |||
| Stand Firm with the Belt of Truth | 29 Oct 2024 | 00:42:53 | |
October 31st marks the 507th anniversary of the protestant reformation when a Catholic monk by the name of Martin Luther wrote ninety-five complaints concerning the Roman Catholic Church and nailed those complaints to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg in 1517. Little did Luther know that his complaints would be taken down, translated into multiple language, and mass produced through the newly invented printing press.
It was because of what Martin Luther was reading and studying in his Bible that he wrote his complaints for the purpose of debating and dialoging over what he believed were inconsistences with the teachings of the church compared to what the Bible actually taught. Eventually, on April 17, 1521, Luther would have to appear before the Diet of Worms to give account for the vast number of texts, treatises, letters, and tracts calling into question the teachings and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church.
It was at the Diet of Worms Luther was given the option to recant and repent, and if he did so, he would be welcomed back into the Church. If Luther refused, he would be branded a heretic and burned at the stake. Luther requested an adjournment to pray and formulate an appropriate response. The meeting was reconvened the next day on April 18th, and it was on that day that Luther delivered a speech that would forever affect the Church. Luther was only permitted to give a short and simple answer whether he would retract his teachings or stand by them; here is the most well-known part of his answer before the Diet of Worms: Since your most serene majesty and your highnesses require of me a simple, clear, and direct answer, I will give one, and it is this: I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the council, because it is clear that they have fallen into error and even into inconsistency with themselves. If, then, I am not convinced by proof from Holy Scripture, or by cogent reasons, if I am not satisfied by the very text I have cited, and if my judgment is not in this way brought into subjection to God's word, I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.
Luther was not burned at the stake over his answer but understood that his answer could have resulted in his death. What did happen was he had to go into hiding and change his name and appearance for a while, for his own safety. Luther delivered his great speech because there was a truth greater and more important than his own safety, for what he was most concerned about was not what the Pope declared to be true, but what God’s word said and how everything else compared to what the Word of God said.
We live in a different time compared to the day Luther lived! However, if you are a Christian, you a part of a community known as the church of Jesus Christ, and therefore are a people of one book, and that book is the Bible which contains within its pages the truth of how it is we are to live.
When Paul wrote his epistle to the Ephesians, he did so while in prison. Before the apostle was the presence of a roman soldier, and it was with the armor a soldier of Rome wore that Paul would become all too familiar.
What is the Belt of Truth? Paul lists six pieces that belong to the armor of God, seven parts if you include Paul’s statement on prayer in 6:18-19 and that there is no power apart from a dependance upon God in prayer. The first piece of armor that he begins with is a belt.
The belt was an important part of a Roman soldier’s armor, not because it made it look better, but because it served two primary purposes: it was used to tuck in and keep the soldier’s garments from tripping him up, and it was used to hold the sheath for one’s sword. It is worth noting that the belt also served to display a soldier’s military status and rank. The belt went underneath the armor, while remaining visible so that it was obvious he was ready to fight.
As the warrior’s belt was critical for his readiness in battle, truth is essential to the Christian life. If we are going to stand in the might of the Lord, if we are going to be able to stand firm against the devil’s schemes, and if we are going to have any hope in resisting on the evil day, truth is essential to the Christian life. It is the nature of our God and the character of His Word: “Teach me Your way, Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.” (Ps. 86:11)
“God is not a man, that He would lie, nor a son of man, that He would change His mind; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19)
“The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and just is He.” (Deut. 32:4)
Truth is not only essential to the Christian life; it is the center of the Christian faith! Think about it, God’s fullest and most perfect expression of His faithfulness and character is in His Son, Jesus: “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:1–3a). If you are a Christian, you follow Him who said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6b).
Think about what Paul is saying in Ephesians 6:10-14; the only way you will be able to resist the father of lies (the devil) is by putting on the full armor of God, beginning with the belt of truth! But, dear Christian, what is the belt of truth? I want you to think about the significance of where the belt is placed. It is the first part of the armor that is put on and it is the one piece that is tightest and closest to your person. I do not believe I am reading too much into this when I say that I believe the belt of truth is more than just the Word of God (although it certainly is that), it is also our new identity now that we are in Christ! We who were once dead in our sins are now alive with Jesus (2:4-5), and now He is head over His church which we are now a part of (1:22). We are now His body (1:23), Jesus is our peace (2:17-18), we are His temple (2:21), because Jesus now dwells in our hearts through faith (3:17).
Through Christ, we are one body, sealed by one Spirit, called in one hope by one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all... (4:4-7). Our identity is now in Jesus, which means that He is our truth! This is why, more than any other book in the entire Bible is the phrase “in Christ” repeated more than thirty times to describe where it is the Christian finds his/her identity than in the epistle to the Ephesians!
Listen, to put on the belt of truth is to do what we read in Romans 13:14, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” To put on the belt of truth is to identity with the Jesus who said: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). If you are a Christian, His truth is now your truth.
Why is the Belt of Truth Important? To put on the belt of truth is to be so identified with Jesus that you are freed up to, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (Eph. 4:1). To put on the belt of truth is to stand on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles with Jesus Christ as your eye-opening, mind-captivating, and life-shaping cornerstone (2:19-20). To put on the belt of truth is to walk in love, “just as Christ loved you and gave Himself up for us, and offering and sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (5:1-2). To put on the belt of truth is to subject yourself under the cleaning water of God’s word (5:26). To put on the belt of truth is to identify with the Lordship of Jesus by doing what He says (see Luke 6:46).
We seem to live at a time in society when “my truth” trumps all other truths. Since the days of Martin Luther, we have moved closer and closer to redefining truth with every form of media invented to give us more knowledge and make the world more accessible to us. Now, do not misunderstand me, God gave us a brain to grow in our understanding and the different forms of media has made available to us some really great things, but it has also been used to pervert knowledge and truth.
Think for a moment of how the different forms of media have changed our lives. The printing press paved the way for the enlightenment and modernity when truth was measured by reason. The worldwide web paved the way for postmodernity beginning in the 60s until our present day with the conviction that reason and the human intellect is no longer the arbiter of truth, but also includes the emotions and intuition as the arbitrators of truth to the point when we now have our own truth. Now, with the invention of AI, we are entering a new era and the way our society measures truth and morality, like modernity and postmodernity, will never be the same.
Our world is changing so rapidly and so profoundly, but there is one thing that has not changed and cannot change, and that is this simple fact: all truth is God’s truth. Truth belongs to our Creator and the lies belong to the devil. Our identity is in Jesus who is, according to the Bible: “...the same yesterday and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
Our world is changing, but not so with our God! He remains infinitely good, infinitely just, infinitely holy, infinitely wise, and is equally a God of love and mercy in infinite measure! He alone, in our ever-changing world, remains always true, always honorable, always right, always pure, always lovely, always commendable, always excellent, and always praiseworthy (see Phil. 4:8). The God who chose you before dirt was invented, He who redeemed you with His blood, and the One who has sealed you for the day of redemption DOES NOT CHANGE! “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, the sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.” (Mal. 3:6)
“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (Jas. 1:17)
“God is not a man, that He would lie, nor a son of man, that He would change His mind; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19)
So, if the One who is truth does not change, how is it and why is it that some in the church feel the need to mold and shape what the Bible teaches to what our ever-changing world defines as true? So here is the rub. If you are a Christian (or thinking about becoming a Christian), you follow Jesus who said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6b). As Lord over your life, He will make demands upon your life for His glory and your good, to put the belt of truth on is to walk in light of your identity as a Christ-follower. You cannot and you will not “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (4:1), if you are not putting on the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:14).
Because Jesus is the cornerstone of His church and the apostles and prophets are Her foundation, we, as His church, are “a pillar and support of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:14-15) in a world that does not know the Truth, because it does not know Jesus. Sam Storms said of our enemy: “Satan will always flourish in the midst of theological ignorance.” | |||
| Risen With Jesus | 13 Aug 2024 | 00:41:52 | |
From the Pulpit of Keith Miller Meadowbrooke Church August 11, 2024
In 2012, D.A. Carson published his book, The Intolerance of Tolerance. Around the time his book released, he spoke on the subject at a conference I attended; I remember thinking that his book was timely and potentially prophetic, but none of us could have fully appreciated the gravity of what was coming. The following quote from Carson’s book illustrates exactly what I mean: Neither the old tolerance nor the new is an intellectual position; rather, each is a social response. The old tolerance is the willingness to put up with, allow, or endure people and ideas with whom we disagree; in its purest form, the new tolerance is the social commitment to treat all ideas and people as equally right, save for those people who disagree with this view of tolerance. Advocates of the new tolerance sacrifice wisdom and principle in support of just one supreme good: upholding their view of tolerance. So those who uphold and practice the older tolerance, enmeshed as they inevitably are in some value system, are written off as intolerant. Thus banished, they no longer deserve a place at the table.[1]
I would suggest that the “older” tolerance allowed space to disagree charitably with those who did not share your point of view. Not only are those of the “older tolerance” banished from a place at the “table.” Today, we find ourselves in a very interesting state of affairs in that if your ideology does not line up with that of the loudest and most vocal of ideological voices regarding sex, identity, what it means to be human, and what must be tolerated, you will be diagnosed with a certain phobia and placed into the category of “mental illness.”
So, before we get into Ephesians this morning, I thought it would be fun it first define the word Phobia and then consider some phobias that do actually exist to better appreciate Ephesians 5:11-14.
So, what is a phobia? According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIH), a phobia is a “intense, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger.” Furthermore, NIH affirms that, “Although adults with phobias may realize that these fears are irrational, even thinking about facing the feared object or situation brings on severe anxiety symptoms.” According to Wikipedia, a phobia is, “an anxiety disorder, defined by an irrational, unrealistic, persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation.” The definition that Merriam-Webster still provides for “phobia” is, “an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation.” So, permit me to list a few common phobias and then share with you some other phobias that are not as common.
Here is a list of phobias that you may not have heard of before:
Taking a stance against something is not necessarily due to a phobia but possibly a moral conviction. A legitimate question that must be answered is from what standard does your moral conviction come? Does it come from culture, or does it come from something that transcends culture? For the Christian, our moral standard is not culture but the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as our cornerstone. Here is how the apostle Paul explained what standard we use to judge what is good or evil, it is Ephesians 2:19-22, “So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”
Jesus, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords and serves as the cornerstone of His Church, gave those who make up His Church this command, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20). The prophets and the apostles are the foundation of Jesus’ Church, and it is the prophets and the apostles whose teachings make up the Bible as the Word of God. The Bible is, “...inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). If we are going follow Jesus and live as though the Bible is the Word of God, we will be labeled by those still in darkness as “phobic” and “intolerant.”
As a people who, “were once darkness, but now... light in the Lord” we live for what God loves and we stand against what God hates. Listen, if we are going to try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord (v. 10), we will be compelled to live counter-cultural in a world that calls evil good, and good evil. As “children of light” we belong to the God who condemns any culture that calls evil good, and good evil: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight” (Isa. 5:20)! We Expose the Darkness by Not Participating in It Now we come to Ephesians 5:11 where we are commanded to avoid all participation “in the useless deeds of darkness.” What does that mean? The NIV translates verse 11 this way: “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” The NKJV gets closer to the heart of what Paul is communicating: “And have no fellowshipwith the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” The word used for “participate” (synkoinōneō) does not mean “fellowship” in the Greek, but it does mean “share.” It is a Greek word that is also used in Philippians 4:14, “Nevertheless, you have done well to share [synkoinōneō] with me in my difficulty.” To share in something is to have fellowship with it.
What are the useless deeds of darkness? Well, they include but are not limited to sexual immorality, impurity, greed, filthiness, foolish talk, and vulgar joking. The useless deeds of darkness is what we were once slaves to before we were made alive with Christ when we, “lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3). The useless deeds of darkness is what the apostle John described in 1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
You may recall how the holiness of God is used to the third degree unlike any other attribute of God mentioned in the Bible. Day and night the seraphim do not cease to call out to one another, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come” (Rev. 4:8). I pointed out how this is a literary devise used in the ancient languages to emphasis a very important point. There is another literary devise I told you about when we began this series in Ephesians, which comes in the form of repeated words or phrases; one such phrase that is repeated over and over again in Ephesians are the phrases “in Christ”, “in the Lord”, “in Christ Jesus”, and “in Him”; collectively they are used about 33 times.
If you are a Christian, your identity and life is in Christ. Paul’s description of the Christian as being “in Christ” is a phrase that is equivalent to “remaining” in Jesus; here is what Jesus said about remaining in Him: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me” (John 15:1-4). Sinclair Ferguson said this about what it means to be “in the Lord”: To be in the Lord is to belong to a new world, to inhabit a new kingdom in which we become new men and women. In this new kingdom, new powers are at work in us – the powers of the Spirit of the crucified, risen, ascended, reigning and returning Christ. Once we were in the darkness. Worse, the darkness was in us – we were darkness. Now we have been drawn into the light, illuminated by Christ the Light of the world. More, we have been invaded and transformed by Christ the Light. In the Lord we are light![2]
So, if we are now “children of light” because of our redemption and union with Jesus, why in the world would we want to have fellowship with or share in the useless deeds of darkness?
Not only are we not to participate in the “useless deeds of darkness” but we are to “expose them.” What does Paul mean that we are to “expose” the useless deeds of darkness? Well, it is clear Paul is not telling us to avoid the world, for that would go against the way he lived his life and much of what is written in the both the Old Testament and New Testament. The design and plan for God’s people was always to be on mission by entering into the darkness as His instrument to light up the darkness. Israel was saved from Egypt to be God’s kingdom of priests to be His light in a dark world: “Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:5-6).
Israel’s great failure was that they repeatedly and continually and habitually as a nation, “participated in the fruitless deeds of darkness” when by their mere existence should have exposed the emptiness and uselessness of sin. Israel’s problem was a heart problem only Jesus is able to fix. Jesus is God’s “Yes” to the promise of Deuteronomy 30:6, “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live.” Jesus is God’s answer to Ezekiel 36:26, “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” You, Christian, are the recipient of such promises through and in Jesus, so why would you even want to have fellowship, share, and remain in the fruitless deeds of darkness that rob you of the kind of life you were designed to have in God? Not only are the “deeds of darkness” fruitless, but the wrath of a holy God is set against such deeds! This is why Paul wrote concerning those who continue to practice sexual immorality, impurity, and greed (5:3), “for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret” (v. 12).
Our Life in Christ Exposes the Uselessness of the Deeds of Darkness The only hope for lost humanity is Jesus! He is the only solution for our sin problem. Only through the life of Jesus and the death that He died for sinners can the spiritually dead be raised to new life. Sinclair Ferguson is spot on in his description of what happened when the Christian was saved from the wrath of God: “We have been invaded and transformed by Christ the Light.” Now as those who are alive with Christ, we carry the light of Jesus into the darkness of the world, this is why Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.... Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:14, 16). So what happens when light invades a dark room? It exposes what is in the room.
One of two things will happen when light exposes what is in the darkness, it will anger those who love the darkness, or it will reveal a better way to those tired and wearied by the darkness. To expose the darkness in the context of Ephesians is to contrast the living against the dead. It is not picket signs on the corner, bumper stickers, or hats that protest the darkness. It is what happens when light pierces the darkness of sin’s domain. The light of Christ displayed in and through His people reveals to those in the darkness that there is a better way because Jesus is the only way to experience the kind of redemption of our souls and the forgiveness of all our sins that will grant us true salvation and freedom (1:7). Many will reject Christ as the only remedy for our salvation as intolerant and they will run to the darkness, but there will be some whose sin will be exposed by the light of Christ, and they will run to Him for the life only He can give. This is the point Paul makes in verse 13, “But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.” I think the New Living Translation translates this verse in less confusing way: “But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible.”
Legislation and laws are good only in that it helps to suppress the evil we humans are capable of, but it can never fix the evil we are capable of. If you are darkness, you will yield the “useless” fruits of darkness to one degree or another. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can remedy the dark heart of humanity! The gospel of Jesus Christ alone, “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). Christian, you are living proof that the same power that raised Jesus from the grave is still possible today! You serve as a reminder everywhere you go that either the wrath of God can be avoided through Jesus, or the wrath of God is coming upon those who reject Him (see 2 Cor. 2:14-16).
We who were asleep and dead in our sins, are only alive because the light of Christ has shown upon us. It is here in verse 14 that Paul quotes what was most likely an early church hymn composed on the basis of Isaiah 60:1-2 and Christ as the fulfillment of its promise: “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”
Here is what Isaiah 60:1-2 promises: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. ‘For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.’” Here is another one for those who reject Jesus as God! Only Yahweh has the power to redeem and raise the dead, yet Jesus has done in your life what only God is capable of doing. We who were once dead, heard the voice of Christ, and we arose to follow Him and now we live! We who once enjoyed the darkness, delight in walking in light as those who now belong to the One who said, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12). Pursing Jesus is the only way to fight against our own sin and the temptation to participate in the useless deeds of darkness.
Amen.
[1] D.A. Carson, The Intolerance of Tolerance (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; 2012), 98. [2] Sinclair B. Ferguson, Let’s Study: Ephesians (East Peoria, IL: The Banner of Truth Trust; 2021), 132. | |||
| Live The Jesus Way | 08 Aug 2024 | 00:36:18 | |
From the Pulpit of Keith Miller Meadowbrooke Church August 4, 2024
My sermon today is meant to be both helpful and hopeful. What we read in verses 7-10 is encouraging to you if your faith and trust is in Jesus Christ as the only One qualified to atone for all of your sins as the Lion and the Lamb. These verses are encouraging if you believe that Jesus while fully divine was also fully human for the purpose of living the life you could not live to die upon the cross for your sins while He was perfectly sinless, and that all the wrath of a Holy God fell upon Him in your place.
If you are a Christian, you are no longer in darkness, but because of nothing you have done and everything He has done... you are “light in the Lord” and now able to “walk as children of light.” Because you are a Christian, you know Him and long for His appearing in the same manner the apostle Peter described: “...and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Pet. 3:8). It is because you are a Christian that there is coming a day when you also will be able to face death with the same confidence the apostle Paul did while facing death: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7-8). This is why we can sing songs like “He Who is to Come” with hope and confidence: There is a day coming When the old will pass away Every wrong will be made right No darkness no night The Son will light the way
There is a king coming The one who conquered death and grave No more pain and no more sorrow This hope for tomorrow Is our hope for today
He who is to come Christ the Son of man Riding on the clouds with a crown upon His head Every eye will see Him With the nail scars in His hands[1] If you are a Christian, you belong to God as His beloved child (5:1) because He chose you before the foundation of the earth (1:4), He forgave and redeemed you through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus (1:7), and have been adopted as a child of God according to the good pleasure of His will (1:5). If you are a Christian, you are now alive with Jesus (2:4-5), and because you are alive with Christ, you are God’s, “workmanship [poiēma], created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
You Were Saved from the Wrath of God If you are a Christian, you have been saved from the wrath of an infinitely holy God! You who were once dead in your offenses and sins, walked according to the course of this world, lived in the lusts and desires of your flesh and mind, and were by nature a child of the wrath of God, stand before God as one who has been fully pardoned, forgiven, and loved because the wrath you deserved, Jesus willingly endured. This is why Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:6-7, “See that no one deceives you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
When I preached on verses 1-6, I spent a considerable amount of time explaining that “these things” in verse 6 include sexual immorality, impurity, and greed. Sexual immorality is any perversion of sex that has not been sanctioned to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife within the bounds of the covenant of marriage. Impurity includes any sexual sin but is not limited to sexual sins. Greed is any form of covetousness which also includes the taking of a person for sexual pleasure who does not belong to you because you are not married to that person, and this can be done physically as well as mentally. It is because of sexual immorality, impurity, and greed that the wrath of God comes.
However, it is not only because of sexual immorality, impurity, and greed that the wrath of God is coming; the wrath of God comes also because of filthiness, foolish talk, and vulgar joking. Jesus said of that what comes out of your mouth is a symptom of what is in your heart: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart” (Luke 6:45). In short, the wrath of God comes because of sin. In Revelation 1:18 we are told: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
What is “wrath?” Well, according to the dictionary, it is “strong, stern, or fierce anger.” God’s strong, stern, and fierce anger is provoked over sin, and we are warned about His fierce anger over sin both in the Old Testament and New Testament. For you to understand and appreciate the mercy, love, and grace of God, you must understand that sin is serious and God’s anger over sin is white hot against those guilty of it!
We do not have the time for me to get exhaustive regarding the wrath of God over sin but permit me to offer you some glimpse into the explanation God’s word gives us for why He takes sin so seriously. For starters, there is only one attribute that is repeated not twice, but three times, and that attribute is the holiness of God. In Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8 we encounter the holiness of God expressed in a way that no other attribute of God is expressed: “And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory.’” (Isa. 6:3)
“And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.’” (Rev. 4:8)
Regarding the holiness of God, the sinless Seraphim – a specific type of angel commissioned and designed for the throne room of God – attribute the Almighty with a literary device by repeating three words to emphasize the holiness of God, in Scripture it is called the three-times-holy. Even the Seraphim, before the presence of God, must cover their eyes and their feet (Isa. 6:2), and Isaiah’s response before the presence of the Holy One was one of cursing upon himself: “Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies” (Isa. 6:5). It is of this God that the prophet Habakkuk said: “Are You not from time everlasting, Lord, my God, my Holy One? Your eyes are too pure to look at evil...” (Hab. 1:12a, 13a). In Nahum we are told that God is a “jealous and avenging God is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies” (Nah. 1:2). And when it comes to the sinfulness of the nations, we are told that all of the wicked must drink the cup of His wrath: “For a cup is in the hand of the Lord, and the wine foams; it is well mixed, and He pours out of this; certainly all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink its dregs” (Ps. 75:8).
The cup of God’s wrath reserved for the wicked is the cup Jesus drank. The Son of God, the perfect sinless lamb, the Groom of the Church drank the cup of God’s wrath! “The only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.... Who, for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man”[2] was born to die for sinful man! In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed about the cup reserved for the wicked: “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’ He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink from it, Your will be done.’” (Matt. 26:39, 42). Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath for our redemption, and He drank every last drop on the cross by becoming curse in our place: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a Tree’” (Gal. 3:13). This is why Jesus said of Himself: “The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:35-36). Hell is how the wrath of God will be carried out, and Jesus described it as a place, “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not extinguished” (Mark 9:48).
You Are Redeemed to Live as Children of Light However, if you are a Christian, you who were once a child of wrath are now a child of mercy, and thereby an adopted child of the Living God through the price Jesus paid by His blood. R.C. Sproul wrote of the salvation of sinners, “The glory of the gospel is this: The one from whom we need to be saved is the one who has saved us.” In his magnum opus, The Cross of Christ, John Stott described Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation this way: “Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice.”[3]
If you are confused as to how seriously God takes sin or how offended by your sin He was, you need not look beyond the cross on which Jesus died! The cross is the place where our redeemer bore a holy and justified wrath on our behalf where He received the ax of God’s justice in our place! Upon the cross, where Jesus was cursed in our place, He was pierced for our offenses and was crushed for our wrongdoings (Isa. 53:5).
We who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ are no longer children of wrath, and because we are no longer children of wrath, we are not to become partners with those who continue to practice the very thing that the wrath of God is reserved for. Christian, you who were once darkness are a child of light. As children of light, we are to live out our new life in Christ in the following four ways:
So, what’s the point? The point is simply this: You, Christian, are a child of a Holy God who poured out His wrath upon His Son so that you would not be consumed by His justice but be overwhelmed by His kindness, grace, love, and mercy through Jesus! Because you are no longer dead in your offenses and sins (2:1), you walk as one who is alive in Christ. Walk as one who has been called, “out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). Walk as the forgiven because, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Walk in light of your new identity because God has declared by the authority of His word: “if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). You who was once dead in your sins and once walked in darkness, are awake and alive not because of anything you have done but because of everything Christ has accomplished! This is why we sing, O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let Thy grace Lord like a fetter Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee Prone to wander Lord I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here's my heart Lord take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above.[5] [1] [Passion] by Cody Carnes, Kristian Stanfill, and Sean Curran [2] From the Nicene Creed [3] John Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 15. [4] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 126. [5] Come Thou Fount, [Shane and Shane] by Robert Robinson and John Wyeth | |||
| Contender (Summary Of Jude) | 30 Jul 2024 | 00:44:32 | |
Guest Speaker, John Byrne, preaches on the book of Jude. | |||
| The Jesus Way | 15 Jul 2024 | 00:43:01 | |
From the Pulpit of Keith Miller Meadowbrooke Church July 14, 2024
I know many of you know my story and how God saved me. Every year at this time I am more mindful of the miracle of God’s mercy, love, and grace upon my life! When God found me, I was so lost! I was not looking for Him, yet He found me! God got my attention on July 12, 1991, after I stepped in front of a big old car in the middle of Business Rt. 1 (aka West Lincoln Hwy.). My graduating class in 1993 was just under 600, the population where I grew up is currently over 70,000, and the hospital I was taken to after I was hit by that big white car currently has 371 beds.
So, the fact that a woman from my father’s church who did not know me decided to pull over to pray for me could be viewed as a coincidence, but then to have the wife of the youth director of that same church assigned to my care is too much to ignore! Not to mention that eight months before my accident, my father had his accident that God used to get his attention by having his hand just about cut off, and shortly after receiving major surgery on his hand and recovering at home, two guys from a little church located not far from where I was hit by that big white car visited our little house to tell him about Jesus! At the same time my friend’s mom at whose home I ate almost all of my meals and spent almost all of my weekends sleeping in their home because my stepmother was so horrible to me while I was growing up, picked up a Bible and started reading it. So regardless of if I was at home or at my friend’s house, I was unable to escape from hearing about the God of the Bible and how He sent His Son to die for sinners like me! God orchestrated all of that so that on July 14th while confined to my bed with a major concussion in St. Mary’s Hospital, I was forced to listen to Darrell Adair, the youth director of my father’s little church, tell me about Jesus while my father sat on one side of my bed and Jackie on the other as they prayed for my soul… 33 years ago to the day! Four days after Darrell’s visit, I finally caved and surrendered my life to Jesus as my Lord and Savior!
So, to say that I am a bit overwhelmed by God’s grace is a bit of an understatement. God knows how my brain works, and it seems to me that ever year there is something new that I have not thought about since God saved my soul. I did not sit down to write my sermon manuscript until this past Friday which was the anniversary of the day I was hit by that big white car! That on the anniversary of one of the most important days of my life, I would be writing my sermon manuscript on Ephesians 5:1-2 is staggering to me! What is even more staggering is that the God I was running from not only chose me before the foundation of the world (1:3-4), but did so out of a great love for this lost sinner: “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace… (vv. 5-6). This same God made me alive with Jesus on July 18th in the middle of my living room 33 years ago as a result of His rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace (2:4-5), it is staggering to me!
From everything that you have read, studied, and heard from Ephesians so far, can you blame me for being overwhelmed by God’s undeserved goodness upon my life? Think about it, 33 years ago while Darrell shared the gospel with my younger 16-year-old rebellious self, that He already determined that He would so mold and shape that teenage kid laying in that hospital bed that 33 years later he would stand before his church family finally ready to preach on Ephesians 5:1-2 after 20 years of pastoral ministry!
Here is what I want to say very briefly before we get into these two verses so you can fully appreciate them. Ephesians 5:1-2 is inserted to make the point of how you can keep from grieving the Holy Spirit (4:30) and why you ought to reject, “the useless deeds of the darkness…”. You, Christian, are beloved by God and you must never forget that!
Imitate God Because He Loves You (v. 1) Tim Keller described this verse in this way: “It’s like putting a radioactive isotope in the middle of your being, and the rays it sends out will shrink your tumors.”[1] Another way to state this verse is this way: “Because God cherishes you as His dear child, imitate Him instead of the sinful world.”
The word for “imitate” is the Greek word “mimētēs” from which we get the word mimic. Remember what Paul stated in 4:25-32? Get rid of falsehood, get rid of ungodly anger, get rid of coveting and taking what does not belong to you, and get rid of unwholesome talk. Kill it! Make war with it! Get rid of all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander! Kill it! Make war with it! Be killing sin or it will be killing you! How you get radical about your sin and how you guard yourself against grieving the Holy Spirit is by remembering who you are, a child of a holy God.
When you were dead in your sins, you imitated the life of the prince of the power of the air as the spiritually dead (2:1-3), but now you are alive with Christ and have been adopted as a son and as a daughter of the God you stood against. Now you are a “beloved” child of God. What does it mean to be a child of God? It means that you who were once dead are now alive with Christ (2:4-5), but that is not all that it means! It means that you who were once an enemy of God are now a friend of God, but it means so, so much more according to Romans 5, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (vv. 8-10). But wait, we are not just reconciled to God and saved by the Life of Christ, we are heirs with Christ: So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:12-15)
To go from death to life is a miracle! To go from an enemy of God to friendship with God is amazing! But to be reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus and now stand before Him as a full-fledged and a legitimate child of a holy God is staggering! I am not the only one who thinks this way; the apostle John felt this way and wrote in his epistle: “See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him” (1 John 3:1). Or as it is written in Ephesians 1:11-12, “In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in the Christ would be to the praise of His glory.”
Listen, we were the lost sheep that Jesus left the 99 to find (Luke 15:1-7)! We were the lost coin, that Jesus turns the house upside down to save and all of heaven rejoices over when you were found (Luke 15:8-10)! Christian, you were the prodigal son Jesus described in his parable who wallowed in the sloop and sludge who the Father compassionately runs to embrace and throws a party for and commands all of heaven: “Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and let’s eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found” (Luke 15:22-24).
So, as “beloved children” we are commanded to mimic our heavenly Father. What does that mean? Well, let me tell you what it does not mean: It does not mean to become what God is, for that is impossible. He alone is God and there is none like Him. God is eternal and has always existed; we are creatures made in His image. God is infinitely sovereign and self-sufficient; we are His image-bearing humans who are designed to find our satisfaction in Him. God is all-powerful (Omnipotent), while we are fragile. God is everywhere at once (Omnipresent), while we are finite and limited. God is all-knowing (Omniscient), while we are always learning. God is perfectly holy and is set apart from creation and alone is to be worshiped as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; He is the center of all things while we exist to worship Him. These characteristics that we cannot share with God are known as His incommunicable attributes.
God also has characteristics that we can demonstrate in a limited way; these are known as His communicable attributes. God’s communicable attributes include His justice, wisdom, faithfulness, mercy, goodness, compassion, forgiveness, and love. There is not one aspect of His character that He needs to improve upon. While we are called to exercise justice, wisdom, faithfulness, mercy, goodness, compassion, forgiveness, and love we are forever needing to get better at being just, exercising wisdom, practicing faithfulness, demonstrating mercy, being good, compassionate, forgiving, and loving.
God’s justice, wisdom, faithfulness, mercy, goodness, compassion, forgiveness, and love are all character traits we are commanded to imitate in a way that sets apart from the rest of the world. for this is what it means to, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (4:1). It also includes the, “good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (2:10). This is what Peter meant when he wrote, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Pet. 1:14-16).
More specifically though, it is the love of God that resulted in our forgiveness that we are to mimic as God’s “beloved children.”
Walk in Love Because Jesus Redeemed You (v. 2) Why mimic God in the way that He loves? Well it is the reason why you, Christian, are “beloved” by God. Your sins cost God the life of His Son on a cross as an, “offering and a sacrifice…”. The bruised and bleeding Christ, His torn flesh, His pierced hands and feet, His brow piercing crown of thorns, and his agonizing screams upon the cross as our curse is a testament to the horror and seriousness of our sin. As James Boice once said, “God’s forgiveness is not a mere overlooking of sin, as though he said, ‘Well, boys will be boys (or girls will be girls). We’ll overlook it for now; just don’t let it happen again.’ God takes sin with such seriousness that he deals with it fully at the cross, and it is on that basis—the death of Jesus—that we can know we are forgiven.”[2] I saw a quote from another pastor the other day that said, “On the cross, God looked at Christ and saw you. Now, He looks at you and sees Christ.”[3] This is why we are able to sing: Come Thou fount of ev'ry blessing Tune my heart to sing Thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it Mount of Thy redeeming love[4]
What does the love of God look like that we experienced? It is kindness, it is compassion, it is the type of forgiveness that keeps no record of wrongs! Think about what the love of God has done for you! You who were once cursed and condemned, Jesus was condemned by being cursed: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a Tree.’” (Gal. 3:13). The apostle John defined it for us this way: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
Christ’s death upon the cross for our sins was motivated by His love for us, and when He gave Himself up for us, He did so as an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma that pleased Him. As one commentator said, Jesus’ sacrifice upon the cross, “gave the perfume of grace and glory, the most pleasing aroma of sacrifice ever.”[5]
To “Walk in love, just as Christ also loved…” is one way to live a life that is pleasing to the One who called us to Himself through His Son. Love is the fuel and fire of worship; it is a love for God and a love for others. It is a love that makes Romans 12:1 possible: “Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Amy Carmichael, the famous missionary who spent a lifetime in India and was influential in the outlawing of temple prostitution of children, said of love: “One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving.”[6] A young woman who was considering the life of a missionary wrote a letter asking Carmaichael what missionary life was like, Carmaichael answered: “Missionary life is simply a chance to die.”
To love, “as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us…” is not to atone for the sins of others but to “walk in love” in a way that you die to yourself for glory of God and the good of others. It is the kind of love that flows out of the crucified life Paul talked about in Galatians 2:19-20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” To love as Christ loved us is to give ourselves to others so that Christ may be formed in them (see Gal. 4:19).
To love as Christ loved is to walk in a way that serves to give to the One who gave Himself for you. To walk in love is to be devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10), to build up one another (Rom. 14:19; 1 Thes. 5:11), to serve one another (Gal. 5:13), to bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2), to seek the good for one another (1 Thess. 5:15), to live in peace with one another (1 Thes. 5:13), to encourage one another to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24), to confess our sins to one another (Jas. 5:16), to act in humility towards one another (1 Pet. 5:13), to walk in truth together (1 John 3:18), and so many other “one another’s”!
This is why we read in our Bible: “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19)”. We love because we are “beloved children.” We love because, “Christ also loved you…” Now, my dear brothers and sisters, we not only can love God and others, but love is also the evidence we are our indeed the children of God. Amen.
[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013). [2] James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library, 1988), 174. [3] John MacArthur [4] Come Thou Fount [5] Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition: Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman; 2014), p. 121. [6] Ibid. | |||
| Living in Light of the Way | 30 Jun 2024 | 00:34:18 | |
I want to begin our time together this morning by reading four different verses from the Bible followed by a story and then ask a question that I hope to answer in a way that is helpful. So here are the four different verses which are from four different books in the Bible, and from four different authors:
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt. 5:1112)
It is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)
Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Tim. 3:12)
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though something strange were happening to you; (1 Pet. 4:12)
Jesus said of anyone who might be thinking about becoming a Christian: If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it (Matt. 16:2425). Some of you are hanging by a thread emotionally, perhaps spiritually, and maybe even physically and you are wondering: Is it worth it?
It is my hope that by the end of this sermon, you will be able to answer that question yourself.
Remember that Chasing After the World was a Dead End (vv. 17-19)
The point of verses 17-19 is not to point the proverbial finger at the gentiles as if to say: Yuck look at those gross Gentile sinners! The point is to remind the Ephesian Christians of what they were once, contrasted with who they are now. Within verse 17 is a command to, no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk. Why? Because it makes no sense! What we read in this verse is not all that different than what Paul wrote in Romans 6:1-4,
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. (Rom. 6:14)
The Bible never separates belief from action. If you believe something to be true, your behavior will be affected by that belief. What we believe in our minds will inevitably affect how we conduct our lives. Is this not the point that Jesus made in His sermon on the mount? Listen to what Jesus said: Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matt. 7:1314).
So, Paul commands his readers: you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk. He then explains what it was that compelled them to walk the way they walked: It was (1) the futility of their minds, (2) being darkened in their understanding, and (3) excluded from the life of God. Notice that the way the unbeliever thinks results in the way that unbeliever acts.
The word for futility literally means empty in the Greek. What this means is that the mind of a person without God is a person without a true understanding of what their purpose is, and how can a person have any real sense of purpose if they reject the Creator who created us to know Him? To be without purpose because you are without God, is to have a mind that is darkened; A person without purpose is a person who stumbles through life like the person who stumbles in a pitch-black room without any real sense of direction for how to get out but does an excellent job at running into wall after wall. The person excluded from the life of God is a person who chases after the idols of the world and the heart thinking it might satisfy when all that it does is prove to be empty.
According to Paul, people act the way they think, and what a person thinks is always connected to their heart. James Boice put it this way: People act as they think, and the reason they are constantly messing up is that they are vain in their thinking and darkened in their understanding as a consequence of being separated from God.[1]
The person who is spiritually dead does not only have a problem with a mind that does not know God, but also has a problem of the heart. If you are excluded from the life of God, then you are spiritually dead. If you are spiritually dead before God, then your heart is hard towards God to the point of stone. The Greek word used for hardness is pōrōsiswhich is also used for marble. To have a stone heart is to have a heart unable to feel or love God because it has grown calloused towards God and what matters to God. In our home in Colorado, we had a granite island. I had the bright idea to do a box jump onto the granite countertop, and against the wisdom and sage advice from my wife to not try it, I ignored her and did it anyway. When I jumped, my toes caught the edge of the granite countertop just enough so that my shins could feel the full force of my weight has I came down; needless to say, it hurt a lot.
The heart of the unbeliever is a heart that is unreceptive to the Word of God in the same way the granite countertop was unreceptive to my shins! Our hearts were not only hard towards God but calloused in the sense that instead of running towards God, we chased after anything but God, namely the idols of our hearts. According to verse 19, before Jesus redeemed us, we were like the Gentile pagans in Ephesus who gave, themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
But what was true of you Christian, is not true of you today! This is the point Paul is making, and he is encouraging you to not only celebrate your life in Christ, but to live in the reality of who you are in Jesus.
Chasing After Jesus is Life (vv. 20-24)
Ephesians 4:10 is the equivalent of Ephesians 2:4-5! And you were dead in your offenses and sins. But, God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (2:1, 4-5). In the passage before us today, we whose minds were darkened, without purpose, and had marble like stone hearts have received Jesus Christ and we have never been the same since! We who were dead in our sins, are now alive in Jesus. We whose minds were darkened, have been enlightened by the light of the Gospel! We who were once without purpose because we did not know God, now have found our purpose in Christ!
How did this happen? You heard the truth of the gospel and at the same time God supernaturally and miraculously changed your heart. What you experienced is the thing we read about in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6,
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants on account of Jesus. For God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (2 Cor. 4:36)
Christian, you who were once dead in your sins, are now alive in Jesus! You who chased after the idols of your heart thinking that they would satisfy have been found by the One who said: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38); you have received Him because you heard Him and have been taught in Him (v. 21)!
There are three verbs used to describe how it is that you went from being dead in your sins to being alive with Christ in Ephesians 4:20-21. The first verb is learned which comes from the Greek word emathete; literally this verse should read: you learned Christ. So, how do you learn somebody? Well you dont do it by simply collecting some historic facts about that person! In Philippians we get an idea for how we have learned Christ and how we are learning Christ: that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Phil. 3:10-11).
The second verb that is used to describe how we have gone from death to life is the word heard which comes from the Greek word ēkousate and it is translated in the NASB the way it should be: you have heard Him. How have you heard Christ? You heard Him through His word; you heard His voice through the good news that He lived the life you could not live and died a death for your sins that you deserved in your place, and on the third day, He conquered the grave through His resurrection. You heard His voice in the way Jesus Himself said you would: My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of the Fathers hand (John 10:27-28).
The third verb that is used to describe how we have gone from death to life is the word edidachthēte and is translated you have been taught in Him. You were not taught by Him, but in Him. James Boice wrote of this word that it most likely means that, Jesus is the atmosphere within which the teaching takes place. We might say that Jesus is the school, as well as the teacher and the subject of instruction.[2]
Whats the point? The point is that you who were once lost are now found, and even though you may have been a great sinner, Jesus is a great savior. No longer are you futile in your thinking. No longer are you chasing after idols in the dark. The life you once lived is now your former way of life according to Ephesians 4:22, so why would you even want to go back to your old self? Of course you do not want to go back to your old way of life because it is futile, it was purposeless, it was empty of God, it was a drinking from one toilet after the other only to discover that not only were you thirstier than before, but sick too!
But now now you have Jesus, and because you have Jesus you have life! You have been made alive by Jesus and He who is, the Way, and the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6) has given you purpose. And so now we find ourselves before Ephesians 4:22-24! In regard to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Listen, it is here in these verses that being made alive in Jesus intersects with the relationship we were created for.
Listen, there are some Christians from whom all you hear out of their mouths is how you must rid yourself of this and rid yourself of that for the purpose of looking and behaving a certain way, and much of it has to do with how you look and behave on the outside, which is no different than the legalism of the Pharisees Jesus spoke against. There are others from whom all you hear that comes out of their mouths is, Grace this and grace that it doesnt matter how you live because it is all grace. This is also known as antinomianism which is the belief that the Christians is free from having to obey Gods moral law. Neither legalism nor antinomianism is the point of these verses!
Conclusion
What is the point of Ephesians 4:22-24 then? The point is that we who were once dead in our sins, have experienced the power of God for salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:16)! The point is that we were once dead and now we are alive in Jesus (2:1-5). The point is that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (2:10). The point is that while we were dead in our sins, the closest thing we could come to discovering our purpose and finding true satisfaction is by drinking from the toilet bowl of the world only to grow sicker! Now that we are alive in Christ, we have purpose in God, and have the ability to delight in the God who made us for Himself!
The point of Ephesians 4:22-24 is delight! The point is that we rid ourselves of the old self by chasing after the Jesus who is the light of the world (John 8:12). We rid ourselves of the old self by feasting on Jesus who is the bread of life (John 6:35). We rid ourselves of the old self by discovering in Him our true north as, the Way, and the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). We rid ourselves of the old self and put on the new self by hungering and thirsting after the only One who can satisfy, for it is Jesus who said: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied (Matt. 5:6).
The author of Life and our Redeemer said: If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it (Matt. 16:2425). These are the words that inspired Jim Elliot to pen his famous words: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Little did he know that sometime later his life would become the catalyst to reach a violent unreached tribe, the Waodani tribe in South America, with the gospel; his death being the catalyst.
So, is it worth it? Yes, He is worth it! He is worth it because even if it seems that we have lost it all, in Jesus we have not lost a thing. When all is said and done, all we have is Christ!
[1] James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library, 1988), 154.
[2] James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library, 1988), 161. | |||
| Living the Right Way | 23 Jun 2024 | 00:43:16 | |
There have been men in my life whose influence had such a profound effect upon my life that had they not been a part of it, I would not be the man that I am today. These men include men whose lives continue to shape my life, men like Ralph Robinson and Ed HardestyRalph is home with Jesus and Ed is still faithfully teaching the Bible at a Bible college and faithfully preaches and shepherds at the church he planted years ago. There are others who I will leave unnamed who started out in ministry so well, but were derailed from ministry due to sexual immorality, some are out of the pastorate due to their own arrogance, and others have walked away from the faith all together.
There are multiple examples of the way men and women of faith made a mess of their lives throughout the Bible, of all that have done so, none are more notable than King Solomon who turned his heart from God by chasing after the idols of his heart. As an old man, Solomon reflected upon his sins and his reflections are recorded for us in Ecclesiastes, a book that begins with these words: And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom about everything that has been done under heaven. It is a sorry task with which God has given the sons of mankind to be troubled. I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is futility and striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted (Eccl. 1:1315). Here is how Solomon concluded in Ecclesiastes:
Remember your Creator before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the spring is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. The conclusion, when everything has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. (Eccl. 12:6-7, 1314)
You, dear Christian, have something that Solomon did not have. You have Christ! You have been chosen before the foundation of the world by God the Father for Jesus the Son to be holy and blameless (1:4-6). You have been redeemed through the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins (1:7-12). You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit through Christ as a child of God (1:13-14). You who were once dead in your sins, are now alive with Jesus and have been raised up with Him and seated with Him in the heavenly places all because of Christ! You are, His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (2:10). Therefore, you are to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called (4:1).
How do you walk in a manner worthy of your calling? You do it within community as a member of the body of Christ who has been gifted to, encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near (Heb. 10:24-25). By doing this, we are better prepared to engage Gods mission to redeem the nations with the Gospel as His Church.
We Live Rightly Under the Guiding Light of the Word of God
How do we guard against the kinds of dangers we are warned about in the Bible such as apostatizing, which is a turning away from the one faith that unifies us that is the one faith in Jesus the Christ. In Christians circles the word apostasy has been sanitized and rebranded with a new word known as deconstructing. This is the very thing the apostle John warned about in his epistle: They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be evident that they all are not of us (1 John 2:19).[1]
So, how do we guard against falling away? How do we protect ourselves from the dangers of apostasy? The answer is before us in Ephesians 4:11-16. We already looked at verses 11-13 but let me briefly remind you why these verses are so helpful.
Last week, I pointed out to you that the list in verse 11 is a list of five offices that Christ gifts to His Church, these offices are filled by those who are spiritually gifted persons, whose sole purpose has to do with the administration and distribution of the Word of God to the people of God. I explained why I believe the offices of Apostle and Prophet are offices no longer being filled today for they ceased with the death of the apostles. I showed you that based on what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:19-22, the offices of apostles and prophets are gifts we still benefit from through the foundation of the Word of God in the Old Testament (prophets) and New Testament (apostles and prophets). The offices of evangelists, pastors, and teachers are still being filled by Jesus with spiritually gifted people, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ (v. 12).
For how long are those called to administer the Word of God to the People of God? The answer is in verse 13: until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. The goal is that the people of God would become full of the true and incomparable Jesus, and it is done through the faithful teaching and preaching of the Word of God! On this point, Sinclair Ferguson said of the ministry of the Word of God: Its goal is not merely educational but transformational; it informs the mind in order to touch the conscience, mold the will, cleanse the affections and sanctify the whole life. The Word is thus allowed to do its own sanctifying work, as our Lord himself prayed: Sanctify them in the truth; your Word is truth (John 17:17). This requires intensive treatment.[2]
We Live Rightly When We Grow into Maturity in Christ
I believe what I am going to say next may be the most important thing you will hear today regarding your life as a Christian. The reason why Jesus has gifted His Church with Apostles (New Testament), prophets (Old Testament), evangelists, pastors, and teachers is so that you will not remain, children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming (v. 14).
The apostle Paul warns of the great danger we all face related to your growth and maturity as a Christian. The Greek word that Paul uses for children is nēpios, which is used to describe a nursing infant. When you become a Christian, you are what Jesus described as born again (see John 3:1-21). In Hebrews 5:13, the same Greek word Paul used in Ephesians 4:14 is used,
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the actual words of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is an infant (nēpios). But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil. (Heb. 5:1214)
When you were made alive with Christ (2:5), you were born again. Like any newborn child, the only food that can be digested at first is milk, but if you never mature and move on to other types of food you will become sick and weak.According to Hebrews 5, the elementary principles of the actual words of God are the fundamentals of the Christian faith, necessary for a person to receive the good news of the gospel such as: The belief in Jesus Christ, as Gods only Son as our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.[3]
However, if you do not grow up as a Christian and you continue to remain an infant that cannot handle anything other than spiritual milk you will be at severe risk of: 1) being carried about by every wind of doctrine, 2) the trickery of people, and 3) the craftiness in deceitful scheming.
Infant Christians are gullible and unstable on their own feet. They can be easily knocked over, easily distracted, and are easily deceived because they lack discernment. Cults and false teachers will prey on the immature and will waste little time on the Christian who understands and knows the word of God. The Christian who remains an infant in his/her faith is usually unable to see through the deception of false teachers who pride themselves on things they claim have never been seen before or things in the Bible that have been long covered due to some crazy conspiracy. Behind every false teaching is the great deceiver of whom Jesus said, was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him because he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).
To the Corinthian church, Paul warned the immature Christians: But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ (2 Cor. 11:3). Now listen to 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 in the New Living Translation, it does not comparatively do the best job with translating these verses, but it does really help us understand the danger that faces Christians who never grow beyond infancy: But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed (2 Cor. 11:34, NLT). Later in Ephesians Paul tells the Ephesian Christians to put on the full armor of God to stand against the same scheming that threatens Christians still in their infancy: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:1012).
The focus of the enemy is deceive you into believing in a different Jesus and to isolate you from those within Jesus Church who can help you grow in the hope of your calling, which is, one body, one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all (4:4-6). The only way you will be able to stand on your own two spiritual feet is through a maturity that can only come by understanding the truth of Gods word within the community of Gods people. The goal in verse 13 is that we all attain the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. This is why Jesus gifts through the Holy Spirit apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to the body of Christ so that we will grow as His body:
The unity of the faith: That you, Christian will continue to grow in your knowledge and understanding that Jesus is both redeemer and Lord of His Church.
The knowledge of the Son of God: That you, Christian will continue to grow in your knowledge and understanding that Jesus is all that He is as the Son of God, and any other Jesus presented outside of the scriptures is a Jesus who cannot save.
Maturity as a follower of Jesus: That you, Christian will grow into a mature follower of the King of kings and Lord of lords and see Him for who He really is: The Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Rev. 22:13). The head of the Church has declared: I am the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades (Rev. 1:18).
To become full of Christ: That you, Christian, will grow in such a way that you will become full of Christ, so that you are able to say with John the Baptist: He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30).
So how do we grow up in one faith? You do it by truthing in love together. Let me explain what I mean. Notice what Paul writes in verses 15-16: but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ, from who the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
If we are going to grow up as Christians, we must be people of the truth of Gods word! You will not grow as a Christian apart from the truth of His word as it is read, studied, and received from the foundation of the apostles and prophets (the Bible) and administered through the faithful preaching and teaching of Gods word by evangelists, pastors, and teachers (4:11). However, the goal is not to fill your head with knowledge, but for the knowledge of Gods word to shape the way you live your life! There is one Greek word used for speaking the truth (alētheuō), and it literally means, be truthful. A better way to translate is, but truthing in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head. What is the point? The point is that the goal of understanding the Word of God is not only to grow in your understanding of the Bible but to live out that truth through your life as a follower of Jesus within the community of the body of Christ. According to verse 16, this is the ONLY way to grow as a Christian!
Every person in the body of Christ has been called by God, redeemed by Jesus, and empowered by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of living within the community of those God has called, those whom Christ has redeemed, and those whom God has sealed with His Holy Spirit, and we live within the community of the redeemed while truthing in love.
Listen, there is coming a day when the Church will be gathered in glory when every tribe and every tongue who experienced redemption through the precious blood of Jesus as the Lamb of God will celebrate Him not only as the Head of the Church, but the triumphant Lion of Judah, and we will celebrate His song that all of heaven will sing:
And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have made them into a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.
Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing. And I heard every created thing which is in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, or on the sea, and all the things in them, saying, To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion forever and ever. (Rev. 5:9-13)
What other way is there to live in light of the reality of that truth but to do it by truthing in love together as His people and as the body of Christ?
[1] See also 1 Tim. 1:18-20; Hebrews 6:1-8; 10:26-31; Matt. 7:21-23.
[2] Sinclair B. Ferguson, Lets Study: Ephesians (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust; 2021), p. 110-11.
[3] Adapted from The Apostles Creed. | |||
| Living for the Right Thing | 16 Jun 2024 | 00:42:16 | |
Some time ago I read a quote from Charles Misner about Albert Einstein regarding what he thought about church and religion. Listen carefully to what Misner said about one of the smartest men who lived:
The design of the universe is very magnificent and shouldnt be taken for granted. In fact, I believe that is why Einstein had so little use for organized religion, although he strikes me as a basically very religious man. He must have looked at what the preachers said about God and felt that they were blaspheming. He had seen much more majesty than they had ever imagined, and they were just not talking about the real thing. My guess is that he simply felt that religions hed run across did not have proper respect for the author of the universe.[1]
It was in John Pipers book, Let the Nations Be Glad that I read that quote over 20 years ago, and I have never forgotten it. We were made to know God and it is the reason Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip the body of Christ by showing them the real thing. It is hard to show the body of Christ the real thing if you are not looking at the real thing.
Last week, we spent our time together in Ephesians 4:7-10. My goal was to show you that one way to be, diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (v. 3), is to use spiritual gifts, your talents, and your time to, encourage one another in love and good deeds (Heb. 10:19-25). Hopefully, I was able to show you that you cannot do that if you are not physically present and active with fellow Christians who gather regularly as the local expression of the body of Christ.
Some of you are unsure of what spiritual gifts Jesus has given through His Holy Spirit. You may be unaware of the supernatural gifts given by the Holy Spirit that are listed in the Bible. Two places in the Bible list spiritual gifts that are still given today; all that I want to do today is to list them for you just so that you are aware of what they are:
Romans 12:6-8
1 Corinthians 12:7-10, 28
Prophesy
Word of Wisdom
Service
Word of Knowledge
Teaching
Faith
Exhortation
Healing
Giving (Generosity)
Miracles
Leadership
Prophesy
Mercy
Discernment (distinguishing of spirits)
Tongues
Interpretation of Tongues
Administration
All of these spiritual gifts are supernatural in nature and given through the Holy Spirit for the edification of Christs body and to participate in His mission. This is the point of Ephesians 4:7, But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christs gift. Of all the gifts given by Christ through the Holy Spirit to His people, they can be categorized into two groups: Gifts of speaking and gifts of helping; I believe this is what the apostle Peter described in his epistle: Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking actual words of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (1 Pet. 4:11).
You Have Been Gifted to Live for Jesus in Partnership with His People
If you are a Christian, you are the recipient of Gods rich mercy, great love, and all-sufficient grace that has been lavished upon you when you were dead in your offenses and sins and stood as before the God who is holy as a child of His infinite wrath. Christian, we have been forgiven much! Not only have we been forgiven much, but we were chosen and redeemed for, good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (2:10)!
Your redemption was not meant only for your benefit, but the benefit of every person in your worldespecially those who belong to the body of Christ. Your spiritual gifts, your talents, your stuff, and your time are all blood-bought gifts from the God who created everything and owns it all: Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures (Jas. 1:1718).
Do you know how to, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called (4:1)? Do you want to know how it is you can bear with your brothers and sisters in Christ with, all humility and gentleness, with patience, and in love (v. 2)? Do you understand the part you play in keeping, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (v. 3)? You do it by the power God has provided through His Holy Spirit, which is, the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe (1:19) that enables you to use your God-given spiritual gifts, your God-given talents, your God-given skills, your God-given time, and everything else God has provided out of the abundance of His goodness toward you, to encourage one another in love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24). This is how Jesus has built His Church, this is how Jesus is building His Church, this is how Jesus will continue to build His Church, and the gates of will not overpower it (Matt. 16:17-19).
Listen, Jesus loves His bride too much to leave her the way He found her! We will eventually get to Ephesians 5:25-27 where husbands are told how we are to love our wives, but for now, I only want you to see the way Christ loves His Bride: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless (Eph. 5:2527). How is Jesus loving His bride? He gave Himself up for her, He is sanctifying her, and He is cleansing her through His Spirit and His Word. All of this He is doing for the purpose of presenting her for Himself in all her potential glory with no more blemishes or defects that she would be holy and blameless! Do you know the way that He is doing it? Through the ministry of His Word, the Power of His Spirit, and the community of His People. Do not buy into the lie that you do not need the Church!
Jesus Gifts His Body with Spiritually Gifted People to Equip His Church
Now I want to turn your attention to verse 11, which is not spiritual gifts, but spiritually gifted people called to at least four offices in Jesus Church. These are people called by Jesus and gifted to His people to do two things: (1) Equip the saints for the work of ministry, and (2) for the building up of the body of Christ.
Some propose that in every church there should be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Those who propose the view, rightly point out that the word apostle can mean messenger or anyone who is sent as a witness. In the same way, prophet does not always refer to a person who receives a special inspired word from God but can also refer to a person who speaks forth God's word. My problem with this view is with the way the office of apostle and prophet is used elsewhere in Ephesians. This is why understanding the context of a book in the Bible is so important for interpreting and understanding a passage like the one before us. Notice the way apostles and prophets are referred to in Ephesians 2:19-22,
So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of Gods household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Eph. 2:1922)
For this reason, I believe that the office of apostle and prophet that Paul is referring to in Ephesians 4:11 are the gifted people God used (past tense) in both the Old Testament and New Testament. Both were gifts given to Gods people to provide the Church with the Word of God (the Bible) and form the foundation for the people of God. The prophets were mostly men through whom God spoke to provide the people of God with the word of God and the apostles were the 12 men Jesus chose to be the foundation of the Church. Both the office of prophet and apostle ceased after the Apostles all died, but the gift that they were and continue to be to the Church are gifts we enjoy and benefit from still today, for every time you read your Bible, hear it faithfully preached and taught, or sing songs shaped by the Word of God, you reap the benefits of the good gifts to the Church that were the prophets and Apostles.
The other three offices in the Church are evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Now everyone is called to evangelize, but some are uniquely gifted to be evangelists who tend to be those sent to plant churches or sent to people groups who have not yet heard the gospel of Jesus Christ such as Adoniram Judson who brought the gospel to the unreached people group known as the Burmese. Before arriving upon the shores of what is still called, The Land of the Golden Pagodas, at the age of 21, Judsons eyes fell upon Ephesians 3:17-19 which compelled Adoniram and his wife (Ann) to make Burma (Myanmar) their home on July 13, 1813. I would submit to you the fire that burns in all those truly called by Christ to the office of evangelists, pastor, and teacher can be heard in Ephesians 3:17-19, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.
It would take six years for Judson to learn Burmese and eventually see his first Burmese convert come to Christ on May 9, 1819. Three years later, he finished translating the New Testament into Burmese. Although it took him 24 years to do so, he was able to translate the entire Bible into Burmese in the early months of 1834. Before his death on Abril 12, 1850, the gift that Adoniram Judson gave to the body of Christ resulted in 63 churches and 7,000 converts, 800 of those converts were from a tribe in Burma known as the Karen. Judsons role was to fill the office of an evangelist in Burma. What Judson did not know was that there was an ancient prophecy known by the Karen concerning the great God they called Ywa who created the earth and a man and a woman who were our first parents and that He had a book that was lost, but a white man would come to bring them the lost book about Ywa. Adoniram Judson was that man.
Some think that the offices of pastor and teacher are one and the same. Others believe they are separate offices. What I do know is that one of the qualifications of pastors is their ability to teach, but not all teachers are called to be pastors. Both, however, like the evangelist, are called by Christ and gifted to His Church to, equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ (v. 12). But what is the goal of verse 12? The goal is verse 13, which could not be any more clear: until we all attain the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. In other words, the goal and purpose of the gifting of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to the body of Christ is four-fold:
The unity of the faith: Those Jesus gifts to His Church are sent to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus as the only redeemer and savior of our souls.
The knowledge of the Son of God: Those Jesus gifts to His Church are sent to proclaim Him as the Son of God. Any other Jesus than the One presented in the Bible who is fully God and fully man as the second person of the Trinity is a Jesus who cannot save.
Maturity as a follower of Jesus: Those Jesus gifts to His Church are sent to proclaim the full counsel of Gods word for the full health of Gods people.
To become full of Christ: The purpose of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers is the proclamation of the Word of God to the people of God, before the people of God, and over the people of God who make of the Church of Jesus Christ!
To a young pastor-teacher, by the name of Timothy, Paul gave these solemn instructions that are not only for me as the pastor of Meadowbrooke Church, but for us all:
I solemnly exhort you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, use self-restraint in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Tim. 4:15)
So, I come back to my original question: How are you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called (4:1)? Use your God-given gifts, talents, time, and resources to, encourage one another in love and good deed, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near (Heb. 10:24-25). The way you do that is by giving them Jesus in the same way the apostles and prophets were sent to do, and in the same way the evangelists, pastors, and teachers are called to do!
I have one more thing to say, and I want to say it to the fathers and the single mothers of Meadowbrooke Church. The Church is a macrocosm of the way God structured the family, and in a very real sense, you are called and sent to be a gift to your family! Like the apostles, you are called to show your wife and children the beauty and splendor of the incomparable Christ! Like the prophets of old, you are called to give your wife and children the Word of God because it is honey to the lips (Ps. 119:103), and it is living and active (Heb. 4:12). Like the evangelist, you are sent to show your wife and children why and how Jesus satisfies.
Finally, just like pastors and teachers who serve Christs Church, you are to serve your wife and children to help them know and understand that there is none like our God (Isa. 46:9-10), and to know Him is to know His Son who is on all levels, the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6). As a husband and father, you show your family that Jesus is the bread of life that satisfies (John 6:35); He is the true door that leads to salvation (10:7), He is the good shepherd even in the valley of the shadow of death (10:11,14); He is the resurrection and the life who keeps His sheep (11:25); He is the true vine in whom the purpose of life and true thriving is to be experienced (15:1).
Dear fathers of Meadowbrooke, you are not called to lead your children to their idols but to the all-satisfying and all-sufficient Redeemer who is the only One who can give what their idols will never be able to give namely, LIFE. Give them the God of the Book! Give them the real thing!
[1] John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions, 30th Anniversary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2022), 4. | |||
| Oh Captain! Our Captain! | 09 Jun 2024 | 00:45:25 | |
With no real way of knowing how the American civil war would end, President Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863; the most important part of his proclamation stated the following: That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.
The war began with shots fired at 4:30 a.m. in South Carolina at Fort Sumter, on April 12, 1881. The war ended 4 years, 1 month, and 2 weeks later on April 9, 1865, at the great cost of at least 620,000 American lives. Five days later, on April 14th, President Abraham Lincoln was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth while watching a play at Fords Theater; Lincoln was pronounced dead the morning of April 15th. In his eulogy of Lincoln, Senator Charles Sumner said, Mourn not the dead, but rejoice in his life and example. Rejoice that through him Emancipation was proclaimed.
Walt Whitman admired Lincoln, and although he never had the opportunity to meet Lincoln, he said of the president: Lincoln gets almost nearer me than anybody else. Whitman shared the same views on slavery that Abraham Lincoln had; after the president was assassinated, Whitman penned what would later be considered a masterpiece of a poem titled: O Captain! My Captain!, which served as a metaphor about the death of the president he dearly admired and loved.Whitmans poem was first published on November 4, 1865; consider Whitmans first verse:
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weatherd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
As great as Abraham Lincoln was, he was only mortal, and a flawed one at that. But dear Christian, we have a Captain who is no mere mortal. A captain of a boat or ship is the person with the highest rank; as the Head of the Church, there is no authority greater than Jesus! Think about it, all things have been placed in subjection under the feet of Jesus; He is head over all things to the to the church (Eph. 1:22-23).
Our Captain, Jesus, is the fully divine Christ who descended in humility by also becoming fully human. Our Captain is the Lord of Life, who is the only begotten Son of God the Father Almighty. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; descended into the grave; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead.[1]
When I read Ephesians 4:7-10 and sat at my desk in front of my Bible staring at verses 8-10, I could not help but rejoice over what these verses mean. After reading Walt Whitmans poem, I wrote two verses of my own poem in response:
Our Captain and Great Redeemer,
His divine arms spread great and wide!
Upon the Cross, He bleed for sinners,
For our freedom, the Lamb of God died.
From earthen wood to the stone carved tomb,
Redemptions Prince laid cold and dead!
Three Days Later, Christ had risen,
Death and sin: swallowed up by the Living!
So, I have spent much of our time this morning setting up Ephesians 4:7-10, but I believe it was time well spent for reasons I hope will become clear.
The Church is Equipped by Christ for Her Mission (v. 7)
If I can get you to see how encouraging verse 7 is, I believe you will gain a healthier and deeper understanding of how you can, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called (4:1). I also believe you will discover the secret sauce for how you can urgently, keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (v. 3). To do this however, you have got to see the relationship between Ephesians 4:4-6 with verse 7; for this reason look carefully at these verses: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all (Eph. 4:46).
Now we come to verse 7, But to each of us grace was given according to the measure of Christs gift. Wait a second Paul, what happened to all this talk about us being one? We, who make up the body of Christ under His Lordship because we have been sealed by His Holy Spirit have each received, grace according to the measure of Christs gift. The grace and the gift mentioned in this verse is not referring to the gift of salvation in the same way Ephesians 2:8-9 is referring to the gift of salvation. The grace and the gift that is given by Jesus to those He has redeemed is given so that those who have been saved are able to function as one body for the purpose of serving one another in the Church and to engage Christs mission in the world as the Church.
The word used for grace is charis from which we get the word charismatic from, and the way it is used here in verse 7 is not saving grace but equipping grace. The gift that belongs to Christ is His to give and He does so freely to whomever He chooses who make up His Church for good of the one body. Listen, Christs gift are spiritual gifts that He distributes among His people diversly through the power of the Holy Spirit to build up those who make up His Church. The gift is what Jesus promised His disciples hours before His crucifixion: But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you (John 16:7). The gift is given not by some force, but by the One Jesus promised in Acts 1:8, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8).
If you are still confused what verse 7 is describing, there are two scripture passages that I believe will help you make sense of this verse. In 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, we learn a little more about what each true Christian has been given according to the measure of Christs gift: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. What this means for you Christian, is that Jesus has uniquely and supernaturally gifted you through the Holy Spirit (the Helper) to live out Ephesians 2:10 for the good of His people and mission He has called us to, and in case you forgot what Ephesians 2:10 says, here it is: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
I will come back to how our gifting through the Holy Spirit works diversly for the purpose of unity in my next sermon, but what I want you to know for now is that Jesus gave His Church a greater mission than what drove the North and the South into war on April 12, 1861, for we live in a world where all people are born under the tyranny of sin and are bound to a nature to sin, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and stand condemned before a Holy God as, children of wrath (Eph. 2:1-3). We who have been set free from the tyranny of sin and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb have been given our marching orders: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt. 28:1920). The good news about our orders is that our Captain has not only uniquely gifted each of His people to accomplish His mission, but He promises to go with us!
The Mission of the Church Guaranteed by Christs Victory (vv. 8-10)
What confidence do we have that the Church (the community of called-out-ones) will be able to finish the mission Jesus has given Her? It is right here in verses 8-10! Paul begins with the word Therefore to indicate how it is we can have any confidence to remain unified as one body, under one Lord, sealed and empowered by one Spirit, and he does so by quoting from Psalm 68! What is so remarkable about Psalm 68 is that it is in the category of Psalms known as the enthronement psalms that celebrate the kingly reign of God Almighty! Psalm 68 celebrates Gods triumph in leading His people from Mount Sinai in the desert to Mount Zion in Jerusalem as God and King over His people! Permit me to highlight some of the verses in Psalm 68 before we look specifically at the verse Paul quotes from so that you can appreciate the significance of what Paul does in Ephesians from this Psalm:
May God arise, may His enemies be scattered, and may those who hate Him flee from His presence. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before a fire, so the wicked will perish before God. But the righteous will be joyful; they will rejoice before God; yes, they will rejoice with gladness. (Psalm 68:13)
Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation. God is to us a God of salvation; and to God the Lord belong ways of escape from death. (Psalm 68:1920)
Tucked into the middle of Psalm 68 is verse 18, and it is this verse that Paul quotes from, and does so with a twist. But before I show you why He did this, you need to see Psalm 68:15-18 together:
The mountain of Bashan is a mountain of God; the mountain of Bashan is a mountain of many peaks. 16Why do you look with envy, you mountains of many peaks, at the mountain God has desired as His dwelling? Indeed, the Lord will dwell there forever. 17The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands; The Lord is among them as at Sinai, in holiness. 18You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives; You have received gifts among people, Even among the rebellious as well, that the Lord God may dwell there.
Here is what you need to know to appreciate why Paul quotes Psalm 68:18 with a twist: The mountain of Bashan represented the gateway to the evil underworld in Israelite and Canaanite thought.[2] What is being celebrated in Psalm 68:15-18 is that God defeated the evil that threatened His people at Mount Bashan and not only defeated them handedly, but led captive the captives by putting His triumph over the enemies of His people on full display for all to see. When the Psalmist wrote of God: You have led captive Your captives he was describing the victory procession of a returning king that was common in the ancient Near East; in his commentary on the Psalms, Gerald Wilson said of the victory procession, Captives were paraded as a visible representation of the kings far-flung conquests. As the victorious army returned home through various subject nations, the parade of captives drove home to any who might entertain notions of rebellion the power of the king and how he had defeated those who had resisted his authority.[3] Those conquered were quick to offer gifts to prove their loyalty to the conquering victorious king.
Okay, now we are ready to appreciate what Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote in Ephesians 4:8-10, and it will not take long to do so! So here is what Paul wrote: Therefore it says, When He ascended on high, he led captive THE captives, And He gave gifts to people. 9(Now this expression, He ascended, what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)
What the apostle does with Psalm 68:18 is that he summarizes all of Psalm 68 by drawing our attention to verse 18 to show us how every enemy has been defeated through the way Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth which He did by humbling Himself, by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross (Phil. 2:5-8). Jesus was buried and three days later rose from the grave! After He rose from the grave, He ascended to heaven, but before doing so, promised his followers: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8). What does it mean that Jesus, ascended far above all the heavens? After Jesus descended, we read in Philippians 2:9-11, For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Do you see what Paul is saying here? Oh, dear Christian, Jesus died to liberate us from the bondage and curse of sin, and He was then buried in the tomb. However, because death had no power over Him, he defeated sin and death by rising from the grave, and we rightly hail Him as the Risen Lord of Life! But wait that is not all! Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, which means that He is enthroned as the ascended King of kings and Lord of lords! Now, against the backdrop of Psalm 68 and Ephesians 4:7-10, consider Colossians 2:13-15,
And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
As the victorious and ascended King, Jesus triumphed over sin, death, the demonic powers, the devil, and itself!Jesus is the fulfillment of Psalm 68, and the gifts He gives is through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit that both He and the Father have sent to seal His redeemed and ransomed Bride (the Church) for the purpose of dispensing gifts upon those who make up His one body! Martyn Lloyd-Jones said of these verses that they serve as, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ leading in His triumphal train the devil and and sin and deaththe great enemies that were against man and which had held mankind in captivity for so long a time. The princes which had controlled that captivity are now being led captive themselves. He concludes by driving home the apostles point that we dare not forget: He is the great heavenly Captain and we are His people. Having routed His enemies, He dispenses and showers His gifts upon us. But all the gifts, ever, always, come from Him.[4]
You, who have been ransomed, redeemed, and forgiven through the triumphant victory of Jesus Christ upon the cross and over the gravenow that you who have received the promised Holy Spirit and are empowered by Himhow are you walking in, a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called?
[1] Adapted from the Apostles Creed.
[2] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Eph 4:8.
[3] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 939940.
[4] David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:116 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972), 153154. | |||
| Walking in Unity | 02 Jun 2024 | 00:41:53 | |
Although the word church is not used in these verses, it is used throughout Ephesians. The Greek word for church is ekklesia and means, assembly, gathering, community, congregation, or as you know it church. That is its meaning on the surface but dive a little deeper into the meaning of ekklesia and you will discover that the word is made up of a prefix and a root. The prefix is ek and means out of, and the root is kaleō, which means, call or summon. All I want you to know and appreciate is that the word for church (ekklesia) literally means, the community of called out ones.
If you are a Christian, then you belong to the ekklesia of Jesus Christ; you have been called out of the world: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people for Gods own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9). If you are a Christian, your identity is now in Jesus and is the reason why He prayed this for you: I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me (John 17:20-21). If you are a Christian, you belong to Him as His Church.
Nine times the word ekklesia is used in Ephesians, but the Church is also referred to as the body (sōma) in Ephesians 4:4 and six more times throughout the epistle (see 1:23; 2:16; 4:12, 16; 5:23, 30). To be the body of Christ is to belong to Christ and to be in Christ. In and through Jesus we now belong as the ekklesia and our identity will forever be linked to Him as His Bride. So, dear Christian, is it any wonder that it is Jesus who assures His Church who is His Bride, who is His body: Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades (Rev. 1:17b-18).
We do not have the time to get into the significance of numbers this morning, but I do want to point out three significant numbers in these verses that are easy to miss if someone doesnt point them out to you. First, the number one signifies unity in the Bible. The number seven signifies perfection or completion in the Bible. Finally, the number three, for reasons that will soon become clear.
Paul is emphasizing the need for unity in the opening verses of Ephesians 4, and urges the Church to be zealous, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This is why he emphasized that there is one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God that we, as the Church of Jesus Christ, share. Now, notice how many ones the apostle lists in these verses; he lists seven ones symbolizing that what binds us together as the Bride of Christ is complete and perfectly as God intended it. Finally, and the neatest part of these verses in my opinion is the number three, and you can see it with each of these verses:
We are, one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling this is due to the work of the Holy Spirit, as God the Spirit.
We have one Lord, one faith, and one baptism because of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, as God the Son.
We worship, one Father of all who is over all and through all and in all who is God the Father.
The significance of the number three is that it is symbolic of the God who we worship who is Three-in-One as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
There are two ways I can break down these verses in this sermon. I was tempted to create seven points for each of the reasons why we must, urgently keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (v. 3). I have chosen the second way I can break down these verses and it the outline Paul intentionally provided for us based on God as a Trinity. Notice that in Ephesians 1:3-14, Paul begins with the Father who has chosen us, then the Son who has Redeemed us, and then the Holy Spirit who has sealed us. Here in Ephesians 4:4-6, Paul begins from the ground up with the Holy Spirit who keeps us in power, the Son of God who walks with us in love, and the Father who is sovereignly for us. In light of all of the craziness in our nation and world, I cannot think of a more appropriate or more comforting passage in the Bible for this Sunday.
The Holy Spirit Keeps His Church Powerfully (v. 4)
There is only one body that is the Church, and that one body is defined by the Spirit of God: keeps all who have been redeemed through the blood of the Jesus (1:7) by sealing them as Gods inheritance that He promises to never lose (1:13-14). Listen, just as your physical body cannot live apart from your soul, it is equally true the Church is not really the Church apart from the Spirit of God in Her.
If you are a Christian, it is because you heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and believed it. In the moment you believed the gospel, you were baptized by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16; Rom. 6:1-7). When you were baptized by the Holy, you experienced what was promised in Ezekiel 36:26-27, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and follow My ordinances. This is the promise Jesus said all who belong to Him would receive: I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you (John 14:15-17).
If you are a Christian, then you who were once dead in your sins are now alive in Jesus and the evidence that you are alive in Jesus is the inward and outward work of the Holy Spirit who you were baptized in, sealed by, and are now experiencing His regenerative power in your life. What you experienced is the same thing that every other true born-again Christian has experienced; that miracle is described for us in 2 Corinthians 4:6, For God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
The true body of Christ is sealed by the lifegiving Spirit of God, and the one hope that is shared by every true Christian who makes up the Church of Christ is a single and unified hope that is rooted in a Jesus who not only died for sinners and rose from the grave, but is coming again to make all things new and to reverse the curse of sin! The hope of the true Christian is the hope of the true Church: We long for the return of Jesus who is, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come (Eph. 1:20-21), and as the body of Christ, we echo the same desire the apostle John shared in his concluding prayer in the book of Revelation: Come, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20). If you are a Christian, you belong to one body because of one Spirit, evidenced by one hope of your calling.
The Son of God Walks with His Church Lovingly (v. 5)
Another reason why we ought to be zealous, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is because, as the body of Christ, we share one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. The one Lord is Jesus, the one faith is His gospel, and the one baptism is the public confession that He is both savior and Lord over our lives through the waters of baptism. So, lets briefly look at each of these three statements individually.
Jesus is Lord. There can be no other lord or lords if you are a Christian! What this means is that the body of Christ and those who truly belong to His body accept, embrace, and follow the Jesus revealed in the Bible. Who is the Jesus revealed in the Bible? He is the One who claimed: I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). He is the One who asserts Himself with the proclamation: I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades (Rev. 1:17b-18). It is this Christ that every true believer celebrates as the One who is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He who is the head of the body, the church; and He who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything (Col. 1:17-18). It is to Him all authority belongs and it is before Him that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:11). Jesus is Lord, and because He is Lord, those who truly belong to Him follow where He goes (Luke 14:26-27), and go where He sends (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus is Lord because He is, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Rev. 22:13). Jesus is He, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:8). Jesus is Lord and it is the recognition of and submission to His lordship that marks every true Christian who makes up His Church.
The one faith we share as His Church is a confidence in Jesus as Lord. The Greek word for faith is pistis which is confidence in the thing that you believe is indeed true! The faith Paul is speaking of is so much more than the acknowledgment of certain facts about Jesus such as His life, death for sin, and resurrection. No, the faith that marks the true body of Christ is a confidence that He is all that He claimed to be and all that He did and all that He is is enough for our life, salvation, and our complete redemption. It is our one faith in Him that compels us to follow Him! Oh, dear friends, in light of His Lordship and the faith you claim to have in Him, consider the words of our dear Savior: Now why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say (Luke 6:46)?
It is because of Christs Lordship and our confidence in all that He did and all that He is that we share in one baptism. Now the baptism Paul is referring is in reference to water baptism, but it is so much more than water baptism, for it is the underlining reason why water baptism is not a way to complete your salvation but the next step of obedience to Jesus as a result of your salvation. One of the passages in the Bible I like to use during our baptism services is Romans 6:3-4, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.
Water Baptism is the outward sign of a new identity that is rooted in Jesus death and resurrection which is the reason for the new life as His redeemed people. This is also the reason Jesus commanded His Church: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt. 28:19-20). If you are a Christian, it is because of One Lord, one faith, and one baptism!
God the Father is Sovereignly for His Church Eternally (v. 6)
If you are a Christian, God is your Father! This ought to compel in us an urgency and zeal to, keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (v. 3). Surely it is because we share, one hope, one Holy Spirit, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. However all of this is because of the sovereign will of God the Father who, according to Ephesians 5-6, In love predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
What unifies us across denominational lines as brothers and sisters who make up the body of Christ is the Holy Spirit who seals us as His own, the hope of the saving work of Jesus, the allegiance to the Lordship of Christ, a confidence that He is enough, and the evidence that we have gone from darkness to light and death to life. Because of this, we who were once sons of disobedience and children of wrath, now have been reconciled to God as his children; what unifies us now is that God is our Father! What unifies us is that we can celebrate with confidence the assurance of 1 John 3:1, See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him. But dear brothers and sisters, we now know the God who we used to run from, and now we can call him Father!
This is why the all Paul is referring to in verse 6 are all true Christians regardless of the secondary issues we disagree on. This final and important point serves as the climax of Ephesians 4:1-6, Our God and Father is, over all and through all and in all. Dont miss this! The three alls here are referring to the one body of Christ who is sealed by one Spirit, because we share one hope, have one Lord, share one faith, who are identified by one baptism, and belong to one God is now our Father. Because of this our Father is over all believers, through all believers, and in all believers. Let me say it another way: Our God and Father is lovingly and sovereignly over all His redeemed children. Our God and Father is lovingly working through all His redeemed children. Our God and Father is lovingly residing in all His redeemed children.
So what are the hills we ought to be dying on? There are seven of them listed for us in these verses: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all (vv. 4-6). The question I leave you with is this: In light of what unifies us, how are you doing with Ephesians 4:1-3? How are you, walking in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being zealous to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?
Amen. | |||
| Walking Tall | 26 May 2024 | 00:49:35 | |
If you are born again, you are alive with Christ! If you are born again, everything listed in Ephesians 1:3-14 is true of you! In those twelve verses the phrase: In Him or in Christ is stated. Before we even touch Ephesians 4:1-3, I want you to marvel over what it means to be in Christ. In Jesus, I can now know the God for whom I was made. In Jesus God no longer sees my sin, but the righteousness of His Son. In Jesus, I am becoming more and more like the person I was born to be. In Jesus, I have redemption and am now a child of God instead of an enemy; here are eighteen other reasons to celebrate what it means to be in Christ.:
In Christ, I am justified freely by His grace (Rom. 3:24)
In Christ, I am now Gods child (1 Peter 1:3)
In Christ, I am forgiven of all my sins (Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:14)
In Christ, I have peace (John 14:27)
In Christ, I am loved by God the Father (John 16:27)
In Christ, I belong to God (John 17:9)
In Christ, I will never be forsaken or abandoned by God (John 10)
In Christ, I am treasured by God (1 Peter 1-2)
In Christ, I am the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21)
In Christ, there is for me NO condemnation (Rom. 8:1)
In Christ, God is working all things together for my good (Rom. 8:28)
In Christ, I have obtained an inheritance that only God alone can give (Eph. 1:11)
In Christ, I am a new creation the old is gone and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17)
In Christ, I am a son/daughter of God (Gal. 4:6)
In Christ, I am no longer a stranger or alien, but a fellow citizen with the saints (Eph. 2:19)
In Christ, I am a member of the body of Christ (Eph. 3:6)
In Christ, I am set apart for the mission of God (Eph. 2:10)
In Christ, I am loved by an everlasting God (1 John 4:19)
Paul begins verse four with the word, Therefore. When you read your Bible, this word serves as a clue that in light of what has been written, what you are about to read next is in response to what proceeded it. Another way to say it is: In light of Ephesians 1-3, this is how you are to behave. How are we to behave? Since we are alive in Christ, we are to walk as the spiritually living. Since we are not the only ones made alive in Christ, we should walk together as the living. I want to look at both of those points Paul makes in the verses that follow.
How to Walk as the Living
Paul begins with these words: Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you (v. 1a). So far in his epistle this is only the second place when Paul tells his readers to do something. The first time Paul told the Ephesians they had to do something, it was in 2:12, remember that you were. Remember what Paul? Remember who you were and who you now are! In Ephesians 4:1, Paul is not telling these Christians to remember their identity in Christ but to walk in step with their identity as those who have been called out of death into life with Christ.
There are two words I want you to notice that I will call, The Two Ws of the Christian life. The first word is walk, and the second word is worthy. The Ws of the Christian life serve as evidence that you are alive in Jesus and no longer dead in your sins. When Paul uses the word walk in his epistle, he is referring metaphorically to the way a person lives out their life ethically. Paul uses the word walk thirty-two times in his epistles, eight of which are used in Ephesians, and every time it is used metaphorically!
In Ephesians 2:1-2, our walk was governed by a Christless life: And you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. In Colossians Paul also described the way the Christian used to walk, listen to the way he uses the word, walk in Colossians 3:5-7, Therefore, treat the parts of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. Jesus used the same metaphor in describing what will happen to the one who follows Him: I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life (John 8:12). Listen to the other ways Paul uses the word walk in his epistles:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. (Gal. 5:16)
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. (Rom. 6:4)
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Eph. 5:12)
Here, in the verse before us this morning, we are commanded to, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
The second W word of the Christian life is the word worthy. The Greek word Paul uses is axiōs, and it literally means worthily. The word worthy means to have worth or value in the same way a scale measures the weight of something. So, picture a scale in your mind; on the one side of the scale you have all of the doctrinal goodness that is true of you in Christ from Ephesians 1-3, and on the other side of the scale is the weight of your new life in Jesus applied in the way you live out that doctrinal truth. Martyn Lloyd-Jones describes what Paul is saying in this verse in the following way: The Apostle is beseeching them and exhorting them always to give equal weight in their lives to doctrine and practice. They must not put all the weight on doctrine and none on practice; nor all the weight on practice and just a little, if any at all, on doctrine. To do so produces imbalance and lopsidedness. The Ephesians must take great pains to see that the scales are perfectly balanced.[1]
Let me say it in another way: Orthodoxy is right doctrine, and orthopraxy is right-practice. Here is where it gets real for you and me! In evangelical churches, you will probably run into two types of people who claim to be Christian: the first is the kind of Christian who can quote chapter and verse from the Bible, seems to have their theology nailed down and dialed in, but has little to show for it in the way they live out (practice) their Christianity. The other person you may run into seems to be a really nice Christian but has little understanding of the Bible or what passes for right doctrine.What we learn from Ephesians 4:1 is that our metaphorical Christian scale needs sound and solid doctrine from the Bible that is balanced by a life that is shaped by a growing understanding of the Word of God. Let me say it another way: as a Christian, you should be growing in your understanding of who God is and what it means to follow Jesus, and as you grow, your life will demonstrate that growth in equal measure.
The Way We Walk Together as the Living
So what does it look like to, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called? It looks like verses 2-3, which is a life with, all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Two themes flow out of Ephesians 4-6 and that is, 1) unity between the redeemed and 2) the godly life lived out. In verses 2-3, Paul provides a list of five character traits that the one who is truly alive in Christ ought to long and strive for as he/she follows Jesus. What Paul lists are five characteristics that ought to be on the side of the scale that is labeled: practice.
Humility. Think about your salvation and what it cost Jesus to redeem you. You who once stood before a holy God as a child of wrath living in the lusts of your flesh and mind (vv. 2-3), God made you alive in Christ (v. 4-5). Could there not be any clearer statement to shatter any hint of pride in you: but God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us made us alive together with Christ. If you understand the doctrine of Gods grace and mercy, then you will understand that the grace you received was not free and the mercy you received was not deserved: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph. 2:8-9). There is no room for pride in the blood-bought and redeemed life of the Christian.
Gentleness. To be a Christian is to be a disciple of Jesus, and to be a disciple of Jesus is to follow and imitate His ways. We have been redeemed by and follow the One who invites all: Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matt. 11:2829). To be gentle is to be meek, but that does not mean that Jesus was weak. Moses is described in Numbers 12:3 as, very humble, more than any person who was on the face of the earth. If you know anything about Moses, he was a courageous and gifted leader who bravely stood before the most powerful man of his day to demand that he let the Hebrew slaves go. We who were far from God, he found us and met us in our sin! Consider Romans 2:4 and the kindness of God: Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? When it comes to the way we treat others, we ought to be known for our gentleness, and when it comes to the sins of others, the Word of God is very clear: Brothers and sisters, even if a person is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you are not tempted as well (Gal. 6:1).
Patience. The Greek word Paul used for patience is makrothymia which also means forbearance or long-suffering. How do you develop long-suffering as a Christian? We develop patience in the Christian life through the things we suffer. Listen, suffering is the fire God uses to purge the dross from our lives. Find a person who has suffered much and you will find a person who is either bitter or empathetic towards others. W. Tozer, a pastor known for his prayer life, once said of the person who wished to be used of God: It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply." God raises up storms of conflict in relationships at times to accomplish that deeper work in our character.
If you dont buy into what Tozer said, consider what we read in Romans 5:3-5, And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Rom. 5:35). If you are serious about following Jesus, you will experience the suffering God intends for your good and His glory.
Patience in the life of the Christian will not only come by way of suffering, but it comes through confidence and trust in a good and sovereign God. The more you grow in your understanding of who God is (orthodoxy) the greater your patience will become (orthopraxy).
Bearing with one another. The fruit of godly humility, gentleness, and patience is the desire and hard work of bearing with one another. The Greek word for bearing here can also be translated as tolerate, put up with, or endure. To the scattered and suffering Christian located in what is now modern Turkey, the apostle Peter instructed: Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8). Christian, you are a work in progress and the goal of becoming holy and blameless is not complete in you and will not be until a death or a resurrection, yet God is patient with you; oh, how easily we forget the 10,000 ways God endures us while He remains committed to the good He is doing in us! If God endures you, how is it that you are unwilling to endure your brother or sister in whom God is committed to do the same thing He is doing in you? How often and to what degree do we continue to wrong Him who endured the cross for our redemption? How easily we forget our Lords words from His Sermon on the Mount: For if you forgive other people for their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive your offenses (Matt. 6:1415).
Unity. Paul does not just tell us to be united, but to be, diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The way the NASB translates diligent is not a bad translation, but in the original language (spoudazō) the word is better translated as zealous or eager. I think the way the NASB translates this verse loses the edge and urgency that Paul meant to communicate to the Ephesian Christians.
Listen, Paul is urging you, Christian, to be zealous and eager to maintain the unity we share as those who have been redeemed through the slaughtering of the Lamb of God so that we can be the children of God. As His Church, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit as His redeemed people. This is the unity of the Spirit that we are to keep within the community of faith in such a way that it is visible to the world around us! This is why Jesus commanded: I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another (John 13:3435).
Oh, the petty things we allow to disrupt our union as Jesus Bride! The things we fight about and break fellowship over grieve the heart of the One who was crushed and cursed so that we could be reconciled to the God we sinned against. Peter OBrien wrote of this verse the following indictment that would do us well to heed and respond to in repentance: To live in a manner which mars the unity of the Spirit is to scorn the gracious reconciling work of Christ. It is tantamount to saying that his sacrificial death by which relationships with God and others have been restored, along with the resulting freedom of access to the Father, are of no real consequence to us![2]
We have spent 20 weeks together in first three chapters in Ephesians, and some of you are still on track for reading through the Bible in a year. I have been with you for over five years now, and I have seen so much growth in many of you regarding your theological understand of God. I love that many of you honor or have grown to honor the Bible for what it is as the Word of God. I love that I can hear pages of your Bibles turn as we engage the Word of God each and every Sunday together! I am so proud of you and your growth dear brothers and sisters! My question for you this morning is simply this: What are you doing with your orthodoxy?
Permit me to close our time with some questions to think about: How has your growth and understanding of who God is through His revealed word deepened your humility? How has it tenderized you towards others? How has your theology of Ephesians 1:3-14 and 2:1-10 made you a more patient person? Has your right awareness and understanding of Gods choosing, redeeming, and sealing of you as His reconciled child created in you to extend the same mercy and grace that you received to others who God is working through and with? Has your zeal for knowing God fostered a zeal to find what you disagree with, or has it created in you a zeal to maintain and celebrate the primary things you agree upon?
[1] D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1 to 16 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981), 24.
[2] Peter Thomas OBrien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 280. | |||
| Resist on the Evil Day | 20 Oct 2024 | 00:51:42 | |
Can I ask you a question? Why is it that we Christians in America tend to be surprised by the supernatural? Think about what it is that we say we believe. We believe the Bible to be true and supernaturally inspired by God Himself. Because we believe the Bible to be supernaturally inspired, we believe God created all things by the act of His omnipotent will. Because we believe the Bible to be inspired by God, we believe that there was a serpent in the Garden who successfully tempted Adam and Eve to sin, that Satan does indeed exist, as does his legions of demons.
One of my favorite stories about the fight between the Kingdom of Light and the kingdom of darkness is the one found in 2 Kings 19:8-37. We do not have the time to read the entire story, but I do think it is worth pointing out a few things that happened in order to teach how we can respond to the threats of our day. Judah’s king, Hezekiah, received a letter from the king of Assyria that read: “Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, ‘Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’ Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved? Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed save them: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?” (2 Kings 19:10–12)
What was Hezekiah’s response? He stood firm against his enemy in the way his great grandfather David encouraged God’s people to do: “Some praise their chariots and some their horses, but we will praise the name of the Lord, our God” (Ps. 20:7). Here is Hezekiah’s response: Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “Lord, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to taunt the living God. It is true, Lord; the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have hurled their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but only the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. But now, Lord our God, please, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.” (2 Kings 19:14–19)
God didn’t use Hezekiah’s chariots or horses, but instead, He sent the angel of the Lord and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. So, when we read stories like that, how is it that we are surprised? When we read Ephesians 6:10-13 and are warned about the demonic realm consisting of rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places... how is it that we do not take such warnings as seriously as we ought?
Throughout the gospels we read of Jesus encountering the demonically possessed and how the demons were terrified of Him. We read of the Jewish exorcists in Ephesus who went from place-to-place attempting to mimic the kinds of miraculous things they saw Paul do in the name of Jesus. At one point, in an effort to cast out the demons the Jewish exorcists said: “I order you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches!” The evil spirit responded: “I recognize Jesus, and I know of Paul, but who are you?” We are then told that the demon possessed man, “pounced on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded” (see Acts 19:11-16). I wonder if Paul recalled these stories when he wrote, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
As we consider Ephesians 6:12-13 this morning, there are two points that we dare not miss. The first is, “Our enemy is spiritual, strategic, and satanic.” The second point is, “Our fight is direct, dangerous, and dogged.”
Our Enemy is Spiritual, Strategic, and Satanic What Paul wants us to understand is that when it comes to the world that Jesus said would hate us because it hated Him, that our struggle was NOT against flesh and blood. In other words, our enemy does not include those who reject Jesus or embrace the ideologies of this world, but instead our enemy includes, “...the rulers, the powers, the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (v. 12).
Ephesians 6:10-13 is the most explicit reference to the Christian’s struggle against evil forces that we have in the Bible. It cannot be any clearer than this! There is no real way to tell if Paul is describing an authority structure within the demonic realm, but it does seem that way from everything else I read in the Bible. Let me begin by sharing five things that we know about angels from the Bible:
We are told that the there was a war in heaven; the timeframe of when the war happened is unclear. I believe the war happened sometime between creation and Genesis 3 when we are first introduced to Satan as the serpent. The angels who sided with Lucifer (the dragon) are now known as demons. Here is what we read in Revelation 12:7-9, “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Rev. 12:7–9).
The rulers, powers, world forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness are those angels who sided with Satan in his war against God. Although Satan is only one demon who cannot be in more than one place at a time, he has command over millions of demons who obey his every command. Our enemy is spiritual, our enemy is strategic, and our enemy is satanic. Our enemy is very real and although limited, they are capable of the following:
It is good to have a right and biblical understanding of demons, but you must also understand that the Bible teaches us that they have no power over the Christian because of our relationship with Jesus who redeemed us! If there is any bit of anxiety in what you have just heard about the demonic, consider what Colossians 2:13-15 promises: And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. (Col. 2:13–15) Our Fight is Direct, Dangerous, and Dogged Jesus did indeed disarm the rulers and authorities through His sacrifice upon the cross and His triumph over the grave with His resurrection. However, we are warned that we are still in a fight, and that our fight is with the demonic forces that stand opposed to God. In this fight, we are to stand strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might by putting on the full armor of God.
Our fight is a struggle; the Greek word that we get the word “struggle” (πάλη) from is a word used to describe the kind of fight that comes in the form of close hand-to-hand combat. The point is that we must be prepared for the enemy’s attacks from afar or up close, and the enemy brings his fight against us in all shapes and sizes! It comes in the form of slander, false teaching, and the temptation to sin. Our fight can come in the form doubt, depression, and deception. Our struggle can be with the temptation to sin against God and others. The battle can come in the form of persecution from friends, family, or state authorities.
The evil day includes a greater evil that is coming, but it also includes any day you find yourself face to face with the enemy’s attacks or find yourself in his crosshairs from a distance. The evil day will be the final cataclysmic satanic attack that will come just before Jesus’ second coming. The evil day is your entire life as a Christian from new birth to physical death. The evil day includes those days in the Christian life when the onslaught of the enemy seems the strongest. The evil day are those days when the temptation to sin is more of a struggle than usual. So, Christian, how will you resist in the evil day? You do so by taking up the only help available to you that has been provided by God Himself: Take up the full armor of God. The three imperatives of Ephesians 6:10-13 are as follows:
When you have done everything to put on the full armor of God, only then can you stand firm.
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| Q & A Sunday // Ephesians 1-3 | 19 May 2024 | 00:43:13 | |
Questions from Ephesians 1:1-3:21
If God chose me before the foundation of the world? Do I really have free will?
Yes. But the real question is this: Is your free will limited to your spiritual condition? In the second sermon of our Ephesian series, I preached an entire sermon on the infamous Ephesians 1:4-6, and in that sermon, I answered what it meant to be chosen by God, here is what I said: To be chosen means that God predestined you to something. Predestination means, to determine something ahead of time before its occurrence.[1] So, according to these verses, before God invented dirt, He planned for your adoption as a son or daughter through all that Jesus would do on your account for your sin on a cross that we all deserved.
It is very difficult, within the context of Ephesians to explain Ephesians 1:4-6 any other way than to take at face value the clear and direct language he used in these verses; Paul could not have been any clearer: He chose us in Him [Jesus] before the foundation of the world He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. So, where is our free will in these verses? I will tell you where it is; your free will is somewhere between Ephesians 1:4 and 2:10.
We are chosen before the foundation of the world according to Ephesians 1:4, we were dead in our offenses and sins according to Ephesians 2:1, and it is, by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God according to Ephesians 2:8. The in-between in these verses is that you were born and lived before Jesus in your spiritual deadness, and your will was only free to operate within the nature of your spiritual deadness, until Ephesians 2:4-5 happened to you, which was this: But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ.
So, here is how your free will expressed itself while you were dead in your offenses and sins: you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest (vv. 2-3). In Ephesians 2:2-3 we are given a list of how our free will expressed itself:
We followed the prince of the power of the air (the devil).
We were disobedient.
We lived in the lusts of our flesh.
We indulged the desire of our flesh and mind.
We were children of wrath.
I dont know any other way to understand Ephesians 1:4-6 and 2:1-3 than to read 1:4 at face value: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. There was no other way for God to save us than to do what we are told that He did in Ephesians 2:4-5, But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ.
Now listen to me: God made us alive, but He did not believe for us! What this means is that your will was once limited to your spiritual deadness until God made you alive in Christ. The thing that God did for you in Ephesians 2:5-6, enabled you to experience and participate in what Paul describes in 2:8, which states: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
If God chooses who will be saved before the foundation of the world, why did He command His disciples: Go and make disciples of all nations and to, teach them to follow all that I commanded (Matt. 28:19-20)?
The reason why Jesus has commanded His disciples to make disciples of all nations and the reason that it is a sin not to do so, is because the way He has chosen to make the spiritually dead, alive in Christ is through His Word proclaimed through your mouth and your actions. The means by which God has chosen to create something out of nothing and to raise the dead has always been through the authority of His Word proclaimed and the power of His Spirit. Permit me to show you from the Bible how and why this is so:
In the first two verses of the Bible, we read in Genesis: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, Let there be light and there was light (Gen. 1:12). Psalm 33:6 describes what happened in Genesis 1:1-3 this way: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their lights. God spoke (proclaimed) as the Holy Spirit (i.e. The Spirit of God) was hovering over the surface of the waters and created everything out of nothing!
In Romans 10, we are given the means by which God will make the spiritual dead alive:
But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heartthat is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, Whoever believes in Him will not be Put to shame. (Rom. 10:811)
You cannot believe unless you hear the Word of God, and you will not believe unless the Spirit of God exercises the same power that created the galaxies and raised Jesus from the grave! What other possible thing could Paul have meant when he wrote in Romans 10:14, How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? This is why Jesus commanded His people: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt. 28:1920).
How can I know for sure that I am a Christian?
Listen carefully to Ephesians 1:7-8 again: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. There is only one who is able to provide redemption and forgiveness of our sins, and it is Jesus Christ alone. There is no other way! In Ephesians 2:12, it says: remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. In other words, apart from Christ there is no hope, and you are without God. A positive way of spinning this verse is this way: If your hope is in the Jesus who died for your redemption and the forgiveness of your sins, then you have hope and you have God.
You can know for sure that you are a Christian if you are sure that the only hope you have for the forgiveness of your sins is faith in the Jesus who was born of a virgin, lived the perfect and sinless life you could not live, died a death for sins you are guilty of, and rose from the grave on the third day. Listen to what Jesus said to someone who was very religious but not yet a Christian: And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:1416). To add to this, we are told in 1 John 2:23, Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
The evidence that you truly have embraced Jesus as your redeemer and savior includes faith in all that He is, but also a love for God, His Word, and a desire to live a life that pleases Him.
Love for God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed (1 Cor. 16:22).
Love for the Word of God: If you love Me, you will keep My commandments (John 14:15). Here is another passage to consider: The one who says, I have come to know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked. (1 John 2:46, NASB 2020)
A Desire to Live a Life that Pleases God: Here are three passages that need little explaining:
My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand. (John 10:2729)
In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (James 2:1718)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Gal. 5:2223)
Think about what is said in Ephesians 2:1-5. The difference between the dead and the living is evidenced by the posturing and behavior of the creature. The evidence between who is dead and who is alive is seen in how the dead and the living walk. Is this not the point of Ephesians 2:10? You were chosen, you who were once dead have now been made alive with Christ: we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand SO THAT WE WOULD WALK IN THEM. We just sang that same glorious truth:
I was breathing but not alive
All my failures I tried to hide
It was my tomb 'til I met You
('Cause when) You called my name (and)
I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness into Your glorious day
You called my name (and) I ran out of that grave!
Ephesians teaches us that we were saved to become holy and blameless (1:4) and created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (2:10). How do I become holy and blameless and what are the good works I am supposed do?
We were saved to be holy and blameless. This does not mean that we still do not struggle with sin, for we are told in the Bible, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us (1 John 1:9-10).
However, as I said the last two Sundays, your process and progress of living a life that develops and grows towards holiness and blamelessness must include an increasing dependence upon a bowing in surrender before God the Father (3:14), an abiding in God the Son (3:17-19), and a reliance upon the power of God the Spirit (3:16). The only way that will continue to happen is when you continually lay down your pride before the Father, a hunger and thirst of Jesus as your righteousness, and walk in step with the things of the Holy Spirit. Permit me to give you some ways you can do this:
The God who is able has spoken and has given us His word. If you want to know His thoughts, then you have got to listen to His word (the Bible). The more you read the Bible, the deeper your understanding of God will become. And the deeper your understanding of God develops, the more childlike your faith will become. Here are some ways you can begin to listen to God.
Pick a book in the Bible (i.e. the gospel of Mark) and read it. Then after you have read it, read it again more thoughtfully. After you have read it more thoughtfully, read it again. You will be amazed by what you will see in Gods word and how it will speak to you by doing this practice.
Make the Sunday morning gathering a priority. God has ordained the preaching of His word to build and encourage His people. Sitting at home with a steady diet of YouTube channels and people you always agree with will starve your soul. You need to be with Gods people who may not see things the way you do and to sit under the preaching of Gods word from a pastor you may not always agree with.
Join a Life Group. You need a community of friends who love God and His word that love you that you can have speak into your life.
The Jesus who lived the life you could never live and died the death you absolutely deserved has commanded you to follow Him. Think carefully about what Jesus said: If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27). Clearly Jesus does not want you to hate your family, but what He does want is your allegiance above anyone and everything else. But to follow Him, you have to pursue Him. Pursuing Jesus requires you to hear, obey, and practice His ways.
Let me show you something that may help you understand Ephesians 2:10 better; I want you to see what Jesus commanded us in Matthew 28:19-20 against the backdrop of what Paul wrote concerning the good works that, God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them.
What Paul wrote: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Eph. 2:10)
What Jesus commanded: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:1920)
The good works that God wants you to walk in is the mission Christ has commanded us to be engaged in. The word Go can be translated: as you are going make disciples. As you live in your neighborhood, as you are at work, as you are in the Starbucks line waiting to get your coffee, as you are living in your little world as one who was once dead, but is now alive with Jesus make disciples.
I promise that if you listen to Gods word and yield your heart and life to it, and if you seek to follow Jesus, you will increasingly become aware of your limitations and Gods power available to you through His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will never contradict the Word of God and He will never minimize the call to follow Jesus.
I want to do something in conclusion that I think will help tie together everything I have said this morning, and I would like to do it in the form of responsive reading. I am going to read some passages in the Bible, and after each passage, I will have you read in response Ephesians 3:20-21.
Responsive Reading
Pastor Keith:
You were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ. (Ephesians 2:15)
Congregation:
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:2021)
Pastor Keith:
You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of Gods household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:1922)
Congregation:
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:2021)
Pastor Keith:
For this reason I bend my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:1419)
Congregation:
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:2021)
Pastor Keith:
Therefore, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:16)
Congregation:
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:2021)
[1] From Lexham Research Lexham Research Lexicon of the Greek New Testament. | |||
| Beyond All That We Ask or Think | 12 May 2024 | 00:45:37 | |
Susanna Annesley was born on January 20, 1669 and was the youngest of her 25 siblings! Her father was the Rev. Dr. Samuel Annesley and was later referred to as the St. Paul of the Nonconformists who stood against the unbiblical practices of slumbering national church.[1] To give you some sense of the kind of Christian home Susanna was born into, the Annesley home was visited by some of the spiritual giants of their day, such as Richard Baxter, John Owen, and Thomas Manton. Susanna said of her childhood: I will tell you what rule I observed when I was young and too much addicted to childish diversions, which was this never to spend more time in mere recreation in one day than I spent in private religious devotions.[2]
It has been said of Susanna that her knowledge of the Bible was superior to that of many of the pastors of her day and her love for and devotion to God was reflected in her time in the Bible and prayer. On November 12, 1688, Susanna married Samuel Wesley who had become an Anglican priest. Together the Wesleys had at least 17 children (some believe they had 19 children), and of those children, only 10 survived infancy; one child was crippled, and another did not learn to speak until he was six years old.
If 10 mouths to feed and children to clothe was not enough for both parents, Samuel Wesley was a poor steward and manager of money, not a very good husband to Susanna, and was frequently away from home for long periods. I read that during her lifetime as both a mother and a wife, Susanna was sick often, there was little money for food, and debt plagued their family and household because of Samuels poor management of money. Samuel was once thrown into debtors prison because their debt was so high. Twice the homes they lived in throughout their marriage were destroyed by fire along with much of what they owned. Someone slit their cows udders so they wouldnt have milk, killed their dog, and burned their flax field.[3]
Susanna had little time between her duties as a mother, the need to work their gardens, milk their cows, educate their children, and manage their home, all with little help. However, she managed to spend about two hours a day praying because she believed in the God of Ephesians 3:20-21. Because it was nearly impossible to find a quiet place to pray, she used her apron and told her children that when they saw her head covered with her apron, they were not permitted to disturb her because she was praying.
Of Samuel and Susannas ten surviving children, God would use John and Charles profoundly to reach the lost and impact the world they lived inmostly due to the foundation of the Word of God laid by their mother and the prayers prayed on their behalf. John Wesley would grow to become a great evangelist whom God used to preach to nearly one million people in his lifetime. Charles would be used by God to write over 9,000 hymns, of which many are still sung in our churches today.[4] One of those hymns is a favorite of mine: And Can It Be, That I Should Gain. Consider three of its five verses:
And can it be that I should gainAn interest in the Savior's bloodDied He for me, who caused His painFor me, who Him to death pursued?Amazing love! How can it beThat Thou, my God, should die for me?
He left His Father's throne aboveSo free, so infinite His graceEmptied Himself of all but loveAnd bled for Adam's helpless raceTic mercy all, immense and freeFor O my God, it found out me!Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, should die for me?
No condemnation now I dreadJesus, and all in Him, is mineAlive in Him, my living HeadAnd clothed in righteousness divineBold I approach the eternal throneAnd claim the crown, through Christ my ownAmazing love! How can it beThat Thou my God, should die for me?
Now, like a well-aged, perfectly seasoned steak cooked by a master chef, Ephesians 3:20-21 is before us, and every bit of these two verses is meant to be savored. So, lets savor one of the great doxological statements in the Bible: Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
This statement in Ephesians 3:20-21 is in response to what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do in the life of the one He has chosen, redeemed, and secured as His child. Paul has brought us to the threshold of where our understanding and imagination can go, that we who were once dead in our offences and sins (2:1), can know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled to all the fullness of God (3:19). In his sermon on this same passage, James Montgomery Boice wrote in response:
This is beyond comprehension; we cannot even begin to imagine how we can be filled with Gods own fullness. We stand on the edge of the infinite. And yet, Paul is still not satisfied. He has prayed that God will do something we cannot even imagine; and now, having exhausted his ability to speak and write along that line, he bursts out in praise to God who, he says, is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (v. 20).[5]
So, what are these verses teaching us? What hope do they provide you? I believe that the answer is profound yet simple.
God is Working All Things Out for Our Good
How is God working all things out for our good and how do we know He is working all things out for our good? Well, let me begin by answering how we know that He is working all things out for our good. For starters, our God can work all things out for our good!
Paul begins verse 20 with six simple words: Now to Him who is able. God is able because He is not an idol. The Greek word used for do is poieō, which means to do, make, cause, or appoint. In other words, God is not like the stuff or gods that people worship; He can do what they cannot! He is not made with hands or created through any persons imagination. He is God! The God who is able is He who declares of Himself:
Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, My plan will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a distant country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, I will certainly do it.
Listen to Me, you stubborn-minded, who are far from righteousness. I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off; and My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, and My glory for Israel. (Isaiah 46:913)
God alone is able to choose, redeem, and keep any He wills for the purpose of lavishing His rich mercy, great love, and all-sufficient grace upon any that He grants salvation. God chooses, redeems, and keeps because He will accomplish all His good pleasure (Isa. 46:10b).
Because God is able, He can do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. God is not like the compromising parent in the grocery store that will offer or give whatever the child wants just so he/she can get the child to shut up. God gives His children what is good for them and what they need. Sometimes what we want lines up with what He knows that we need, but there are times that what we are convinced we need is not what we need at all because it ultimately may not even be good for us. However, if we are surrendering ourselves to Gods will (vv. 14-15), if we are desiring a dependance upon the Holy Spirit (vv. 16-17a), and we are walking in union with Christ (vv. 17-19), then what you think you need will begin to line up with what God knows you need. That is not all though, for the thing you do not know you need to ask for, God knows, and He is, able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think
Listen, when your thinking begins to line up with the heart of what God wants for you, you will find yourself asking for the very thing God desires for you. This is what Jesus said would happen if you abide (remain) in Him: If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you (John 15:7). When you surrender to the will of God, when you are depending on the promised Holy Spirit to guide you, and when you are taking in the life of Jesus so that His life will be reflected through your life, what you ask or wish for will begin to line up with what God knows you really need, and what you need most is the thing that God has called you into.
The power that is working within us, is what made your salvation, redemption, and regeneration possible. It is the power of the Holy Spirit who provides a resurrecting and miracle working power that Jesus promised to each of His follower. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will be our Helper who will be with His people forever (John 14:16-31), will guide His people into all truth (16:5-15), and will empower His people to accomplish Christs mission to redeem the nations (Acts 1:8). The power that was responsible for the creation of the universe and resurrection of Jesus is the same power the indwells every true follower of Jesus to live and walk in the good works God prepared beforehand for His people to walk in (Eph. 2:10).
God is Working All Things Out for His Glory
Why is God working all things out for our good? Why did He choose you? Why did He redeem you through the blood of the Lamb? Why did He seal and empower you to live a life that honors Him? The answer is in the first five words of verse 21, To Him be the glory. The prophet Isaiah said of the glory of God: For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another (Isa. 48:11). In Romans 11:36, Gods glory is described in His worth: For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or Who has first given to Him, that it would be paid back to him? For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Rom. 11:3436).
So, to Him be the glory in what or who, Paul? His answer is three-fold: in the church, in Christ Jesus, and to all generations forever and ever. Why on earth would we think that God would want to do anything through us? Because He is for His glory, and because He is for His glory, He is for your good. What is your good Christian? Your good is that you get God! The greatest and most loving thing God can give you is Himself!
For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place frankincense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of armies. (Mal. 1:11)
I, I alone, am the one who wipes out your wrongdoings for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Isa. 43:25)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored us in the Beloved. (Eph. 1:36)
In light of all that we have discovered and been reminded of throughout our time in Ephesians, maybe you have asked the question: Did God go too far? Did God go too far by choosing me of all people before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4)? Is God the victim of a poor investment because he chose me before the foundation of the world for good works He prepared beforehand? I dont know if you have ever asked questions like these, but if Ephesians 3:20-21 teaches us anything, it is this: God is not limited because He is infinitely sovereign, and because He is infinitely sovereign, He does not invest poorly. He has redeemed you who were once dead and now has made you alive for His glory and your good! And brothers and sisters, He is doing the same thing all over the world. He is being glorified in the Church by what He is doing in the Church and through the Church. He is glorified in and through the redemptive work of Christ who made our salvation possible! He is being glorified and forever will be glorified because of Who He Is!
God is He who, is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us for His glory and our good! The more of Him you discover, the more you will trust Him to do what He alone is able to do in His time and according to His good will. I heard someone say it this way: The deeper our understanding of God goes, the more childlike our faith will become.
I heard a song written by people I never heard before titled, Christ be All. I must have listened to it a dozen times or more this week because it is so good! There are two verses from that song I believe serve as a suitable way to conclude this sermon; I believe it echoes the spirit of Susanna Wesley and the longing of each of us in this room:
How great is God?His grandeur endlessHow frail I come before His throneI am lost in love relentlessThat Christ be all, and I his own
May Christ be all, and I be nothingHis glory shines in vessels weakMay Christ be all, and I be nothingThis is my hopeNot I, but Christ in me
On golden shores of sure salvationI will run to meet my KingFree from shame and all accusationHe'll give HimselfNothing I'll bringHe'll give HimselfNothing I'll bring
[1] Arthur Dicken Thomas, Jr., Knowing Doing: Profiles in Faith (C.S. Lewis Institute; 2003).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Sharon Glasgow, Susanna Wesleys Prayer Apron (Epworth Villa; May 9, 2019).
[4] Ibid.
[5] James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library, 1988), 113114. | |||
| Purposed and Treasured | 05 May 2024 | 00:42:45 | |
In light of our journey in Ephesians so far, what does it mean to be a Christian? If you are a genuine and legitimate Christian, then the following is true of you:
God chose you before the foundation of the world for the purpose of becoming holy and blameless (1:4-6).
You have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus who died upon a cross for sins you committed, and through His death, the riches of Gods grace has been, is being, and forever will be lavished upon you (1:7-12).
You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that God will complete the work He started in you and the promise of a power to enable you to complete the work that He has called you into, related to His mission to redeem creation (1:13-14, 19; 2:10).
Because you are a Christian, God treasures you as His inheritance that He will receive out of His great purpose and love for you (1:18-19a).
You are secure as a Christian because the One who redeemed you upon the cross, conquered death by walking out of the tomb, is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, and is the King of kings and Lord of lords who is, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come (1:19b-21).
As a Christian, your hope rests in a Jesus under whose feet, all things are in subjection because He is head over all things the Groom of the Church (1:21-22).
You are a Christian because, like the rest of the world, you were once dead in your sins, and thereby a child of Gods wrath! However, that is no longer who you are because God, whose mercy is rich, love is great, and grace is sufficient, made you alive in Christ Jesus (2:1-4)
If you are a Christian, it is not because of anything you have done, but solely by the grace of God through faith exclusively in Christ alone (2:8-9).
You, Christian, were redeemed through faith, by grace, because of Christ for, good works, which God prepared beforehand so that you would walk, not in the course of this world, but in good works God saved you for (2:10).
Because you are now a Christian, you have been brought near to God and belong to another people group, which is the people of God (2:13-22).
Your identity as a Christian is not in how you feel, who you are attracted too, your political affiliation, nationality, or the color of your skin; your identity is now in Jesus as the cornerstone of your life and the Bible as the foundation on which you stand within the community known as the Church (2:19-22).
As a Christian, the multifaceted wisdom of God is being made known through you and the people you now belong to, which is the Church of Jesus Christ. Angels marvel over your redemption and demons are terrified over what God is doing through you (3:1-12).
You belong to Christ as the Bride of Christ dear Christian! When God sees you, you are now the object of His affection; He is working all things out for His glory and for your good, in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus (3:11), which means that He is for you and not against you (3:1, 13).
You, Christian, are being built up into a beautiful templea holy and living temple where the presence of God dwells (2:21-22)!
Paul begins verse 14 with, For this reason. For what reason? For the fourteen reasons I just listed and so much more!
There is something so important the apostle wanted the Ephesians to know and experience, and it is something that we need to know and experience today. Paul touched on it in his prayer in 1:18-19, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe (Eph. 1:1819a). He again informs these Christians how he is praying for them:
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. (Eph. 16-19)
These two prayers serve as bookends for the first half of Ephesians; it is in these remaining verses in chapter 3 that Paul shows us how it is that we can know the love of Christ, but also experience the width, length, height, and depth of that same love of Christ.
Surrender Fully to God (vv. 14-15)
There are only four places in the whole New Testament that I am aware of where the Greek word for bend (kamptō) is used. Is Paul describing his physical posture while praying for the Ephesian Christians, or is he describing his overall posture as a Christian? Scholars are torn over what it is exactly that Paul is describing here, but I think it is both because of the first three words of verse 14: For this reason. For all the reasons mentioned from the beginning of this epistle to 3:13, I bend my knees before the Father.
It makes even more sense to conclude that Paul is speaking for both his posture in prayer and his posture in life before God the Father because of the other ways he used this same Greek word. It will serve us well to see the other ways he used the word bend because it will also help us understand how we can experience the very thing Paul prays for. Here are the first two ways kamptō is used:
For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow (kamptō), of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth (Phil. 2:910)
For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, to me every knee will bow (kamptō), and every tongue will give praise to God. (Rom. 14:11)
The fourth place kamptō (bow) is used is in Romans 11:4 when Paul quotes what God said to the prophet Elijah: I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. In the Old Testament book of 1 Kings, Elijah had an encounter with 400 prophets of Baal. The short of it is that the prophets of Baal where utterly humiliated when God miraculously intervened on behalf of Elijah to prove to all who were there that there was only one true God, and it was Yahweh. The king and queen of Israel had made Baal worship the religion of the nation and it had seemed most had turned to Baal (see 1 Kings 18).
It wasnt long after Elijah experienced God do the impossible that Jezebel threatened to murder Elijah. Elijah fled and went into hiding within a cave even though he had experienced God do the impossible. It was in the cave that God assured Elijah that even though many of Israels prophets turned to Baal, there were still 7,000 who had not bowed their knee to Baal. In other words, for the 7,000 prophets of Yahweh, there was only one Lord.
There is another reason why Paul bends his knees before the Father, and we see it in verse 15; it is the reason why God has both the authority and the right to bless whomever He wishes with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (1:3), chooses whomever He wants before the foundation of the world (1:4-6), redeems those He has chosen through His Son (1:7-12), and seals those whom He treasures (1:13-14). That reason is He is God, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name (v. 15). He has the right and prerogative to do what He will because He alone is God, He alone is the Creator, and He alone is Father to the redeemed!
In ancient Israel, it was the father who gave the name to a child. The significance of verse 15 is that although it is true that God holds all the rights of Creator, it is those whom He redeems through Christ that He has given a new name. What is this new name? Listen to Revelation 2:17, The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows except the one who receives it. I am not entirely sure what the new name means that the Christian will receive, but I believe the point Paul is making is that the posture of the Christian is a bend of ones knees before the Father in recognition that there is no God like Him and a very keen awareness that because of Jesus Christ, the Christian can claim 1 John 3:1 for himself/herself: See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him (1 John 3:1). You, Christian, share the mystical union with Jesus that every Christian shares who is now in heaven or presently on earth. We now belong to the people of God as members of that family in heaven and on earth.
Depend Deeply Upon the Holy Spirit (v. 16-17a)
So Pauls prayer for the Ephesians continues: that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (vv. 16-17a). Do you see the connection between these verses and Pauls statement about his posture before God the Father? If you are Christian, you already have Christ and the evidence that you have Christ is through the sealing of the Holy Spirit that God did when you became a Christian by faith in Christ alone.
Let me say it another way: When you believed in Jesus as the only way and means for the salvation of your soul, God sealed you with His Holy Spirit as a guarantee that you now belong to Him as His child and at the same time as proof that you are also His inheritance (see Eph. 1:13-14, 19a). Remember what I said when we looked at Ephesians 1:13-14; I said that when you were sealed by the Holy Spirit, you now have all of the Holy Spirit that you will ever need. The question is whether or not the Holy Spirit has all of your heart. Paul is essentially saying the same thing in Ephesians 3:16-17a.
All of the strengthening and power that is available through the Holy Spirit, you already have in you because you, dear Christian, have all of the Holy Spirit that you will ever need. The question is how lined up is your inner self with the Father and the Son? What is the inner self you ask? The inner self is the center of your being, it is the most important part of you spiritually because it affects everything you do outwardly. Let me share with you something from the Bible that may help add clarity to what Paul is talking about here and why what he is saying in these verses is so important from 2 Corinthians 4:16; Paul refers to the inner-self as the inner-person in these verses:
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:1618)
So, here is why what Paul is saying is so important for us to understand: The more you depend upon the Father, the more you seek Him, the more of your joy you find in and through Him, the more of you His Spirit will have. You can only do that by knowing Him more and better! The only way you will know God more and better is if you listen to Him through His Word (the Bible) and communicate to Him (through prayer).
Listen to me very carefully: Christian, you can know and rightly believe that you have available to you the strength and power of the Holy Spirit you are convinced resides in you because you believe Gods Word to be true! However, you will not experience the strength and power available to you through the Holy Spirit if you are not bending your knees before the Father with your mind, heart, and will. This is the point Paul also makes later in Ephesians 5:18, Do not get drunk with wine, in which there is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your hearts to the Lord. One person said it this way: A person whom the Spirit is working powerfully in is someone who will be changing deeply. When the Spirit of Christ makes himself at home, he constantly renovates our hearts to make us a more appropriate dwelling for the Lord Jesus, because the Lord Jesus is not merely dropping in briefly.[1]
But that is not all, brothers and sisters, there is more!
Walk in Union Uncompromisingly with Christ (vv. 17-19)
So what do I mean by walking in union uncompromisingly with Christ? There is a simple but very full word that sums up verses 17b-19, and the word is Abide. How does the Holy Spirit get more of you? How will God get more of your heart? The answer is, by abiding in Christ. Paul is not saying to the Christians in Ephesus that they do not have all of the love of Jesus; he cant be saying that because of all that he has already said! He already said that if you are a Christian, it is only because of the truth that, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us (Eph. 1:7-8a). Regarding this same love, Paul wrote that God, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (2:5b-7).
Christian, you have all of the love of Christ that you will ever need, but are you living in the reality of that love at the very center of your life? How do you do that, you ask? Well I am glad you asked. You do that by, being rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. This is what it means to abide (to take up residence in) Christ. Here is what Jesus said about abiding in Him: I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:5). Jesus also said, If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him (John 14:23). This is what it means to be rooted and grounded in love. What love? The love of God that is ours in Jesus! It is more than just head knowledge that Paul is praying for, he wants these Christians to experience and live in that love in such a way that only the Holy Spirit can make happen.
R.C. Sproul said of these verses: We need divine power to have a deeper understanding of the dimensions of the love of Christ.[2] What are the dimensions of the love of Christ? Paul kind of tells us in verse 18, the width and length and height and depth. A comprehension of these four spheres of the love of Christ is to understand and experience, the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge (v. 18). What is the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge? It is more than an understanding that as Christians,
Christ is seated above us as our Lord and Savior (1:20-22)
You, Christian, are seated beside Him (2:6)
We rest upon Him (2:20)
Christ indwells us (3:17)
Jesus fills us (3:19).
What is this profound love that belongs to the Christian? I believe the following story is an appropriate way to drive home Pauls point:
In the last century, when Napoleons armies opened a prison that had been used by the Spanish Inquisition, they found the remains of a prisoner who had been incarcerated for his faith. The dungeon was underground. The body had long since decayed. Only a chain fastened around an anklebone cried out his confinement. But this prisoner, long since dead, had left a witness. On the wall of his small, dismal cell this faithful soldier of Christ had scratched a rough cross with four words surrounding it in Spanish. Above the cross was the Spanish word for height. Below it was the word for depth. To the left the word width. To the right, the word length. Clearly this prisoner wanted to testify to the surpassing greatness of the love of Christ, perceived even in his suffering[3]
[1] Richard Coekin, Ephesians for You (The Good Book Company; 2019), p. 100.
[2] R.C. Sproul, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Sanford, FL: Ligonier Ministries; 2023), p. 50.
[3] James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library, 1988), 111. | |||
| A Mystery Celebrated | 28 Apr 2024 | 00:47:54 | |
About one hundred years after the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians another man by the name of Polycarp served as Bishop of the church in Smyrna, located about 35 miles north of Ephesus, was arrested and sentenced to death for his refusal to worship the gods of the Roman empire.
At eighty-six years old, Polycarp was the last surviving person to have known an apostle, for he was discipled by the apostle John. He was greatly revered as a teacher and church leader; he also had suffered the loss of many friends who had gone before him through the death of martyrdom. Although Polycarp heard that the Roman authorities were looking for him so that they could arrest him, he was at peace with whatever was coming. Three days before his arrest, Polycarp had a vision, while praying, of a pillow under his head that was on fire; he understood his vision to be prophetic concerning the way he would die. Polycarp said to his friends, I will be burned alive.
It is said when the authorities finally did find the place Polycarp was staying to arrest him, they came with all of their weapons, and while he could have escaped, Polycarp responded to his friends: Gods will be done. When the Roman authorities stepped into the house where Polycarp was staying, he called for food and drinks for the men and asked if they could give him an hour to pray uninterrupted; to which they agreed. It is said that some of the men who were there to arrest the 86-year-old church leader, regretted it. Polycarp was made to ride a donkey and was ushered into the arena; some witnesses said they heard a voice from heaven say, Be strong, Polycarp and play the man!
When the crowd saw Polycarp enter the arena, witnesses say there was an uproar as people shouted: Down with the Atheists! (this is what Christians were called because they did not worship the gods of the Roman Empire). While the crowd demanded death for the old saint, the Proconsul urged him to, reproach Christ, and I will set you free. To which Polycarp declared: 86 years I have served him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me? The Proconsul continued: Swear by the Fortune of Caesar. To which Polycarp again replied: Since you vainly think that I will swear by the Fortune of Caesar, as you say, and pretend not to know who I am, listen carefully: I am a Christian!
They sentenced Polycarp to death by burning. They were going to nail him to the stake, but Polycarp insisted, Leave me like this. He who gives me to endure the fire will also give me to remain on the pyre without your security from the nails. So, they did not nail him to the stake, but did tie him to it. As they prepared to light the fire, Polycarps prayer could be heard:
O Lord God Almighty, the Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of you, the God of angels, powers and every creature, and of all the righteous who live before you, I give you thanks that you count me worthy to be numbered among your martyrs, sharing the cup of Christ and the resurrection to eternal life, both of soul and body, through the immortality of the Holy Spirit. May I be received this day as an acceptable sacrifice, as you, the true God, have predestined, revealed to me, and now fulfilled. I praise you for all these things, I bless you and glorify you, along with the everlasting Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. To you, with him, through the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and forever. Amen.[1]
Because the fire did not seem to touch his body, an executioner was commanded to stab him. Polycarp died about 100 years after the apostle Paul wrote these words that are before us in 2024:
To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. (Eph. 3:812)
There are three truths in the scripture passage before us related to the mystery of God that I want to highlight for your good, and to your encouragement this morning.
Gods Plan is Great (vv. 8-9)
Since the Garden of Eden, and even before time, the plan has always been the redemption of mankind through a second and greater Adam, a more permanent and perfect sacrifice, a greater Moses who mediates a New Covenant. The greater Adam, the more permanent and perfect sacrifice, and the One greater than Moses who mediates a New Covenant is Jesus; however, it was not clear in ages past who or what the mystery was until Jesus was born. This is the mystery Paul is talking about in Ephesians, and this is the point of the opening verses of Hebrews:
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:13)
This is the point of what the resurrected Christ said to the apostle John at the beginning of the book of Revelation: When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades (Rev. 1:17-18). Of this Jesus, Paul wrote: To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things (Eph. 3:89).
Paul had become the recipient of the unfathomable riches of Christ for the purpose of sharing the news that the very same grace is available to all who would receive it by faith through Christ. This is the mission of the Church! Jesus said of His followers who make up His Church: You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world (Matt. 5:13-14). For salt to serve its purpose, it must be applied; the greatest need for the light, is where it is dark. Gods plan has always been for His people to serve as the salt of the earth and the light of the world! Adam and Eve were commanded to fill the earth with people like them who worshiped God. Israel was called to be a kingdom of priests to light up the darkness of the nations and people groups who surrounded them. Regardless of the failure of Adam and Eve or the failures of the Hebrew people, God promised: For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place frankincense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of Armies (Mal. 1:11). Jesus would make Gods plan possible, and He would do it through His Church (Matt. 18:19-20), and Jesus promised, I will build my church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it (Matt. 16:18).
The heart of Gods perspective plan for the redemption of the nations is that He will do it through the Church. Polycarp understood this, the apostle Paul was convinced of this, and the Church can stand on this truth! It is for the mission of God that we were made for, and it is for the mission of God that God chose you before the foundation of the world, redeemed you through the blood of the Lamb, and sealed you with the Holy Spirit so that you can live out your purpose with power (see Eph. 2:10)! Now, we who have been redeemed by Christ, can enter into the darkness of a rotten world with the full confidence that we go with the One whom God the Father, put all things in subjection under His feet and made Him head over all things to the church (Eph. 1:20-23).
Gods Motive is Central (v. 10)
What is the motive of God? Why did he redeem a people through His Son? Is it only because we are, His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (Eph. 2:10)? We are given clues as to why He chose, redeemed, and sealed us throughout Ephesians; Paul tells us three times in the first fourteen verses: To the praise of the glory of His grace (v. 6), to the praise of His glory (v. 12), and to the praise of His glory (v. 14). And now, in Ephesians 3:10, we are told again: so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
So, what is the multifaced wisdom of God that is being made known through the church? It obviously has something to do with the way God redeemed the church: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us (1:7-8a). However, note how Gods wisdom is used in 1 Corinthians regarding the way he saved sinners: For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). But wait, there is more:
For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no human may boast before God. But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. (1 Cor. 1:2631)
Do you see it? Do you see now what Paul is saying in Ephesians 3:10? The thing that God has done in your life Christian, from choosing you before the foundation of the world (1:4), to the redemption of your soul through the blood of the Son (1:7-8), and the sealing of the Holy Spirit by the same power that raised Jesus from the grave (1:13, 19) is on display through you before the holy angels and the evil demons! The rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places is the realm of both the angelic and demonic. The angels see what God has done, is doing, and will do in you and they are blown away over the rich mercy, great love, and all-sufficient grace God has lavished upon you through Jesus the Son. We get a snapshot of the way the angels and all of heaven responds to what the Christian has received: Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing. To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion forever and ever. Amen (Rev. 5:12-14).
The demons see the same thing the holy angels see, but they tremble as they look upon the power of God at work in you in great and terrifying fear. The cross that made our redemption possible serves as a reminder of Gods redemptive plan while it also serves to remind the demons that all evil has already been defeated at the cross; you Christian remind the demonic world that their final judgment is coming, and you will stand over them as the Bride of Christ in judgment over them (1 Cor. 6:1-3). Their response is certainly terrifying fear, but also violence towards the saints any chance they get. Polycarp experienced their worst, and although his hair was singed with fire, he was received by the Great and Good Shepard of the sheep with these words: Come Polycarp, you are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34).
Gods motive is to display His glory through His people, and that is good news! Think about who God is. He is as good as it gets, there is none higher than Himself and the motive to glorify Himself is the motive to give you the greatest reality that has no equal, namely Himself! This is why when it comes to the salvation, redemption, and rescuing of His people, God is clear: For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another (Isa. 48:11).
What this means is that when angels see you, they see the power of God on full display as He is committed to do the very thing He determined to do before the foundation of the world in and through you: In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in the Christ would be to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:1112). The demonic see the same power on display in you, knowing that Gods rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace is something they will never experience as they wait for Gods perfect justice, infinite wrath, and final judgment.
So, when Polycarp and the countless others who suffered for the name of Christ, understood that because of their identity in Christ, the world could do its worst and still not a hair on the head of the one covered under the blood of the Lamb would perish (Luke 21:18).
Gods Purpose is Eternal (vv. 11-13)
As we inch our way closer to the conclusion of Ephesians 3, we come closer to the second half of this magnificent epistle. If there was a transitional statement to mark the shift from Ephesians 1-3 to Ephesians 4-6, it would be this: Now that you know who you are in Christ, let me explain who you are as the Church. In verses 11-12, Paul gives us a peek into what he will unpack in the second half of his epistle: This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
What is the This Paul is referring to in verse 11? It is the unfathomable riches of Christ Paul received and was commissioned to bring to the Gentiles through the foolishness of the Cross preached. It is the unfathomable riches of Christ that Polycarp was sentenced to death for preaching. It is the unfathomable riches of Christ that the Christian has received and also has been commissioned to bring to all peoples as the Church of Jesus Christ. Listen to me carefully: It is because you, Christian, have received the unfathomable riches of Christ that places you into a third category of a people group that transcends any people group you were physically born into, and that people group is the People of God and tethers you to both Old Testament saints and New Testament saints; it also tethers you to every other person who has received the unfathomable riches of Christ. This is also the mystery Paul is talking about, and this mystery includes the Bride of Jesus Christ, who is the Church! What this means is that the Church has been, is, and will continue to be, the eternal purpose which God carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord (v. 11).
Christian, you are the Church and because you are the Church, Jesus is your Groom, and you are His Bride! Christian, you are the apple of the Redeemers eye, and this is why Paul could write that in Christ Jesus our Lord we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him (v. 12). Oh dear Christian, do not think lightly of the people you are now joined to in faith through the Christ who not only suffered and died in your place, but shed His blood to redeem and purchase a Bride for Himself that now includes you! The Church is the Beloved Bride of Christ, which means the local expression of Her such as Meadowbrooke Church and thousands like Her is the way, that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known. In accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him (vv. 10-12).
Warren Wiersbes sage advice is a fitting way to conclude this sermon: This great truth concerning the church is not a divine afterthought. It is a part of Gods eternal purpose in Christ (Eph. 3:11). To ignore this truth is to sin against the Father who planned it, the Son whose death made it possible, and the Spirit who today seeks to work in our lives to accomplish what God has planned.[2] Amen.
[1] John Foxe and The Voice of the Martyrs, Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs (Orlando, FL: The Voice of the Martyrs; 2007), 51-55.
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 30. | |||
| A Mystery Known | 21 Apr 2024 | 00:41:24 | |
One of my favorite films is the movie, Signs, which is a film by M. Night Shyamalan released in 2002. In the film, Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, a former Episcopalian priest grieving the tragic death of his wife and grappling with the existence of God and His involvement with His creation in the aftermath of his wifes death. In an article published on March 24, 2024 about the film, Niall Gray and Zachary Moser summarize the movies message which is not so much about hostile and invading aliens, but how all of the characters play an important part in the movies overall plot and:
Merrill is a failed minor-league baseball player, Morgan is asthmatic, and Bo leaves half-drunk glasses of water all over the house. These traits, and Graham's crisis of faith, are all significant to the film's story, leaning intoSigns' central themes. In themovie's signature M. Night Shyamalan twist, the aliens are defeated due to their deadly reaction to contact with water, and Graham's faith is ultimately restored by his family's survival of the ordeal. The ending comes together, arranging all the clues Shyamalan laid out for a thrilling and thoughtful ending.
Upon the alien invasion, Graham rediscovers his faith when all the things he perceived as random suddenly become significant. This is evidenced earlier in the movie by Graham's speech about how the world is split into two types of people, those who believe in coincidence and those who believe in miracles. Graham's belief that everything happens for a reason is restored, making faith and predetermination a central element ofSigns' story.[1]
There are many reasons why I loved this movie, but what I love most about this movie is that it is really about the purpose and design behind all that Graham believed to be coincidencehis young brothers failure as a minor-league player who could destroy a ball if he connected with his bat, his sons severe asthma, or his little daughters weird behavior of leaving half-drunk glasses of water all over the housewhen in fact there was purpose and design behind all of it; there was even purpose in the way his wife died.
I think that my oldest son, Nathan, was nine years old when I introduced him to the movie. Nathan was captivated by the movie, but I could tell that he was growing more and more distressed as he watched the story unfold. At some point I got up to check his pulse, which was high because of the scary and hostile aliens. To put his anxious heart at ease, I explained to him the many signs that were in plain sight in the film to show him that the family would be okay in the end.
In Ephesians, Paul shows us that the redemption and salvation of people from all nations was not a coincidence, but Gods plan from the very beginning. The mystery was not developed by the apostle nor was it created out of someones imagination. It is not the kind of mystery we think of based on the way the word mystery is used in English. The way Paul uses mystery in Ephesians is not the way it is used in a Scooby Doo episode. What Paul means by mystery is that although Gods plan was visible, it was beyond the realm of human understand and needed divine revelation for it to be understood. Just as my son needed me to show him the open secret that was always before him since the story began.
The Glory of the Mystery Revealed (vv. 3-7)
So what is the mystery Paul is talking about in Ephesians? Well he tells us in verse 4, it is the mystery of Christ that has been revealed to the apostles and the prophets in the Spirit (v. 5). But what about Christ is it that was so mysterious in ages past? Wasnt Gods plan to redeem and save lost sinners clear enough throughout the ages?
After Adam and Even sinned against God, there was no sugar-coating how God would eventually deal with the great serpent, the devil: And I will make enemies of you and the woman, and of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel (Gen. 3:15). Wasnt God clear enough when He promised Abraham, I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. (Gen. 12:2-3)? Would it not have been obvious that the descendant of King David was the one promised to Eve, when God guaranteed: When your days are finished and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever (2 Sam. 7:1216). The descendant promised to David, who would sit on His throne forever, would be the child promised in Isaiah 9:6-7, of whom, There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.
But what are we to do with Isaiah 53? If Davids descendant will sit on the Davidic throne forever, then who is the One described in verses 5, But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; the punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.? If that were not confusing enough, how about the description given of the descendent of David in Jeremiah 23:5-6? How can Davids descendant be described in this way: Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will live securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, The Lord Our Righteousness. How can sinful David have a righteous human descendant who will also bear the Divine name of Yahweh?
All of this was always before the people of Israel. The mystery is that Jesus was the Descendant promised to Eve, Jesus was the seed that would come through Abraham who would bless the nations, and Jesus is the descendant of David who will sit on his throne forever. Jesus is the King who will establish lasting peace as the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace. Jesus is the One who is the rightful heir of the Davidic Crown who would first have to suffer the sinners cross. Through the cursing of the cross, Jesus is the righteous Branch who was more than just a man, but the God-man who bears the title: The Lord Our Righteousness.
The mystery of Christ is that the Law of God points lost humanity to their need for the Son of God (Gal. 3:24). The mystery of Christ is from the Passover to the Feast of Tabernacles, all seven Jewish feasts point to Jesus. The mystery of Christ is that He is Gods Yes to all His promises (2 Cor. 1:20-22). However, this mystery that was always before the people, was not made known to mankind until it was revealed through the Holy Spirit to the apostles and prophets (v. 5). Jesus is the glory of the mystery revealed, and it was the mystery of Christ that Paul was called to preach to the Gentiles, after the gospel of Jesus Christ met him on the Damascus Road where Paul went from death to life in the same way the Christians in Ephesus went from death to life (vv. 2-3). What is the glory of the mystery of Christ? It is what Paul wrote of in Ephesians 1:7-10, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He set forth in Him, regarding His plan of the fullness of the times, to bring all things together in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
The Treasure of the Mystery Revealed (vv. 8-12)
The mystery of Christ for Paul was the treasure Jesus spoke of regarding the kingdom of God: The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells everything that he has, and buys that field (Matt. 13:44). While Paul was seeking to bring harm to Christs Church, Christ found him and it was there on that road that he not only experienced the grace of God, but a grace that the One he sought to destroy lavished upon him!
When Paul described himself as, the very least of all saints (v. 8a), he did so because he understood and was mindful of just how far he was from God. In the opening verses of his letter to Timothy, Paul wrote of himself: It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost (1 Tim. 1:15). But, because of Christ, Paul had become both the recipient of the unfathomable riches of Christ and an ambassador for the One who also bears the name, The Lord Our Righteousness (Jer. 23:6) to preach to the Gentiles, the unfathomable riches of Christ (v. 8b).
Paul was responsible for the death and persecution of the Church. He was on his way to continue to persecute the Church with the approval of the same religious Counsel that crucified Jesus, and then the unthinkable happened, this is how Paul described what happened to him:
But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus at about noon, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And I answered, Who are You, Lord? And He said to me, I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting. And those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do. (Acts 22:1-10)
Paul went to Damascus where he called upon Jesus to be both savior and Lord of his life, and he was never again the same as a result. However, he was always mindful that it was only because the rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace of God that Jesus met him where he was. We can hear it in the way Paul responded to Jesus: And I said, Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You. And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing nearby and approving, and watching over the cloaks of those who were killing him. And He said to me, Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles (Acts 22:1921).
For what purpose was Paul saved? Why did Jesus meet him on the Damascus Road? He tells us in Ephesians 3:9-10, to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. It is the same reason why God saved the Ephesian Christians who received this letter! Why did God choose them before the foundation of the world (1:4)? Why did He redeem those who formerly worshiped Artemis (1:7)? Why did he make these people who were once dead in their offenses and sins, alive with Christ (2:1-5)? The reason why God saved Paul, the reason why God saved those in Ephesus, and the reason why God saved you Christian is the same: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (2:10). The mystery is not only Jesus, but the plan of God to redeem people from all people groups through Jesus as the seed through whom all the nations will be blessed.
The Hope of the Mystery Revealed (vv. 1-2, 11-13)
I will speak more on these verses next week, but for now, I want to point a few things out to you. First, notice what Paul says in verse 1, For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus. Paul didnt identify himself as a prisoner of Nero or the Roman Empire, but instead, he understood himself to be, the prisoner of Christ. Do not miss the significance of that statement! For the reason that Jesus was the cornerstone of Pauls life and that the gospel was bringing both Jews and Gentiles together as one temple, being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (2:19-22), Paul was a prisoner not because Nero or the Roman Empire wanted him there, but because of the Lordship of Christ and the eternal purpose of God almighty (3:11).
I will unpack this more next week, but what I want you to hear today is that if you are a Christian, whatever you have suffered, are suffering, or will suffer is not a coincidence. Because you are a Christian, you can be sure that there is a greater design in your suffering because, like Paul, you also are the recipient of, the unfathomable riches of Christ. This is why Paul encouraged his readers with these words: Therefore I ask you not to become discouraged about my tribulations in your behalf, since they are your glory.
Think about all that we have learned of ourselves and what it means to be the Church from this epistle so far. Jesus is the glory of the mystery that was never a secret and always in plain view from the very beginning. Christian, God chose you in Jesus before the foundation of the world, that you would be holy and blameless (1:4). The promise to Eve to crush the head of the serpent is your promise in Christ! Gods promise to bless Abraham is your promise in Christ! Gods promise to King David that his descendant would sit on his throne forever is your promise in Christ! All of the promises of God to His people are now yours in Christ and he intended to make you a recipient of those promises, before the foundation of the world.
If God has taken great care to make sure you heard the Gospel so that you would receive the Gospel, do you really think that every tear and every pain is a coincidence? It is not! If Ephesians 1:3-14 is true, then you can know that there a good and benevolent God working all your past, present, and future sorrows for His glory and your good, the glory of the mystery is Jesus and treasure of the mystery is our union to and with Him. There are bright designs behind your hurts!
God moves in a mysterious wayHis wonders to perform;He plants His footsteps in the seaAnd rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable minesOf never failing skillHe treasures up His bright designsAnd works His sovreign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;The clouds ye so much dreadAre big with mercy and shall breakIn blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,But trust Him for His grace;Behind a frowning providenceHe hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,Unfolding every hour;The bud may have a bitter taste,But sweet will be the flowr.
Blind unbelief is sure to errAnd scan His work in vain;God is His own interpreter,And He will make it plain.
[1] Niall Gray, Zachary Moser, ScreenRant: Signs Ending "Swing Away, Merrill" Scene Explained (In Detail) | |||
| Only One Foundation | 14 Apr 2024 | 00:43:14 | |
On October 3, 2004, I preached my first sermon as a candidate for Northwest Baptist Churchs next Senior Pastor. Northwest was considered one of the most dysfunctional churches within the Rocky Mountain district, and although I knew this about the church, there was no way I could fully appreciate just how dysfunctional it really was. So, a very green and 30-year-old version of the pastor that stands before you today preached a sermon on boasting in the Cross of Christ before a congregation with a median age of somewhere in the 60s; my sermon text was from Galatians 6:11-18 and the title of my sermon was, Boasting in the Cross.
On October 17th the congregation of Northwest Baptist Church voted to call me as their Senior Pastor. Because I was unsure about moving our family from Pennsylvania to Colorado, I needed more time to pray about it before agreeing to serve as the Senior Pastor of that little church in Denver. Earlier that day, just after the church service at Calvary Baptist Church where I was presently served on the pastoral staff, Bob and Shirley White had given me a gift for Clergy Appreciation Month. I only opened the wrapping paper so that I could thank Bob and Shirley; the gift was a book, and the title of that book was, God as He Longs for You to See Him, by Chip Ingram. I left the book in my office, which was only across the parking lot from where we lived at the time (a house we affectionately nicknamed: Little House on the Parking Lot).
Because I needed time to pray, I walked across the parking lot and into my office at Calvary Baptist Church to be alone with the Lord. As I sat down, the book that Bob and Shirley White had given was there in front of my face. As I began to pray, I asked God to give me some indication as to what He wanted me to do; as I was praying, I opened Chip Ingrams book and noticed that Bob and Shirley had written a note on the inside cover: To our dear Christian brother, Keith, who has inspired us through his messages to see and know God as He really is. We love you and may God bless you, Roi Maw, and Nathan. Bob and Shirley White; October 16, 2004.
Bob and Shirleys little note also served as Gods way to encourage me to say yes to Northwest Baptist Church; but also served to encourage me to say yes to Meadowbrookes call to become your pastor oddly enough, on the first week of October nearly 14 years to the day that I read Bob and Shirleys note for the first time. I am still convinced as I was twenty years ago, that the best that I can give you is the God of the Bible. I could try to cater to felt needs, but all that really ends up being is a guessing game, and besides, what would that do anyway?
I am not going to look at Ephesians 2:19-22 in sequential order like I normally do with a scripture passage but will look at these verses in the order a builder would build a building.
We are a Jesus Called Community
When it came to the structure of a building, before anything could be built, the cornerstone had to be laid. It was the first stone laid because the dimensions and shape of the rest of the building were dependent upon the shape and size of the cornerstone. If the cornerstone was off, so the rest of the building would be off! If there was anything wrong with the cornerstone such as its dimensions, the way it was cut, or its integrity as the toughest and strongest of the stones used in the building, the structure would be compromised. In the ancient East, the cornerstone was the most expensive of all the stones used in a building because it was the most important part of the building. When it comes to the nature of the Church, Paul says that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone (v. 20b).
Against the backdrop of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, stood another temple. Only the temple Paul referred to was living, organic, and holy. Today, it is still being built and it will continue to be built with Jesus as the cornerstone until He is finished building and beatifying His Church. We, the Church, are the great wonder of all of heaven and it is concerning our salvation that we are told: angels long to look (1 Pet. 1:12). Think about who you are Church! In Jesus, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (1:3). In Jesus, we were chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless (v. 4). Through Jesus, we have been adopted as sons and daughters (v. 5). In Jesus, we have redemption through His blood (vv. 7-8). In Jesus, we have obtained an inheritance from God that no one can destroy (v. 11). In Jesus, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit that no one can break (v. 13). We were chosen, redeemed, and sealed all to the praise of the glory of God (vv. 6, 12, 14); which means that the Ephesian Church displayed a glory even greater than the power of 300 billion suns!
The prophets and the apostles, through the Scriptures, pointed to Jesus: The prophets point towards Jesus and the apostles point back to Jesus. Long before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah declared: Therefore this is what the Lord Godsays: Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a tested stone, A precious cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. The one who believes in it will not be disturbed (Isa. 28:16). Concerning Jesus, the apostle Peter wrote, And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by people, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 2:4-5).
As the cornerstone, Jesus is Gods final and most perfect revelation of Himself: God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world (Heb. 1:1-2). As we have learned in the previous verses, it is because of Christ and through Christ that both Jew and Gentile can become one new people group through faith in Him alone. It is through Jesus that we now have access to God the Father (2:18).
If you are a Christian, then Jesus is your cornerstone! Think for a moment of what that means. Jesus is the cornerstone because He is the Christ (Isa. 9:6-7). Jesus is the Christ because He is the Great I AM who is the Bread of Life (John 6:35-51), the Light of the World (8:12; 9:5), the Door for His Sheep (10:7-9), the Good Shepherd (10:11-14), the Resurrection and the Life (11:25), and the True Vine (15:1). Jesus is the cornerstone because only He could claim to be, the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6). If you are a Christian, then Jesus is your cornerstone by which the entirety of your life is being shaped by Him, and as He is shaping you, so too He is shaping all who truly belong to Him.
We are a Word Formed Community
The prophets and the apostles represent the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, that we as the temple of God (household) are being built upon. From Genesis to Revelation the Bible claims at least 3,000 times to be The Word of the Lord. And, in all its 66 books and the hundreds of years and many different contributors who were guided by the Holy Spirit, it is without error.
In a very real sense, we are a people of the Book, but not just any old book! Consider some of the things that the Bible claims about itself:
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward (Ps. 19:7-11).
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
The Old Testament and the New Testament are not two separate books nor are they two separate volumes. The Old Testament and New Testament are one book, one story, with one theme: Jesus! This is why Jesus said of Himself, Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17); Jesus is Gods Yes to all Gods promises (2 Cor. 1:20). Jesus commanded His disciples after His resurrection and before His ascension: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matt. 28:19-20). Do not miss that He commanded us to teach all that He has commanded. The foundation on which Gods people must stand has always been on the Word of God.
Our greatest need is to know God and to be known by Him. The way to know God is through His word, for it is the primary means by which He has revealed Himself. Every time you open your Bible and read the words contained in it, you hear the same voice that was powerful enough to create billions of suns like ours or greater; God has given us a book with His words in it to move and shape us as His people. The words of that Book bear the authority of the Living God and have the supernatural ability through the power of Gods Spirit to speak into your real needs, or as Hebrews 4:12 testifies: For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. You, my dear Christian, must allow your heart to be saturated by it, and the only way to do that is to open your Bible and allow God to speak into your life through His Holy Word, for that is the principle means by which He speaks to His people.
Now, permit me to briefly say a word about the preaching of Gods Word as it relates to Gods people: On this side of eternity, God has ordained the preaching of His word as the primary agent for supernatural transformation. This is why we read in the Bible: How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom. 10:14, 17). If Romans 10 is not enough for you, consider 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
God has ordained the preaching of His Word to be one of the principle means to equip and strengthen His people for service in His name to the nations. When the proclamation of Gods Word is done responsibly by those who honestly labored over His Word through careful study and prayer then I believe what John Calvin once said is true every time we gather on a Sunday morning: God has so chosen to anoint the lips and tongues of His speakers that when they speak the voice of Jesus comes out (Calvin, Institutes, Book Four). This is why the apostle Paul instructed Timothy who was called to the Ephesian Church as their pastor:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encouragewith great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Tim. 4:1-4)
When we gather under the preaching of Gods Word, there is a God-ordained and supernatural work that Gods people subject themselves to. There are things that happen under the preaching of Gods word during corporate worship that cannot be explained but it is the work only God is able to perform through the authority of His Word proclaimed by the power of His Holy Spirit performed that will often blow your felt needs to ashes so that Gods word is able to address your real needs.
We are a In-it-together Community
Paul will address what it is that God is doing with His people in the verses and chapters to follow, so I will keep this brief. All I want you to see in verses 19 and 21-22 is this: God has always had a plan for your holiness and blamelessness in Christ, Christian. Through Jesus, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of Gods household (v. 19). God is committed to the very thing He has purposed to do in and through you when He set His affection upon you and chose you before the foundation of the world; His purpose in choosing you is that you would be, holy and blameless before Him (Eph. 1:4). When you were dead in your offenses and sins, God made you alive and every other Christian, alive together with Christ. Why did He do it? Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:10, For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
You were dead! You were an enemy of God! Now you are Gods child! Now you are, of Gods household in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (vv. 20-21). What does this mean? It means that because you are in Christ, God is for you and not against you! It means, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:6)! It means that no matter how used up you were, no matter how damaged you were, no matter how ugly your sins were He is making you more and more holy and more and more blameless! Listen. And the way that God is doing it is with Jesus as your cornerstone being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
In Ephesus there was a more glorious and more beautiful temple that made the great temple of Artemis look like a dung heap! It is a temple that continues to be built today and it is the place where the demonic fear because it is a living temple where the Spirit of God dwells; those who are far and near make up that temple. Meadowbrooke Church, we are also a part of that temple. It is because the preeminent Jesus is our cornerstone, and the foundation of His Church is the inspired teaching of the apostles and the prophets, the best and lasting gift I can give you is not a feeble attempt to cater to your felt needs, but the God of the Bible through the faithful preaching and teaching of His Word.
So, on that note, I leave you with the words of a beautiful Hymn about a beautifying Bride:
The church's one foundationIs Jesus Christ her Lord;She is his new creationBy water and the Word.From heaven he came and sought herTo be his holy bride;With his own blood he bought her,And for her life he died.
Elect from every nation,Yet one o'er all the earth;Her charter of salvation,One Lord, one faith, one birth;One holy name she blesses,Partakes one holy food,And to one hope she presses,With every grace endued.
The church shall never perish!Her dear Lord to defend,to guide, sustain, and cherish,is with her to the end;though there be those that hate her,and false sons in her pale,against the foe or traitorshe ever shall prevail.
Mid toil and tribulation,And tumult of her war,She waits the consummationOf peace forevermore;Till, with the vision glorious,Her longing eyes are blest,And the great church victoriousShall be the church at rest.
Yet she on earth hath unionWith God the Three in One,And mystic sweet communionWith those whose rest is won.O happy ones and holy!Lord, give us grace that weLike them, the meek and lowly,On high may dwell with thee. | |||
| No More Walls | 07 Apr 2024 | 00:39:39 | |
At the end of World War II, at the Potsdam Conference on July 17, 1945, it was decided how Germany would be divided by the American, British, French, and Soviet Allied leaders. Germany was divided into four zones of occupation to be controlled by the United States, Britain, France, and Communist Russia (the Soviet Union). The city of Berlin was split up by the four powers even though it was located within the zone controlled by Russia. Because West Berlin was formed by the American, British, and French sectors, East Berlin would be marked by its stark ideological differences shaped by communism because of its control under the Soviet Union.
In 1949, Germany split into two independent nations known as the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) as a democracy in stark contrast to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) that was marked by the communism of the Soviet Union. In 1952, the East German government closed its border with West Germany; to keep people from escaping East Germany to the West, a wire barrier was constructed around West Berlin on August 12-13, 1961, with the plan to build a permanent wall designed to divide neighborhoods, separate families, and keep any influence of a freedom loving West from a restrictive and oppressive East. The Berlin Wall would eventually grow into two walls measuring 96 miles long and 13 feet tall. Anyone who attempted to gain freedom from East Berlin by entering West Berlin was shot.
By 1989, more than 100 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall and hundreds more who tried to escape from East to West. There were 302 watchtowers along the 96-mile-long wall that separated the free from the burdened. On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Regan delivered a speech in West Berlin, a speech I remember well when I heard as it aired on television when I was only 13 years old. President Regans speech has been nicknamed the Tear Down This Wall speech from a line in his magnificent speech; I want you to hear just a sampling of this marvelous and important speech for a reason that will become clear in this sermon:
Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic, south, those barriers cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers. Farther south, there may be no visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state. Yet it is here in Berlin where the wall emerges most clearly; here, cutting across your city, where the news photo and the television screen have imprinted this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of the world. Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar. As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate.Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate!Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
On November 9, 1989, Germans from the East and West gathered and began tearing the Berlin Wall down. On October 3, 1990, East Germany and West Germany were no more; Germany was reunited as one free nation.
The Christian Has Been Brought Near to God (vv. 11-13)
There are four things that were true of the Christians in Ephesus; these four things are true of you if you are now a Christian; these same four things are still true of you if you are not a Christian. Because most of you in this room are Christians, I will refer to these four truths as something that once was true of you.
You at one time were Christless (vv. 11-12a). There were two types of people in Ephesus and in the world: the Uncircumcision and the Circumcision. The Uncircumcision were the Gentiles in the world while the Circumcision were the Jews who prided themselves on being the physical descendants of Abraham. The Uncircumcised Gentiles were convinced that they were very different than the Circumcised Jews, and the Jews felt the same way about the Gentiles. However, there were two things that these two groups did share in common: Both groups believed that so long as they were religious enough, they would be prepared for what comes after death, and both groups were dead in their sins because both were Christless.
You were homeless (v. 12b). What I mean by homeless is that the Jews had known about and looked forward to the promises of God made to the descendants of Abraham. For example, when God called Abraham out of the city of Ur, He made the following promise to both him and his wife, Sarah: Go from your country, And from your relatives And from your fathers house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you into a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3). The Jews had grown to assume that the promise was not for Gentiles and failed to realize that it would be through the Jewish people that the Gentile nations would experience the blessing made to Abraham. It was not that the promises were not for the nations also, but that the Gentiles were not aware of such promises.
You were hopeless (v. 12c). What were the promises given to the Jews really for? They were promises concerning Gods plan to redeem Adams fallen race. Think about the promises made to the Jews for a moment! How would all the families of the earth be blessed? The Child promised in Isaiah 9:6-7 would be Jewish and would come through Israel, and this promise is for the nations:
For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.
So how were the Gentiles in Ephesus without hope? They were without hope because unlike the Jews, they were unaware that unlike emperor Nero of Rome who was reigning at the time Ephesians was written, there was coming a true and better King who would do what Rome could never do: There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. For the Gentiles, Rome was as good as it would get is the same way that many today believe that life before death is as good as it will ever get, which is pretty hopeless!
You were godless (v. 12d). Finally, the gentiles were godless in the sense that they were left to their idols because they did not know God. This does not mean that the Jews were not godless either, for if they were without Christ, then they were also Godless. To be Godless is to be without God. Do you know what happens when you are Godless? You will find a way to place an idol in the place only God was meant to reside in your life. You will find something that promises the sort of things that only a real God can give and provide; such as joy, satisfaction, contentment, meaning, and purpose to your life and you will be robed of the very things that idols promise to give. The God whose image you bear is the only being who can provide lasting joy, satisfaction, contentment, meaning, and purpose to your life.
If you are a Christian, you are no longer Christless. Because you are no longer Christless, you belong to the people of God and are no longer homeless when it comes to the promises of God. Because you are now the recipient of the promises of God through Jesus, you are no longer hopeless. Because your hope rests in Jesus for your salvation, Paul declares: Now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ (v. 13).
The Christian Has the Peace of God (vv. 14-18)
Gods plan for the salvation of sinners always included Gentiles. Before instructions for the construction of a temple that would serve as the center of worship for Israel where the presence of God would be experienced by His people, God instructed Israel: Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel (Exod. 19:5-6). In other words, Israel was commissioned to be Gods priests before the nations to lead the nations to God. Through the prophet Malachi, as He did throughout Israels history, God reminded His people that the redemption of the nations was always the plan: For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place frankincense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of armies ( Mal. 1:11).
So, what is this dividing wall the apostle Paul refers to in verse 14? The temple that King Herod built for the Jews included a place known as, The Court of the Gentiles. The Court of the Gentiles was the place within the Temple Walls that allowed Gentiles to gather and worship the God of the Hebrews, but they were forbidden to go any further than the outer court because they were considered too dirty to come any closer to the inner courts, only the true Jew was permitted to into the holier place that was closest to the Holy of Holies where the presence of God was. There was a wall that stood about 4.5 feet high that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the inner courts and signs that were posted that stated in Greek: No foreigner may enter within the balustrade around the sanctuary and the enclosure. Whoever is caught, on himself shall he put blame for the death which will ensue.[1]
The Court of the Gentiles is also the place where Jesus taught while in the Temple (Matt. 21:23; 26:55; Luke 19:47; John 7:14). The Court of the Gentiles is also the place where money was changed because the required coinage for people to use for the Temple tax had to be Tyrian shekels (aka the shekel of the sanctuary) because of the uneven value of other coinages and the idolatrous images on other coins. During Passover, it is estimated that over 200,000 lambs were sacrificed for the sins of the people; the Court of the Gentiles was the place where people could purchase their sacrifice. The Court of the Gentiles was where the money was made and exchanged, and for many, became more important than worship itself. The Court of the Gentiles was not in the original plans God gave His people for the Temple (see Numbers 15:14-15), nor were they ever a part of Gods plans for the place where His people would worship Him. Here is what Isaiah said of the place of Gods worship:
Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to attend to His service and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one who keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it, And holds firmly to My covenant; Even those I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.
It was the Court of the Gentiles that Jesus entered into during Passover week before He would die on the Cross as the perfect and true Lamb of God, and was enraged over the way Israel had perverted the Temple:
And He entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple grounds. And He began to teach and say to them, Is it not written: my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a den of robbers. (Mark 11:15-17).
They crucified Jesus because the Jews who were convinced that their religion was enough, but what Israel failed to see was that their problem was the same as the problem of the Gentiles. There exists before all of humanity a far greater wall than the one that separated the Gentiles from the Jews in the Temple! It is a wall that only One Lamb can remedy and of all the peoples of the nations that should have known that such a wall exists, it should have been those who had before them from the commandments, writings, and the prophets, the covenants of the promise (v. 12). The wall is greater than any other wall, for it is the great wall of mankinds sin and guilt before a Holy God and there is nothing that the Jews or the Gentiles could do to tear it down, nor is there anything that you and I can do to remove the wall. For the Jew, the Law simply pointed to the wall of our own sin and that there is only One who is able to tear down the wall (see Gal. 3:23-29). Jesus tore down the wall by going to the Cross, He redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us (Ga. 3:13). It is only through the blood He shed for sins we are guilty of that, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings (Eph. 1:7).
The wall was our sin, the hostility was ours before a Holy God, and our only hope for a peace with Him was and is the Prince of Peace! This is why Paul wrote, For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace (vv. 14-15). How did He do it? Through His cross: and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility (v. 16).
Conclusion
Through Christ, the wall that alienated and separated us from any hope of knowing God or being known by God was blown to ashes through the Cross! The Christian, regardless of culture, skin color, or language, is now reconciled to the One whose image we all bearHe is our peace! Christian, because the wall of your sin was torn down by the Lamb of God, you share the same thing that the Chinese Christian, the Korean Christian, the Indian Christian, the Burmese Christian, the Iranian Christian, the Sudanese Christian, the Canadian Christian, and the Mexican Christian all have that you now have through Jesus Christ: Access in one Spirit to the Father through the Son! What better news could there possibly be than what we read in these verses:
For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace; and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
Regardless of your ethnicity, the thing that you share with every other Christian rescued, ransomed, and redeemed by the blood of Jesus is that we now belong to His Tribe and our colors are the same because we are covered by the blood of the perfect Lamb of God! To be a Christian is to be the Church, and to be the Church is to be the People of God! Your identity is no longer in the nation you live, the color of your skin, the language you speak, or the culture that has shaped and formed you. No! Your identity is now in Christ!
If you are not a Christian, the great wall of your sin still stands, and your greatest need remains! There is only One who is able to remove the wall of your sin, so why wait any longer to be reconciled to God through the blood of the Lamb of God?
[1] One such sign is on display at the Israel Museum and a second in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. | |||
| Far and Away | 31 Mar 2024 | 00:33:29 | |
In a culture that devalued women, Jesus not only valued them as equally created in the image of God in the same way as men, but the value He placed upon them is seen through the New Testament writers as followers of Jesus. For example, the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were all written by men who were sure to point out that it was a man by the name of Judas who betrayed Jesus and it was the male disciples in Jesus life who left Him and fled when He was arrested. However, it was the women in Jesus life, along with John, who were present while Jesus hung on a cross to die. If you were making up a story about a Savior in a male dominated society that viewed women as, in the words of Socrates, Incapable of reason and making rational choices, you would by no means portray them as being brave enough not to flee and hide like the rest of the disciples did. It is also worth noting that if Jesus resurrection was a made-up story told by a group of men, you definitely would not make women the first eyewitnesses to His resurrection! The inclusion of women in Jesus life serves as further proof that not only is the Bible for both men and women, but additional evidence that Jesus did rise from the grave.
However, before Jesus rose from the grave, He was crucified and did indeed die! He was handed over by the religious leaders of His day to be sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate for treason, and although He was innocent of such crimes he was sentenced to death by crucifixion. Before He was forced to carry His cross, He was beaten, flogged, mocked, and beaten again. Jesus stood mangled and hemorrhaging before a jeering crowd who demanded with shouts: Crucify, crucify him! (see Luke 23:18-25). When Pilate told Jesus that he had the power to release him, Jesus replied: You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above (John 19:11). Pilate washed his hands in a bowl of water symbolizing his innocence and ordered that Jesus be crucified.
Jesus was forced to carry His cross to the place of his execution known as Golgotha. Once He reached Golgotha, Jesus was stretched out by force upon the cross where His hands and feet were nailed to the wooden beams that made up His cross, where He would hang until His death. For six hours he hung on that cross and while on the cross, three of the seven statements that came out from His mouth that will serve as my main points this resurrection Sunday morning, were as follows:
While the crowd mocked him and the soldiers gambled over his clothes, as Jesus hung on the cross stripped of His cloths and humiliated before the masses, He said: Father, forgiven them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).
While dying on the Cross under the wrath of God for sins we are guilty of, under the unrestrained justice we all deserved for our sins, Jesus cried: My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? (Matt. 27:27)?
Just before He breathed out what air was left in His lungs, in case there was any confusion as to who was in charge, Jesus declared: It is finished (John 19:30).
Jesus died. To prove that he was dead, one of the soldiers thrust his spear into the side and heart of Jesus, a man by the name of Joseph asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, and then His body was prepared for burial, placed in the tomb, and a stone was rolled in front of the entrance of the tomb to seal the grave shut. While in the tomb, Jesus was not unconscious and he didnt have a twin brother who pretended to rise from the grave; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wanted to be impeccably clear that Jesus physically died on the cross and that His death was very important and very significant. Three days later, Jesus rose from the grave! The women in Jesus life were the first to see and witness His resurrected body, while the men in His life refused to believe it until Jesus appeared to them as well. They, and every other person who encountered the risen Christ, would never be the same!
If Jesus remained in the tomb after His death, then all we would have to look to was a dead martyr. Jesus did not stay dead though, and His resurrection is proof that all that He said and did was legitimate and true. Jesus went to the cross to die a death each and every human deserved to die. To the Corinthian Church, Paul wrote to a group of people who had seen how a resurrected Jesus transformed lives:
Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:14)
Jesus lived the life none of us could and died the death that every single one of us deserved, and His resurrection from the tomb validates His death for our sins and triumphant victory over sin and death as true. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is, the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16).
Jesus Resurrection Proves that We Can be Forgiven by God (Eph. 2:11)
It is the power of the gospel that the Christians in Ephesus experienced! Ephesus was the home of one of the seven wonders of the world: The Temple of Diana (Artemis). Horrible things happened in that temple and people from all over the world came to Ephesus to experience what the goddess Diana offered, and Ephesus economy benefited under the oppressive demonic power of Artemis, until the gospel came to that city.
Those who became Christians were identified by those in the city as belonging to the Way after something Jesus said about Himself: I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). We are given a small glimpse of the kind of effect the gospel had upon Ephesus and the worship of Diana in Acts 19. Demetrius, a silversmith who made a living off forming silver shrines of Artemis, was particularly angry over the way the gospel impacted his business; listen to his complaint about the apostle Paul:
You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all. Not only is there danger that this trade of ours will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as worthless, and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence. (Acts 19:2627)
To those who heard about Jesus, repented of their sins and idolatry, and surrendered their lives to Him, Paul wrote: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us (Eph. 1:7-8a). Because of Jesus, these Ephesian Christians had a new identity that was now rooted in Christ instead of Artemis! Against the backdrop of a demonic temple, Paul wrote these words:
These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Eph. 1:2023)
To those rescued out of the paganism of Artemis through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:11-12a, Therefore remember that previously you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision which is performed in the flesh by human hands were at that time separate from Christ. They were at one time dead in their sins; under the guise of Artemis, they once, walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience (Eph. 2:1-3). But through the cross of Christ, they have been made alive with Christ because of the rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace of almighty God!
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, if you have placed your faith and trust in Him as the only means for the forgiveness of your sins, then you who, were at one time separate from Christ (2:11), have been forgiven by God through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
Jesus Resurrection Proves that We Can be Reconciled to God (Eph. 2:12)
On the eve of His execution, Jesus was abandoned and left alone with no one. If that were not enough, there was One more person who abandoned Him to leave him completely and desperately alone. We learn who that person was with Jesus words from the cross: My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? (Mark 15:34). Why would Jesus say such a thing from the cross? Because it was on the cross that Jesus was cursed in our place, which was the plan all along. It is the reason why John the Baptist cried out upon seeing Jesus in the early days of our Saviors earthly ministry: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)! While Jesus endured the humiliation of the cross, He experienced exactly what the prophet Isaiah described in Isaiah 53:5, But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; the punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
When Jesus cried out, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? He, in that moment, experienced the cursing of His Heavenly Father for sins we are guilty of. From the moment of conception, ours is a nature that gravitates towards opposition against our Creator. Oh, we are fine with a god of our own making, but the God who spoke the galaxies into existence, whose power fashioned more than 300 billion suns with a command, before whom the pure Seraphim shield their faces with one set of wings and cover their feet with another set of wings, while calling out to one another concerning God almighty: Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory (Isa. 6:1-3), we run from that God! Why? Because, as the Bible declares: There is no righteous person, not even one; there is no one who understand, there is no one who seeks out God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:10-11, 23). That is the problem with humanity and that is why Jesus said, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). For our sin, Jesus was cursed so that you and I would not have to be, this is why the Bible states, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us for it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Gal. 3:13).
Aarons blessing is now for you Christian: The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord cause His face to shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His face to you, And give you peace (Num. 6:2426). Aarons blessing is for you Christian, because Jesus drank every last drop of Gods wrath on your account by becoming a curse in your place. Jesus experienced the antithesis of Aarons blessing, which if the voice of God could be heard on that day Jesus hung from the cross: The Lord curse you, and abandon you; The Lord turn His face from you, and condemn you; may the Lord stand against you, and withhold His peace from you.[1]
Jesus because a curse in our place because we were, strangers to the covenant of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Because of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, you have been reconciled to God!
Jesus Resurrection Proves that We Can Become the Children of God (Eph. 2:13)
The final statement from the cross came in the form of a final declaration: It is finished! All that was required for our redemption was accomplished on the cross! We who were hostile towards God, stood as an enemy of God, who walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience (Eph. 2:2-3), we who were once children of Gods wrath have now been reconciled to God and experience only His pleasure. If you are a Christian, then Ephesians 2:13 is for you: But now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
The cross of Christ was enough to save lost sinners and the resurrection of Jesus is proof that all who are far and away from God can be forgiven by God, reconciled to God, and made a child of God through the Christ of the cross who lived the life we could not live, died a death we all deserved, and conquered sin and death on the third day by rising from the grave! Concerning Jesus: There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). This is the gospel, and it is, the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16)!
[1] I heard this for the first time at the 2008 T4G Conference delivered by R.C. Sproul. For more see: https://www.ligonier.org/posts/god-cursed-him. | |||
| For the Love of Christ (Good Friday) | 29 Mar 2024 | 00:31:12 | |
There is no sermon manuscript for this Good Friday Service. | |||
| The God Who Works | 24 Mar 2024 | 00:43:54 | |
Have you noticed that the number three seems to be a big deal for the apostle Paul in Ephesians? For example, in the first fourteen verses we read of the three-fold role our Triune God has in our salvation: God the Father chose us before the foundation of the world (1:3-6), Jesus the Son made our redemption possible (vv. 7-12), and the Holy Spirit sealed us for the Day of redemption (vv. 12-13). We see it in the way Paul prays for the Ephesian Church: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe (vv. 18-19a).
I thought one way to help you see this was to reimagine Pauls series of threes as his answer to a series of questions by Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, a character from John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress, a book first published in 1678 and is currently listed as the fifth most translated book in the world. If you are not aware of who John Bunyan was, all you know for now is that he wrote Pilgrims Progress while in prison for twelve years for preaching the gospel, his book is an allegory on the Christian life.
In Bunyans book, the protagonist, Christian Pilgrim leaves his home, The City of Destruction, to embark on a pilgrimage for the salvation of his soul and to find the Celestial City where he can live for all eternity in the company of God. While on his journey he is helped and guided by other characters such as Evangelist, who is known as a preacher of the Holy Word and is eager to help those who are seriously concerned about the state of their souls. Christian also meets Interpreter who shows Christian many wonders and shows Christian many exhortations on the way he should go. There are others who join Christian on his journey such as Pliant who quits the pilgrimage after facing his first obstacle, and Hopeful, a refugee from Vanity Fair, who proves to be a faithful companion to Christian all the way to the Celestial City.
There are others who Christian encounters that try to turn him away from the narrow way to the Celestial City who go by the names of Giant Despair, Apollyon, Flatterer, and Mr. Worldly Wiseman. Bunyan described Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, in this way: not an ancient relic of the past. He is everywhere today, disguising his heresy and error by proclaiming the gospel of contentment and peace achieved by self-satisfaction and works. If he mentions Christ, it is not as the Savior who took our place, but as a good example of an exemplary life. Do we need a good example to rescue us, or do we need a Savior?
Imagine what a conversation might look like if Mr. Worldly Wiseman visited the Apostle Paul in prison during the same time the epistle to the Ephesians was written:
Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Paul, tell me how you can be sure that you are Christian since you are now in prison?
Paul: Regardless of my circumstance, I am a Christian for these three reasons:
I was chosen by God before the foundation of the world (1:4-6),
I am redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ for sins I am guilty of (vv. 7-12), and
I am sealed by the Holy Spirit for a full and future redemption (vv. 13-14).
Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Why spend your years in prison and suffer when you can be free so long as you dont keep blabbing about Jesus in places people dont want to hear it? You know, you can be a Christian and be compliant too!
Paul: How can I be quiet about something so important? Jesus commands me not to be quite about my relationship with Him and how he saved me even though I was,
Dead to God (2:1),
A slave to sin (vv. 2-3a), and
A child of the wrath of God because of the sins I committed against Him (v. 3).
What this means, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, is that I was once like you:
A friend of the world (2:2a),
A child of the devil (v. 2b), and
A slave to my own flesh (v. 3).
Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Im not sure if I should feel insulted or pity for you because you believe such rubbish. So, tell me, what is so different between you and me?
Paul: Jesus is the difference between you and me! Jesus lived a perfect sinless life that I could never live; He died a death I deserved on a cross for sins I committed, and He validated all of that by rising from death on the third day. What is true of me is true of every real Christian, and this is why I have chosen to follow Him:
I was dead in my sins, but now I am alive in Christ (1:7; 2:4)
My nature was bound by my sins, but now I have been raised with Christ (v. 6a)
I stood condemned by a holy God, but now I am seated with Christ and am covered by His righteousness (v. 6b).
Mr. Worldly-Wiseman: Come on Paul! I am a religious person and I admire Jesus as a great example to aspire to. We need to do our best and let God do the rest, but you have taken your Christianity too seriously!
Paul: No one can do enough for the kind of salvation you and I need! The only thing God required of me was a faith that was only possible because of His grace. It is a grace that I could not, nor ever will earn, by anything I could ever do! I am the recipient of,
A rich mercy we did deserve (v. 4a).
A great love God was not obligated to give (v. 4b).
An all-sufficient grace no one could earn (v. 5)
All of which is only possible in and through Jesus Christ alone!
So, now we come to Ephesians 2:8-10 and are immediately faced with another set of three words and why it is that God saved us in the first place. If you were asked the same questions or interrogated in the way I had Mr. Worldly-Wiseman interrogate Paul, how would you answer? My two points are in the form of two questions that this passage answers for us in a way that should be deeply discouraging or encouraging to you.
How Does God Save?
Now, considering all that we have studied together, we find ourselves at the threshold of Ephesians 2:8-9. What I want to do with you this morning is to walk you through these verses in light of the context of Ephesians 1:3-2:7. I want us to look at these verses together against the backdrop of my warning at the beginning of this sermon series which was this: Beware of imposing your view and thoughts of what God should be like, upon the text of His holy Word. You must allow the authority of Gods Word to impose its teaching upon your heart for the purpose of shaping it in a way that the eyes of your heart are able to see God more clearly.
Now, before I go any further, let me say first and foremost that I want you to make your own conclusion with these verses based on the evidence of what you see in Ephesians and the rest of the Bible. I am not concerned if you end up seeing things differently than the way I see them so long as you do not impose what you think the Bible should say upon what it actually says. My only concern before you this morning is that I preach and teach the Bible in such a manner that I am faithful to the Word of God so when I stand before Him, I will do so knowing that I was faithful with what He has entrusted to me.
So, here we go! Buckle up because it is going to be a fun ride. Lets start with verses 8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. The three words I want you to see in this verse are grace, saved (i.e. salvation), and faith. To answer the question, How does God save? we need figure out what is the gift that He gives so that no one may boast. Is grace the gift given by God, or is salvation the gift given by God, or is a persons faith the gift given by God? Whatever the gift is, it eliminates any notion on our part that we did something to get it, otherwise Paul would never have felt the need to include verse 9, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
If I am right about what I see in Ephesians 2:8-9, it will open up verse 10 in a way that will encourage you and blow your mind at the same time. So, what have we seen in Ephesians so far leading up to these verses? Permit me to put what Paul lists concerning our salvation in sequential order from spiritual death to life:
We were spiritually dead in our offenses and sins (2:1)
We know we were spiritually dead because we were slaves to our sin (2:2a)
Because we were slaves to our sin against God, we were by nature children of His wrath (2:3).
But God, whose mercy is rich, love is great, and grace is sufficient, did three things (vv. 2:4-5):
He made us alive with Christ (2:5b).
He raised us up with Christ (2:6a).
He seated us with Christ (2:6b).
As a Christian, you can know that your salvation involved three acts of God
Before the foundation of the earth, God chose to adopt you as His child through Jesus (1:4-6).
In order to adopt you as His child, God redeemed you through the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of all your wrongdoings (1:7-12).
Because God will not lose any who He has redeemed, He has sealed you with His Holy Spirit until your redemption and salvation is complete (1:13-14).
So, in light of all that Paul wrote concerning what God has done for the Christian, what does he mean by Ephesians 2:8-9? Let me offer up some fair and legitimate questions: If I am spiritually dead, how can a spiritually dead person respond to God in faith? If I am able to respond to God in faith in order to receive salvation through Jesus, then is my faith exempt from the kinds of works Paul is talking about in verse 9? If faith is a gift God imparts on me on some level, then how is my trust in Jesus for the salvation of my soul legitimate? Does your brain hurt from trying to process these sorts of questions?
I have wrestled over these verses for nearly 30 years and have understood them in three different ways that I think may help give you some perspective. In my early years, I was convinced that the gift of God was a salvation that could only be received by faith. Sometime after I started reading guys like Jonathan Edwards and St. Augustine, I leaned towards thinking that it was faith that was the gift of God. To be honest, what makes all of this even more confusing is the Greek allows the person interpreting these verses to make either one of these conclusions. Here is where I sit now, and I believe that how I see it fits best with everything Paul has written leading up to these verses, and it fits with the rest of the Bible. So, what is the gift of God? It is His Grace, our faith, and our salvation in that order! The this is Gods grace, our faith, and our salvation.
Think about what grace is for a moment. Biblical grace is Gods unmerited favor; it is favor given to someone who does not deserve it. Do you remember what I said in the second sermon I preached in this series on Ephesians 1:4-6? I told you that at the very least, when it comes to God, what we read in these verses leads to the conclusion that God moved first. We see the very same thing here in Ephesians 2:8! At the very least, it is the sheer grace of almighty God that I had reached a point in my life on July 18, 1991, when all that I heard about Jesus made sense and I surrendered my life to Jesus and was genuinely and categorically saved from the wrath of God and forgiven all my sins! Every step and experience leading up to that moment was also the demonstration of a God who pursued me, found me, and overcame my sin because His mercy was rich, His love was great, and His grace sufficient to do what a 16-year-old teenage boy could not do. God made me alive with Christ, God raised me up with Christ, and God seated me with Christ on that summers day on July 18, 1991, but He did not believe for me; I had to believe to be saved. He did the same thing with you Christian, but He did not believe for you! But my believing in Christ for the salvation of my soul, and your believing in Him for the salvation of your soul is not only a testament of Gods grace, but the proof that miracles happen.
For What Purpose Does God Save?
So, why did He do it? Why did he save you? Why did He choose you, redeem you, seal you, and made you, who were once dead, the recipient of the, boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (2:7)? After all, what Jonathan Edwards said concerning what we bring to our salvation is the resounding testimony of all of Scripture: You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. God didnt have to do it! God was not morally obligated to do it! But God did it; He saved you and redeemed you for the forgiveness of all your sin according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon you (1:7). But why? The answer is found in Ephesians 2:10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
The first word in verse 10 is the word For, which is telling us something. What it is telling us is that considering Ephesians 2:1-9, the following is true! You who were dead in your sins, walked according to the course of this world, lived in the lusts of your flesh, indulged the desires of the flesh and of the mind as a child of the wrath of God (vv. 1-3), God made you alive in Christ, for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that you would walk in those good works. This is exactly why God choose you, Christian, before the foundation of the world; listen to Ephesians 1:4 again: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
What this means, and this is so important to see with the eyes of your heart: We were not saved to coast until we enter into the presence of God in heaven but were saved so that God could reveal His presence through us because of His resurrection power to change us! It is absolute nonsense to think and believe that you can encounter Jesus on the level Paul describes in Ephesians and remain unchanged! It is like saying that you can remain the same after you walk in front of a bus traveling 65 MPH; the force of the bus will change you permanently. Listen carefully, the God who spoke 300 billion suns into existence is the same God who makes alive the spiritually dead through the power of the Gospel of a resurrected Christ! How is it that a person can remain unchanged by a power greater than 300 billion suns? I will tell you; it is because that person has never truly encountered Christ, whose mercy is richer, love is greater, and grace more sufficient than all of our sins and the sins of 8.1 billion people combined!
What we read in Ephesians 2:8-10 is that in light of the resurrection power of God through the redeeming work of Jesus the Son, and the empowering work of the Holy Spirit who seals us, it is the grace of God that leads to faith in God, for our salvation by God, for the purpose of a life of good works that glorifies God. The work that God is doing in your life is ongoing. I feel that it is fitting to close with something Sinclair Ferguson wrote concerning these verses:
Heaven may be the final showroom; but here on earth God is already showing what he can do.. The church triumphant is an art gallery where God displays reflections of his glory. It is a portrait gallery in which the family likeness is seen in countless different individuals who together display his infinite glory.
The church visible, here, and now, is a workshop. The Divine Artist is still painting his likeness on the canvas of our lives, the Divine Potter still has the clay in his hands. The time for final exhibition has not yet come. But one day it will. Then all that God has done in us in secret, invisible to the naked eye, will become visible for all to see. What a day that will be![1]
[1] Sinclair B. Ferguson, Lets Study Ephesians (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust; 2021), p. 53. | |||
| Stand Against the Schemes of the Devil | 13 Oct 2024 | 00:43:11 | |
Some of the pets that I enjoyed the most growing up were the kind that ate other living things. Most of you know that I spent the first 12 years of my life in South Jersey just across from the Delaware and then moved into Pennsylvania on the other side of the Delaware. As a kid, I owned a lot of pets! I had hamsters, hermit crabs, at one time we had five Doberman pinchers, and a whole bunch of cats! If I am honest, my favorite pets were the kind that ate other living things. For example I used to own multiple Black piranhas that I would not only feed feeder goldfish to, but I would catch salamanders to feed to my piranhas. At one time I owned a yellow rat snack I would feed mice! However, I have never seen an anaconda in person. I did come across something that caught my attention with the title: “How to be Prepared for an Anaconda Attack.” Here is a list of instructions in the event that your path does cross with an anaconda, and it decides wants to eat you for lunch:
Some Anacondas can grow up to 30 feet long and weigh over 500 pounds. You will not catch me lying flat on the ground positioning myself to be its lunch! Clearly this list is meant to be funny. Yet, there is a greater serpent who is much more dangerous from which we very much, in a metaphorical sense, chose not to run; instead, we make it easy for him to do the thing he wants, and what he wants is to destroy us!
Be Aware of the Devil’s Schemes When Adam and Eve were in the garden, there was something worse than an angry anaconda talking to them! He is also known as Lucifer, Satan, and the devil. He is described in the following scary ways: he is the Beast (Rev. 14:9-10), his name is Beelzebub (Matt. 12:24), he is described as a Dragon (Rev. 12:9), he is a roaring lion (1 Pet. 5:8), the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4), the Prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:1-2), the Ruler of Demons (Luke 11:15), the ruler of this World (John 12:31-32), Serpent of Old (Rev. 12:9).
Of all the places in the garden of Eden Adam and Eve could have hung out, they decided to idly stand unprepared before the one tree they were told not to eat from. It was at that one tree that great Serpent waited and schemed his way into their minds, hearts, and lives. It was the institution of marriage and family the Serpent wanted to attack and destroy, and he did it when Adam and Eve were unprepared! Listen, the Serpent of Old still does the same thing today, the only difference is that he has had more practice at scheming since the Garden. This is why Paul addressed how we can walk in a manner worthy of our calling in marriages, in our parenting, with our children, and in our working (see 5:22-6:9). What “tree” are you idly standing in front of that you should not be?
We laugh at the list I read to you about what you should do if attacked by an anaconda, but when it comes to sin and temptation, how many of lay down on the ground instead of running to Him who is the great serpent crusher, namely Jesus. Instead of standing before trees we have no business standing in front of, we ought to be running to another tree, namely the cross of Christ! Why? Because “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (6:12).
So, what are the devil’s schemes? Well, he has a whole list of names that gives us some clue as to the kind of scheming he is up to. Satan is known as the Accuser (Rev. 12:10), the Adversary (1 Peter 5:8), the Deceiver (Rev. 12:9), the Enemy (Matt. 13:39), the Evil One (John 17:15), the Father of lies (John 8:44), the Lawless One (2 Thess. 2:8-10), Murderer (John 8:44), the Tempter (Matt. 4:3), the Thief who comes ONLY to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10), and the Wicked One (Eph. 6:16). So what do these titles and names tell us about our great enemy?
Satan is an enemy because he wants to harm you. Satan is the evil one because he is sinister, malicious, diabolic, heinous, crooked, vile, and malevolent... and all of his evil scheming is directed towards you and the success of God’s mission! Satan is not only a liar, but he is also the father of lies; so of course he wants you to turn from any and all truth... especially God’s truth found in His word. Satan is lawless, so he has no moral compass. Satan has been a murder from the beginning, so he is no advocate for life. Satan is a thief who only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Does it have to be any clearer than that? The first step in standing firm against the schemes of the devil is to know how it is that he intends to scheme.
Listen, Satan is the personification of evil, but he hides his true colors behind a veneer of what appears to be innocence. To understand the devil’s schemes you must be aware that he, “disguises himself as an angel of light”; and all the demons do the same (2 Cor. 11:14). We will look into this more next week but know that he is not running around in a red suit and a pitchfork. He is scheming behind the rulers, the powers, the world forces of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (v. 12).
Stand Against the Devil’s Schemes If you are a Christian, you are at war! You who were once dead in your sins and were by nature a child of wrath (2:1-3) and were under the influence and enslaved to the rulers, the powers, the world forces of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (v. 12). However, as powerful as the devil and the demonic world are, Jesus has already defeated them all! Remember what we read in Ephesians 1:19-22; first Paul’s prayer: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Eph. 1:18–19a). The boundless greatness that is ours who believe, is NOT our power but the power of Almighty God!
What happened at the cross and the empty tomb is that Jesus defeated the devil along with the rulers, the powers, the world forces of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places! Listen to how Paul describes the way the devil and the demonic have been defeated: “These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church...” (Eph. 1:19–22)
All things are in subjection under the feet of Jesus, and it is He who is head over all things. The devil has been defeated and he is not happy about it! Because of Jesus’ victory through the cross and the His resurrection, your salvation was made possible (1:7-12; 2:4-5)! We must stand against the devil’s schemes, but we are only able to do so in the strength of the might of King Jesus! We do this only by putting on the full armor of God. Do not miss what is being said in verse 12: “Put on the full armor of God.” This is not a suggestion, but a command (an imperative)! Now, notice who the armor belongs to. It is not armor we create that we are to put on, but armor that belongs to God! The armor of God is armor He has provided, but you only need to put it on in order to “stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
Now we are going to take our time working through what each piece of the armor of God is in the weeks to come, but for now, you need to understand what it is. We are not told to put on some of the armor to stand against the devil’s schemes, but the full armor of God; so what is the full armor of God?
The belt of truth: This is the first piece that a soldier would put on around his waist that would hold all the other clothing out of the way so that he could run and fight without any of his clothing under the armor getting in the way. It is not “your truth” but God’s truth that you are to put on and it is foundational for standing against the devil, but it will do you no good if you do not put it on by obeying the truth of God’s word.
The breastplate of righteousness: The breastplate as part of a warrior’s armor protects the vital organs, so it is no mystery why Paul would characterize the righteousness of Christ as essential to protecting the vital organs of the Christian’s faith. The breastplate of righteousness is provided by God because what we need and will always need is the righteousness of Christ!
The shoes of the gospel of peace: Just as any warrior cannot fight effectively without shoes, so it also true of the Christian. The one who has the righteousness of Christ is one who hungers for the righteousness of Christ. Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” The shoes of the gospel of peace are the gospel of Jesus Christ that gives us shalom, which is the peace of God that prepares us to stand against the devil’s schemes as we are satisfied in Christ alone.
The shield of faith: The shield Paul has in mind here is not the little round shield a soldier might wield on his arm, but the kind designed to shield the whole body from the onslaught of arrows which I believe are the doubts, temptations, impure, and evil thoughts that come out of nowhere. The shield of faith is only as large as your confidence in the Word of God, dependance upon the righteousness of Christ as your righteousness, and your conviction that only Jesus satisfies your soul.
The helmet of salvation: The helmet of salvation is the hope of our salvation (1 Thess. 5:8-9); it is the confidence that we belong to Christ and that there is no other who can satisfy and bring life to our whole being, but Christ alone! The helmet of salvation is the security that we have in the assurance of our salvation. The devil is the accuser and although he cannot rob you of your salvation, he can erode your confidence in the truth that the cross of Christ is sufficient for all your sins.
The sword of the Spirit: The Sword of the Spirit is our only offensive weapon in all the armor we are to put on. The Sword of the Spirit is the word of God, and like the shield of faith, it is only as effective as our ability to wield it through as we grow in our knowledge of it. Of the word of God, we are told in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Sam Storms suggests that there are three primary ways we can use the Sword of the Spirit: “We proclaim the Word (as Jesus did; see also Rev. 12). We pray the Word (Eph. 6:18-19; Acts 6:4; John 15:7). And we praise with the Word (i.e., sing the Scriptures).[1]
Conclusion So, how can you begin to stand firm against the devil’s schemes? Well for starters, don’t lie down and make it easy for your enemy! Stand firm by deciding to submit to God’s truth instead of what the culture says truth is. Stand firm with a confidence that all the righteousness you will ever need is the righteousness of Christ. Stand firm in the peace that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings. Stand firm in a faith that God is both infinitely good and infinitely greater than all that stands against you. Stand firm in the security that you are now a son/daughter of God because you are alive with Christ. Stand firm with the confidence that the Bible is the Word of God and that it is indeed sharper than any other sword; stand firm by proclaiming the Word of God, praying the Word of God, and by praising with the Word of God.
We can stand against the schemes of the devil in the strength of the One who beat the beast, bludgeoned Beelzebub, defanged the dragon, and leveled the roaring lion at the cross! The Christ of the cross is the King of kings who is infinity greater than the god of this age. He preeminently and powerfully prevailed against the prince of the power of the air. He reigns on High and His heel is on the throat of the ruler of demons. One day soon the full weight of Jesus’ omnipotent heel will be felt upon the skull of the serpent of old, and on that Day his skull will finally and permanently be crushed! Brothers and sisters, we can be strong in our Lord and in the strength of His might because He reigns! We stand in the might of Jesus who said, “I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades” (Rev. 1:17-18).
[1] Ibid., p. 305. | |||
| Identity Matters | 17 Mar 2024 | 00:45:28 | |
There is a sticker I have seen on vehicles and on the back of laptops that I have seen just about every day since we moved into Cheyenne. The sticker did not capture my interest enough to google its meaning but every time I was forced to notice it at a stop light because it was affixed to the car in front of me, I would wonder about its meaning for as long as the light would last and then I would forget about it. Would you believe that I encountered this sticker for four years not realizing its significance because I never thought long enough about it to realize what it really meant?
It wasnt until a year ago that while at a red light and another car with the same sticker I had seen dozens of times since moving to Wyoming that I realized that the number 307 stood for something; we even have a day each year in the great state of Wyoming to celebrate the significance of 307 every year on March 7th known as 307 Day to celebrate all things Wyoming.
I am not the most observant person on planet earth when it comes to the most obvious things around me, but I do realize that the 307 stickers were low hanging fruit. Of the fifty-two states that make up our nation, Wyoming is one of eleven states that can boast of a single area code. In case you did not know this, area codes are given based on the population and number of phones in a geographic area and not based on the states land mass.
As I thought about the significance of 307 and how that number was always before me for the first four years since making our home in Cheyenne before I ever realized what it truly meant, I cannot help but reflect upon how it is that so many can claim to be a Christian without fully appreciating what it means to be in Christ.
Saved Through Christ from Death to Life
I shared with you last Sunday that if you are a Christian, there are three reasons why you are, alive together with Christ. We, who were dead in our offenses and sins, walked in step with the prince of the power of the air, were disobedient, lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulged in the desires of our flesh and mind, and at the core of our nature were children of the wrath of Godare now, alive together with Christ (v. 5). The catalyst that moved God to, chose us in Him before the foundation of the world (1:4) was His mercy, love, and grace. The catalyst that made available the redemption through His blood, and the forgiveness of our wrongdoings (1:7) was Gods mercy, love, and grace. The catalyst that resulted in God sealing all who belong to Him by His Holy Spirit was the mercy, love, and grace of almighty God! However, it was not just any old mercy, love, and grace that we received from God, no it was His rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace.
In what way is Gods mercy rich? Last week we went back to Genesis 2-3 to discover what Paul meant by stating we were all, dead in our offenses and sins. Today, to understand what Paul means by mercy, we must go to the place he drew the word from, and that place is found in Exodus 34:6-7,
Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. (Exod. 34:6-7)
What you need to know is just before we come to Exodus 34, Moses requested to see God, but was warned, You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live (33:20). God did promise that Moses could experience His presence, but Moses would have to remain hidden in a cleft of a rock as a way to protect him from certain death. The reason why Moses could not see the face of God and live was because Moses was sinful while God is holy. God promised Moses that while he was safe in the cleft of the rock, I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion (see Exod. 33:12-23).
There was another man who found himself in the presence of God, but for him it was in the form of a vision. The man I am referring to is the prophet, Isaiah. It happened after Israels king, who had served for over 40 years, died. We are told about the prophets encounter in Isaiah 6, but what we learn in those verses is that even Seraphim had to cover their faces and their feet in the presence of God: In the year of King Uzziahs death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory (vv. 1-3).
It was only a vison that Isaiah had, and yet his response was appropriate: Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies (Isa.6:5). So, of course Moses could not see the face of God and live, but he could experience His presence, and as he did, he heard Yahweh proclaim: The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin... (Exod. 34:6-7a).
Let me give you four reasons why I am certain that the mercy, love, and grace of God that Paul refers to in Ephesians 2:4-5 was shaped by his understanding of Exodus 34. My four reasons are really four words God declared about Himself to Moses: Compassion (rǎḥm), merciful (ḥǎnnn), faithfulness (ḥěʹsěḏ), and truth (ʾěměṯ). The Hebrew word for compassion means mercy; the Hebrew word for mercy can be translated kindness or goodness; the Hebrew word for truth can be translated trustworthy. There is one more word God used to describe Himself, and that word is faithfulness which is the word used to describe Gods faithful and loyal love; listen, ḥěʹsěḏ is Gods covenantal and great love! What was revealed to Moses while he was in the cleft of the rock is the same God that Paul described whose mercy is rich, whose love is great, and whose grace is sufficient!
But wait! God did not end His description of Himself there, of His rich mercy, kindness, goodness, or his covenantal and great love; for His also told Moses: yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations (Exod. 34:7b). God cannot and will not compromise His holiness and justice so that He is able to extend mercy, love, and grace towards guilty sinners. His holiness and His justice will not permit Him to leave the guilty unpunished. This is why, after seeing and experiencing the holiness of God, Isaiah cried out: Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies (Isa. 6:5).
If God is God, then He must be just as merciful as He is just, He must be equally holy as He is a God of love. If God is God, then He is all that He is in equal measure with no character trait of His in conflict with the other. There is nothing about Him that is lacking and there is no room in Him for improvement. So, if God is God, then can He be rich in mercy and absolutely just in dealing with those who are dead in their offenses and sins (Eph. 2:1-3)? The Answer is found in Ephesians 1:7-8, which states: In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. This is why Paul could write: But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ. (Eph. 2:4-5). At the cross the rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace of God was reconciled through Jesus who bore Gods perfect justice through the full measure of a wrath we all deserve. First and foremost Jesus died to satisfy legal demands our sin required, and this is why Jesus was, Pierced for our offenses, and was crushed for our wrongdoings (Isa. 53:5); this is also why just five verses later, we read these words: The Lord delighted to crush Him, causing Him grief (v. 10). If you are a Christian, you are the recipient of a mercy that is rich, a love that is great, and a grace that is sufficient to address all your sins because of the Christ who, redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). This is why we can sing:
Who could imagine so great a mercy?What heart could fathom such boundless grace?The God of ages stepped down from gloryTo wear my sin and bear my shameThe cross has spoken, I am forgivenThe King of kings calls me His ownBeautiful savior, I'm yours foreverJesus Christ, my living hope[1]
Raised With Christ to Show Gods Grace
As a result of being made alive with Christ, you, Christian, are raised up with Him, seated with Him, and united with Him. You were dead in our offenses and sins, but now you have been made alive with Christ! You were the spiritually walking dead and bound to a nature united with you, depravity, but now you have been set free by Christ and your life is now rooted in Him! You were once a child of wrath, but now you are a recipient of Gods great lovedeclared by Him to be His child!
We who were dead in our offenses and sins, God made alive by the same power that He was able to give life to Adam from the lifeless dirt of the earth. However, our lifelessness was worse in the sense that Adams lifelessness came from the dirt of the earth while ours came from the soil of our own sin and rebellion, and from that polluted soil, God brought forth life out of death. God did what only God could do, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings through the same boundless power that raised Jesus from the grave, God did three things: 1) He made us alive with Christ, 2) He raised us up with Christ, and 3) He seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. Bryan Chapell, in his commentary on Ephesians said of these verses: These are the words of resurrection. Just as Christ was raised from the dead, so also, we are filled with the life that is from God. Our spiritual death has been swallowed up in Christs resurrection victory. The guilt and power of sin have been conquered by the Savior who now resides in us.[2]
Oh, can you see it? Can you see that to be a Christian is not about being a more moral person, or a more religious person, or a nicer person, but about becoming a whole new person just as we are promised in the Bible: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, the new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17). Not only are we alive in Christ, but we have been raised up and seated with Him.
The Greek word that Paul used for raised is synegeirō, the prefix of this word is syn-, from which we get the word sync and is short for synchronize. God made us alive in Christ, and quite literally has synced us with Him. What this means is that if you are a Christian, your identity is not in an area code, your last name, the person you are married to, your employment, or what you are able to do or unable to do. No! Your identity dear Christian is synced with the living Christ; you are not only alive in Him, but now you are raised up with Him. This is why, in his epistle to the Colossians, Paul wrote, Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). Your identity as a Christian is and always will be where Christ is!
But hold on, it gets even better Christian! Not only have you been raised with Christ, but you are also seated with Christ. What does it mean to be seated with Christ exactly? Remember the way Ephesians 1 concludes, for it is in the final four verses that Paul informs us where it is that Christ is: He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (vv. 20-23).Jesus is above all things and all powers, and one day, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11). It is with that Christ that you are raised with and are seated with!
What this means is that Christs identity is now our identity and now we are seated with Him positionally. What this means is that Jesus victories are now our victories, and because His victories are our victories, death, sin, disease, persecution, hardship, the demonic, and any other front that threatens to undo us does not have the final word or say over all who are raise with Christ and seated with Christ! What this means is that you are the Bride of Christ and regardless of your past, you dear Christian are now the apple of His eye!
Christian, you were once dead in your offenses and sins, and now you are alive with Christ. Christian, you were once among the spiritually walking dead, but now you are raised up with Christ. Christian, you were once synced up with the prince of the power of the air and the spirit of the age, but now you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.Christian, when you were dead, you lived in the lusts of your flesh and indulged the desires of the flesh, and now you are the recipient of the boundless riches of His grace in kindness in Christ Jesus (v. 7).
Christian, do you know who you are? Because if you do, you will begin to live as though you are alive in Jesus, raised up with Jesus, and seated with Jesus. You will live with the confidence that it doesnt matter what anyone else thinks of you or has said about you because what matters most is what God thinks of you, and to Him, you are His inheritance and His trophy, demonstrating His all sufficient and infinite grace. Christian, you are a testament to the grace of God that is as boundless as is His power that raised Jesus from the grave and brought you from death to life. According to verse 7, for all of eternity you who were once dead will only know the unending benefits of His rich mercy, great love, and all-sufficient grace! For the ages to come we will stand together as Gods trophy of Grace that will forever serve as a reminder that there is no sin so great and no life so messed up that Gods mercy, love, and grace cannot overcome, redeem, resurrect, and put back together through the great serpent crushing, grave robbing, all-sufficient redeemer Himselfnamely Jesus Christ! We sing as the Church not because of how we feel or what style of music we like, we sing because the words we sing are true like the words in the modern hymn, In Christ Alone:
In Christ alone, who took on fleshFullness of God in helpless babeThis gift of love and righteousnessScorned by the ones He came to save'Til on that cross as Jesus diedThe wrath of God was satisfiedFor every sin on Him was laidHere in the death of Christ I live, I live
No guilt in life, no fear in deathThis is the power of Christ in meFrom life's first cry to final breathJesus commands my destinyNo power of , no scheme of manCan ever pluck me from His handTill He returns or calls me homeHere in the power of Christ I'll stand
[1] Phil Wickham and Brian Johnson; Living Hope
[2] Bryan Chapell, Reformed Expository Commentary: Ephesians (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing; 2009), p. 83. | |||
| What Can be Worse Than Death? | 10 Mar 2024 | 00:41:29 | |
Well, we have arrived at Ephesians 2, and the very first thing we are told is that the Christian was once dead. I love the irony in the fact that we are entering Ephesians 2 on the day where all of us are suffering from one less hour of sleep this morning (Daylight Savings Time). So, what I thought I would do before we plunge ourselves into our passage this morning is to first reflect on four of the weirdest ways people have died.
For those of you who are still angry that you lost an hour of your sleep, just know that it is a miracle you made it this morning. It is estimated that 450 people die falling out of bed every year.
According to statistics, you are twice as likely to die from an angry vending machine than a hungry shark.
It is reported that about 24 people die annually from being hit by champagne corks in the face, mostly at weddings. Less people die from poisonous spiders than flying corks from champagne bottles!
The weirdest death I learned about was that of Joao Maria de Souza of Brazil, who was killed in 2013 when a cow fell through his roof and crushed him while he slept.
Whether it is by falling out of a bed, a falling cow through your roof, or the inevitable and eventual failing of your health, all of us are going to die one day.
What does Dead Mean?
I do not need to spend a whole lot of time explaining what dead means. The word the apostle Paul used from the original language means exactly what the word dead means. If you are confused as to what the word for dead (nekros) means, it means this: no longer having life. However, why does the apostle Paul use the word dead to describe who or what the Christian used to be? Paul could have said, you were sick in your offenses and sins. He could have chosen the words, handicap, wounded, or he even could have used the same line from The Princess Bride, which was: mostly dead. The difference between dead and mostly dead is that when you are mostly dead, you are slightly alive. Of all the words the apostle could have used, he chose the word, dead. What if Ephesians 2:1-4, stated this instead? And you were mostly dead in your offenses and sins. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were barely alive in our wrongdoings, made us completely alive together with Christ. But that is not how Ephesians 2 begins is it?
To understand what Paul means by the word dead we need to go to the place the apostle pulled the word from in the Bible, and that place is found in Genesis. You remember the story; in the beginning, even when, the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1-2). Then, after all but mankind was created, on the sixth day God said, Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness (1:26). God created mankind above and separate from the rest of creation, for unlike the rest of creation, mankind was created in His image: So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth (vv. 27-28).
It is from Genesis 2:15-17 that Paul pulls the word dead from to explain what the Christian once was: Then the LordGod took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die. The Hebrew word used for die (מות) in Genesis 2:17 means death, and every other time the word is used, it is used for death.
When we come to Genesis 3 and Adam and Even ate the fruit God told them not to eat, they did not physically die in that moment, but what happened next gives us a sense for what it means to be dead in the way Paul describes the Christian used to be. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they were tempted by the words of the serpent who said: You certainly will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:4-5). The physical death Adam, Eve, and the rest of creation would eventually experience is that which all living things would now succumb to, but it also included a type of death that was beyond physical. They experienced a death of innocence through shame (v.7), they experienced a death of an intimacy and peace within the relationship their marriage was designed to produce (vv. 16-17), and they experienced a death of the kind of peace (shalom) they were created to experience with God and His creation (vv. 8-15; 4:1-8).
The death God warned Adam and Eve about was a spiritual death and it was their sin that vandalized the shalom they enjoyed before their rebellion towards God through their sin against God out of a desire to be like God. This is the kind of death Paul was referring to in Ephesians 2:1 and is the kind of death (nekros) Jesus had in mind when one of His disciples asked to bury his father; Jesus said to his disciple: Follow Me, and let the dead [nekros] bury their own dead [nekros] (Matt. 8:22). What Jesus said to His disciple is to leave the corpse of his father to those who are still dead in their offenses and sinsthis is the kind of death all people are born into before they ever experience a physical death.
How Guilty Where You?
So, what does it mean to be dead? Paul tells us in the first verse: And you were dead in your offenses and sins. Just so that you are clear, if you are a Christian, you were dead, and your deadness was twofold: in your offenses and sins. Again, Paul is intentional with his word choice here, and instead of using only one word, he uses two. We are dead in our offenses in that we were guilty of overstepping Gods moral boundary. The Greek word Paul used for offense (paraptōmo) can also be translated: offense, wrongdoing, sin, transgress, or to trespass.
When I was fourteen years old, my friends and I decided to break into a house we believed was abandoned, to steal copper, and we did it in broad daylight. We thought we were cunning enough to get into the house without being noticed, in spite of the fact that the street the house was on was a very busy road and on the other side of the road, directly across from the house we decided to break into, was a popular Harley Davidson Shop. Well, you probably are not surprised that we did get caught. Within minutes of my one friend finding his way into the house through a window, a big scary man on a Harley demanded that we stand face forward toward the house while 3-4 police cars arrived. The three of us were put in separate police cars after we were interrogated by one of the officers. We knew that we were in big trouble because we trespassed and broke the law. I was also convinced that I was going to be a dead teenager once my father found out what I had done.
When Adam and Eve bit into the fruit, what you need to understand and what you must understand is that it was not just a misstep taken, but a deliberate act of cosmic treason to not only be like God, but to dethrone God! What else could have been the motive for Eve and Adam, who was right next to his wife when she bit into the fruit and gave it to him, to take and eat the very thing that God said would bring pervasive death? The temptation was to doubt the goodness of God because of the fruit He forbade them to eat: You certainly will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:4-5). The temptation was to believe what Adam and Eve needed was not God but what was forbidden by God!
Since Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit, sin, like a terminal disease has found its way into the womb of every woman just as the Psalmist lamented: Behold, I was brought forth in guilt, and in sin my mother conceived me (Ps. 51:5). What does this mean? you ask. It means this: just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned (Rom. 5:12). Or in the words of Cornelius Plantinga: Sin is a plague that spreads by contagion or even by quasimetric reproduction. Its a polluted river that keeps branching and rebranching into tributaries. Its a whole family of fertile and contentious parents, children, and grandchildren.[1]
Your deadness in the form of your offenses and sins was not the kind of deadness that leaves what was once alive stiff and inanimate; no, your deadness expressed itself because, you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest (vv. 2-3). You were a dead person walking! You were the spiritual and moral equivalent of George Romeros Night of the Living Dead! Notice how our offenses and sins were manifested:
We followed the prince of the power of the air (the devil).
We were disobedient.
We lived in the lusts of our flesh.
We indulged the desire of our flesh and mind.
We were children of wrath.
According to verse 2, this is the course of this world. The word for course can also be translated age; the point is that we walked according to the spirit of the age because it was our nature to do so. We were spiritually dead and stood before a Holy God as a walking corpse who, according to Romans 3, not only did not seek God (vv. 10-11) but had no fear of Him (v. 18). As the walking dead, we were enemies of the God of the living (see Rom. 5:10). As children of wrath, we stood before God as objects of His just wrath because of our offenses and sins. If you are not a Christian than Ephesians 2:1-3 is still true of you. You are still spiritually dead, and you are still a child of the wrath of an infinitely holy and just God and the place reserved for you, if nothing changes, is a condemnation you will never recover from; the kind of condemnation we are warned about in Revelation 20:11-15,
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them; and they were judged, each one of them according to their deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyones name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
People are generally okay when it comes to topics such as the love of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God, and even the justice of God. What many struggle with most is the wrath of God. Dr. James Boice said of these verses in Ephesians, The worldly mind does not take Gods wrath seriously because it does not take sin seriously. Yet if sin is as bad as the Bible declares it to be, nothing is more just or reasonable than that the wrath of a holy God should rise against it.[2] If you struggle with just how serious God takes your sin, you need not look any further than the cross of Christ.
What is the Remedy for All Your Sin?
I will spend an entire sermon unpacking what we see in verses 4-7 next week, but for now, let me show you Ephesians 2:4-5 against the backdrop of verses 1-3. We were dead in our offenses and sins, But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)
We followed the prince of the power of the air (the devil), but God
We were disobedient, but God
We lived in the lusts of our flesh, but God
We indulged the desire of our flesh and mind, but God
We were children of wrath, but God made us alive with Christ.
How did God do it? Obviously, He did it through Jesus, but the reason He did it was threefold: 1) He is rich in mercy, 2) His love is great, and 3) His grace is sufficient. Mercy happens when you do not get the punishment you deserve, and grace is when you get something you did not earn or deserve. If you are Christian, the reason you received Gods mercy and grace is because His love for you was greater than your offenses and sins against Him.
Permit me to show you something that I hope will bless you as much as it has blessed me this week. Remember what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:18-19; he was praying that the eyes of the hearts of those reading his letter would see and know three things: that you would know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. The word Paul used for boundless means, to surpass, to go beyond, to exceed. As you remember from last week, that word is used to stress the kind of power that raised Jesus from the grave and made your salvation possible. That power in conjunction with the richness of Gods mercy, the greatness of God love, and the sufficiency of Gods grace is infinitely greater than all your transgressions and sins.
Christian, although you were once a child of Gods just wrath, He has made you a son/daughter because He has done the thing that only He could do, He made you alive with Christ. Romans 5:10-11 is for you Christian: For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, he shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also celebrate in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
If you are not a Christian, then you need to hear this: the same mercy, love, and grace that has made the Christian alive in Christ is available to you if you would just receive by faith the Jesus who makes Gods mercy, love, and grace possible; there is no sin that is too great for Gods mercy, love, and grace to overcomeand it is still held out to you by a holy God who has every right to consume you by His wrath.
[1] Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., Not the Way its Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 1995) p. 53.
[2] James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library, 1988), 49. | |||
| Greater than the Power of 300 Billion Suns | 03 Mar 2024 | 00:42:36 | |
Two Thursdays ago, my wife and I left our home around 8AM for a doctors appointment in Colorado. Every time I get into our Subaru Outback, I plug my phone into our car so that I can use my maps app and listen to my favorite playlist during my drive, our drive down to Colorado on Thursday was no exception until about 15 minutes into our drive the radio let out a irritating high pitched sound prohibiting me from listening to my newly downloaded navigation voice from one of my favorite movies of all time: Po, from Kung Fu Panda. We have a 2021 Subaru Outback, there was no reason for the audio to have abruptly stop working, but it did. However, nearly an hour later, after stopping for a pit stop, the audio mysteriously was fixed as soon as I started the car to continue our trip to our doctors appointment.
After we reached our destination, I immediately google searched on my phone to see if anything weird happened that would cause the audio in our car to do what it did. Here is what popped up in my search: Two outbursts from the sun occurred as widespread cellphone outages were reported throughout the United States on Thursday morning (Feb. 22). I am not sure it is related, but on Sunday we learned that all but four of our brand-new pagers stopped working over the weekend, our live stream audio stopped working properly, and a sim card in one of our Elders phones weirdly got fried.Thats not all, on Monday while checking out from Albertsons, I was told that they were having trouble with their computers.
Now, I dont know if any of this is related or if it has anything to do with Solar flares or the mysterious balloon that happened to be floating 43,000 feet above, the mountainous Western United States. Here is what did come to mind though: Our electrical grid is fragile, and it is vulnerable. With all our military might and power as a nation, we are not in control! I dont know what happened on Thursday, but here is what was reported in New Delhi, India just this past Wednesday (2.28.2024) on WION with the news caption: Massive sunspot wider than Earth is now aiming directly at us. Is it cause for worry?
Recently, scientists noticed that a hyperactive sunspot, first detected on February 18, is now swelling at a faster rate and is pointed right towards Earth. In 2024, the biggest sunspot named AR3590 first appeared on February 18, on the Suns Earth-facing side. It quickly started swelling into a dark patch, much wider than our planet.
On February 21, AR3950 spit out a pair of X-class solar flares, which are known as the most powerful type of solar flare, with magnitudes of X1.7 and X1.8. On February 22, the same sunspot released a massive X6.3 flare, the most powerful solar explosion recorded in over six years.
All three flares caused temporary radio blackouts on Earth, but none of them launched coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are clouds of magnetized plasma that can ram into Earth's magnetic shield as they fly through space.[1]
We are fragile and we are not in control! You, dear friend, are fragile and have little to say over whether or not you will survive the next 24 hours. Consider that reality against the backdrop of the fragility of your faith and determination to live a life pleasing to the One who made the sun, and billions like it, that has the power to wipe out all of Earths power grid in seconds. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, Let there be light; and there was light (Gen. 1:1-3).
Christian, the same God who spoke into existence more than 300 billion suns like ours, is the One of whom we are told in Holy Scripture, has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). This is the God who called you, redeemed you, and sealed you. This is the God who is keeping you because He will receive His inheritance! The question before us and the one that Ephesians 1:19-23 answers for us is this: How can I know that I can rest in the hope of that same Gods calling upon my life; that I can stand on the reality that I am His inheritance because of all that Jesus has done, and experience the greatness of His power through the indwelling and sealing of the Holy Spirit? Let us turn our attention to Ephesians 1:19-23 to find out!
The Christians Salvation is Held by Resurrection Power
The power Paul described in Ephesians, among other places in his epistles, is a power that enables those of us who are redeemed by Christ to fight against sin, doubt, worry, and any other adversary that threatens to undo those of us who have been called by God, are the inheritance of God, and have been raised to new life by God.
To have the eyes of our hearts enlightened in such a way that we know the hope of our calling, the riches of His inheritance, and boundless power toward us who believe, is the kind of knowing involving the mind, heart, and will. After all, Jesus did say that the greatest commandment is, You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind (see Matt. 22:35-40). But it is also more than that. James Montgomery Boice said, Christianity is knowledge, yes. But it is also power, power from beginning to end. Without the power of God not one individual would ever become a Christian. The salvation of the soul is a resurrection, the recovery of a person from the dead. Without Gods power not one individual would ever triumph over sin, live a godly life, or come at last to the reward God has for all his own in heaven.[2]
The word Paul used for power is the Greek word dynamis, from which we get the word dynamite; it is used over 100 times in the New Testament, Acts 1:8 being one of them. He used it to describe a raw and supernatural power that comes from God. This power is available to the Christian, and it is described as boundless and great. The word Paul used for great is the Greek word megathos, and the word he used for boundless literally means, to surpass, go beyond, to outdo, or to exceed. This is why almost every trustworthy English translation of the Bible reaches for words to capture the kind of power available to the Christian. Here are some of the ways these words are translated: surpassing greatness (NASB 95), incomparably great (NIV), exceeding greatness (KJV), immeasurable greatness (ESV), and incredible greatness (NLT). It is the boundless, surpassing, incomparable, exceeding, immeasurable, and incredible greatness of Gods power that is available to the Christian.
Paul then describes that this power, along with the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance that he wants us to see with the eyes of our hearts, is, in accordance with the working of the strength of His might (v. 19b). The boundless power is working in you Christian, it is producing a strength to resist the devil and your flesh, and the might is what is required for you to persevere to the end without throwing in the towel of your faith in Jesus. Notice how we get this power from what Paul states next: which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and all of it is from the God who, raised Jesus from the dead (v. 20a). In other words, the Power is Gods, and the victory is yours in Jesus.
What is it that will keep you when everything seems to have been pulled out from beneath your proverbial feet? What is it that will keep you when nothing you treasured on earth remains within your grasp? Who will be keeping who in your weakest and most fragile moments in life?
The Christians Identity is Guarded by a Preeminent Christ
So, how is the boundless, surpassing, incomparable, exceeding, immeasurable, and incredible greatness of Gods power available to the Christian? Paul tells us in the next verse: It is a power available to the Christian, which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places (v. 20).
Before I go any further, you need to understand that what I mean by preeminent is what the Airbus A380 is to a paper airplane. The Airbus A380 can seat between 525 and 853 passengers on its two full-length passenger decks: the Airbus A380 is preeminent to the paper airplane.
There is a reason why Paul emphasizes the phrase, In Christ repeatedly in his epistle to the Ephesians. Your identity as one who has been called by God and who is now the inheritance of God, is solely because of the redeeming work of Christ: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us (vv. 7-8). What did our redemption cost? It cost Jesus His life! He was the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 who was, pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; the punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed (v. 5). Jesus was crushed because He became our curse: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for usfor it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Gal. 3:13). Jesus, the Son of God, humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.
Christian, all of your sin was laid upon Jesus for all of your redemption. Isaiah 53:10 states that, the Lord desired to crush Him, causing Him grief and the reason why God crushed the Son was not only for our redemption, but was to redeem a Bride for His Son! This was always the plan and was never plan B! The Lamb of God was slaughtered because of your sin, was then buried, and was raised! How come Jesus didnt stay dead? In his sermon, the apostle Peter explained: God raised Him from the dead, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power (Acts 2:24). The reason why death had no power over Jesus is because He is the author of life! So, Paul wrote to the Ephesians that all of the blessings that now belong to the Christian are, in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places (v. 20).
Listen, just as the cross of Christ is the display of Gods immeasurable love for you Christian, the resurrection is the display of a power that no other power manufactured by or through creation can compare not even the power of 300 billion suns have the ability to do what God did, when He raised Jesus from the dead. This is why Isaiah 53 does not end with the Suffering Servants affliction for our sin, but continues with verse 10, But the Lord desired to crush Him, causing Him grief. The Hebrew word for desired (חפץ) can also be translated take pleasure or delight in. This is the way Isaiah 53:10 should be translated: But the Lord delighted to crush Him, causing Him grief. Why? Is it because God the Father is some cosmic child abuser? No! We are told in the last verse why the Father delighted to crush the Son: Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the plunder with the strong, Because He poured out His life unto death, and was counted with wrongdoers; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the wrongdoers (Isa. 53:12). Do you hear Isaiah 53:12 in Ephesians 20-23? Listen to it again!
He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Eph. 1:1923)
To be clear, Jesus was not exalted because He lacked something before He took on human flesh. There was nothing lacking in Him at all because He is not a part of creation but the agent of creation! This is why Paul wrote to the Colossian Church of Jesus: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authoritiesall things have been created through Him and for Him (Col. 1:16).
God the Father exalted the Son at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named (v. 21) not because Jesus wasnt exalted before He took on flesh. God the Father exalted the Son because, He emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross (Phil. 2:7-8). In other words, God the Son became human to accomplish all that was needed to make the redemption of a sin-cursed and lost humanity possible.
Jesus is exalted as our Kinsmen-redeemer! What is a kinsmen-redeemer? He is a person that had to meet three requirements to redeem property lost due to a debt; the three requirements were that he had to be related to the family who suffered the loss because of a debt, he had to be willing to redeem what was lost, and he had to have the means to redeem what was lost. Because of Adam and Eves sin, creation is under a curse and every single human being since Adam, have been born into sin. Jesus took on flesh to become our kinsmen redeemer, and as our Kinsmen Redeemer, God, put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Why did Jesus willingly take on human flesh to become our Kinsmen Redeemer? He did it for a Bride! He did it for His Church! Our sun is capable of producing a flare big enough to completely wipe out all of the earths power grid, and yet 300 billion suns cannot do what God did through His Son for your salvation Christian! The reason why Jesus could say to His disciples, they will put some of you to death. And yet not a hair of your head will perish (Luke 21:16-18). The reason Jesus could promise the Christian: My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand. I and the Father are one (John 10:2730). And, the reason Jesus has assured us: I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it (Matt. 16:18), is because of His cross and the empty tomb, Jesus has double headship. What do I mean by double headship? I mean that as Kinsmen Redeemer, Jesus is head over Creation by dominion and He is head over the Church by union.
What this means for you, Christian, is that you are His Church, and because you are His Church, you now share in His triumph because He has joined Himself to you as your Groom! What this means Christian is that you are the apple of His eye and not even the power of 300 billion suns can ever change that! Now wrap the eyes of your heart around that! Amen.
[1] Riya Teotia, WION: Massive Sunspot wider than Earth is now aiming directly at us. Is it cause for worry (New Delhi, India: WION; February 28, 2024)
[2] James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library, 1988), 40. | |||
| The Three What’s of the Christian Life | 25 Feb 2024 | 00:43:41 | |
Let me begin by stating some truths about what it means to be a Christian that most of you already know: because you are in Christ, you are a son/daughter of the almighty God (v. 5), you are forgiven (v. 7), you are a new creation (vv. 9-10), and you have a glorious inheritance waiting for you that will never fade with time, can never be destroyed, and will forever be untouched by sin (v. 11; see also 1 Pet. 1:3-5). If you are a Christian, your reality and identity include all things made new (Rev. 21:1-5), all things for your good (Rom. 8:28-30), and all things for Gods glory! If you are a Christian, the God of Isaiah 46:9-11 is for you and not against you, for He has declared: For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, My plan will be established, and will accomplish all My good pleasure. When it comes to your struggle(s) in living out the Christian faith, it has more to do with a lack of knowledge of who you are in Christ or an ignored knowledge of who you are in Christ.
All of what we have read and studied in Ephesians 1:1-14 can only be true of you if verses 15-17 are true of you: For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. The four character traits Paul lists in these verses are true of those who have been saved and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ:
A faith that is IN Jesus.
A loyalty to the LORDSHIP of Jesus.
A LOVE for those who belong to Jesus.
A pursuit to KNOW Jesus.
Two Types of Knowing for the Christian
Now, I want to show you something that I did not have the time to show you last week, but you need to give me a little space to geek out a bit over two different words that Paul uses in the original language (Greek) that you cannot see in your English Bible; all that you see in your Bible is the word, knowledge (v. 17), and know (v. 18). The word for knowledge in verse 17 is ginōskō, and I made a big deal over that word for good reason. The knowledge of Jesus that Paul refers to in verse 17 is the kind of discovery that involves more than your mind, for it includes the experience of your whole person and is the kind of knowledge that is relational.
The second Greek word for know is used in verse 18, and that word is oida. This kind of knowing can be experiential, but it is also a cognitive awareness of something or someone with certainty; it is the same word Paul used for know in 2 Timothy 1:12, For this reason I also suffer these things; but I am not ashamed, for I know [oida] whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to protect what I have entrusted to Him until that day. In the case of Ephesians 1:18 and 2 Timothy 1:12, you cannot have oida unless you have a relationship (ginōskō) with Jesus. Let me say what I just said differently for clarity: The kind of knowing Paul is praying for in verses 18-19 by way of the enlightened eyes of your heart cannot be experienced unless you ginōskō (know) Jesus (v. 17). In other words, there is no life-giving calling from God (vv. 3-6), no belonging to God (vv. 7-12), and no resurrection power from God apart from knowing Jesus.
Illustrations tend to fall short when it comes to explaining who God is or the dynamics of what it means to know Him. However, when it comes to what Paul means by the eyes of your heart the best illustration I can think of for what he wanted these Christians to discover is the experience Roimaw and I had when we decided to have children. There was a difference between knowing Nathan with the first store-bought pregnancy test that was positive, and the first images we saw of him on the ultrasound. With every test and ultrasound image measuring Nathans development, Roimaws knowledge as a mother and my knowledge as a father grew, and what began as an understanding that we would soon be parents grew into something much, much more. While he was unseen in his mothers womb, we prayed for him, we read to him, and we loved him. But I got to tell you after Nathan was born and we held him for the first time, both Roimaw and I saw him with the eyes of our heart! We saw him with the eyes of our heart in such a way that neither she nor I could ever imagine life without him.
There are three blessings Paul lists in verses 18-19 that he wants Christians everywhere to see with the eyes of their hearts, and it is to these blessings we turn our attention now. I want you to wrap your arms around the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance, and the greatness of His power towards all who believe.
What is the Hope of His Calling
It is Pauls prayer that these Christians will have the eyes of their hearts opened in such a way that they know what is, the hope of His calling. Notice that Paul did not say: the hope of your calling. What is the hope of Gods calling upon your life Christian? Well, we already know something of that calling from what we read in Ephesians 1:3-6; God knew you before the foundation of the world, saw all the rotten fruit of your spiritual deadness, and chose you anyway. To be chosen is to be called, and it is the calling of God that Paul wants the eyes of our hearts to see so that we can know just what that means practically.
If your salvation and faith are rooted in the call of God that predates earth itself, then dont you think that God is doing something in your life that is much bigger than anything that you may suffer on this side of eternity? Paul elaborates on this very point in Romans 8:28-30,
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
What is the hope of His calling? Listen to Romans 8:31, If God is for us, who is against us? God called you therefore He is for you! What does that mean practically? Well, Jesus said this to his disciples: But you will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, other relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all people because of My name. And yet not a hair of your head will perish (Luke 21:1618). In other words, man may do his worst to you, but the worst he can do is kill you; what he cannot do is destroy you because of the One who called you! The hope of Gods calling is this: He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will (v. 5).
Listen, the hope is yours because the calling was His. This is good news because your love is fragile, but His love is infinite! The hope of His calling is rooted in this reality: Gods infinite love for you, Christian, is as great as His infinite sovereignty.
What are the Riches of His Inheritance in the Saints
Just as your hope is rooted in His calling, the inheritance Paul prays that the eyes of our hearts will see so that we will know belongs to God. What inheritance belongs to God? Gods inheritance is all those whom He called, all those He predestined to adopt as His children, and all those who have been redeemed by the blood of His Son. I will say it another way: The Christian is counted as Gods inheritance. Yes, the Bible indeed teaches that God is our inheritance, the apostle Peter even said as much in his epistle: For Christ also suffered for sins once for all time, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God (1 Pet. 3:18). However, we are Gods inheritance, and that is good news!
In what ways are we Gods inheritance? For starters we are told in the first fourteen verses that God chose us as a Father (v. 4), to redeem us through His Son (v. 7), to seal us through His Spirit (v. 13) to make us His holy and blameless (v. 4) adopted children (v. 6) with all the rights that come with being His children (v. 11)! In Ephesians 1:14, we are told that the Holy Spirit, is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of Gods possession. In 1 Peter 2:9, we read: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people for Gods own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 that the reason why it matters what we do with our bodies is that we belong to God: Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
It is one thing to understand that we are Gods possession, but Paul explicitly prays that the eyes of the hearts of his readers would be enlightened to know, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance. Yes, it is true that Jesus died for our sins so that we could be reconciled to God, and yes, it is true that we are Gods treasured possession, but to be put into the category that we, who are the redeemed, are Gods inheritance is staggering! How is this staggering you may be asking? Well, if we are Gods inheritance, He will get what belongs to Him and no one absolutely no oneno demon, no power, no authority, no government, not Satan, and not even death will keep God from receiving His inheritance! Now against the backdrop of that reality, wrap your arms around Jesus promises to His people: My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand (John 10:2729). If you belong to Jesus, then it is the Father who sings over you as His inheritance: The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will rejoice over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy (Zeph. 3:17).
Listen, the reality that you are Gods inheritance is rooted in Gods infinite love that is equal to His infinite power, and that love has been, is being, and will forever be lavished upon you! Mark my words, the One who, declares the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, My plan will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure (Isa. 46:9-10), will receive His inheritance!
What is the Boundless Greatness of His Power Toward Us Who Believe
The third and final thing Paul prayed for was that the eyes of the hearts of the Church would be enlightened to know the, boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places (vv. 19-20). Listen to how the NIV translates these verses from the Greek: That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:1920, NIV). Bryan Chapell, in his commentary on Ephesians, said of these verses, The promise of Gods affection is not our only hope; Paul also prays for the Spirit to give eyes to see Gods incomparably great power for us who believe (Eph. 1:19a). The promise is not only of an inheritance to come, but of power, great power for us.[1]
Think about it, who can avoid the power of death? No one can, for death is coming for us all! Yet, there is One who conquered death, and the same power that raised Jesus from the grave is at work in you Christian! This power would be beyond our reach apart from knowing Jesus; but now that you have been called by God, and are the inheritance of God because of the redeeming work of the Lamb of God, this power is now ours. Jesus is our groom and we are His bride; He has declared, I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it" (Matt. 16:18b). nor the grave have any power over Jesus Church, and you dear Christian are the Church!
You have been given the Holy Spirit as a Helper by Jesus, and sealed by the Holy Spirit through Jesus to empower you to live your life for Jesus for the glory of God and the good of all those who are merely hanging by a thread over and the only hope of escape and salvation is the hope that is now ours in Christ! We are a walking testament to the power of God to change lives through the good news of the gospel and can claim with the apostle: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Rom. 1:16). It is the same power that rescued us that now keeps us, and we can know with confidence the same thing the saints of old experienced as the Church:
For God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen containers, so that the extraordinary greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying around in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:610)
This power that is ours in Jesus, is the power of the risen Christ to fight against sin, doubt, worry, and any other adversary that threatens to undo those who have been called by God, are the inheritance of God, and have been raised to new life by God. Our strength is His strength, and because of that truth, which is now our truth, we can celebrate with the apostle Paul: For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:6).
Amen.
[1] Bryan Chapell, Reformed Expository Commentary: Ephesians (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing; 2009); p. 69. | |||
| You Were Saved to Know Jesus | 18 Feb 2024 | 00:48:17 | |
There is a story about a baby eagle who fell out of his nest and into a chicken coop. As the little eagle grew up, he began to cluck like a chicken, strut like a chicken, think like a chicken. But every day he noticed the eagles soaring high in the sky, always sensing that he was meant for something more than the chicken coop, but never realizing who he really was. The difference between the eagles that soared and the one living in the chicken coop was his understanding of who he really was. I think the Christian can go through life in the same way.
I said at the beginning of our series in Ephesians that Pauls epistle answers two questions for us: 1) What does it mean to be a Christian, and 2) what does it mean to be the Church. When it comes to your identity as a Christian, some of you may be living like you belong in the chicken coop.
Think about what it means to be a Christian according to Ephesians 1:3-14. You, Christian, have all the spiritual blessings listed throughout Pauls magnificent sentence of more than 200 words! You, Christian, have been chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless (v. 4). You, Christian, have been predestined to be the adopted son/daughter of the living God through the redemption of Jesus Christ (vv. 5-7). You, Christian, have been completely pardoned of past, present, and future sins only because of the grace of God that has been lavished upon you as a result of the Fathers wrath that was lavished upon the Son for all of our wrongdoings (Eph. 1:8; 2:1-4). You, Christian, have an inheritance that will not fade with time, cannot be destroyed, and will never be stained by sin (v. 11). You, Christian, have been sealed by Gods Spirit as His guarantee of salvation that will be completed and the full experience of all Gods blessings that you will receive (vv. 13-14). You, Christian, are loved by the God of Isaiah 46:9-11, and you are the beneficiary of all His good pleasure.
Christian, you were saved not for the sake of being saved, not for the forgiveness of your sins, not for a pain-free eternity in heaven, not for loved ones who preceded you in death, or for any other reason but for the purpose of knowing Christ, and by knowing Christ, you can know God. I can say this because of the first three words in Ephesians 1:15-23, which state the reason for why Paul prays, what Paul prays, and how Paul can pray for the Christians in Ephesus, and those three words are: For this reason
Now, I know that these verses teach us something about how we can structure our prayers. I believe that the way Paul expressed his thanksgiving for the Ephesian Christians and why and how he prayed for them can serve as a model for how we can structure our prayers for one another, but that is not how I want to use our time this morning. What I want to do with our time together is glean what we learn from these verses.
Why Paul Prays for the Christians (vv. 15-17)
How do you follow one of the most majestic statements about the salvation of lost humanity found in Ephesians 1:1-14? You do it with Ephesians 1:15-23. The apostle Paul begins, For this reason. For what reason, Paul? For the reason contained in the over 200 words that make up Ephesians 1:1-14. For the reason that the Christian has been chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless (v. 4). For the reason that the Christian has been predestined to be the adopted child of God the Father through the redemption of Jesus the Son (vv. 5-7). For the reason that the Christian has been fully pardoned of past, present, and future sins because of Jesus (Eph. 1:8; 2:1-4). For the reason that the Christian has an inheritance that will not fade with time, cannot be destroyed, and will never be stained by sin (v. 11). For the reason that the Christian has been sealed by the Holy Spirit as Gods guarantee of salvation and redemption that will one day be fully complete (vv. 13-14). For all of these reasons is the reason the apostle wrote of the Ephesian Christians that he did, not cease to give thanks for them, while making mention of them in his prayers (v. 16).
Notice what the apostle says about these Christians against the backdrop of the first fourteen verses: having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints (v. 15). What did Paul hear about these Christians? He heard about their faith in Jesus and their love for one another while in prison. In other words, the reality of who these Christians were was expressed through the way they lived. Paul specifically and intentionally notes that the faith of these Christians was in more than facts they agreed with, but in the Lord Jesus and the evidence of their faith was seen in the way they treated each other.
Because Paul heard of the faith and love of these Christians, he prayed for them, and what He prayed also teaches us something about what it means to be a Christian. Pauls prayer for these Christians is simple: That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him (v. 17). Notice what it is that Paul does not pray for; he does not pray for more power, or success, or easy living, or any other thing but that God would give them, a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.
The wisdom and revelation Paul prayed for can only be given to them by God; this is why many theologians believe that the word, spirit is a reference to the Holy Spirit. Others believe that the word spirit is not a reference to the Holy Spirit but the spiritual part of us that lives on after the physical death of our bodies. Regardless of whose spirit Paul is referring to here, what is clear in light of the sealing of the Holy Spirit and His work in the life of the Christian (vv. 13-14), is that it is the Holy Spirit who enables our growth through the authority of the Word of God (revelation) when it is applied to the way we live our lives (wisdom).
What does the Word of God (revelation), and its application (wisdom) to our lives, produce? It produces the kind of knowledge of God that Paul longed for in his own life as he expressed in Philippians 3:10-11, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. The same word Paul used in Philippians 3 for know (ginōskō), he also used in Ephesians 1:17. The Christian was saved by the grace of God to have a relationship with God and Pauls prayer is that the relationship would only deepen through a faith rooted in Jesus as Lord of their lives.
What Paul Prays for the Christians (vv. 18-19a)
In verses 15-17, Paul lists four character traits of those who have been saved and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ; those character traits mark the person who has truly been born again, and they are as follows:
A faith that is IN Jesus.
A loyalty to the LORDSHIP of Jesus.
A LOVE for those who belong to Jesus.
A pursuit to KNOW Jesus.
It is because of these character traits that Paul prays for a deepening knowledge of God that is intellectual, experiential, and emotional - because it is a knowledge that involves the mind, the will, and the heart. In verses 18-19, Paul unpacks what specifically he is praying for. His prayer is that the eyes of their hearts will be enlightened. What Paul is praying for is that the hearts of these Christians would see and understand what God has done for them. The word Paul uses for heart is kardia; he could have used a word for mind as he did in Philippians 2:5, Have this mind [proneō] in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. Or Paul could have used a different word for mind that Luke used in his gospel to describe the way Jesus opened the minds of two disciples who were confused over the death and news of his resurrection: Then He opened their minds [nous] to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45).
However, Paul used the word kardia (heart), and he put an eye on it. What are eyes on a heart good for? They are good for seeing what God has done for you so that you can see the heavenly blessings listed in Ephesians 1:1-14, which are yours, and that you will know that they are yours not only with your mind but with your heart. Permit me to put it in a way you may understand more clearly. At the beginning of this series in Ephesians, I listed several truths that are rooted in the identity of the Christian. I said that if you are a Christian and your faith is in the Lord Jesus, then the following is true of you:
You are saved by the will of God.
You have the grace and peace of God.
You have the blessing of God.
You are redeemed to be holy and blameless before God.
You are a son/daughter of God.
You are favored by God.
You are forgiven by God.
You are rich in the grace of God. You now know God.
You have a future with God.
You are secure because of God.
You are treasured by God.
Listen, if you are a Christian, the reason why Paul does not pray for your adoption as a son/daughter, or for more salvation, or more purpose, or more of the inheritance, or more resurrection power, or more of the Holy Spirit is because they are already yours in Christ.What Paul prays for is the thing that we need, and what we need is to know (ginōskō) that they are ours in Christ (v. 17), and to know that they are ours is that they are ours; as you know it is the word used for when Abraham knew Sarah, but maybe what you have not considered is to have known her was to experienced her fully with a mind, a heart, and will that was bound to her as his wife.Paul uses uses a different word for know in verse 18 (oida) that also is the type of knowing that is tied to a persons experience: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know [oida].I will say more about this next week, but for now, I want to show you what specifically we are to know as Christians.Paul lists three blessings that he wants his Christian readers to know: 1) What is the hope of His calling, 2) what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance, and 3) what is the boundless greatness of His power.I will revisit these three whats that Paul mentions next week, but I will briefly mention what they mean for you now as a way to whet your appetite to come back next Sunday:
The hope of His calling: The calling is the kind of thing Paul described in Ephesians 1:3-6 and 2:1-4. You were not looking for God because not only did you not know God, but you were also dead and unresponsive to God spiritually, and then He called you in the same way Jesus called Lazarus to come out of the tomb even though he had been dead for four days (see John 11:1-46). If you are a Christian, you are only a Christian because God called you by breaking into the tomb of your unbelief to give you life. God called you out of His great mercy to make you alive in Christ!
The riches of His inheritance: Oh, this is so good, and I cant wait to unpack this with you next week, but for now, what I want you to know is that the inheritance is you Christian! I know this grammatically, but also because of what we read in verses 13-14, In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvationhaving also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of Gods own possession, to the praise of His glory. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit as, Gods own possession and because of what He has done to secure the salvation of wretched sinners through His own Son, we are now His inheritance! If you are a Christian, you are now Gods treasured child and because you are redeemed in Christ, what God sees is not a wretched sinner, but a treasure. The riches of His inheritance are that you are loved and given all the rights that come with being his treasured child.
The knowledge of the boundless greatness of His power: The power is what we already have as those who have been called by God and belong to Him as His inheritance. What sort of power is it that we have? It is the power of the risen Christ. Paul tells us that this is the power that is ours in the rest of these verses: These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead (vv. 19b-20). Think about it, who can avoid the power of death? No one can, for death is coming for us all! Yet, there is One who conquered death, and the same power that conquered the grave is at work in you Christian! What Paul wants us to know with all our being is that because of our faith in Jesus as Lord, we are progressively moving from death to life.
Because you are called by God and because you are His inheritance, the power of God is at work in and through you just as Paul described in Romans 8:11, But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. As one person wrote of this amazing promise that is for the Christian: This power is ours to witness, to overcome sin, to pursue holiness, to fight against the schemes of the Devil, and to have great faith for mission.[1]
There is a magnet on my filing cabinet in my office with one of my favorite quotes from Jonathan Edwards that says, You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. The one who made your salvation possible is the One you were made to know through and in Jesus. If you really know that it is He who called you, that it is you who are now His inheritance and treasure, and that the power that raised Jesus to life is the same resurrection power at work in and through your life then dont you know that you will be with Christ with a resurrected body on a resurrected earth one day and while with Him, with 10 billion years behind us, we will still know only a joy that will increase with every moment we are with Him. Paul prays that we will live our lives in light of a knowledge that not only acknowledges and understands that truth; but with a knowledge that encounters that truth with the eyes of our hearts.
[1] Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition: Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman; 2014), p. 39. | |||
| The Assurance of Our Salvation | 11 Feb 2024 | 00:37:16 | |
Before we can jump into Ephesians 1:13-14, I must address what or who it is that Paul is talking about in these verses. Until you understand what or who the apostle is talking about in these verses, you cannot understand or feel the gravity of Ephesians 1:13-14 upon your life. So, to feel the full weight of these verses, permit me to introduce you to the Holy Spirit.
The first time we are introduced to the Holy Spirit is in Genesis 1:1-2 with these words: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for Spirit is raḥ, which can also mean wind or breath, but when used in association with God, it often refers to the Holy Spirit, not as a thing or a characteristic like love or holiness, but a person. This same word is used in Ezekiel 36: And I will put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and follow My ordinances (v. 27). So, when we read through the Bible what we discover about the Holy Spirit is exhaustive.
Of the Holy Spirit, we discover that He is the giver of life (Gen. 1:2; Ps. 33:6; 104:27-30). As the giver of life, He raised Jesus from the grave on the third day and will give life to the body of every person who is joined to Him by faith, through a physical resurrection like the one Jesus experienced (see Rom. 8:11). As the giver of life, He caused Mary to conceive with the incarnation of Jesus (Luke 1:35, 41-42). The Holy Spirit anointed Jesus before He performed any miracle, after He was baptized by John, as a way of giving life and power to His earthly ministry; it is important to note that at Jesus baptism all three persons were present and witnessed: After He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and settling on Him, and behold, a voice from the heavens said, This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased (Matt. 3:16-17; see also Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32).
Throughout the Bible, what we discover is that the Holy Spirit sustains and empowers the people of God to do the work of God. The Holy Spirit indwelled and led Israel out of the slavery of Egypt into the wilderness (Isa. 63:11-14), the Holy Spirit empowered Israels judges after they entered the promised land (i.e. Judges 6:34), and anointed Israels kings to lead the nation (i.e. 1 Sam. 9:27-10:1; 16:1, 13). From the beginning Gods plan was to do the same not just for a select few, but for all of His people as foretold in Joel 2:28-29, It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days (Joel 2:2829).
Gods promise from the beginning was that a deliverer would come, and that deliver was God in the person of Jesus the Son; this is the great theme of the Bible. This is why the Bible declares: For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you was not yes and no, but has been yes in Him. For as many as the promises of God are, in Him they are yes; therefore through Him also is our Amen to the glory of God through us (2 Cor. 1:19-20). In other words, there is no pouring out of the Holy Spirit apart from the redemption that can only come through the shed blood of the Son of God for, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us (Eph. 1:7).
Against the backdrop of all we have considered so far, I want you to listen to Ephesians 1:13-14, for it will help you feel the weight of these verses for your life today: In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvationhaving also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of Gods own possession, to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:1314). But the question still must be answered: Who or what is the Holy Spirit?
Not long before Jesus died to redeem lost sinners by going to the cross, He made a promise to His disciples, and that promise was the coming of the Holy Spirit. We find Jesus promise in John 14; Jesus told them He would be betrayed and would go to a place that they would not be able go (John 13:33). Jesus then consoled His disciples by telling them that He was going to prepare a place for them where they would one day live (14:1-6), but consider carefully what Jesus promised to His disciples that they would receive in His physical absence:
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you.
I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. After a little while, the world no longer is going to see Me, but you are going to see Me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you. (John 14:1620)
How will Jesus not leave His disciples as orphans? He will ask the Father to send them the Helper who is the Holy Spirit. It is possible that verses 18-20 are referring to Jesus resurrection, but even after His resurrection, He ascended to heaven after He again promised to send them the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). I think that when Jesus assured them, I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you that He was referring to the Helper because of what Jesus said in John 16:13, But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come (John 16:13).
Who is the Holy Spirit? Well, when Ananias lied to the apostle Peter about what he and his wife had sold and given to the Church, Ananias was told: Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the proceeds of the land? You have not lied to men, but to God (see Acts 5:1-16).
The Holy Spirit is not a power, a force, or a character trait of God; the Holy Spirit is a Person, and He is God. As God, the Holy Spirit can be everywhere at once (Ps. 104:30), He is all-knowing (1 Cor. 2:10-11). Jesus said that the one unforgivable sin was the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which I believe is unbelief in the Jesus that the Holy Spirit anointed and affirmed to be the Christ (Matt. 12:31-32). And like the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirt can be grieved by the way we live our lives and how we treat one another (Eph. 4:3-32).
The Holy Spirit is not an awkward member of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is equal to the Father as He is equal to the Son because He is also fully God. In his book, Simply Trinity, Matthew Barrett put it this way: The Father does not exist without his Son, the Son does not exist without his Father, and the Spirit does not exist without the Father and the Son[1] The Trinity is not God divided into three parts as if 1/3 of God is the Father, 1/3 of God is the Son, and 1/3 of God is the Holy Spirit. What we see in Ephesians 1:1-14 is a Father who orchestrated our redemption, a Jesus sent from the Father to purchase our redemption, and the Spirit sent by both the Father and the Son to secure and preserve our redemption.
How is the Holy Spirit Preserving Your Salvation?
Look at verse 13 again: In Him (that is God), you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvationhaving also believed YOU WERE SEALED! What does that mean? To be sealed in the Holy Spirit simply means that I am secure in Jesus Christ and now I belong to God as His child and the only One who has the authority to remove the Holy Spirit from me is the God who chose me in Jesus (v. 4), and who purchased my redemption through the blood of Jesus (v. 7). I am sealed because the blood of Jesus secured for me the forgiveness of my wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on me (vv. 7-8). I am sealed because in Jesus, I have obtained an inheritance by Gods sovereign decree to make me His son before the foundation of the rest of creation was even laid (v. 11), and what is the guarantee that God has done all of that through the Son is the preserving power of His all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-pervasive Spirit.
The moment you heard the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you were baptized by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16; Rom. 6:1-7). This is not a mystical event where you feel something strange, but it is a supernatural event where upon your belief in Jesus Christ, you experience what Deuteronomy 30:6 and Ezekiel 36:25-27 spoke of when the Holy Spirit regenerated your dead soul just as Jesus said had to happen for new birth to happen (John 3:1-15). The supernatural phenomenon that happens with the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that you are now able to respond to God in love and faith in a way you were unable to previously.
Why the Holy Spirit Cannot be Manipulated.
For about two weeks now, there has been one thought that has haunted me during the day and in the night hours that I believe that if I did not share it with you, I would be disobedient to my God. Because the Holy Spirit is not a force, and because He is God, you must understand that He cannot be manipulated by cheap tricks or recipes couched in religious language. He is God and nothing less!
There is a passage that has overshadowed my thoughts as I prepared this sermon, and it is found in Isaiah 46:9-10; here is what it declares: I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure (Isa. 46:910). He declares the end from the beginning because He is infinitely sovereign, and what He is doing from beginning to end and beyond is that He is accomplishing all His good pleasure! His good pleasure includes sealing you with His Holy Spirit, which is a first instalment (down payment) of an inheritance that is guaranteed to all He has chosen and redeemed.
If you are a Christian, the inheritance that we are sealed for includes the reality that today you are a son/daughter of the almighty God (v. 5), you are forgiven (v. 7), you are a new creation in Christ (vv. 9-10), and you have glorious inheritance waiting for you that will never fade with time, can never be destroyed, and will forever be untouched by sin (v. 11; see also 1 Pet. 1:3-5). If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit guarantees that your inheritance includes all things made new (Rev. 21:1-5), all things for your good (Rom. 8:28-30), and all things for Gods glory!
Think for a moment what that means in light of all that we have considered in Ephesians 1:1-14,
Why has God blessed the Christian with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ? Because He is God, there is no one like Him, He will establish His plan, and will accomplish all His good pleasure.
Why did God choose you before the foundation of the world? Because He is God, there is no one like Him, He will establish His plan, and will accomplish all His good pleasure.
Why did God predestine you for redemption through His Son? Because He is God, there is no one like Him, He will establish His plan, and will accomplish all His good pleasure.
Why did God seal you with His Holy Spirit as a guarantee for an inheritance we do not deserve? Because He is God, there is no one like Him, He will establish His plan, and will accomplish all His good pleasure.
According to Ephesians 1:1-14, you have all of Gods love you will ever need, all of the redemption in Jesus that you will ever need, and all of Holy Spirit you will ever need. The question I have for you is threefold: How much of your heart does God have? How much of your loyalty does Jesus have? How much of your life does the Holy Spirit have?
We will eventually get to Ephesians 4:30, but consider this verse in light of your identity in Christ: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. In Ephesians 5, we are told: Be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil but be filled with the Spirit (vv. 15-21). When the Holy Spirit has all of you, then you will begin to experience the kind of manipulation that only He can do in your life by shaping you like clay, pruning the dead branches from your life, and applying His holy fire upon your life to remove the dross out from your life. Dear Christian, your sin and unbelief is robing you of the kind of life God intends for you now. How long will you hold back the sin that is sucking the joy out from the life God has purposed for you as His child?
In closing, I want you to consider Isaiah 46:9-10 before each section of Ephesians 1:3-14; I want Isaiah 46:9-10 to settle upon your heart like it has for me this past week as I prepared this sermon. I would like you to see Ephesians 1:3-14 in light of Isaiah 46:9-10 before each statement about the Father (3-6), the Son (7-12), and the Holy Spirit (vv. 13-14) in his majestic sentences concerning Gods role in our salvation:
God: I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure (Isa. 46:9-10)
Paul: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Chris, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored us in the Beloved. (Eph. 1:46)
God: I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure (Isa. 46:9-10)
Paul: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He set forth in Him, regarding His plan of the fullness of the times, to bring all things together in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in the Christ would be to the praise of His glory. (Eph. 1:712)
God: I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure (Isa. 46:9-10)
Paul: In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvationhaving also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of Gods own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Eph. 1:1314)
[1] Matthew Barrett, Simply Trinity (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books; 2021), p. 144. | |||
| The Three R’s in God’s Salvation Plan | 04 Feb 2024 | ||
What does it mean to be saved? When sharing the gospel with people, we often focus on getting them to decide to follow Jesus which often is concluded with a prayer where the person acknowledges some form of allegiance to Jesus as his or her savior. In sharing the gospel, we rightly focus on the need for a person to believe and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins because after all, the Bible does say: if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation (Rom. 10:9-10). However, biblical salvation and what it means to be saved is so much more than the forgiveness of your sins.
There are over two hundred words in the apostle Pauls long sentence that makes up Ephesians 1:1-14; within these verses we discover what it means to be a Christian. When it comes to what it means to be saved, Paul shares with us the role of a God who is Triune: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When it comes to the salvation of our souls, we discover that the Father planned our salvation (vv. 3-6), the Son provided our salvation (vv. 7-12), and the Holy Spirit applied our salvation (vv. 13-14). It is in Ephesians 1:7-12 that we now turn our attention where we discover the three Rs of what it really means to be saved, and the three Rs are redemption, regeneration, and reconciliation. It is my hope this morning that by plumbing the depths of these very rich verses, that you will discover that your salvation is so much more than the forgiveness of your sins.
Because you are in Christ, you are saved! But what does it mean to be saved? That is the question I hope to answer with the time that we have left.
Gods Plan for Redemption is by Jesus (vv. 7-8a)
To be saved is to be redeemed. To be redeemed is to be ransomed. And for the Christian, to be ransomed is to be freed from the captivity and slavery of sin; to redeem something is to reclaim or take back something that has been taken away or is held captive. One person said of redemption, Sin (both our personal sin and the sin nature we inherited from Adam) takes away the righteousness God intended to characterize our lives and holds us hostage to Satans purposes.[1] How was this redemption accomplished? Through, His blood. Not through your pedigree, not through your religious devotion, not through your Christian upbringing, and not by showing up to Church today, but through his blood you have been redeemed. No, your redemption is owed to one person through one act, and that one person is Jesus and His one act was His death upon a cross for all your sins.
There are three Greek words used in the New Testament for redemption. The first word is the Greek word, agorazōand means to buy or to buy in a marketplace. When used in the context of Jesus death, it refers to the price he paid for our salvation, and what it cost Him was His own life. The second Greek word used for redemption is closely related to agorazō and that word is exagorazō, which means to buy out of the marketplace; it is the kind of purchasing that once purchased, that thing or person might never return to the marketplace again. When Jesus died for our sins, both words are used to describe what it was that He accomplished upon the Cross:
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought [agorazō] for a price: therefore glorify God in your body. (1 Cor. 6:1920)
Christ redeemed [exagorazō] us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for usfor it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a Tree (Gal. 3:13)
Now, when it comes to what Christ accomplished on the cross, He purchased us as His own (agorazō) and He purchased us from the slave market sin (exagorazō), and Paul no doubt looks back on both of these ways in which Christ redeemed us. It is in Christ that we have been redeemed to be holy and blameless, and it is in Christ that we are, adopted as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself (v. 5).
But there is a third Greek word used for redemption, and it is used here in verse 7, and it is completely different than the other two words. The third Greek word used for redemption is lutrǒsis, which literally means, to fully liberate. The kind of redemption the Christian has is one where he/she has been purchased, but that is not all. The kind of redemption the Christian has is one where he/she has been purchased from the bondage of sin, but that is not all. The kind of redemption the Christian has is full, complete, and guarantees a redemption free from all the curse of sin.
The kind of redemption that you have, Christian, is one that not only includes the forgiveness of your sins and the freedom from slavery to sin, but also the eventual freedom from the tyranny of disease and death, the promise of a physical resurrection, and the assurance of an inheritance that can never be destroyed, will never again be stained by sin, and will never ever grow old (see 1 Pet. 1:3-5). This is the redemption we have through the blood of Jesus, and it is a redemption that cannot be added to because it is complete; it is a redemption that includes, the forgiveness of sins of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace. It is a redemption available through the riches of His grace, which He alone is qualified to lavish upon those whom He has redeemed (vv. 7-8).
Gods Plan for Regeneration is in Jesus (vv. 8b-10)
Regeneration as it relates to the Christian is the work of God where He grants spiritual life to the Christian that raises him/her from spiritual death to spiritual life. It is what is described in Ephesians 2, And you were dead in your offenses and sins. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (vv. 1, 4-5).
Jesus used the metaphor of birth to describe how a person goes from spiritual death to spiritual life in his conversation with Nicodemus in the gospel of John, where Jesus said things like: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God (v. 3). Jesus also said to Nicodemus, That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit (v. 6). What was Jesus point? His point was that the way a person is born again is through a supernatural miracle that only God, through His Spirit, is capable of doing.
A picture of regeneration is given to us in Ezekiel 37:1-14 with the prophets vision of the Valley of Dry Bones where Ezekiel was told to speak the Word of God over the dry human bones, and when he did, God breathed life into them. In Ezekiel 37:14, we read these words: And I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your won land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it, declares the Lord. What Jesus said in John 3 to Nicodemus and what we read in Ezekiel 36 and 37 is picture of regeneration that only God is capable of doing; regeneration is the act where God makes the spiritually dead, alive in Jesus Christ. To be saved, is to be regenerated in Christ.
The mystery of Gods will in verse 9 is the plan God had from before dirt existed to make the dead live through the work of His Son and the power of His Holy Spirit (see 13-14). If you are a Christian, God has regenerated your dead soul to life through Christ! What this means is that if you are a Christian, you are not only born again, but you are a new creation: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17). If you are a new creation, then you have a new life and a new heart. Are you seeing how these verses are connected to Ephesians 1:4, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him. Or how about their connection to Ephesians 2:10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. The evidence that your faith is in Christ is marked by the kind of desire that loves and longs for Christ more than you love and long for sin (see Romans 8:12-25).
The mystery Paul mentions in verses 9-10 is the redemption and regeneration of people that must take place before the rest of creation, under the curse of sin, experiences the same kind of liberation the Christian is experiencing in Jesus. All of history is moving to the subjugation of all things in heaven and on earth under the eternal and universal lordship of Jesus Christ. The first to experience this are Christians, those who have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of their sins and are experiencing the riches of His grace lavished upon all whose faith and hope rests in Jesus alone.
Jesus Plan for Reconciliation is Through Jesus (vv. 11-12)
When I read Ephesians 1:11-12, I cannot help but think of Jesus parable of the lost sheep where the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine in the open pasture to go after the one that is lost until he finds it, and when he finds that last sheep, puts it on his shoulders while rejoicing of that which was lost and now is found (Luke 15:1-7). When I read these verses in Ephesians, I think of the parable of the lost coin about a woman who rejoices after find the one coin she searched her entire house to find (see vv. 8-9).
But the parable that overshadows them all, and to me has the strongest connection to Ephesians 1:7-12 is the parable of the Prodigal Son - who left his father to live a life free of all moral constraints, to the point where he squandered his inheritance and seemingly destroyed any hope of reconciliation. The son decided to return not as a son, but as one of his fathers hired hands, he even rehearsed in his mind what he would say to his father upon seeing him: I will set out and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired laborers (Luke 15:1819). But you know how the story ends, for when the father saw his son, he ran to his wayward son, embraced him and kissed him, and said to his servants: But the father said to his slaves, Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and lets eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found. And they began to celebrate (Luke 15:2224).
Now against the backdrop of these parables, especially the parable of the Prodigal Son, listen to Ephesians 1:11-12, In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in the Christ would be to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:1112). What is our inheritance? It is redemption in its fullest sense. It is a life regenerated in the fullest sense. It is the eventual freedom from the curse of sin and the inheritance of a new heaven and new earth. It is the city that motivated Abraham to leave his home because, he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Heb. 11:10).
The city Abraham longed for is a resurrected earth free of the curse of sin when all things that started with the spiritually dead are made new. All of history is moving toward that end when, what is mortal will be swallowed up by life (2 Cor. 5:4), for when our salvation is complete, the redeemed will be able to celebrate a new reality where we will finally be able to say: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting (1 Cor. 15:54-55). The Christian will finally know what it means to be saved when our redemption is complete, the rest of creation experiences a type of regeneration we have experienced, and the kind of reconciliation that will culminate is what we read in Isaiah 51:11, And the redeemed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with joyful shouting, and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Conclusion
Christian, all your redemption, all your regeneration, and all your reconciliation to God, is all because of Christ alonenothing more and nothing less! Can you see now how evil and demonic it is to add anything or to take away from what only Jesus Christ can provide? There is no other application or advice I believe is appropriate to give in light of these verses today: Your salvation is owed only to Jesus and nothing else! This is why the apostle could write what we must treasure: For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). Dont you dare try to add to it or to take away from what only God can and has accomplished by hanging on a cross for your sin and defeating death through His resurrection! Amen.
[1] Bryan Chapell, Reformed Expository Commentary: Ephesians (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing; 2009), p. 34. | |||
| God’s Love is Older than Dirt | 28 Jan 2024 | ||
On January 16, 1994, sometime after I read the verses we are going to explore this morning, I reflected on the tension I felt over how a loving God could choose and predestine a person before the foundation of the world for salvation. I wasnt angry over what I read in these verses, but I was disturbed; I was disturbed to the point of a near crisis of faith even though I had only been a Christian for just over two years.
While I read over Ephesians 1:3-6; I also read similar passages such as Romans 8:28-30; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; John 6:44, and the entire chapter of Romans 9. I read these passages without the aid of books or commentaries, for it was only me and my Bible. I knew nothing of John Calvin or Jacobus Arminius, nor was I aware of their teachings by which we get Calvinism and Arminianism. I share this with you because I want you to know; that if some of you currently struggle with what you see in Ephesians 1:3-6, I also struggled with these same verses, and it took a lot of time for me to work through it, with just me and my Bible. What is clear, however, is that Gods love for you is older than dirt.
There are three words that are linked to what it means to be blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (v. 3) that I want to focus our time on that I believe will help you work through what it is Paul is saying in these verses, and those words are: chose (v. 4), predestined (v. 5), and favored (v. 6).
God Chose the Christian to be Holy and Blameless (v. 4)
What was so hard about my struggle with verses 3-6 is that this verse could not have been any clearer: God chose us in Jesus before the foundation of the world; the Greek word used for world is kosmos, and it refers to creation. When did God do it? Before He invented dirt. How did God do it? Through His Son, Jesus. Why did He do it? That those who were chosen, would be holy and blameless before Him. Before we can get to why God chose, we need to understand what it means for Him to choose.
To choose is to pick or select someone or something. Every November we vote and when we vote, we choose certain candidates that we hope receive enough votes to be elected to whatever office it is that they are running for. In the case of verse 4, to choose is to elect. From verses like the ones before us this morning and others like it, we get the doctrine of elections (aka the doctrine of predestination). No person or theologian who believes the Bible to be the word of God denies what Paul is saying here, but where theologians, pastors, and Christians throughout the ages have disagreed is how it was that God chose the Christian before the foundation of the world.
Let me summarize the most popular ways people have explained how it was that God chose.
God chose you for salvation because you freely chose Him. You were drawn to him, but it wasnt until you chose Him that He chose you.
God chose not only you but the body of Christ that is the Church to be the group of people who receive salvation freely by faith in Jesus. So, God does not choose individuals for salvation, but he has chosen before the foundation of the world that it would be through Christ that people would be saved.
God chose you for salvation because he sees all things eternally, and because He can see peoples and events both present and future, He sovereignly chose you because he already knew you would freely choose Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.
Of the three views I mentioned, the third is the one I gravitated towards and believed was the best of the three options; I even stated in my journal on January 20, 1994, Due to the Scriptures and that all scripture is inspired by God, my conclusion on predestination is made: God is all-knowing therefore He predestined us for salvation, but allowed us to choose him for salvation. At the time, my conclusion seemed to reconcile Ephesians 1:3-6 and others like it with passages like 2 Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
There is a fourth view that I have come to appreciate due to two realities I never considered back in 1994, the first concerns the fact that God stands outside of time because time is a part of creation, therefore He is not bound to time and does not make choices based on what He can see down the corridors of time because He stands outside of time. The other reality I did not consider back in 1994 was Ephesians 1:1-4, which states: And you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest (Eph. 2:1-3).
In light of Ephesians 1:3-6, how can a person respond to God in faith when that person is spiritually dead? Can the spiritually dead do anything spiritual? Can the spiritually dead will themselves alive just enough to believe in God? What does Paul mean by dead in Ephesians 2:1? The Greek word could not be any clearer, it is nekros. Do you want to know what nekros means? It means this: no longer having life. So how dead is dead? So, the question I had to answer is a question you must answer as well, and that question is simply this: How can the spiritual dead do anything apart from God doing something? Paul gives us the answer in Ephesians 2:4-5, But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (Eph. 2:45).
The point of verse 4 is simply this: You, who were once spiritually dead. You who once, lived in the lusts of your flesh, indulged the desires of your flesh, you who followed the prince of this world, and you who were once a child of wrathHe chose you before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in Christ. Whatever you are doing with verse 4, whatever you want to do with verse 4, and whatever you plan to do with verse 4, one thing is very clear: God acted first. When you had no ability or desire to find Him, He found you. John Stott was right when he wrote The doctrine of election is a divine revelation, not a human speculation.[1]
God Predestined the Christian for Love (v. 5)
What does it mean to be chosen? It means that God predestined you to something. What does predestination mean? It means, to determine something ahead of time before its occurrence.[2] So, according to verse 5, before God invented dirt, He planned for your adoption as a son or daughter through all that Jesus would do on your account for your sin on a cross that we all deserved.
We know we deserved the cross because of what Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:3, which is that all of us at one point in our lives were, by nature children of wrath, just as the rest. In Romans 3:10-11, we are told just how bad our spiritual deadness is: as it is written: There is no righteous person, not even one; there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks out God (Rom. 3:1011). Since when have I been spiritually dead? According to Psalm 51:5, Behold, I was brought forth in guilt, and in sin my mother conceived me. Just in case you are not sure what to make of Psalm 51:5, consider Ecclesiastes 9:2, Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of mankind are full of evil, and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives.
So, with Ephesians 2:1-3 and a whole bunch of other verses about our spiritual problem as our backdrop, lets read again Ephesians 1:5 more closely and thoughtfully: In Love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. In other words, among the mass of spiritually dead humanity that has postured themselves against God as, sons of disobedience who walk according to the course of this world, God chose you, Christian, in Jesus, before He created dirt, to be holy and blameless.
God chose you because you were dead, dead, dead, and because you were dead, He did the thing that no one else could have done! God raised your spiritually dead and helpless self. Why did He do it? Well, we are told that He did it In love and if that is not enough for you, Paul elaborates and tells us that He did it, according to the good pleasure of His will. And if that is not enough for you, he further elaborates on that point in the next chapter: being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead made us alive together with Christ (2:4-5). It is because of Gods love, His will, and His good pleasure that you who were once dead, now stand before Him as a son or as a daughter solely because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Dear Christian, the point of Ephesians 1:3-6 is this: you are only a Christian because of a merciful God who set His affection upon you by sending His son to endure a wrath you deserved for the purpose of adopting you to be His child out of an infinite love no one deserves.
God Favored the Christian in Christ (v. 6)
So, lets walk through these verses now that we have observed the scenery of Gods word that surrounds Ephesians 1:3-6. If you are a Christian, you were once dead in your sins, you were hostile towards God, and there was no real motive in you to seek the true God, and in spite of all of that, God the Father chose to make you alive in His Son, Jesus, before Genesis 1:1 ever happened, and He did it so that you, would be holy and blameless before Him. The point of verse 4 is that God did something you were powerless to do.
Not only did God the Father choose you to be holy and blameless by making you alive in His Son, but He predestined us to be His adopted child with all the rights and privileges that come with being a son or a daughter, and He did it by putting His Son, who kept the Law, on a cross to atone for your guilt from breaking His cosmic Law just as the Bible declares: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for usfor it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Gal. 3:13). If that is not clear enough for you, we also are told in Colossians 2:13-14, And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Col. 2:1314). You were not only dead in your sins before Christ, but the Bible informs us that we are now redeemed by Jesus who were once enemies of God: For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Rom. 5:10). What this means dear friends, is this: You were once dead in your sins, are now alive in Christ, and are now reconciled to God. You who are reconciled to God, are now a friend of God (John 15:14-15).
If you are still confused as to why He did it, look no further than verse 6. Not only did He save your sorry soul because He simply loved you, and not only did He redeem you as his child out of His good pleasure of His will alone, but He did it, to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored you in His Beloved Son (v. 6). By the way, the word favored literally means, to become the recipient of Gods freely bestowed, beneficent goodwill. What this means is that you were saved from your sins, and it was not due to anything in you, but solely because of the love of the Father who sent His Son who willingly became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). In his book, Friendship with God, Mike McKinley wrote what I think is a good way to end this sermon: Your status before God doesnt depend on your performance, or work, or obedience; it depends on Jesus, and he did everything perfectly to make you Gods friend. Nothing can ever separate you from Gods love in Christ (Rom. 8:38-39). Once He has made you His friend through faith in Jesus, you can never be his enemy again.[3]
In closing, permit me to give you some pointers that will help you listen, understand, and submit to the authority of the Bible:
Do not try to bend what you read in the Bible to your will. If you want to grow as a Christian, you must submit your will to the authority of the Bible as Gods Word.
The Bible is one book, therefore read every verse in the Bible within the context of its surrounding verses, chapters, and books.
When you study your Bible, pray to God to help you understand and apply His Word to your life.
Read every verse in the Bible with the understanding that God does not need to get better. So, if you read a story, chapter, or verse in the Bible that you do not like, understand you are the one who needs to improve at being good, not God.
Just because you do not understand or do not like something you have read in the Bible, does not mean that it is untrue.
At the end of the day, what matters is what Gods Word says, not what you think the Bible says, what your pastor says the Bible says, what your family says the Bible says, what your friends say the Bible says, or anyone else says that the Bible says. What matters is what Gods Word says about who He is, who we are, and what we are called to do in this short life we have been gifted.
If you have heard anything this morning, I hope you have heard this: Ephesians 1:3-6 teaches us that you are a Christian not because of what you have done, but because of everything God has done, and because of Jesus, you are now a child and a friend of God Almighty!
[1] John R. W. Stott, Gods New Society (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979), p. 37.
[2] From Lexham Research Lexham Research Lexicon of the Greek New Testament.
[3] Mike McKinley, Friendship with God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2023), p. 11 | |||
| What it Means to be a Christian | 21 Jan 2024 | 00:40:55 | |
Ephesus was a city whose economy depended on trade. It was frequently visited by people wishing to see and experience one of the seven wonders of the world of their day known as the Temple of Artemis/Diana.
The economy, culture, and ethics of Ephesus all centered on the goddess of Diana and the temple built in her honor. The temple was supported by 127 giant pillars believed to have been given as gifts by 127 different kings. The temple housed many priests and priestesses who operated under a castrated male who functioned as the high priest. The male priests were in charge of offering the sacrifices to Diana, which also included human sacrifice. The female priests were unmarried women given the responsibility to be channels of worship to Diana which was performed through intercourse of any male wishing to worship Diana with her priestesses. You can see why worship in the temple of Diana was so popular.
Because the worship of Diana was the main religion in Ephesus, ritual prostitution was a dominant feature of the religious atmosphere in Ephesus. Spirits, we know as demons, frequently possessed the priestesses as well as the worshiper which should come to be no surprise, for the Bible says: that the things Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God (1 Cor. 10:20). Anytime an offering is given to an idol, it is an offering given to a demon not merely an image Diana was no exception.
When the apostle Paul stopped in Ephesus to preach, the gospel disrupted the worship of the goddess of Artemis/Diana as people in the city heard the good news about Jesus Christ and gave their lives to Him. So profound was the gospels impact upon the culture of Ephesus that some who made their living off the worship of Diana expressed their great concern: in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all. Not only is there danger that this trade of ours will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as worthless, and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence (see Acts 19:2328).
Paul spent over two years in Ephesus where God used him to establish the same church to which he would write the epistle to the Ephesians years later, while in prison. The city of Ephesus was a very scary place full of demonic activity, full of women who were held as slaves, full of all kinds of perverts seeking to get cheap thrills under the guise of religion, radical feminists who distained the existence of men, public baths, and bathrooms, where modesty was considered taboo, all of which were ruled by a demon posing to be a free-spirited goddess. It is in this city that a church was birthed, cultural norms challenged, and lives transformed.
What you also need to know is that years before Paul brought the gospel to Ephesus, he tried to prevent its spread because he was convinced Christianity had to be destroyed. Of his former life as a pharisee, Paul wrote in Philippians 3, If anyone else thinks he is confident in the flesh, I have more reason: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless (Phil. 3:46). Paul approved of the stoning of Stephen, who was sentenced to death because of his outspoken faith in Jesus (see Acts 7). Regarding his salvation and faith in Jesus, Paul wrote to Timothy (who would eventually become the pastor of the church in Ephesus): It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost (1 Tim. 1:15).
What does it Mean to be a Christian?
Fred Sanders, in his masterful book, The Deep Things of God, wrote of the gospel, The gospel so outstrips our created measurements that it can be measured only against something as immense as God himself. Sanders further comments, There is one place in Scripture where this sheer greatness of the gospel is most profusely described: the blessing with which Paul opens the epistle to the Ephesians.[1] In the weeks to come, we will plumb the depths of Ephesians 1:1-14, but for now, I only want to show you who you are if you are a Christian and who you can be, by the grace of God, if you are not.
The Christian is Saved by the Will of God (v. 1)
In the very first sentence to these Christians surrounded by some of the darkest evils, Paul attributes his salvation and apostleship to the will of God. The stoning of Stephen and his part in the imprisonment and persecution of Christians was not too much for the grace of God to overcome. In fact, a survey of the Bible will show you that when it comes to the will of man and the will of God, it is the will of man to run from God and it is only because of will greater than our own that God is able to pursue us and find us.
The Christian has the Grace and Peace of God (v. 2)
Before salvation, Paul and the Ephesian Christians stood before a holy God guilty, awaiting a judgment under the wrath of God, and the same can be said of you and me. The Bible says, because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom. 2:5). But now, because of what Jesus accomplished, the Christian has received the grace and peace of God.
The Christian has the Blessing of God (v. 3)
What the Ephesian Christians had before Paul brought the gospel to them was wrath. In fact, Paul describes what it was that they had before they met Jesus in the next chapter: And you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:1-3). However, because of the saving work of Jesus, the Christian has received, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
The Christian is Saved by God to be Holy and Blameless Before God (v. 4)
Paul was committed to the idol of his religious legalism while the Ephesians were indulged in their worship of Diana; both were far from God, yet it was God who rescued them from their idols and from their sin. Why did God save Paul and those who made up the Ephesian Church? Why did he save any of us? Well, verse 4 answers that question for us: that we would be holy and blameless before Him. God saved you to change you, and that change is moving you closer and closer to holiness and blamelessness.
The Christian is Made a Son/Daughter of God (v. 5)
Before Jesus, the Christian was a child of devil (1 John 3:7-10) and a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3). But through Jesus, the Christian is adopted, as sons and daughters. As a son and a daughter, you who once stood under a wrath deserved, now stand as a child of God with all the rights and privileges of a God who now takes pleasure in you! Because you are a child of God, our inheritance is no longer condemnation, but the riches of the glory of His inheritance (v. 18).
The Christian is Favored by God (v. 6)
According to verse 6, the Christian is favored by God. But why is the Christian favored by God? The Christian is favored by God because of the Beloved. So, who is the Beloved? The Beloved is the Son of God. The NET Bible rightly translates verse 6 this way: to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. So, what this means dear Christian, is that the only reason why you are favored by God is because you are now in His Son, Jesus Christ. You are favored not because of anything you have done but because of everything that Jesus has already done on your account and on your behalf!
The Christian is Forgiven by God (v. 7)
You who once stood condemned by God now stand forgiven through the Son. You have been redeemed through the blood of Christ for the forgiveness of all your sins. The forgiveness of your sins through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is owing only to the immeasurable riches of the grace of God.
Lord, I did not freely choose youTill by grace you set me free;For my heart would still refuse,
Had your love not chosen me.
The Christian is Rich in the Grace of God (v. 8)
If you are a Christian, you have redemption through Jesus and nothing owning to yourself! If there was or is any confusion as to what it was that caused a Holy God to look down upon you with favor for the purpose of redeeming you, it is simply this: We have redemption through His blood according to the riches of His grace. In what way did we received His grace and how did the Almighty distribute His grace? He lavished his grace on us (v. 8)!
The Christian has Been Permitted to Know God (v. 9)
When it comes to knowing God, we are told, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4). Furthermore, the Bible informs us that, a natural person [sinner] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor. 2:14). So how does a person come to know the will of God? Only through Jesus according to the good pleasure of God.
The Christian has a Future with God (v. 11a)
The One you sinned against, the One before Whom you once stood against in arrogance, the One you were blinded to, the One before heaven and earth has no place to hid and recoils before His infinite holiness (Rev. 20:11), and of whom the angles declare: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8), you, Christian, are now known and favored by! This is why Jesus said, My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand (John 10:27-29).
The Christian has the Security of God (v. 13)
You, Christian, who was once dead in your sins (Eph. 2:1-3) and are now alive in Christ (2:4), are sealed by the Holy Spirit. This means that the One who holds you in His hand will keep you in His hand, and according to verses 13-14, He has given you His Spirit as a seal which serves as a down payment of more to come! Dont you ever forget the words of our savior dear Christian: I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand (John 10:28-29).
The Christian is Treasured by God (v. 14)
Finally, you who were once far off, spiritually dead, and hostile towards God are now treasured by God. The apostle Peter put it this way: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people for Gods own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9). One way to translate verses 13-14 from the Greek is this way: In Jesus, you also having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the initial installment of our inheritance, until the redemption of His adopted children, who were purchased to be His treasured possession to the praise of His glory.
Conclusion
So, who are you Christian? You are saved by the will of God. You have the grace and peace of God. You have the blessing of God. You are redeemed to be holy and blameless before God. You are a son/daughter of God. You are favored by God. You are forgiven by God. You are rich in the grace of God. You now know God. You have a future with God. You have the security of God.
You are treasured by God. Who are you? If you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you are a Christian!
So, I leave you with only two questions. First, how did God save you? He saved you through Jesus Christ; this is why the apostle Paul used the phrase in Christ, in Him, and through Him ten times in just fourteen verses. Second, why did God save you Christian? God did it for the praise of His glory. And he uses that phrase at the end of his explanation of the Fathers role in your salvation (vv. 3-6), at the end of his explanation of the Sons role in your salvation (vv. 7-12), and at the end of the Holy Spirits role in your salvation (vv. 13-14).
Amen.
[1] Fred Sanders. The Deep Things of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2017), p. 105. | |||
| The King Who Makes All Things New | 07 Jan 2024 | 00:44:42 | |
After the Sand Bernardino shooting in California, the cover page of the Daily News read God Is Not Fixing This with highlights from some tweets from conservative leaders concerning their thoughts and prayers being with the victims of the mass shooting. The irony in The Daily News cover is that in an effort to fix our world without God, we have made more of a mess of it. In fact, human history has shown us that every effort to create a better or utopian society apart from God has not moved us closer, but rather further away from a utopian society.
When we started this sermon series, I told you that Gods plan was always for a King to rule the nations, but a different kind of King, one that the world could never manufacture. What the world can manufacture is what the devil manufactures, and that is a life lived apart from God, which is only a cheap substitute that robs a person of the kind of life God designed for us to experience.
From the manger to the cross was One who lived among Adams helpless race as Gods plan A to mankinds sin problem. God is fixing this! God has been fixing this! God is sure to fix this! Jesus was always the King intended for Israel and the nations and the remedy to reverse the curse of sin!
This is what the Lord says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. (Isa. 44:6)
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will live securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, The Lord Our Righteousness. (Jer. 23:5-6)
The scepter will not depart from Judah, Nor the rulers staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Gen. 49:10)
He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (2 Sam. 7:13)
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11).
Jesus said: Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. (Rev. 1:17-18)
Jesus is the fully divine and fully human King! He is the first and the last, and there is no other like Him! He is not only the King of kings and Lord of lords, but He also bears the name, Yahweh our Righteousness. Jesus is the only One qualified, able, and willing to redeem lost sinners as the Lamb of God who, takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus is our Kinsmen Redeemer who is qualified to take the deed of creation by reversing the curse of sin and why all of heaven celebrates: Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have made them into a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth (Rev. 5:9-10).
God is fixing this one life at a time through the Son: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17). It is through the Son that the Father is restoring all that was lost, and so we are promised that the way God is fixing this will exceed our wildest imaginations:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. And He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. And He said, Write, for these words are faithful and true. (Rev. 21:15)
There is so much that is packed into the final two chapters in the book of Revelation that there is no way that we can plumb the depths of what is promised to those of us who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. However, there are some things that we do have time to reflect upon that ought to encourage you.
Life Will Be Purged of Sin, Death, Evil, and the Devil
There is not a whole lot I need to say on this point, but I simply want to point out that what will follow Jesus second coming is His final victory over the antichrist (who is yet to come), the false prophet, and the devil (the unholy trinity). All three will be thrown into the lake of fire where they will never again be able to tempt, deceive, and harm. Their destruction will be in a place of eternal torment that Jesus described, where their worm does not die, and their fire is not extinguished (Mark 9:48). Satans judgment will be the final crushing of his head that was promised in Genesis: And I will make enemies of you and the woman, and of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel (Gen. 3:15).
After the antichrist, the false prophet, and the devil are judged, we are told of a final judgment where Death and Hades will also be thrown into the lake of fire, which is described as, the second death. What is most sobering about Revelation 20:11-15, which describes this coming judgment, in my opinion, is what we read in verse 15, And if anyones name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Ultimately what the second death means for the Christian, is the death of death, sin, and the devil.
Mortality will be Swallowed up by Life
The new heaven and earth that we read about in the final chapters of Revelation will not be new in the way you trade in your used car so that you can afford a new one. The new heavens and earth will be new in the same way Jesus resurrected body was; think about what had to happen for Jesus dead body to come back to life again. Jesus body began the process of decomposition several minutes after he died on the cross. When His heart stopped beating, the cells in His body became deprived of oxygen forcing them to break down. Within 24-27 hours after death, Jesus internal organs were already decomposing, and his body was beginning to bloat. For Jesus body to be resurrected, the DNA in His body had to change.
The resurrection of the heavens and the earth will be like Jesus resurrection, and it will include a DNA change. We are told in the Bible, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people (2 Pet. 3:7). Randy Alcorn, in his book, Heaven, writes of the coming Day: The earths death will be no more final than our own. The destruction of the old earth in Gods purifying judgment will immediately be followed by its resurrection to new life. Earths fiery end will open straight into a glorious new beginning.[1]
Of the resurrection the Christian will experience, the apostle Paul describes it this way: For we know that if our earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed, we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life (2 Cor. 5:1, 4). Quite literally, the resurrection we will experience, the earth will experience too, and when the earth is resurrected what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.
What I find so amazing about Revelation 21 is that God will not stop with making all things new; He will also move His dwelling place from the present heaven to the new earth. God making His dwelling place with man on a new earth is His promise: Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them (Rev. 21:3). This has been the plan from day one.
Do you remember the two principles that God operates on? They are not the only principles, but they are important principles. The principles are the Incarnation Principle and the Grace Principle.
The Incarnation Principle: God does not need a building because He intends to dwell with His people.
The Grace Principle: God will do what only God is capable of doing apart from any help from any other person.
The plan was always for God to tabernacle with His people and the way that he would do it would be through a grace not conditioned on His creation, but totally and unconditionally upon His own sovereign will and infinite love.
Joy will be the Serious Business of the New Earth (vv. 5-8)
When God makes His dwelling place on earth with mankind, all that clouds your joy now will be no more. The love, joy, and happiness we will experience on the new earth will never crest, abate, or recede. As C.S. Lewis wrote in one of his books, Joy is the serious business of Heaven.[2] This is why we are told that only when God resurrects this dying and cursed creation, will He wipe away our tears: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there by mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away (21:4).
The new earth will be like the Garden of Eden but better; it will also be like heaven today, but better. We will enjoy physical bodies and a physical planet. We will enjoy a full and perfect creation that will include trees, mountains, and rivers. There will be one City the City of God where we will be able to go in and out of. We will run through the forests, climb mountains, eat amazing food, run barefoot through the prairies, enjoy the light of something more powerful and radiant than the sun, which will be the Glory of God Himself. We will dwell on a new earth that will never again know the cold of night, but only the light of a day illuminated by the Glory of God.
The new earth will be a place where, The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpents food. says the Lord (Isa. 65:25). On the new earth, we will walk on streets of gold with those who have gone before us men and women like Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Daniel, David, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We will be able to sit at a table and share a meal with Joseph and Job who suffered much in their lifetime. We will laugh with the Apostle Paul and Peter, and we may even go fishing with the rest of the apostles. When God makes all things new, our world will be a world of love in the purest sense.
Application
In his final book in his Narnia series, The Last Battle, on the final page, C.S. Lewis concludes his epic story with words that resonate with what we are promised in the Bible. Aslan, the great Lion and Christ-figure of Narnia had won just as Jesus has already won:
And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
[1] Randy Alcorn. Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.; 2004), p. 157.
[2] C.S. Lewis. Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (New York: Harcourt Brace Company; 1963), p. 93. | |||
| The Strength of the Lord | 01 Oct 2024 | 00:42:42 | |
The threat of sin within and among those who make up the Bride of Christ has existed since the beginning, and the danger of wolves is something we are warned about throughout the Bible. In fact, after three years of strengthening the Ephesian Church through the faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word, Paul warned: “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:28-30). Years after Paul had left Ephesus, Timothy served as their pastor and in his final letter before Paul was executed by Rome, he warned Timothy of difficult days ahead—days I believe we find ourselves in today: But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these. For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Tim. 3:1–7)
The threat we face is also individual and internal! The desires of your own sinful flesh are the most immediate and present threat you face! We are warned: “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” (1 John 2:15–16). This is why Paul pleaded with the Ephesian Christians to be diligent is how they lived and walked: “Be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15-16).
Although there are wolves who sneak in from the outside and there are real dangers from within, Paul wants us to understand the nature of those threats in Ephesians 6:10-13, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” (Eph. 6:10–13)
The very real dangers we face as followers of Jesus includes wolves from the outside and our flesh and sin from within; however, our struggle is cosmic, and it is with the realm of the demonic! My hope and plan for the weeks to come is to not only help you appreciate just how real our struggle is, but to offer you practical ways you can remain strong, stand against the schemes of the devil, and resist the spiritual forces of darkness by standing firm in your faith as a Christian.
We are at War! Today, I want to turn our attention to Ephesians 6:10, but before I do, you need to understand that if you are a Christian, you are engaged in a cosmic war! It is a war that Paul categorizes as a “struggle.” The Greek word Paul uses for “struggle” is palē (πάλη) which is a word used to describe what is involved in close hand-to-hand combat. In close hand-to-hand combat, you have no choice, for you must chose to fight against the one who wants to harm you, or you must surrender to slavery or even death. Before you were a Christian, you were, “dead in your offenses and sins...” (Eph. 2:1); according to Ephesians 2:2-3, you behaved and acted as one in agreement with the one who commands and orders the demonic realm against God and His creation: “Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath” (v. 3).
Jesus said, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (Matt. 16:18). Out of God’s rich mercy, great love, and all-sufficient grace, you were rescued, ransomed, and redeemed through the cross of Christ. If you are a Christian, it is because God made you alive with Christ (Eph. 2:5). Through Jesus, God rescued you from your sin and Satan and according to Ephesians 2:6-7, He “raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” What we learn from the first three chapters in Ephesians is that the battle over our souls has been decisively and categorically won by Jesus! However, the prince of the power of the air, the rulers, the powers, the world forces of darkness and the spiritual forces of wickedness want to do whatever they can to take you out by any means necessary!
Martyn Lloyd-Jones rightly said, “There is no grosser or greater misrepresentation of the Christian message than that which depicts it as offering us a life of ease with no battle and no struggle at all.... The first thing we must realize is that the Christian life is a warfare, that we are strangers in an alien land, that we are in the enemy’s territory.”[1] According to Paul, this is a warfare that we are in, it is a warfare we have to engage, it is a warfare that is ongoing, and it is a warfare with demonic cosmic forces that are determined to fight until the very end. However, our strength to fight comes from a power that is not our own!
Our War Requires Us to Be on High Alert In order to fight and to engage the spiritual war we find ourselves in, we must be alert, and we must be strong! The very first word is, “Finally.” After all that he has written about what it means to be a Christian and what it means to be the Church of Jesus Christ that have been filled with doctrinal exhortations, firm warnings, and great encouragements, the apostle saved what we read in Ephesians 6:10-18 for last not because it is least important but because of the great threat that faces Christ’s Church! The word “finally” is Paul’s bugle call for the Christians to assemble for action! As Sam Storms observed in his book on spiritual warfare: “There is never a truce or ceasefire. Satan takes no holidays. He observes no Sabbath rest. There may be times of greater or lesser intensity, but never a time to relax or let down your spiritual guard.”[2]
Notice where Ephesians 6:10 is placed! It is strategically and intentionally placed just after the section in Ephesians where Paul explains what a Christ-centered marriage looks like, how Christlikeness ought to be displayed in parent and child relationships, and how we can be Christ-like through our work. It was through the institution of marriage, one of the great gifts of God, that Satan attacked for the purpose of destroying the relationship Adam and Eve were created to enjoy with God and each other and how their sin affected their children and how they managed the earth through work.
When Eve was tempted by the serpent while Adam stood and watched, their struggle was not only with flesh and blood, but with the demonic cosmic forces of evil! When Cain murdered Abel, his struggle was not only with flesh and blood, but with the demonic cosmic forces of evil, and it has been that way ever since! Do not miss how it was that the demonic cosmic forces of evil attacked Adam and his family. Satan did not tempt Adam and Eve while they were on high alert and actively engaged in the work of God, he tempted them while they were both idol and their spiritual senses were dull. When Cain decided to murder Abel, he increasingly became insensitive to the things that pleased God until he finally caved to the sin that God warned was lurking at the door of his heart, and instead of mastering it, he gave into his sin and murdered his younger brother (see Gen. 4:1-8).
We will talk about this more when we look at verse 11 and how it is we can stand against the devil’s schemes, but for now I will say that you cannot expect to walk with wisdom or in a manor worthy of your calling as a born again follower of Jesus if you are not on high alert and ready for the kind of hand-to-hand combat that is always before you Christian! You may not be able to see the devil or his demonic hoards with your physical eyes, but as John Stott once wrote: “Beneath the surface, an unseen spiritual battle is raging”[3]
Our War-Time Strength is From God’s Might Now, notice the urgency in the apostle’s language! First a command: “Be strong” (v. 10), then “stand firm” (v. 11), “resist” (v. 13a), “stand firm” (v. 13b), and then another command: “Stand firm” (v. 14). But how are we to be strong, how are we to stand firm, how are we to resist? We are to do it in the power of the God who raised Jesus from the grave! The Greek word Paul uses for “strong” is the same word he uses in Ephesians 1:19.[4] The point is that the source of our power does not come from within, but from an infinitely greater power source! Remember Paul’s prayer for the Christian at the beginning of his epistle: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe.” Then Paul uses the same language in Ephesians 1:19-20 that he uses in 6:10, consider the apostle’s carefully chosen words in 1:19-20 again: “These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places...” Our power comes from His might and nowhere else! It doesn’t come from our talents, it doesn’t come from our skills, it doesn’t come from our education, and it doesn’t come from how many verses of the Bible we fill our brains with; all those things are good, but they are not the place from where we draw our power!
We have got to get this straight in our churches and especially at Meadowbrooke! We have seen several pastors fall recently, three of the men that come to mind have had such a profound impact upon my life such as Ravi Zacharias, Tony Evens, and just this week... Steven Lawson! I have the books these men have written on my bookshelves, I have listened to scores of their sermons, and their ministries have ended due to sexual sin! For five years Steven Lawson preached in his church and at huge conferences while maintaining an affair with a woman a third of his age.
There have been many Christian song writers and worship leaders who have either renounced their faith in the name of deconstruction and we have sung their songs with the impression that they were motivated by God. It is possible to have a demonized or even a wolf in sheep’s clothing lead in our worship services and assume his motivations are pure when instead they are predatory. Oh how easy it is to trust in skill, and charm, and beauty, through what we see and feel and assume the power is from God when it is not from Him. How easy it is to become idol while our spiritual senses dull to the onslaught of the demonic!
In Ephesians we are told repeatedly where it is that our source of power must come from if we are going to, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (4:1). Notice where it is that Christ is seated in Ephesians 1:21-23; He is seated, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:21-23). Do you know what that means? What it means is that He has conquered the rulers, powers, the world forces of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places! They are all under the heel of His omnipotent foot! All the might you will ever need to be strong, to stand firm, and to resist in the evil day is in Jesus.
However, if you are not abiding in Jesus, if you are not pursuing Jesus, if He is not to your life and breath, then you will grow dull in your spiritual senses! If God’s word is not the truth you are putting into your spiritual veins, if you are feeding your mind and soul more of what this world wants you to consume, if you are more interested in playing than you are in preparing to stand before Jesus... then you are easy prey for the enemy to devour!
If you are a Christian, you have been chosen by God to be holy and blameless in Jesus (1:4-6). If you are a Christian, you have been redeemed through the blood of the Lamb of God for another city God has for you (1:7-12). If you are a Christian, you have been sealed by God’s Holy Spirit and have all of the Holy Spirit you will ever need to live in the kind of divine power to stand firm against the devil and his schemes (1:13-14). How much of your heart does the Father have? How much of your allegiance does the Son have? How much of your life does the Holy Spirit have?
What changes can you make to be more alert and to stand in the strength of almighty God? Permit me to make some recommendations:
“Stop striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth.” The Lord of armies is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold.”
[1] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13, (Grand Rapids, MI: BakerBooks; 1976), p. 21. [2] Sam Storms, Understanding Spiritual Warfare (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Reflective; 2021), p. 290. [3] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 175. [4] In Ephesians 1:19, Paul uses dynamis (power); in 6:10, he uses endynamoō (strong). Both words are from the same root. | |||
| The King Who is Coming | 31 Dec 2023 | 00:41:14 | |
In Revelation 19:11-18 is a description of Jesus that proceeds His reign on earth as promised King who will bring peace on earth. In our passage there are eight descriptions of King Jesus that highlight His authority and character as the Only One who is able to make what is wrong in our world right. Jesus is coming and will come to make peace in our world by waging war on the antichrist who is to come and all the peoples who will align themselves with Him. It will be the realization that perhaps there was some truth that all roads do in fact lead to God, with the major clarification that many lead to Him as judge and only one leads to Him as savior. All I want to do with the time that we have this morning is to show you who He really is.
Jesus is a triumphant King.
The color white does not symbolize purity here as it does when used to describe garments. The white war horse that Jesus descends from heaven on symbolizes His role as a conquering King, and what is impressive is that, in Revelation 19:1, the battle has not yet begun.
Jesus is coming back. You dont have to believe it and you dont even have to live like it, but the fact of the matter is this: Jesus is coming again, and He is not coming to die like He did the first time He came, He is coming to judge! The Bible says, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10-11; see also Isa. 45:22-23).
The Roman Senate had to give Julius Caesar permission to drive a chariot drawn by white horses through Rome to celebrate his victory in North Africa, but only after he defeated North Africa. When Jesus comes, He comes as a victorious King whose power will be demonstrated in such a way that every living creature will have no alternative but to bow before Him as the Lord. He rides a white horse signifying His victory because none can stay His hand.
Jesus is a Faithful and True King (v. 11a).
The second characteristic of Jesus is that He is faithful and true. When King Jesus comes to set up His kingdom, He will have no need to boast in a facade of faithfulness and truth because He is the very embodiment of faithfulness and truth.
There is a lot of suffering in the world today. Every time there is a catastrophe in the world, governments rush with promises of help and often those who are left in the wake of tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, ethnic genocide, and the like, are left with empty promises of deliverance. Not so with Jesus!
My dear brothers and sisters, many of you have been touched by divorce. Some of you have grown up with one broken promise after another. Some of you have been disappointed, have been hurt, have been mistreated, or perhaps taken advantage of. Take a look at verse 11 again, and permit me to ask you, Who is sitting on the white horse? Jesus is planning an eternity with His Bride, and He means to make a home for her that is characterized by holiness and righteousness.
Jesus is a righteous King (v. 11b). When Jesus comes, He will come in righteousness to judge the nations. There will be no room to accuse Him as being harsh, rash, or unjust in the execution of His judgment.
For many of you, the idea of righteousness and justice is something you have been thinking a lot about because of the politicking we are seeing on television. An election will be coming soon in the United States; promises will be made, and every candidate will claim some measure of integrity while maligning the other candidates.
The wars we read about in our history books and the ones we hear on the news often leave a wake of injustice and suffering. Books have been written about The Just War. Whatever your views are concerning war and the one we may find ourselves in the future, one thing is sure: When Jesus comes to wage war on the nations, it will be completely and categorically just, for the Bible says of Jesus:
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make decisions by what His ears hear; but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the humble of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the belt around His waist. (Isaiah 11:15)
Jesus is an all-seeing King (v. 12a).
This is the third time in Revelation that Jesus is described as having eyes like fire (see 1:14; 2:18); every time He is characterized this way, it is metaphorical of His ability to see all things, including the human heart. As King, Jesus will execute justice on all those who have rejected Him as the way, the truth, and the life.
Jesus does not have to pretend at being able to see all things; He is able to see all things; He is all knowing, and the entire world will be held accountable for what they do and think, both in public and private. When He comes to judge the nations, He will do so intelligently, there will be no civilian casualties.
Jesus is the King of kings (v. 12b).
In verse 12b, John notices something on Jesus head: many crowns. The Greek word for crown is also diadēma (we get the word diadem from it), it also means rulers crown. It is used only three times in Revelation. It is used to describe the crown worn by the dragon (12:3), the beast (13:1), and Jesus Christ. The point that is being made here is that the dragon (Lucifer) and the beast pretend to be what Jesus is. Their authority is temporary and given by God, Jesus authority is absolute and universal (This is why John records that Jesus had many crowns. The use of many is one way of saying innumerable).
When Jesus comes, not only does John see many crowns on His head, but John also sees the title King of kings and Lord of lords on His robe and thigh. Every king or ruler that had been born into this world has had a temporal reign limited by age and mortality. When it comes to our lifespan, we are all like blips on a radar flashing on the screen of life and fading out just as quickly as we came in; James 4:14 asks, You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Jesus reign and authority is eternal and genuine, He does not need to pretend.
Jesus is a One-of-a-kind King (v. 12c)
There is a lot of debate and theologizing over what name Jesus has that no one knows. There are two things we know about the ancient world of Johns day that may help us understand why Jesus has a name that no one knows. First, it was common in the world of Johns day to believe that both the gods and humans had a hidden name that contained their true essence, that defined their fundamental nature. Second, it was believed that to know a persons name was to exercise some level of control over that person. What is revealed of the Rider on the white horse is that His revealed name is called, The Word of God and what is tattooed on His thigh is the title: King of kings and Lord of lords.
What we see in Revelation 19:11-18, Paul described in Philippians 2:9-11, which I believe helps us understand the unknown name that only He knows: For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. What Paul wrote in Philippians 2:9-11 would have given his readers goosebumps because of what is written in Isaiah 45:22-23,
Declare and present your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this long ago? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. (Isa. 45:2123)
According to Isaiah, only Yahweh has the right to judge the nations, and it is to Yahweh that every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear allegiance. Yet, Paul tells us that it will be before and to Jesus that, every tongue will swear allegiance and every knee will bow. Revelation 19:11-18 described the day when that will happen. The name that Jesus has that no one knows is reveals his absolute authority as God in the flesh who will not nor cannot be manipulated.
Jesus is a just and holy King (v 13a).
Why is Jesus robe dipped in blood? Is His robe dipped in blood to symbolize what He did at Calvary? I do not think so. I think Isaiah 63:2-3 gives us a clue to the meaning behind what John sees, Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the wine press? I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no one with Me. I also trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My clothes (Isa. 63:13). Jesus robe is dipped in blood to indicate how He intends to deal with the nations that conspire against Him. How will He accomplish this? Look at verse 15, From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron
The justice Jesus will execute will flow out of His perfect holiness; it is the kind of judgment described in Psalm 2
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, Lets tear their shackles apart And throw their ropes away from us! He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain. I will announce the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, You are My Son, Today I have fathered You. Ask it of Me, and I will certainly give the nations as Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware. (Psalm 2:29)
Jesus, as the Word of God, is the Promised King.
Jesus is the Word of God, a title that is not unfamiliar in the New Testament. It is fitting that John closes his description of Jesus with this title because it gets at the reason why Jesus is qualified to come and judge the nations: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it (John 1:15).
However, while on earth, even with all the miracles that include His power over demons, disease, and even death (see Mark 5:1-43) the feeding of thousands with some kids five barley loaves and two fish (John 6:1-14), walking on water (6:15-25), and even His power over storms (Matt. 8::18-27), there were people who still refused to believe that He was the promised Messiah. This is why John continued in the opening statements of his Gospel account something to consider against the backdrop of what you have seen in Revelation 19:11-18, He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God (John 1:1013).
Conclusion
As I consider this sermon series for Adventespecially what we have reflected on in Revelation 19, I am reminded of the conversation Lucy had with Mr. Beaver in C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when Mr. and Mrs. Beaver tried to help Lucy understand who Aslan was (Aslan is Narnias Christ figure):
"Is - is he a man?" asked Lucy
"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion, the Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh," said Susan, "I thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king I tell you."
The Lion of Judah is not safe, but He is good. Hes the king I tell you, and His name is Jesus Christ.
The question I ask of you is simply this: Who do you say Jesus is and do you really believe it? Have you come to know Him? Do you really believe in His name? Is Jesus a religious icon to you, is He only a baby in a manger, or is He the King? Wherever you are in your thoughts and convictions about Jesus, I leave you with the last two verses of Psalm 2, Serve the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, that He not be angry and you perish on the way, For His wrath may be kindled quickly. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him" (vv. 11-12). | |||
| Behold the King in a Manger! | 24 Dec 2023 | 00:26:06 | |
I was thinking the other day that the manger that Jesus was laid in was dirty compared to our standards today. It is estimated that Jesus was most likely born in March or April. We are not entirely sure what kind of room he was born in, but the fact that there was a manger (feeding trough) gives us some idea that it was where the animals were kept.
So, what was in the stable Jesus was most likely born in? If there were donkeys, cattle, sheep, or chickens, there was also the smell of manure and urine, cattle-biting lice, a whole bunch of annoying species of flies common in the middle east known as the Bazaar Rly (known to spread trachoma an irritating eye disease). Do not forget the common Stable Fly that would have been feeding on the blood of the livestock surrounding Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. By the way the Stable Flies Mary and Joseph shooed away from Jesus may have carried anthrax. My guess is, there were most likely rats and mice along with all the diseases they carry.
The manger was a feeding trough and before they prepared it to lay Jesus in, there was no Clorox to disinfect it from it being used for animals to eat from, drool into, and maybe even sneeze out an occasional maggot that crawled up into the snouts of certain animals to live in their throats. I am sure Joseph did his best to clean out the manger, but then you have the bedding to consider, which would have been straw infested with straw itch mites. So the first group of people invited to see the Christ-Child are dirty shepherds?
My point is simply this: The One born King of the Jews made His grand entrance into our world through the mess of a stable. But why that way? It was of Jesus that the ancient prophets declared:
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel. (Isa. 7:14)
For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Isa. 9:6)
But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity. (Mic. 5:2)
Why a stable? Before I answer that question, I want us to reflect on Hebrews 1:1-3 briefly. In only three verses, we are given nine reasons for why there is a good reason for the shepherds, a stable, and a manger.
Jesus is the Only Way to Know God. The best and greatest revelation of who God is according to the author of Hebrews, is Jesus. According to the prophet Micah, Jesus did not become the Son of God at Marys miraculous conception as a virgin or at His birth; no Jesus was always God the Son long before His birth, for His times of coming forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity (Mic. 5:2).
What did happen when Mary was told that she would have a child, is that Jesus took on human flesh, and He did so to live a life while remaining fully divine and fully human, and the life He lived was the life we could not live for the purpose of dying a death he did not deserve on a cross for the sins of mankind. Jesus said of Himself: For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).
Jesus is the heir of all things. The One laid in the manger, was and remains the heir of all things. All of creation belongs to Him; it was His from the beginning, but it is especially His now! The Bible says that all of us are sinners from the moment of conception in that we are all born sinful. When Jesus took on human flesh by way of the miraculous conception that did not include a human biological father, he was born without a nature to sin. Jesus was fully God while remaining fully human.
For sinful humanity and a cursed creation to be liberated from sin, a kinsmen redeemer was needed. If a family member lost their inheritance and property for any reason, a kinsmen redeemer was needed who met three requirements: He must be related to the person who suffered lost, he must have the ability to purchase back what was lost, and he must be willing to make the sacrifice necessary to restore what was lost. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned against God, the curse of sin has been passed down from one generation to the next. The child that was laid in a manger is the kinsmen redeemer qualified to restore what was lost through Adams sin.
Jesus is the Creator of the world. Jesus not only existed before His birth on the first Christmas, but we are also told that it was through Him that God made the world. The Bible says of Jesus: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authoritiesall things have been created through Him and for Him (Col. 1:16). The one who was laid in the manger, was responsible for the material that human hands used to fashion it, which also shows us that only is Jesus a qualified redeemer, but He is also an able redeemer.
Jesus radiates the glory of God. Jesus does not reflect the image of God like the moon reflects the Suns light. No, Jesus radiates the glory of God like the Sun radiates light. Jesus was not created by God but is God. There was never a time when Jesus was created because there was never a time when He was not the Son. The God of the Bible is unlike any other god that people have created to worship, for the God we learn of in the Bible is Yahweh as One God in three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit.
Jesus is exact representation of Gods nature. I have two sons; they share my DNA but they are not me nor are they the exact representation of me. There is a Son who shares the exact representation of Gods nature, and that Son is Jesus, for the God the Son and the God the Father are of the same divine essence; this is how Jesus is the climax of Gods revelation of Himself to lost humanity. When one of his disciples asked Jesus, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. To which Jesus answered: The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? (John 14:8-9).
When Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds saw the face of Jesus, the saw the face of God.
Jesus is the sustainer of creation. The mystery of the incarnation and miracle of Christmas is that the one who was laid in a manger, is the One who sustains and keeps creation, by the word of His power. What the author of Hebrews is trying to say here is that the Son of God is not only responsible for creation, but actively preserves creation! This is why Jesus could walk on water, cure diseases, raise the dead, and quiet storms with the word of His mouth.
Jesus is a qualified and willing redeemer. The One who was laid in the manger was born to make purification of sins, and the way that he did it was through a cross of wood for sins we committed and are guilty of. This is why, when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)! Hundreds of years before Christmas happened, the prophet Isaiah wrote of Jesus: But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; the punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed (Isa. 53:5). The Christ-Child was born to become a curse for us so that we could be pardoned, redeemed, and made the children of God (Gal. 3:13-14); or as the Bible states: He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).
Jesus is the only one who can save. After Jesus died upon the cross for our sins for our redemption, we are told that Jesus, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high What this means is that because of who He is and why He took on human flesh, after He died, Jesus rose from the grave because how can death keep the Author of Life? After Jesus rose, He ascended to heaven, and He sat down! He sat down because his sacrifice for sin only had to be offered once and for all! This is why Jesus said of Himself: I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). Besides Jesus, there is salvation found in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved (Acts. 4:12).
Jesus is to be worshiped because of who He is. The child born on the first Christmas and laid in a dirty manger surrounded by dirty creatures, of which Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, and every other human is the dirtiest; He was born to save sinners. Of Jesus the scriptures testify: And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth (Phil. 2:810).
The question for you my dear friend, is what will you do with Jesus today, on this Christmas Eve?
The reality of Christmas is simply this: Jesus was really born. Jesus really did live, Jesus really did die on a Roman cross, and Jesus really did rise from the grave. J.R. Tolken, who wrote The Lord of the Rings, once said of the story of Jesus: The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind, which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories. But this story is supreme, and it is true. Art has been verified. God is the Lord, of angels, and of menand of elves. Legend and History have met and fused.[1]
The reason Jesus made His grand entrance into our world through the mess of a stable is because He was born to enter into the mess of sin-cursed humanity. The message of the manger is simply this: If you were a hundred times worse than you are, your sins would be no match for His mercy.[2] Jesus came to save us!
[1] J. R. R. Tolkien. On Fairy Stories, (1939).
[2] Tim Keller. | |||
| The King of Glory | 24 Dec 2023 | 00:48:20 | |
God is a Trinity in that He is One God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In his book, Delighting in the Trinity, Michael Reeves wrote of the Trinity: If the Trinity were something we could shave off God, we would not be relieving him of some irksome weight; we would be shearing him of precisely what is so delightful about him. For God is triune, and it is as triune that he is so good and desirable.[1] Fed Sanders in his book, The Deep Things of God, wrote:
God is eternally Trinity, because triunity belongs to his very nature. Things like creation and redemption are things God does, and he would still be God if he had not done them. But Trinity is who God is, and without being the Trinity, he would not be God. God minus creation would still be God, but God minus Father, Son, and Holy Spirit would not be God. So when we praise God for being our creator and redeemer, we are praising him for what he does. But behind what God does is the greater glory of who he is: behind his act is his being.[2]
To appreciate the glory of the King who was born on the first Christmas, you must understand what it is that sets the God of the Bible apart from every cult and religion is that the God in the Bible is One God in Three (Trinity) Persons. What this means is that there was never a time when Jesus was created because there was never a time when He was not the Son.
What happened that never happened before and never will happen again is in the angels announcement to Mary: behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus (Luke 1:31)? What happened that was new was God the Son took on human flesh by being conceived in the womb of a virgin. What was new was that God the Son also became the Son of Mary (Luke 1:31, 35). Represented in the Christ Child was, the union of undiminished deity and perfect humanity forever in one person.
The message of advent is simply this: The plan was always for a King to reign in Israel over all the nations. In passages like Isaiah 44:6-8, Yahweh was to be King over Israel. We are told in verse 6, This is what Yahweh says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Yahweh of armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. In 2 Samuel 7:13, we read of how king David was promised that a very human descendant of his would reign as king forever: He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Both Isaiah 44:6-8 and 2 Samuel 7:13 come together in the promise of Isaiah 9:6-7,
For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:67)
The glorious reality of the Trinity is that the Son was always the King of Isaiah 44 and Isaiah 9, and the incarnation allowed Him to be all of Isaiah 44:6-8 and Isaiah 9:6-7 while at the same time becoming the Son of David (2 Sam. 7:8-17) through the virgin birth (Luke 1:26-38).
Jesus is the Means for Our Redemption (vv. 4-8)
The book of Revelation was written to suffering Christians who needed encouragement. There was much that John suffered because of his association with Jesus, and although he most likely was not martyred for his faith, many of his friends were.
If you believe that the purpose of the book of Revelation is primarily about how the world will end, you have missed the point of the book entirely. We are told why it was written in its opening verses: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bondservants, the things which must soon take place (v. 1). When you are in a season of long-term suffering, it is easy to grow weary believing that there will be no end to such suffering. The book of Revelation was written to encourage suffering Christians that their suffering had an expiration date while their salvation would remain nonperishable.
Before we are told about what is coming, John first tells us what has already happened. In just three short verses, the apostle lists for us seven reasons why we can be confident that our suffering is not how our story will end:
John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His bloodand He made us into a kingdom, priests to His God and Fatherto Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Rev. 1:46)
The grace and peace of verse 4 is from three persons. The One, who is, and who is to come is God the Father, the seven spirits is a reference to the Holy Spirit,[3] and, the grace and peace that is for the Christian is from Jesus Christ. Seven is an important number in the Bible, especially in the book of Revelation and its use is symbolic of fullness. In these opening verses, John lists seven ways Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection benefits the Christian:
Jesus is a faithful witness in the way He lived, died, and rose from the grave. His life is our example, and we are to look to Him as we, run with endurance the race that is set before us looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfector of the faith (Heb. 12:1-2).
Jesus is the first born of the dead in that he suffered and died, but He did not stay dead. Jesus conquered death, which means that our death will eventually lead to a resurrection too.
Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth in that He is sovereign over all earthly powers to the point that no king can destroy what Jesus loves and treasures.
Jesus loves us and His love for His Church is not fleeting, fragile, or conditional.
Jesus released us from our sins by His blood in that He shed His blood on a cross of wood by becoming a curse for us to free us from the curse of sin in perpetuity.
Jesus made us into a kingdom in that the citizenship of the Christian is in the realm of Jesus kingdom.
Jesus made us into priests who were once alienated from God, are now reconciled to God, and called to participate in the mission of God as His ambassadors.
Because God the Father so loved the world, He sent Jesus the Son who completed all that was needed for our redemption, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because we are recipients of the first advent of Christs coming, we now long for the second advent of His coming which, according to verses 8-9 is as good as done: Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:78).
This is why the angel was able to announce to lowly shepherds that the birth of Jesus was good news: Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:1011). So, we rejoice with the hymn writer who wrote of Jesus:
He makes the rebel a priest and a king,
He has bought us and taught us this new song to sing:
Unto Him who has loved us and washed us from sin,
Unto Him be the glory forever. Amen.[4]
Jesus is the Glory of Our Redemption (vv. 9-16)
In Revelation 1:9-16, John sees the glory of the One who was laid in a manger on the first Christmas, what he lists for us are nine characteristics of Jesus glory that come together in Him being fully God and fully manjust as the number 7 symbolizes fullness or completeness, the number 9 symbolizes perfection. Here are the nine things John sees in a Jesus who, because of the incarnation now is fully God and fully Man for the rest of eternity:
Jesus stands in the middle of the seven lampstands. The lampstand John sees was like the menorah used in Solomons temple that symbolized the seven days of creation. It was one lampstand with seven lamps. Remember that seven symbolizes fullness; the seven churches are both seven literal churches that symbolize the global Church. Jesus is both Lord of the Church and the center of the Church because He purchased her with His blood. He is the groom, and the Church is His Bride. In the manger was laid the groom of the Church!
Jesus is clothed in a robe wearing a golden sash. The clothing Jesus is wearing when John sees Him is that of both a High Priest and a King. Jesus stands in the midst of His Church as the King and He stands serving as the High Priest whose perfect sacrifice was Himself for the atonement for sins, sins we are guilty of. The one laid in a manger was born to die for sinners: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for usfor it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Gal. 3:13).
Jesus head and hair are white like white wool. Jesuss head and hair are white because before He was born in flesh, he was for all eternity the Ancient of Days spoken of by the prophet Daniel, I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head like pure wool (Dan. 7:9). The one laid in a manger is the Ancient of Days who stands as the groom, High Priest of His Church because He is Him who is, Holy, holy, holy
Jesus eyes are like a flame of fire. What is the point? Christian, you are the Church, and although you may be weary and tired the Groom of the Church does not grow weary or tired! The One laid in a manger sees you and sees all that is wrong in the world; His eyes are like a flame of fire because the judgment He will bring will make all that is wrong in our world right and good, for when He comes, he will come to make His blessings flow as far as the curse is found.
Jesus feet are like burnished and glowing bronze. His feet of bronze symbolize the strength of Jesus as both King and Savior who will crush His enemies, of which the first enemy was death. He is Lord of His Church who stands in the midst of His Bride which means that NO ONE can remove His lampstands from Him; the One whose feet are like burnished bronze is He who declared: My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand (John 10:2728).
Jesus voice is like the sound of many waters. Like the continuous waves of the ocean or the roar of Niagara Falls to the tenth power the cries of the infant child from Marys womb on the first Christmas to the triumphant cry from the Cross: It is finished! is the voice of the Ancient of Days; when He speaks creation happens, demons flee, the lame walk, the sick are cured, and the dead become the living! The voice that John heard is the voice of omnipotent power and absolute authority.
Jesus holds in His right hand the seven stars. Whoever or whatever the seven stars are, the point is that Jesus holds them in His right hand, which is the hand of strength. The point is that there is only One King of kings and One Lord of lords; it was a reminder that although Rome had her emperor who sentenced John to Patmos, there is only One true Sovereign! Jesus is sovereign over empires, He is sovereign over the cosmos, He is sovereign over life and death! The One laid in the manger, is the One, before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Col. 1:17).
From Jesus mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword. The sharp two-edged sword is symbolic of the life and power of Christs Word. What comes out of the mouth of King Jesus is, living and active, and sharper than any two-edge sword (Heb. 4:12). Philip Hughes said of the sword John saw come out of Jesus mouth: The sword which is the Lords word has two edges [so] it never fails to cut. If it does not cut with the edge of salvation, it cuts with the edge of condemnation; for the word of redemption to all who believe is at the same time the word of destruction to those who refuse to believe.[5]
Jesus face is like the sun shining in its strength. In the face of Christ, John sees what we must see in Jesus: To have Him shine upon you as your savior and redeemer who was born to live the life you could never live to die a death that you deserved to die is to have the face of God shine upon you. In the face of Jesus is the union of undiminished deity and perfect humanity forever in one person.
What John saw in Revelation 1:4-18 was, is, and forever will remain the only version of Jesus that exists. The Jesus that John saw and experienced was not a Jesus who became the Son of God through the virgin birth, but He has always been the Son of God! It is this Jesus the prophet Jeremiah wrote about hundreds of years before the Christ Child was laid in a manger on the first Christmas: Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will live securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, Yahweh Our Righteousness. (Jer. 23:56). To worship any other Jesus besides this Jesus is to embrace a version of Jesus who cannot save!
Conclusion: Jesus is the Goal of Our Redemption (vv. 17-18)
After John experiences this Jesus, we are told that he, fell at His feet like a dead man. I am not sure if that means John had a heart attack or what, but what I do know is that Jesus placed his right hand on the apostle and said something that should now be clearer to you than when you first arrived this morning: Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys to death and of Hades (vv. 17-18).
What does all this mean? What it means is this: the child born to Mary was, is, and forever will be fully God and fully Man who was born to save sinners like you and me. The Jesus of Revelation 1:4-18 took on human flesh and was born on the very first Christmas. If the manger could speak to all in attendance as it held the One identified as the Ancient of Days, the Prince of Peace, and Yahweh our Righteousness it would say, If you were a hundred times worse than you are. Your sins would be no match for His mercy.[6]
Amen.
[1] Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic; 2012); p. 9.
[2] Fred Sanders, The Deep Things of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2017); p. 75
[3] The number seven is symbolic of fullness and is used here as a reference to the fullness of the Holy Spirits work in the lives of Gods people (see Isa. 11:2; Rev. 3:1; 4:5; 5:6).
[4] Joel R. Beeke, Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books; 2016); p. 26.
[5] Ibid. pp. 46-7.
[6] Tim Keller. | |||
| The King Needed | 17 Dec 2023 | 00:47:25 | |
We have sanitized the Christmas story and made it clean and cute but think for a moment of what the Christmas story includes. The Christmas story is not only the announcement to Mary and Joseph of Jesus miraculous conception in Marys womb while remaining a virgin, it is not only the pronouncement to lowly shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night, nor is it simply the visit of the magi. The Christmas story is far more than a nativity scene!
Think about Jesus resurrection and all the details that surround it. In a culture that did not have much regard for women, it was a woman who first witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. If the gospel writers made up the story of Jesus resurrection, they would not have chosen women to be the first to witness the greatest event in history.
In Matthews gospel account, to whom Jews were the primary audience, it is the magi who are included at the beginning of his story in connection to proving the point that the infant Jesus was indeed qualified as the rightful heir of King David. The irony in this is that if you are going to tell a story about Jesus and the motive in doing so is to prove to every Jewish reader that He is the Messiah and greater than David, why in the world would you insert magi into your story?Who were the magi you ask? The magi were royal counselors who used astrology for guidance. Do you know what the Old Testament says about astrology? The Bible forbids the practice of astrology (Deut. 4:9) and uses strong language against it (Isa. 47:13-15).
So, why would Matthew include the magi in his story about the life of Jesus? Because God summoned gentile pagans to the Savior of the nations by speaking a language that they could understand.
Do you not find it to be both ironic and encouraging that the story of the pagan magi and a woman with a shady past serve as book ends of the four gospels included in the Bible to show us that Jesus is not just the King of the Jews, but also the Savior of the world. Jesus is Gods Yes! to all of His promises of which the one made to Abraham is no exception: And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 12:2-3). Through Jesus, a son of Abraham and David, the nations are blessed the invitation of the magi and Mary Magdalene to witness the two most extraordinary events in human history is testament to Jesus as the hope of the nations.
God Wields Time and Space for His Own Sovereign Designs
We are not told how many magi saw the star and we are not given the exact longitude and latitude from where their journey began. All that we are told is that magi were from the East. Now, as I mentioned last week, there are two principals at work that made the first Christmas possible; those principles are: 1) the incarnational principle, and 2) the grace principle.
The promise, birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was never plan B but always plan A in the mind of God, because His intention was always to dwell with His people. The principle of the incarnation is seen in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eves sin, Israels experience with God in the wilderness, and in the promise of Isaiah 7:14, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel. Matthew is quick to point out that Immanuel means God with us. Connected to the incarnation principle is the principle of Gods unconditional grace in that when it came to the virgin birth, there was nothing anyone could have done to make it happen or to prevent it from happening; Christmas happened all because of Gods unconditional and unmerited grace.
It was the apostle Paul who wrote: But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters (Gal. 4:4-5). In Matthew and Luke we are provided two separate genealogies that demonstrate this. In Luke 3:23-38 we receive what many scholars believe to be Marys genealogy since the point of Lukes gospel is to show Jesus humanity. In Matthew 1:1-17, we are given Josephs genealogy showing Jesus legal standing as a member of the tribe of Judah as the rightful heir to Davids throne, but before we look at Josephs decision to follow through with his marriage to Mary, I want you to see why the magi are so important to Matthews gospel. For now, what you need to know is that God moved history, empires, and kings so that Joseph and Mary would meet, fall in love, and get engaged with a plan to start a family together.
Sandwiched in between the time Mary and Josephs genealogies represent, is the 70 years much of the tribe of Judah was carried off into exile into Babylon (see Jer. 29:10). Babylons method of exile was to ingraft their culture into the culture of the Hebrews. What was threatened by the Babylonian exile was the preservation of the tribe of Judah. One of the Hebrews exiled into Babylon was a young man by the name of Daniel. God had gifted Daniel as a prophet and used him to speak into the life of one of the kings of Babylon known as Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel spent all of his long life as an exile, but for purposes related to this sermon, I want to turn your attention to the time Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a huge statue made of four distinct types of material with a head of gold, a chest and arms made of silver, a belly and thighs made of bronze, legs of iron, and feet made of both iron and clay.
The Chaldeans were summoned by the king to interpret his dream without being told what dream Nebuchadnezzar had. The Chaldeans were also known as Babylons wise men, and because they told the king that to interpret a dream without being told about the dream was impossible, Nebuchadnezzar threatened death upon all the wise men who could not interpret his dream (Dan. 2:1-18). Because the God Daniel worshiped is the God who can do the impossible he revealed the dream and its meaning to Daniel. Before Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzars dream, he praised God with these words: May the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and periods; He removes king and appoints kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, and knowledge to people of understanding (Dan. 2:20-21).
Daniel told the king what he dreamed and then interpreted it for him. The kingdoms represented in the different materials of the statute included Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. There was a fifth kingdom represented in Nebuchadnezzars dream that was separate from the statute which was in the form of a stone not cut out by human hands that struck the statues feet which resulted in the crushing of the entire statue. Here is Daniels interpretation of the stone that destroyed the earthly kingdoms: And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever (Dan. 2:44). Guess what the king did next after Daniel finished interpreting his dream? He promoted Daniel as ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief over, all the wise men of Babylon (vv. 46-49).
I dont think the magi worshiped the same God of Daniel, but I do think they could trace their roots all the way back to Babylon, and I am convinced that their interest in finding the King of the Jews was related to the stone that was in Nebuchadnezzars dream. I think they included in their studies of the stars any sacred document related to Daniels people in an effort to find and discover the King of the Kingdom that Daniels God would set up that will have no end. If the magi were familiar with Micah 5:2 and its connection they made with Numbers 24:17, which states: A star shall appear from Jacob, a scepter shall rise from Israel (see Matt. 2:1-6), dont you think they were also familiar with Isaiah 9:6-7? I think that the magi connected the dots in the Old Testament and believed that Micah 5:2; Numbers 24:17, Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6-7 were about the One a powerful pagan Babylonian king dreamed about 500 years before Jesus was born:
For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.
The way that God spoke to the magi was through a language they could understand as they looked to the stars the God of Daniel created. We are not told how God did it, but He was able to lead the magi with a star because He is the One, who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think (Eph. 3:20)!
God Shatters the Assumptions of Man Through His Redemptive Plans
Now back to Joseph and Marys genealogies and personal lives. Following Gods promise to Abraham that He would bless him by making him a great nation and a blessing to the nations were 430 years of Egyptian slavery, 40 years in the wilderness, and 70 years in exile. There were some good years in-between those hard years of slavery, wilderness wandering, and exilic discipline, but during those seasons, I am pretty sure that it was difficult for the Hebrew people to see any silver lining or hope that God would, or could, turn the ugly around into something beautiful, but what Joseph and Marys genealogy shows us is that is exactly what God was doing with the 430 years of Egyptian slavery, 40 years in the wilderness, and 70 years in exile!
Gods plan for Israel and the nations always included a king, but not any old king. The king God intended was a King both human and divine. The plan was never for Israel only to have a human king just like David, nor was His plan of Israel to be only divine. Jesus was always plan A and never plan B. Let me briefly show what I mean by reminding you what we have looked at in the Bible during this series so far. In Exodus 19:6, God said of Israel after their deliverance from Egypt and as a people large enough to be their own nation: and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. What would set Israel apart from all the other nations, is that Yahweh would be their King. In Isaiah 44:6 we are told what kind of King to Israel Yahweh is: This is what the Lord says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. In other words, Yahweh is King, Redeemer, the Almighty One, eternal, and unlike any other god of the nations in that He is utterly unique! Just as we see in the first two chapters in Genesis before Adam and Eves fall, Yahweh would be King over His people.
Yet, in Genesis 49:10, God spoke through Jacob to Judah long before Israel was ever a nation and promised: The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the rulers staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Then when we come to 2 Samuel 7:13, we discover God planned for Israel that not only would the obedience of the nations belong to a human king from the tribe of Judah, but a King who, shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Furthermore, we are told in Psalm 2 that this King will rule the nations with a rod of iron but will also be One in Whom all who find refuge in Him will be blessed (vv. 8-12). In Psalm 110, David says of his descendant who will be King over the nations: Yahweh says to my Lord: Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet (v. 1). So, what kind of human King can be a physical descendant of David, have the obedience of the nations, and not be subject to the limitations of death because His reign will be eternal? The kind of King the magi sought, Mary would carry while a virgin, and Joseph would become the legal but nonbiological father of.
Both Mary and Josephs bloodline could be traced back to David, Abraham, and Adam. The problem with sin is that it is passed down from the father to his child, for we are told in the Bible: Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the violation committed by Adam (Rom. 5:12, 14). Sin is a genetically transmitted curse passed down from a mans sperm cell to a womans embryonic egg. For Jesus to be the rightful and legal heir of Davids throne, he needed to be a legal son of a man who was from the tribe of JudahJoseph qualified to be that man. For Jesus to be conceived without the curse and plague of sin being passed down to him while remaining a descendant of David, Abraham, and Adam, He had to be conceived and born of woman without biological requirement of a human sperm cell from Joseph. This is why the angel explained to Mary how she could be pregnant: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).
Conclusion
The stakes for Joseph and Mary were very high. If Joseph followed through with ending his relationship with Mary because of a refusal to believe that her pregnancy was a miraculous act of Almighty God through His Holy Spirit, then Jesus would not have been qualified legally to be King of the Jews. Regarding Marys pregnancy, there was no turning back; she could not walk away from her pregnancy like Joseph could have. However, both Mary and Joseph chose to trust the God who sovereignly wields time and space for his redemptive plans even though it blew to ashes any assumptions they had for what was impossible or possible. Together, Mary and Joseph would raise the One the magi sought to find, the one read and studied about from the prophet Micah: But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.
When the magi found Jesus, they appropriately worshiped Him and brought to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh fit for the kind of King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about 500 years earlier. The treasure for the magi, Joseph, and Mary was Jesus, and having Him in their lives was truly a source of great joy. There are two important lessons from Matthew 1:18-2:12 that I want to briefly mention and think more deeply upon next week:
In the same way that God wielded time and space to make the virgin birth a reality and the visit of the magi a possibility, God has done, is doing, and will do to accomplish his redemptive purposes in and through your life. Your circumstances and sins are swallowed up by an infinitely greater God who bears the title: Redeemer.
If God is able to move time and space to accomplish His redemptive purposes for mankind even in the 430 years of Egyptian slavery, 40 years in the wilderness, and 70 years in exile, dont you think he can do the same in the midst of the circumstances of your life caused by your own sin? Do you really think that your problems are greater than Gods ability to turn your life around?
In order to experience the great joy that Jesus brought to Mary, Joseph, and the magi they had to let go of their assumptions, dreams, future, and safety for the purpose of embracing Jesus as the One promised in Isaiah 9:6-7,
For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.
In order for you to embrace Jesus as Savior, it will require you to trust Him as Lord over and in your life. To find Jesus the Savior will require that you let go of your idols to experience Him as Redeemer. To say yes to Jesus will mean that you will have to say no to the idols of your heart.
Christmas is about Jesus as the type of King we need! | |||
| The King Promised | 10 Dec 2023 | 00:43:13 | |
There was an ancient prophesy given to one of Jacobs sons by the name of Judah, but I share it with you, I want to tell you something about Judah. Judah grew up under the faith of his father Jacob. No doubt that he heard the stories of how God met him and wrestled with him all night and how afterwards changed his birth name to Israel. My guess is that when Judah was a child, he may have asked: Daddy, where did you get that limp? What we know of Judah, was that the faith of his mother and father was not enough; Judah needed his own encounter with God.
What you need to know about Judah was that even though he was warned by his father that God forbade His people from marrying Canaanite women because they would turn his heart away from God, Judah married a Canaanite woman anyway (Gen. 38:1-2). Judah fathered three sons with his Canaanite wife who all grew up to be evil men. The oldest of Judahs sons was Er for whom Judah found a wife for by the name of Tamar. However, before Er and Tamar could begin a family together, God killed Er because of how wicked he had become; the same thing happened to Judahs second son. Tamar was without a husband and therefore in her mind, was without any hope; in the culture and time Tamar lived, to be childless and a widow essentially was to be left vulnerable with only two options: prostitution or death (read Genesis 38 for the full story).
After Judahs wife died and Tamar heard that he was going up to Timnah to shear sheep, she dressed the part of a prostitute and sat in a place Judah would see her (v. 14). Tamars plan worked out as she hoped; Judah saw her and paid her for (vv. 15-16). What is even more disturbing about the whole encounter Judah had with Tamar was that she was believed to be a cult prostitute which gives us some sense for Judahs religious convictions. The result was that Tamar got pregnant by her father-in-law and gave birth to twins. To be fair, there is much more to Judah and Tamars story, and Judah eventually does the right thing after he found out that it was his daughter-in-law that was pregnant with his children, but what led up to the twins that were born to Tamar was one big mess! Yet, it was to Judah that God promised the following:
As for you, Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your fathers sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lions cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares to stir him up? The scepter will not depart from Judah, Nor the rulers staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Genesis 49:810)
Guess who is included in Jesus family tree? Perez, one of the twins born to Tamar. Seven generations after Perez, Boaz was born who would marry Ruth, and together they would have a son (Obed), whose grandson would be named David. If you examine Jesus family tree carefully, what you will discover are highly dysfunctional people who made a mess of their lives. If you think you made a mess of your life, you will find great company in the Bible of people who have done the same who experience a God who entered into their mess.
The Type of House David Wanted to Build
Of all of Israels kings mentioned in the Bible, David is the one king by whom all other kings are compared. David is the one king of whom God identified as, A man after My heart, who will do all My will (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22).
Some of the highlights of Davids life include the courage to face the giant called Goliath when all of Israels army, including Saul as their king, were afraid to fight him; David fought the giant with a sling shot, five smooth stones, without any armor, and with one of the greatest lines in scriptures:
You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a saber, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you and remove your head from you. Then I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that this entire assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lords, and He will hand you over to us! (1 Sam. 17:45-47)
David was just a teenager when he defeated Goliath; it would not be for another 10-15 years before he would officially be installed as king. As king, David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel, he brought back the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, and through war brought peace to his nation. The one thing that David longed to do but was not permitted to do was to build the temple that his son Solomon would eventually build in his stead. In 2 Samuel 7:1-16 we are shown that although David was a good king, he was not the king Israel, or the world, needs. It is Davids desire to build a house for God that sets up what is known as the Davidic Covenant. To see the significance of how 2 Samuel 7:8-16 helps us understand the point of Advent, we need to be aware of verses 1-7,
Now it came about, when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I live in a house of cedar, but the ark of God remains within the tent. Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.
But in the same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and say to My servant David, This is what the Lord says: Should you build Me a house for My dwelling? For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; rather, I have been moving about in a tent, that is, in a dwelling place. Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?
Do you know what David is really requesting permission to do? In these verses, David is doing what all the other kings were known for doing. The kings of the nations believed that if they built a house for their god(s) then their god(s) would bless them by establishing the kings power, reign, and successes. Gods response to David shows us that Yahweh is not like the other gods of the nations. In fact, the God of Israel is very different!
Every god of every other religion demands something of its worshipers that the worshiper has no power to achieve because for every other religion, divine blessing is conditional. This is the evidence that the gods of such religions are really not gods at all. The reason why God told David that he was not permitted to build a house for Him is ultimately because with Yahweh, divine blessing can only be unconditional. In other words, the blessing is entirely dependent upon Him because we have no power to do it ourselves. Timothy Keller in a sermon on this passage, pointed out something Eugene Peterson said about Davids request that makes sense of the unconditional promise of God that follows Davids request: I think David was just about to cross over a line from being full of God to being full of himself. If any of us develops an identity in which God and Gods grace is less important to who we are than our own action and performance, our ability to represent Gods kingdom is utterly ruined.[1]
So, God said no to Davids request to build a house for good reason! God doesnt need a house like the other gods because Yahweh is the one true God! So, instead of building a house for God, God would instead build a different kind of house for David, and the building would not be a literal building but a dynasty where God will pour out His grace upon Davids descendants unconditionally. Timothy Keller said it this way: He says: I promise to make your descendants a dynastic kingship, and I will so graciously and unconditionally commit myself to them, regardless of their merit, regardless of their pedigree. I will so graciously and unconditionally commit myself to them that neither death, sin, nor time will break my commitment.[2]
Do know how God will do it? According to 2 Samuel 7:1-16, God will do it through two principles that Timothy Keller called the Incarnation Principle and the Grace Principle.
The Incarnation Principle: God does not need a building because He intends to dwell with His people.
The Grace Principle: God will do what only God is capable of doing apart from any help from any other person.
Thank God that He operates on these two principles and in such an unconditional way! Everything seemed to be going great for David up to 2 Samuel 7, but just four short chapters later he will commit a sin so horrible that had Gods covenant with David been conditional, all hope for an everlasting Kingdom would be lost (see 2 Samuel 11:1-12:31). David is only a shadow of the kind of king that would come, for the One to sit on Davids throne would indeed be the One to Whom belongs the obedience of the nations (Gen. 49:8-10), and He would come to reign forever (2 Sam. 7:14-16).
The Type of House God Would Build
The King promised to, and through, David, would not come for at least another 1,000 years. The mess David made of his life would be overshadowed by the greater mess Solomon made of his life. Within the years between Davids life and the news of Jesus birth were centuries of idolatry, exile, and the oppression of empires. About 500 years of silence would follow the last Hebrew prophet until a certain poor couple engaged to be married. Through it all, God was unconditionally committed to His promise of a King through the line of Judah and He was moving empires, cultures, and structures in His time, through our mess, to accomplish His purposes for our good and His glory!
The news would first come to a virgin and then to her fianc, both were descendants of David. Gods principle of incarnation and grace would come together in one Person in a way only the true God was capable of doing, and the news would be delivered by an angel:
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end. But Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin? The angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God.
There are seven qualities about the child who Mary would miraculously give birth to:
He will be the Son of David. (v. 31)
He will be the Savior of sinners. (v. 31)
He will be great. (v. 32)
He will be divinely the Son of God. (v. 32)
He will be the King of kings. (v. 32)
He will reign sovereignly over the nations. (v. 33)
He will reign forever. (v. 33)
So, what does advent mean for you? What does advent mean for the world? How is any of this the great news the Bible says that it is? Here are seven reasons why this is good news wrapped up in the news delivered to Mary by the angel:
As the Son of David, Jesus is fully human. The mess that makes up His family tree serves as reminder of the kinds of people He was born to redeem. Jesus was born to enter into your mess not to leave you there but to deliver you from your sin.
As the Savior for sinners, Jesus, a qualified and able savior to remedy the problem of mankind. Because Jesus is the Son of David, He qualifies to be the kinsmen redeemer as a member of the family that is the human race. Jesus, as the fully human savior, understands you more than you can ever know.
Jesus is great because He is no ordinary king. He is the One of Whom the prophets spoke about long ago! He is the One of Whom Jeremiah wrote about: Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will live securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, The Lord Our Righteousness. (Jer. 23:5-6). Jesus brings to the table of your sin a grace greater than all of your offences combined.
Jesus is divine because He is truly the Son of the Most High, not in the way you are a son or daughter, but because He proceeds from God the Father. Jesus is divine because before he took on flesh in Marys womb, He was for all eternity always the Son. The apostle Paul put it this way: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authoritiesall things have been created through Him and for Him (Col. 1:15-16). Jesus as the fully divine Son of God is not only willing to save you from your sins, but he is able to save you from your sins.
Jesus is the King of kings in that He is truly the Son of David and at the same time the Son of God. He is the King of Israel and the redeemer because He is, the first and the last (Isa. 44:6-8). Jesus as the King of kings, calls those He saves to follow Him as the King over your life.
Jesus will reign sovereignly over the nations; His Kingdom will not be limited to the twelve tribes of Israel, for it was prophesied long ago: There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom (Isa. 9:7). Jesus, as the Sovereign One, is the only One who brings the kind of peace you were made for.
Finally, Jesus kingdom will have no end in that He will reign forever and ever. As King over the nations, there will never be a moment when peace will recede, abate, or climax, for it will always increase as will the joy of His people. We are told that on that Day, the redeemed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with joyful shouting, and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away (Isa. 51:11). Jesus, who was born to redeem as far as the curse of sin is found, it the only One who can give you rest for your soul.
Marys response to this news is understandable: But Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin (v. 34)? It is in the angels answer that we again see the principles of incarnation and grace at work: The angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God (v. 35).
What is the incarnational principle? It would not be a temple God would build, but instead He would tabernacle among His people through and in the person of His own Son, which was the plan all along! God would enter into the mess of sinful humanity.
What is the grace principle? There was nothing Mary brought to the table that obligated God to bless her with the Child promised long ago to Whom belonged the obedience of the nations. It was all unconditional grace through the powerful work of God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the person of Jesus Christ.
[1] Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
[2] Ibid. | |||
| The King Longed For | 03 Dec 2023 | 00:46:08 | |
The first Avengers movie (2012) has a special place in my heart for many reasons; the primary reason for why I love this movie is because I kept Nathan from school half the day on a Friday morning on opening day to surprise him by seeing it in Imax. The second reason why I love the first Avengers movie is because it is one of the all-time great movies with great storytelling building up to one of the greatest superhero films on screen. A third reason why I love this movie is because of the theological and redemptive overtones throughout the film.
There is a scene in the film when Loki, the primary antagonist in the film, makes his first public appearance in Stuttgart, Germany before a crowd of hundreds where he delivers one of the great lines in cinema on human freedom before he is confronted by the iconic comic book hero symbolizing what we believe about freedom in Captain America. Just before Loki is confronted, he said something that resonated with me: It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity.You were made to be ruled.In the end, you will always kneel.
There is truth in Lokis words and the scene in the movie, in my opinion, captures what we believe about freedom with the villains words: You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel. It is as if to say that any powerful person or being that demands the bowing and kneeling of anyone is immoral. Yet, it is from the very words of holy Scripture that say of Jesus: For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:911).
So, what do we do with the tension we feel over Lokis words, what history seemingly has taught us, and what we read in the Bible? I believe 1 Samuel 8:1-9 and Isaiah 44:8-10 helps resolve that tension for us, and it is to 1 Samuel we now turn our attention.
The King Israel Wanted
Samuels story is a fascinating one that we cannot explore today, but there are some things that you need to know to make sense of 1 Samuel 8. His mother, Hannah, could not get pregnant and begged God for a son; in a prayer Hannah offered up to God, she made the following vow: Lord of armies, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your bond-servant, but will give Your bond-servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head (1 Sam: 1:11).
When Hannah made that vow, she lived in a time in Israels history when Eli the Priest interpreted her pleading with God for being drunk which sheds some light upon the kind of passionless and empty prayers he was used to experiencing. While Hannah begged for a son that she could give back to the service of the Lord, Elis two sons hung out outside the place where people would come to worship God at the tabernacle where they disrespected the worship of God while they slept with the women who served at the doorway of the tabernacle, and they did this all while Eli, as a priest over Israel, knew about it (see 1 Sam. 2:12ff.). The spiritual climate of Hannahs day was, in the words of the final verse in the book of Judges: In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Jud. 21:25).
So, Samuel was born to Hannah, and just as she vowed, she dedicated her son to the service of God. Samuel loved God and served Him as His appointed judge, as well as a priest and prophet before all of Israel. Samuel would serve as Israels final judge before Israel demanded a king to rule over them. Which brings us to 1 Samuel 8:1-9.
Samuel was a man of God who stands out as being uncompromising in his devotion to God. It would be easy to read 1 Samuel 8 and miss the three paradoxes that surround Israels demand for a king; the paradoxes include the names and location of Samuels two sons, the hypocrisy of everyone surrounding Samuel, and who the people really wanted to rule over them.
Paradox #1: Samuels sons were a walking paradox that served as a living parable of Israels relationship with God.
Samuels sons were named Joel and Abijah; Joel means Yahweh is God and Abijah means My father is Yahweh. Yet, both of Samuels sons who were commissioned as judges over Israel, were not known for living as though they really believed Yahweh was their God or that they identified as belonging to Him in the same way a son belongs to his father. We are told that they, turned aside after dishonest gain, and they took bribes and perverted justice (v. 3). The elders who represented Israel asked as though they were disgusted by Joel and Abijahs behavior.
Israel as a nation may not have been characterized by dishonest gain, receiving bribes from other nations, or perverting justice, but do not miss the indictment upon Israel as a nation given by the same God Samuels sons rejected: Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this dayin that they have abandoned Me and served other gods (v. 8).
The takeaways from the first paradox: First, just because you think someone elses sin is ugly does not mean that your sin is no more repulsive in the eyes of God. What matters is not whether your sin looks better than the sins of others, but what God thinks about your heart.
Secondly, we do not know what kind of father Samuel was, but you can be the godliest parent on planet earth and even that may not be enough for your child to want to walk in the ways of God. It is important to note that unlike Elis two sons whose sins were before their fathers eyes, Samuels sons lived over fifty miles away and Samuels ways were very different than the wicked ways of his two sons.
Paradox #2: Samuels two sons did not live up to their name in the same way that Israel did not live up her name.
Remember that Jacobs name means, heel-grabber and that he was known for the ways he manipulated his father and older brother Esau into receiving a birthright that was not his to take. It wasnt until he wrestled with God and was then renamed only after he yielded his life to God, that his name was Israel, and its meaning is simple: He who strives with God. Yet, Israel as a nation was not known for striving with God but walking away from God to the gods of the nations. Many years later following Israels demand for a king, the prophet Jeremiah would declare on behalf of God: Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder, be very desolate, declares the Lord. For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living waters, to carve out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that do not hold water (Jer. 2:12-13).
The takeaway from the second paradox: Israel thought their greatest need was what the world had to offer while ignoring the only source that was able satisfy their deepest longings and remedy their greatest problem, which had to do with the human heart. Sin-begotten kings cannot solve the problems of sin-begotten people.
Paradox #3: Israels demand for a king like the other nations was a vote of no-confidence in God as King over their lives.
This could not be more obvious. The irony in Israels demand for a king was not the desire for a king, but the kind of king they believed would solve the problem of the heart. We know that the desire for a king was not the issue because in Deuteronomy 17:14-20, God gave Israel the prescription for the kind of king they would one day need; there are seven characteristics listed in Deuteronomy 17 that the king needed to have to qualify to rule over Israel as king.
The king would be a person like them who Yahweh would appoint over them.
The king would be a person from among their own people.
The king would be a person who truly loved Yahweh.
The king would be a person whose security and strength rested in Yahweh.
The king would be a person who loved the Law and the Word of Yahweh.
The king would be a person who would obey the Law and Word of Yahweh.
The king would be a person who would seek to serve his people for their good and the glory of Yahweh.
Because Israel wanted a king like the nations, they would not get the kind of king described in Deuteronomy 17. The kind of king Israel would get is described in 1 Samuel 8:10-20. The irony is that Israel did not ultimately reject Samuel as a judge, but God as their King.
The takeaway from the third paradox: The One Israel needed most is who they seemed to want least. Israel wanted what the nations had and refused the good that God had for them. Israel believed that their rejection of God would give them freedom, but it would ultimately result in a greater bondage and burden that would lead to greater sorrows.
The King Israel Rejected
It wasnt Israels desire to have a king that was so bad, but the kind of king they wanted. The king that they wanted was one like what the other nations had. They wanted a king they could chose, a king whose splendor and glory came from the strength of his army, a king whose glory rested in his gold and silver, and a king who was attractive just like the kings the other godless nations had. What they ultimately wanted was the same thing Adam and Eve wanted that the serpent offered: they wanted autonomy from the God of Samuel. This is the kind of thing we are warned about in Holy Scripture: Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world (1 John 2:15-16).
When Adam and Even looked at the forbidden fruit as they were tempted by the Serpent of old, we are told: When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate (Gen. 3:6). Under the surface of Israels demand for a king like the other nations was the foolish belief in the same old lie, but only with different dressing. After Adam and Eve bit into the fruit what they got was shame and death. According to 1 Samuel 8:10-20, with the king Israel wanted and demanded, he would take from them what they have and give them a greater burden they were never meant to bear.
What was Samuel to do with the demand of the people? He brought it before the Lord in prayer. Samuel had faithfully served Yahweh and the people all of his life; it is understandable that he took the demand for a king personally. However, it was not Samuel, as the Lords servant, that they were rejecting: And the Lord said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people regarding all that they say to you, because they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them (v. 8). What kind of King is Yahweh? Oh, we are told of the kind of King He is in Isaiah 44:6-8,
This is what the Lord says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; And, let him confront Me Beginning with My establishing of the ancient nation. Then let them declare to them the things that are coming and the events that are going to take place. Do not tremble and do not be afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none.
The One Israel so eagerly rejected was Yahweh as King of Israel. The God who overwhelmed Pharaoh with 10 plagues, parted the sea, and delivered Israel through the wilderness is the One Israel was willing to trade in for someone like pharaoh. Israel demanded a sin-begotten task master in place of the Redeemer. The people demanded something the godless nations produced in place of the One true God whose Israels very existence was owing to Him. Oh, the crazy rational of sin and how it is seen in Israels desire of a man from the dirt in place of the God who is the Rock! So, God gave Israel the desire of their hearts by giving them a man by the name of Saul and boy was he a train-wreck spiritually!
If Israel had only waited! If they had only trusted in the One who establishes nations and removes them, who declares things that are coming and events that are going to take place, and had they stood on the promises of the true King of Israel as their Rock rather than on the sifting sand of worldly hopes! Gods intention for Israel always included a King, for hundreds of years before Samuel was born, an ancient promise to one of the tribes of Israel was given:
As for you, Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your fathers sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lions cub; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares to stir him up? The scepter will not depart from Judah, Nor the rulers staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Gen. 49:810)
If Israel had waited, they would have gotten a king. Not the king of Genesis 49:8-10, but one like him an imperfect prototype, but a king who was a man after Gods own heart. Instead, Israel got 40 years of Saul, just as their forefathers got 40 years in the wilderness for their sin. Eventually Israel got David who seemed to check all the boxes, the kind of king God prescribed in Deuteronomy 17, but he was only an imperfect foreshadowing of a greater King that would come from his descendants.
The King We Need
The story of humanity is one of broken cisterns that can hold no water, a story of rejecting a Greater Glory for lesser glories, a story about mans desire for the kings of the earth, and every time we end up with shame, 40 years in the wilderness, or worsewe end of with a Saul when we could have had a David.
What are you settling for? What wilderness have you found yourself in because you have settled for lesser glories in place of the Greater Glory who is the God you were born to know? What Saul have you settled for when you could have had a David?
Can I leave you with something that ought to encourage you? What God had for Israel was greater than even David! King David was part of the plan, but he was not the end-goal of that plan. What Israel could not see was that God was moving time, space, and kingdoms to introduce to the world a greater King. A King who would reign on Davids throne forever (2 Sam. 7:12-16), a King whose light would light up the darkness of sins dark cloud (Isa. 9:2), a King who would come as the ultimate Lamb for the purpose of reigning as the rightful Lion of Judah, and on the first Christmas His voice would be heard in the form of a newborn infants cries: For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). He would be sent by Yahweh. He would be a descendant of David as fully human (and fully God). He would be the Son of God with a love for Him unparalleled by any other. He would humble with an absolute dependance upon God as His Father. He would live in perfect dependance upon the Law of God with an absolute love for the Word of God. He would be born not to be served, but to serve, to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
Oh, dear brothers and sisters that One born on the first Christmas and laid in that manger for lowly shepherds to see and wandering Magi to seek was the One, born King of the Jews (Matt. 2:2); born on Christmas was the Redeemer, the Lord, the One who is the First and the Last the Living One. We were indeed meant to be ruled, but ruled by a Good King. Amen. | |||
| Working Faith | 27 Nov 2023 | 00:41:45 | |
If you dont know who I am, my name is John Olive. I gave a message on False Conversion back in September during which I described my background in criminal justice. Im not a professional theologian, but I am a passionate one, and Ive been involved in a lot of ministry work over the past 20 years.
Today I want to discuss the interaction between faith and works, which I have found to be an area of great confusion, especially among newer Christians. It is also one of the traps I fell into as a young Christian. Truthfully, much of what I preach about are related to my mistakes or character defects that God has allowed me to overcome.
As a young man, I heard several sermons in Baptist churches that were centered around Ephesians 2:8-9, so lets start there.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
This is pretty clear, isnt it? And it is really, just that clear. Works dont save us; faith saves us.
In all the sermons I recall on this passage, I dont remember anyone continuing on to verse 10:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Before I discuss anything further, I want to draw your attention to the Greek word for workmanship. It is poiema. You and I are Gods poem to a lost world. Isnt that exciting? From our brokenness God recreates us as a skillfully woven story of redemption and restoration. I just love what that says about how God looks at us and what our mission is.
Anyway, think about what Paul is saying. We are saved by grace through faith, so that we can do good works in this world that God prepared for us to do before we were even born. Saved, to do good works. Thats the Gospel message. Saved, to do. Not because doing saves us, but because real salvation produces action.
Of course, any discussion of this topic must also address what James Chapter 2 has to say.
James 2:14-26 What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that[e] God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was[g] perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
James is not telling us that works replace faith; rather, works complement faith. They flow from faith. We can see that Abraham believed God because he was willing to act upon the promise of God that he would have offspring through Isaac, and concluded that even if he sacrificed Isaac, God would raise him from the dead to fulfill the promise. Thats real faith! We know this is what Abraham was thinking because the writer of Hebrews tells us so in Hebrews 11:17-19.
Good works is a popular subject in New Testament letters. They show up in Ephesians, I Timothy, and II Timothy, among Pauls letters. They are also referenced in Hebrews, James, and I Peter Perhaps nowhere do we see such enthusiasm for good works as in Titus. First, we have Titus 2:11-15:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds. These things speak and[d] exhort, and rebuke with all authority. No one is to disregard you.
To be zealous means to be devoted to, passionate about, a zealot. We want to be constantly thinking about how we can serve people with needs.
Next, look at Titus 3:4-8:
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This statement is trustworthy; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and beneficial for people.
If we are New Testament Christians, we are to be devoted to performing good works, even though those good works dont save us.
So, what are good works?
The words in Greek are kalos ergon, meaning morally good action. This would include anything from healing the sick, raising the dead, or sharing the gospel with someone; to helping a child cross a street, assisting an older person to change a light bulb, or going grocery shopping for someone who is sick. We are serving humanity, and not just in spiritual ministry but also in practical aid.
Now, lets look at one of Pauls letters addressed to believers who became confused about faith and works.
In Galatians, we see congregations that were becoming confused by Judaizers. These were Jewish converts to Christianity, primarily in Jerusalem, who taught that indeed Jesus was the Messiah, and it was vital to believe in His work on the cross to be saved, but that was not sufficient. In addition, to be right with God, one had to adhere to Mosaic Covenant commands of obeying the Sabbath, honoring the dietary laws, and being circumcised. These Greek believers in the region of Galatia had begun their relationship with God by faith but were beginning to compromise the message of salvation by faith.
As a young believer, I fell into a similar snare when I was 20 years old. For maybe six months, I was confused, thinking that while I started my salvation experience by faith, I was required to maintain it through obedience. Its true that obedience is a byproduct of faith, and a complete absence of obedience is inconsistent with salvation, but our obedience does not improve our righteousness with God. Our right standing with God is imputed or credited to us through our faith in the blood of Christ.
I was a miserable human being. I constantly experienced a gnawing dread, because, after all, one can always study the Bible a little more, pray more, minister more. So, when is it enough? Its a treadmill without end and I was exhausted. One day as I was reading in Galatians in the Amplified Bible, I ran across these verses:
Galatians 3:19-20
What then was the purpose of the Law? It was added, later on after the promise, to disclose and expose to men their guilt because of transgressions and to make men more conscious of the sinfulness of sin; and it was intended to be in effect until the Seed should come, to and concerning Whom the promise had been made. And it (the Law) was arranged and ordained and appointed through the instrumentality of angels (and was given) by the hand (in the person) of a go-between an intermediary person (Moses) between God and man. Now a go-between (intermediary) has to do with and implies more than one party there can be no mediator with just one person. Yet God is only one person and He was the sole party in giving that promise to Abraham. But the Law was a contract between two, God and Israel: its validity was dependent on both.
In that moment, God clearly revealed to me my error. I had fallen into the trap of becoming a party to a contract, rather than a recipient of a unilateral promise. The relief I experienced was overwhelming and I wept in gratitude.
Why is works-based salvation so appealing? Salvation by grace alone through faith alone is very hard on the ego. Most of us struggle accepting free gifts that we cannot reciprocate. We dont feel right if we dont do something to earn it. But God wont allow that. Remember Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Those poor in spirit are essentially beggars. They accept that they are dependent upon the assistance of others. Grace is like that. We have a need that we cant meet and have to depend totally on God. That hurts our pride.
But Judaizers of old, and modern-day Judaizers such as Jehovahs Witness, LDS and Seventh-Day Adventists appeal to the fleshly nature to blend grace and works so we can feel good about ourselves and dupe us into believing we are at least partly saving ourselves.
Paul makes it abundantly clear that if we attempt to mix grace and works, we have abandoned salvation by grace and become debtors to the Law:
Galatians 5:2-4
Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
Now, I personally am circumcised, and most males born in western societies are also for health reasons. What Paul is talking about is being circumcised in order to fulfill a requirement of the Mosaic Law so these Greeks would be right with God. But Paul tells them that if they get circumcised and proclaim that the shed blood of Christ is not sufficient, then they cant stop there but must fulfill every requirement of the Law, which, of course, is impossible. They have left grace behind, and have been severed, or cut off, from Christ. So, we see this is an extremely serious matter. We cannot blend faith and works to be right with God. It must be faith alone.
But maybe you think you are so well versed in Christian doctrine as to be immune from any hint of achieving righteousness by works. Perhaps you are, but consider this: Have you ever hesitated in praying to God because you have had a bad day or a bad week, thinking that God is not likely to hear your prayer because you have been out of His will? Even though you confess your sin and repent, you still feel unworthy to ask God for something. If so, you have unwittingly fallen into a works-based approach to Gods presence, thinking that your ability to come to the throne of grace is somehow dependent upon your obedience. That is a subtle form of righteousness by works and must be recognized and rejected. We come to God boldly, based on Christs shed blood, and never by our obedience or lack of it. The more we grow, the more subtle become the attacks of Satan. Lets not kid ourselves into thinking we cant be deceived if we let our guard down. | |||
| Glory Days | 19 Nov 2023 | 00:48:56 | |
I love the way the Bible begins in Genesis: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters (1:1-2). On the sixth day of creation, God made mankind, in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (v. 27). The three commands given to the first couple were simple: 1) Have lots of children and fill the earth with people who worship me, 2) manage creation and subdue it, and 3) do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because, on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die (2:16-17).
Eden was the very first temple that Adam and Eve, as the people of God, were able to worship and enjoy God both as His children and as His royal priesthood. This is why Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden after they sinned against God. This is why the very last verse of the infamous third chapter in Genesis ends with these words: So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life (v. 24). But before they were expelled from the Garden, God made this promise to the first couple and the serpent who deceived Eve: And I will make enemies of you and the woman, and of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel (3:15).
Israel Enjoyed an Ancient Glory
There is nearly 2,500 years separating Adam from Moses, and all that history is crammed in between Genesis 4 and Exodus 2. Within those 2,500 years, God honored His promise to Abraham to multiply his descendants into a nation of people who would experience 400 years of slavery in Egypt, only to be miraculously liberated as His people. As a freed people, God spoke through Moses to all of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel (Exod. 19:46).
God gave Israel the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law; He also instituted a sacrificial system to address their sins, religious feasts to remind His people of His faithfulness to them, and the plans for a Tabernacle that would eventually be used to build a Temple. Its design would serve to remind them of the Garden and what Adam and Eve enjoyed, and it would serve as the place where the presence of God would be known, experienced, and seen, so God told Moses: Have them construct a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them. According to all that I am going to show you as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, so you shall construct it (Exod. 25:89).
The Tabernacle, and eventually the Temple, would serve as the center of worship for Israel as a people. In the wilderness as pilgrims journeying to the promised land, God would lead them by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the presence of God moved, Israel moved; when the presence of God rested, Israel rested. At the center of the Temple was the Ark of the Covenant where it would sit in the place known as the Holy of Holies. The Ark of the Covenant is the container where the broken tablets of the 10 commandments were placed among a few other things, it is also symbolic of the presence of God.
Nearly 500 years after Moses died and Israel finally entered the land God promised Abraham, David was anointed as King over Israel. Even though most of the psalms that are in the Bible were written by David, because he was a man of war, he was not permitted to build a Temple modeled after the Tabernacle. However, God did allow Solomon (a son of David) to build the temple in Jerusalem where the presence of God would be known, experienced, and seen. The Temple would forever be known as Solomons Temple not because it was dedicated to Solomon, but because of the great care that Solomon invested into the building of it. When it was finally completed and dedicated before the people of Israel, God spoke to Solomon:
if you turn away and abandon My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight; and I will make it a proverb and an object of scorn among all peoples. As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, Why has the Lord done these things to this land and to this house? And they will say, Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them. (2 Chron. 7:1922)
Solomon started off so well, but his life ended so tragically. Solomons life did not end well, for he loved many foreign women (1 Kings 11:1). Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines he was the Hugh Heffner of his day. The thing is, Solomon knew his Bible well, he knew what Exodus 34:16 said, You shall not enter into marriage with foreign women, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomons heart turned away from God and participated in the worship of other gods that included child sacrifice, rampant sexual immorality, and set the entire nation on track to do the same.
So, the thing that God warned Solomon and Israel would happen if they turned from Him, happened. After the death of Solomon, all of Israel would eventually become known not for the nation that worshiped Yahweh, but the nation that worshiped the gods of the other nations. God judged the nation of Israel and eventually they were handed over to a foreign nation.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were driven from the presence of God, but in the wake of Solomons idolatry, the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and left the place He promised Israel (Ezek. 10:18). Not long after the glory of God departed the temple and Israel, Solomons Temple was destroyed by Babylon.
Israel Pursued a New Glory
After hundreds of years in exile and the desperate prayers of those who truly loved and worshiped Yahweh, God allowed a small remnant of Hebrew men and women back into Jerusalem. The two things that were in ruins were the temple and the walls of Jerusalem; Ezra would eventually oversee the building of the temple, while Nehemiah would manage the building of the walls of Jerusalem. The first six chapters of Ezra give us the back story for Ezras role in overseeing the construction of the temple. The first three chapters tell us about the very initial planning for a new temple; I only want to focus on the first three chapters and the very last verse in the book of Ezra.
The only thing that happens in Ezra 3 is the exiles set up the altar where the sacrifices could be made, then the people began to celebrate the different festivals that were designed to remind them of Gods faithfulness, then hired masons and carpenters, and then laid the foundation of the temple. It would take another 20 years before the new temple would be completed. The best illustration I can come up with the kind of frustration the exiles in Jerusalem must have experienced, is to think of I-25 from Fort Collins to Denver.
Just so you know, it was not because the workers were part of the Union or that they worked for the federal government that it took so long to build the temple. There were legitimate obstacles the people faced by real adversaries. God stirred and moved King Cyrus to make a proclamation that bore the authority of any of the laws of Persia. The very first sentence in Ezra begins: Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1). So, the king proclaimed that the Hebrew exiles could return and rebuild their temple (vv. 2-4).
King Cyrus would not live to see the day when his proclamation was finally fulfilled. Just after the foundation of the temple was laid, a group of people in Jerusalem who did not want the temple built, frightened them from building, and bribed advisers against them, to frustrate their advice all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia (v. 5). For ten years the building of the temple was put on hold. In Ezra 3, with the laying of the foundation of the temple, the people celebrated, but before they could begin, Ezra 4 happened! In chapter 5, the work began in the second year of a new king (Darius) and four years later, it was finally completed (Ezra 6:15ff). When it was finally finished, the people rightfully celebrated:
And the sons of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. They offered for the dedication of this temple of God a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel twelve male goats, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel. Then they appointed the priests to their divisions and the Levites in their sections for the service of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses. (vv. 16-18).
What I find most startling about the book of Ezra is that the people seemed to have been in a really good place spiritually in their lives. As soon as they entered the land, they set up the altar before anything else so that they could worship God. They celebrated the feast of booths, which was also known as the Feast of Tabernacles as a way to celebrate the ways God preserved Israel in the wilderness and how his presence dwelled among them. They also celebrated all the other important days such as the Day of Atonement, and so much more. And, just after the new temple was dedicated, they celebrated Passover together!
Everything was going so well until we come to Ezra 9 and learn that the people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites did the same thing Solomon did that led to great evils in Israel they married the same type of women Solomon married who turned his heart away from God, and so the very last verse in Ezra serves as the epitaph of a story that began so good but ended so badly: All of these men had married foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children (10:44).
Israel Missed a Better Glory
I believe we are given a clue as to why Ezras book ends tragically. Notice how the people respond to the new temple in Ezra 3:10-13,
And they sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His favor is upon Israel forever. And all the people shouted with a great shout of joy when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, because the people were shouting with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.
This is so easy to miss if you are not paying attention! Out of joy the people sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His favor is upon Israel forever (see also 2 Chron. 7:3). The people sang the same thing the people in Solomons day sang when the first temple was completed; this is how I know they were expecting the glory of God to return:
Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lords house. All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, Certainly He is good, certainly His faithfulness is everlasting.
Everything the people practiced in Ezra 3 was good. But the reason why the old men wept was because they could not get past the beauty of Solomons temple and failed to appreciate the point and purpose of the temple in the first place. I also believe the younger men missed the point of the new temple for the same reasons the old men wept. The point was not a building for Gods glory to dwell in, but to know and worship the God whose plan has always been to dwell with His people face to face! The reason why the men turned to foreign women is the same reason Solomon turned to foreign women who worshiped other godsthey failed to appreciate that there was a greater glory than the lie Adam and Eve believed, the wisdom and women of Solomon, and the illusion of the past that what is gone was better than what God is doing today.
Conclusion
Now, there was no way for Israel to understand all that God was doing in the world, but what He was doing was more beautiful than Eden, greater than Solomons temple, and more permeant than the blood of bulls and goats (see Hebrews 10:4). The greater glory they missed was the promise of a deliverer who would remedy their sin. The greater glory they missed was the One the Passover and all the feasts pointed too. The greater glory was not the history of the Davidic kingdom or Solomons Temple, but a better and greater Son of David whose kingdom will know no end and will endure forever (2 Sam. 7:14). He is the greater glory who lights up the darkness (Isa. 9:2-7). We have the benefit of being able to look back to Ezra with New Testament eyes and see that the greater glory Israel missed was the glory that would come in the form a person who was fully God and fully man.
The glory eventually returned to Israel, but not in the way Israel ever saw coming. The glory came and it was heard in the sounds of an infants cry; see if you can hear the overtones of what we explored through scripture in the words of the Gospel of John concerning Jesus:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us; and we saw His glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 14).
Here are some of the things we learn from the first three chapters of Ezra and the promise of the greater glory, who is Jesus Christ:
God is faithful on His terms, in His ways, and according to His character.
While Israel was experiencing the just and severe discipline of God, it was God who promised that the discipline was for a season and not the end of their story. In Jeremiah 29:10, God made the following promise: For this is what the Lordsays: When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope (Jer. 29:1011).
Unbeknownst to those in exile and those in Jerusalem, overwhelmed by the ashes of what once was, God was working and moving in one of the more powerful men in the world: Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1).
Just because you cannot see or understand what God is doing, does not mean that He is not working out His purposes for His glory and your good.
The best way to fight fear, is through faith in the God who is bigger than your problems.
I believe this is the reason why Israel built and installed the alter and worshiped God even though they were terrified of the people who surrounded them. Remembering the ways God delivered their forefathers from the great and tyrannical power of Egypt enabled them to fight against the terror they experienced. The people fought their fear by remembering who God was, the problem is that they were nearsighted and failed to see a greater glory existed for their good.
The safest place to be is in the will of God.
The story of Gods people is a lesson on this principle. The reason why there was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night that guided His people was so that they moved only when He moved and that they stayed only when God remained. Anytime the people of God moved when God was not moving or stayed when God was moving, they found themselves in trouble.
If you are a Christian, the glory we follow is Jesus, and we are to go where He goes and stay where He stays. If you are not a Christian because you have not surrendered your life to Jesus as the one who died for your sins and conquered the grave by raising from the dead, then you need to run to Him who stood in your place to bear the wrath of a holy God that you deserved. | |||
| A Tale of Two Trees | 12 Nov 2023 | 00:52:33 | |
Primary reading (Slide 1 Reading for the Day):
8And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen 2:8,9 ESV)
(Slide 2 Reading for the Day):
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Rev 22:1-4 ESV)
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Meadowbrooke. I am so happy you have joined us today. For those who dont know me, my name is Ben McKay, and I am filling in today for our lead pastor, Keith. He and the staff were at a conference this week, so I am stepping in to help amidst their travel and activities. I am one of the elders here at Meadowbrooke and have served in that capacity for a couple of years. As I shared last time I gave a sermon, I count it as one of the most distinct privileges God has blessed me with to join these men who are completely sold out for Christ. My wife, Michaela, works as the office administrator here, and we have two boys, Brayden and Grayson. Michaela and I also host a life group and serve in other ministries here.
All that being said, I am not a pastor by occupation. So please remember that and be kind as we work through todays message. After all, we are in church and told to be charitable toward one another. Professionally, I work in software development and AI applications. Part of what drew me to this line of work is my love of data and how software makes it easier to show us how things relate to each other and how those relationships behave.
Now, you may be asking, what does this have to do with Genesis and Revelation? Well, that is a fantastic question. One of the key takeaways that I hope to leave you with today is that the Bible, a compilation of 66 books, is, in fact, a complete and cohesive narrative of Gods plan of salvation. This fact is astonishing because the Bible was written over approximately 1,500 years. This started with Moses somewhere around 1,400 BC[1][2][3] when the first five books of the Bible were written and ended with John writing Revelation somewhere around 95 AD[4]. During this time, over 40 individuals contributed to writing the various books of the Bible. Some wrote just one, like Isaiah the prophet; some wrote many, like Moses and Paul; and some books had multiple people contribute, like the books of Psalms[5] and Proverbs[6].
Let that sink in for a minute. At least 40 people, who were separated by centuries, came from very different backgrounds (some were kings and others were fishermen) and whose cultures had undergone drastic change (consider how different life looked for people living under King David when compared with those living in exile in Babylon) wrote accounts of God and his plan for salvation that were not only internally consistent individually but also consistent with each other. Thats incredible! Ive been to movies that cant stay internally consistent for an hour and a half! Many social media posts cant even stay internally consistent across two sentences.
I want to move our hearts from being merely impressed by this fact to seeing the intricacies and internal consistency of the Word of God in awe and wonder. This is one of my favorite data visualizations of all time[7]. It shows the biblical cross-references that the creator of this image had identified. Each arc shows a verse referencing another verse. The Bible is quite literally in conversation with itself. We can see concepts come up repeatedly, prophecies being made and then fulfilled. God tells us something about Himself and then elaborates on it further. Throughout it all, we see the fulfillment of Gods eternal plan to redeem His creation back to Himself. This has led people like Jordan Petersen, the renowned psychologist, who is not an avowed Christian by the way, to say, This is the first hyperlinked book[8]. He means you can navigate through the Bible like web pages on the Internet. Instead of following hyperlinks, though, we follow cross-references. This is one of the reasons that lifetimes wouldnt be enough to get everything out of this book that it has to offer; another is that these are the words of God, and well, hes a lot smarter than us.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 55:8,9)
What were going to do today is to pull on one of those threads, click through the hyperlinks if you will, and we will get to stand in awe at how the gospel, the good news of God, radiates from the pages of scripture. You probably have seen the thread Im alluding to from our readings, the Tree of Life. This tree makes its first appearance in the second chapter of the Bible and appears again in the very last chapter. I bet thats just a coincidence.
We will go back to Genesis, the story's beginning. In Chapter 2, we read,
7 Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen 2:7-9 ESV)
Here, we see Adam being placed into an idyllic garden (Adam was created outside of the garden and then brought into it), filled with life, sustenance, and beauty. Trees seem to abound. But the author immediately draws our attention to two. The first, we are told, is in the midst of the garden. This phrase has significance throughout the Bible, especially in the first five books. Moses would have written these books during the 40 years of Israels wandering in the desert. This was when God had the nation of Israel, his earthly representatives to the nations, build the Tabernacle. This was where Gods presence was most vividly and intensely seen. Check this out.
45 I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. (Ex 29:45,46)
Its not easy to see in the English translation, but where we see dwell among them, the Hebrew word that gets translated among is the same word that gets translated in the midst of. Throughout the Tabernacle's description, we see that Gods plan is to be literally in the middle of his people; the word Tabernacle even means dwelling place. God goes so far as to have the Tabernacle placed in the very center of the camp. He didnt just want to be the God of the people. He wanted to be God dwelling with His people. The people of this time and this place would have literally seen Gods glory settle over the Tabernacle in the middle of their camp.
Therefore, they would have seen the deep imagery intended within this passage. The garden was where God intended to dwell with His people; we see Him literally walking in the garden in Chapter 3. And as the Tabernacle was placed in the middle of their camp, so too was something in the middle of the garden, the Tree of Life. Now, we dont know much about this tree except that it could have permitted the man and the woman to live forever. God intends that his image bearers will have life. He is, after all, the living God. So, God placed life, which only He can give, in the middle of the garden where it could be seen and easily accessed. Jesus reinforced this idea that God wants his image bearers to have life when he said, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (Jn 10:10b). But more on that in a moment.
The only other tree mentioned by name is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I want to pause here because this name has been misunderstood and misused. This is not the tree of knowledge. Knowledge is not the thing that hurts humanity. Read Proverbs. Knowledge is a good thing when it begins with the fear of the Lord, Proverbs 1:7. It is the knowledge of something very specific here that causes a problem, namely good and evil. This tree represents our choice to have moral experience, put ourselves in the place of God not through fear but through disobedience, and define good and evil for ourselves. Lets look at the narrative.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.4 But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Gen 3:1-6)
There it is, right there. The temptation was, You will be like God. Open a newspaper, and you will see the consequences of believing this lie. This is the underlying heart condition that has plagued humanity since this moment. Want to know how people like Putin come to be? Want to know how people can commit genocide and call it justified? Want to know how people can murder children and call it righteous? Want to know how people can enslave each other? Its all right there in that one fragment of a sentence. You will be like God. God doesnt get to tell me right from wrong; I get to. He is not the center of and reason for all creation; I am.
Eve reached out to grasp the forbidden fruit. We also reach out to grab what only God can define: good and evil. They ate the fruit because they believed the lie that God was holding something back from them. Their belief led them to eat from a false tree of life. This should be seen as a representation of what was to come. We reach out to things that cannot offer life, yet we pretend they do. We do this, brothers and sisters; I do this. We believe we know better. We buy into the lie that Gods law is meant to enslave us rather than free us from bondage.
Moreover, they were image-bearers of God and believed the lie that they werent. Look at this.
26 Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (Gen 1:26,27)
They were already image bearers of the God whose power was awesome enough to speak the universe into existence. They had access to the Tree of Life. Notice that God did not issue a prohibition against eating from the Tree of Life. He wants us to have life and have it abundantly. However, humanity chose rebellion, and death came into the world with rebellion.
Now, the question may arise: Why couldnt Adam and Eve then eat of the tree of life? Why did God take that away from them? They still could have lived forever. Embedded in this question is, I think, a profound misunderstanding about God in the modern age. He is both perfectly holy and the exact definition of perfect love. He is both things at the same time. Because of our separation that was caused by sin, this would have resulted in eternal separation from God. Sin and Gods holiness cannot exist together. And, as we saw from Exodus, God is not content to leave us as we are and, therefore, remain separated from Him for eternity. So, we were banished from the garden, and we became subjected to death.
Here, we see a split in the underlying symbology of trees in the biblical texts. To the ancient Hebrew mind, trees represent something inherently linked to life and vitality. Look with me at the first Psalm.
1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away. (Ps 1:1-4)
The tree, in this case, is said not to wither. In opposition, we see chaff, which is fleeting and blown to and fro. The tree is planted. This is in opposition to the chaff, which is driven away. Now, turn to Psalm 92.
12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
15 to declare that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Ps 92:12-15)
Notice here that the same attributes we see in Psalm 1 are also found in Psalm 92. Trees are used as a representation, an image, of flourishing, strength, yielding fruit, and maintaining that vitality for a long time. This makes sense since trees can live for hundreds or even thousands of years. They make excellent metaphors for abundant life. But, notice something important here. It is not just anybody that is like a tree. It is the person who is what? Psalm 1 says they delight in the law of the Lord. Psalm 92 says they are planted in the house of the Lord and declare that the Lord is upright. Their roots are solidly well rooted in the only source of eternal life.
Now, lets look at the opposite imagery of trees. Trees are used to represent darkness and evil. It ties back to the trees in the garden, where we exchanged the truth for a lie, life for death. There was a warning that Moses left the Israelites with as they were about to enter the land of Canaan. Nested within commandments about how Gods people were to act is this.
21 You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make. 22 And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates. (De 16:21-22)
This command was given because the surrounding cultures built idols to worship pagan gods. One of the most prominent among these was the fertility goddess Asherah. One of the ways to worship Asherah was to plant a tree or make a pole on a hill; the Bible often calls these high places. Now, if you read your whole Bible, which I strongly encourage you to do, you will notice this tendency. People will take a piece of Gods creation and then worship the created thing instead of the Creator. We exchange a true thing for a false thing. Doesnt that sound reminiscent of what we are told happened in Genesis? Paul put it like this in Romans after describing how we can understand some of Gods attributes, namely his power and divine nature, because of the grandeur of creation. However, he then talks about people who disregard God and worship created things instead.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Rom 1:22-25)
But it gets worse. A lot worse. Instead of heeding the warning of Moses, Israel participated in and went beyond the worship they were prohibited from. In 2 Chronicles, we see what Gods people chose instead of worshipping the one true, living God.
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done, 2 but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals, 3 and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. (2 Ch 28:1-4)
A lot is packed into these four verses, and I could spend an entire sermon unpacking just this. But I want you to see a couple of things. First, just like we saw from Pauls letter to the Romans, who we worship has real consequences beyond just the worship itself. Paul talks about God handing people over to the lusts of their hearts, resulting in them dishonoring their bodies because of their worship. Similarly, Ahaz murdered his own sons because of whom he worshiped.
Second, we see a direct tie between Moses's warning and the sins the nation of Israel committed. Some are very quick to talk about Gods judgment of the Canaanites when the people of Israel drove them out. What is missed is that God judged them because of practices like these. People also leave out that God judged his promised people the same way. He held them accountable in the same way. If you read on to the end of 2 Chronicles, you will see that God used the nations to judge Judah in the same way. Their rejection of God and subsequent sin led directly to exile in Babylon.
I know this probably seems like a bleak story so far. But this is a foundational truth that we have to understand to grasp the gospel. We are fallen. It is not just Adam, Eve, Ahaz, Israel, or the Pharisees. It is all of us. This is my story. This is your story. But, it is not the end of the story.
We see the promise of this story even as God puts a curse on the earth and removes humans from the garden. There will be one who comes who the snake, the evil one, will wound. But it will be the snake who is crushed. God promises Abraham that all of the world's nations will be blessed through his family. He then reiterates that promise to his son and grandson. King David was told that one of his descendants would be the promised Messiah, whose throne would be established forever. We can read the promises from the prophets in detail. I want to focus on one of these, but there are hundreds more examples.
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turnedevery oneto his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (Is 53:1-10)
Sound like anybody you know? The miraculous thing is that this was written over 700 years before Jesus lived[9]. It accurately renders the same scripture Jesus read while undertaking his ministry. We know that this is true because we have the archeological evidence. This is the Great Isaiah Scroll. It was found in the caves of Qumran in a collection commonly known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. It contains the entire text of the same book we read today. And youll never guess what. When the archaeologists carbon-dated it, they found that it predated the birth of Jesus by 100 years. Let that sink in. We have archaeological proof that this prophecy and the entire book of Isaiah predated the events. And this is not unique to Isaiah. Modern translations use this and other ancient manuscripts. You are reading the exact words that Jesus read about himself.
And what we see in prophecy is precisely the suffering servant that we encounter in the person of Jesus. He was pierced by the nails that held him to the cross. He was ridiculed and mocked, deemed smitten by God. Like a sheep, he was led to slaughter. He was buried in the tomb of a rich man. And in so doing, he took on the iniquity of us all. As Luke, the author of Acts, put it,
30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (Acts 5:30-32)
And there it is again, the tree. We were allowed to eat from the tree of life. Instead, we chose a false tree, where we attempted to put ourselves in the place of God. We were told to be rooted in the word and knowledge of God and thus be like trees planted by a stream. Instead, we chose idols and rejected the Creator, the giver of life. We were given the Son, the second person of the Trinity, who said, I am the way and the truth and the life. Instead of accepting him, we rejected him and killed him on a tree. Do you see the pattern? There is a choice here. And we dont seem to choose very well.
Why does Luke mention a tree? Wouldnt it have been enough just to say you killed him? And this is where the biblical narrative, imagery, and deep interconnectedness get so incredibly good. Please turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 21.
22 And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. (De 21:22,23)
This section of scripture is Moses giving his final commands to the nation of Israel as they are about to enter the promised land. Notice here the language. A hanged man is cursed by God. This is in reference specifically to a man hanged on a what? A man hanged on a tree. If you happen to be using a study Bible right now, you almost certainly have this cross-reference. Please turn with me to Galatians 3:13.
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for usfor it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:13,14)
If this doesnt stop you dead in your mental tracks, I dont know what will. When I say that the Bible is in conversation with itself, this is precisely what I mean. Trees are used repeatedly in the Bible to represent images of life. But humans used them not only to replace the worship of the one, true creator God for the worship of created idols but also as a means of torture and death. Exodus was written 1,400 years before Jesus lived and well before crucifixion was invented as a method of execution, yet it perfectly fits within the biblical narrative. Jesus knew he was to die at the cross well before the events and that this verse was pointing not just to how he would be killed but to the underlying reason why. He was to take on the curse even though he didnt sin to take away the consequences from us who did sin. This is grace, unmerited favor.
Ive covered a lot of ground just now, so I want to recap just a bit before moving on.
Humanity was given the Tree of Life in the garden. Instead, we chose disobedience, ate from the forbidden tree, and through sin, we received death.
We were to worship the one true God, the creator of the universe. Instead, we chose to worship what was created, including trees.
We were told to be like trees, rooted in Gods word. Instead, we chopped trees down and made them idols and tools of death.
We were given the Son of God, who was and is the way, the truth, and the life. Instead, we nailed him to a tree.
Looks pretty bleak, right? Thank God it doesnt end here. As Paul Harvey would have said, And now its time for the rest of the story. God uses the imagery of trees to take us to the good news, the gospel of God. We see it foretold in the Old Testament.
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. (Isa 11:1,2)
This will sound like a ridiculous question, but what is a stump? What is left over after a tree has been cut down, right? Isaiah prophesied that the kings of Israel would cease. That happened, and it was because of Israels sin. There was no royal family when Jesus was alive, and there is no royal family in Israel now. But Isaiah promised something else. A branch will come from that stump, which was supposed to be dead. And it will bear fruit. We see this also in Jeremiah.
14 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. (Jer 33:14,15)
Out of the spiritual death that was a consequence of sin and disobedience, God brought life. That branch, Jesus, was righteous and bore fruit. He would execute not only justice but also righteousness in the land. That branch would come out of a stump, which was supposed to be dead. But, like the stump, Jesus didnt stay dead, did he?
And if you are still on the fence about all of this, if Jesus is not your savior yet, this is the most important point I will make today. The cross is empty. As was commanded in Deuteronomy, Jesus was taken down from the tree that day and, as prophesied by Isaiah, was buried in a rich mans tomb. The cross could not hold him. And guess what? The grave couldnt either. The empty cross and the empty grave are some of the best-attested facts of the ancient world. This is so much the case that critics and skeptics have resorted to developing all sorts of implausible theories. An example is that Jesus just fainted on the cross, and the cool air of the tomb brought him to. Another is that Jesus had a twin, and nobody noticed the difference. These hypotheses are put forward without any evidence or historical justification.
Instead, the truth is that Jesus lived the life that you and I cannot, died the death that we deserve, and then rose from the grave to new life, something you and I cannot do ourselves. And because of the work of Gods divine grace, our debt has been paid in full by the Son of God. Paul puts it extremely succinctly in Romans.
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:3,4)
You may have guessed this already, but the Bible also has a tree metaphor for this. In this same letter to Rome, Paul wrote the following as he compared Gods chosen people, Israel, to the Gentiles.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. (Rom 11:17-24)
In this metaphor that Paul uses to describe how we achieve new life, Jesus is the root that we are grafted into and receive life through Him. I was shocked to learn that this is a thing. You can take a branch from a tree, cut it completely off, and then graft it into another tree, and it will grow. Im really curious how humans first learned to do this. But to be honest, Im not sure I want to meet the person who first figured it out. I cant help but picture that they looked something like Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein[10].
All joking aside, this is a crucial and pivotal point that I dont want us to miss. We receive life because we have been supernaturally grafted to Jesus. As Paul said in Galatians, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20) There is now no distinction between Jew and Greek (thats you and me). We are all able to receive life through Jesus. It is not our life but His that we live by.
If you have been saved by faith through Jesus, you will experience this by the Spirit of God dwelling inside you. And the life you experience will be ever more witnessed by the fruit from that life. Lets return to the chart that I showed before. The bad news we discussed was all driven by our decisions to disobey the one true God and instead live by our own standards and desires. If not for the grace and love of God, that is where we would have been left. But, praise God, that is not where He left us. Well look at this in reverse order.
We were given the Son of God, who was and is the way, the truth, and the life. Instead, we nailed him to a tree. But he rose again to new life, conquering the grave.
We were told to be like trees, rooted in Gods word. Instead, we chopped trees down and made them idols and tools of death. We, as believers, are now grafted into Jesus, the root, and receive His life.
We were to worship the one true God, the creator of the universe. Instead, we chose to worship what was created, including trees. We now worship the one true God in spirit and truth because the Holy Spirit dwells within us.
That leaves us with one obvious stepthe Tree of Life. And we saw its return in our opening readings this morning. Please turn with me again to Revelation 22.
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Rev 22:1-4 ESV)
Chapter 22 of Revelation is the very end of the biblical narrative. The apostle John was being shown a glimpse into eternity. This is after death has been destroyed, the enemy has been defeated, and the servants of God are eternally with Him. We will get to see His face. There will be no more night. Life flows directly from the Lamb and the throne of God. And on either side of the river, we see the Tree of Life, healing the nations. Because of Jesuss sacrifice, the host of heaven sings. We get a picture of it when John writes the following in Revelation.
11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! (Rev 5:11-13)
We will ultimately see restoration. As sure as I am that Jesus lived, died, and rose again, I am sure that believers will see this. If you have placed your trust and hope in Jesus, you will have eternal life; you will experience complete healing, and you will see the face of God. This brings us to the last theological point that I want to make.
Humanity was given the Tree of Life in the garden. Instead, we chose disobedience, and through sin, we received death. Because of the work of Jesus, we will again gain access to the tree of life and will be in the presence of God for eternity.
Despite the incredible theological implications of what we have covered today, there is a considerable risk. And that is that we all walk out the doors of this building and live like the rest of the world. If we are genuinely grafted into the life of Jesus, we should bear fruit. Now, that does not mean that we are perfect, not by any means. But we should all seek the sanctification that the Bible promises we will see in increased measure. And I think this scriptural journey weve been on today can guide us.
Tree of Life: We should start with a reverent fear of God. As Proverbs tells us, the fear of the LORD is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom. Unlike Adam and Eve, we need to rest in the trust and faith that God is not holding anything back from us. His laws are good, His intentions are kind, and He wants us to have abundant life.
Get rid of idols in our lives: We all can have idols in our lives. They are as real as the Asherah poles that the Israelites and the nations surrounding them stood up. It can be sports, it can be wealth, it can be our spouse or kids, it can even be our very selves. Remember, who we worship has implications beyond just the worship itself. You will become like what you worship, and only the worship of God will result in a life that bears fruit and eternal salvation.
We should root ourselves in the Word of God: If we turn back to Psalm 1, we see what it means to be rooted. We are to meditate on the law of God day and night. We are to delight in His law. We should get rid of whatever we need to get rid of to make this possible. If you have to get up before kids, do it. If youre not in a LIFE group, join one. If you need to listen to Bible readings instead of the radio on your way to work, do it. Get into scripture, memorize it, meditate on it, and your life will bear fruit as the Holy Spirit works on your heart.
Have confidence in the truth of the Gospel: Jesus really did come and live the life you and I could never live. He really did die the death that you and I deserve. And he really did rise from the dead, walk out of the tomb, and conquer death. He then offered that same life to anybody who would believe in and follow him. Root yourself in this, the rock of our salvation. It doesnt matter what happens to you if you are rooted in this; you will not be moved because of who you are rooted in.
Benediction
I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[c] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faiththat you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:17-21)
[1] Introduction to Genesis, ESV Study Bible, pp 39
[2] Introduction to Deuteronomy, ESV Study Bible, pp 325
[3] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Moses, pp 973
[4] Introduction to Revelation, ESV Study Bible, pp 2453
[5] Introduction to the Psalms, ESV Study Bible, pp 936
[6] Introduction to Proverbs, ESV Study Bible, pp 1129
[7] https://www.chrisharrison.net/index.php/visualizations/BibleViz
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-wWBGo6a2wt=4280s
[9] Introduction to Isaiah, ESV Study Bible, pp 1233
[10] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e7d0e87853917613964998c/1586365377311-5U14I8VN4HY3NVLWV2FM/f2e1ab082e83ac27c667ae2d6102a3fe.jpg | |||
| The Three F-Words of the Christian Life | 05 Nov 2023 | 00:46:39 | |
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the first sermon I preached as the Lead Pastor of Meadowbrooke Church, which was on November 4, 2018. The passage I preached on that day was Isaiah 6:1-8, and the only two sermon points I had on that day was: 1) God Calls Us to Know Him, and 2) God Calls Us to Send Us. There were seven truths I wanted Meadowbrooke to know on November 4, 2018, about God from Isaiah 6; those seven truths were and still remain the thing I want you to know today:
God is alive.
God is sovereign.
God is great.
God is majestic.
God is God.
God is holy.
God is missional (He is on mission).
The irony for me is that here we are, five years later, and we have just finished up a series in Malachi title Worth-ship with the hope that I can, on a very practical level, help you understand what it means to be the kind of person described for us in Malachi 3:16-18,
Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened attentively and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and esteem His name. And they will be Mine, says the Lord of armies, on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will have compassion for them just as a man has compassion for his own son who serves him. So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
I sat in front of my Bible for several hours earlier this week staring at it helpless and not knowing what text from the Bible for us to dive into. My mind was finally drawn to Hebrews 11:1-12:3 and as I meditated upon those verses, I realized that the author of Hebrews wrote his epistle (which is really a sermon) with the same motivation that I have for you today. My hearts desire for our time together this morning is that you leave here with a better understanding of what it means to be a Christian. As I meditate upon this passage in Hebrews and the time we spent in Malachi, there were three words that came to mind. The title of my sermon today is simply this: The Three F-Words of the Christian Life.
So, what are the three words I believe are characteristic of anyone who belongs to God? The words are fear, faith, and fellowship and are true of anyone who has been reconciled to God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and redemption of all whose faith and trust is in Him. These are not the only characteristics, but they are the primary ones that come to mind; it is also important to note that these words are not sequential but overlap each other.
Fear (yārēʾ): A reverent fear that compels the Christian to lean into God.
Last week I explained that there were three types of Hebrew words for fear related to how one responds to God in the Old Testament. There is a fear where the response is dread; there is a fear where the response of the person is terror, and then there is the kind of fear that was characteristic of those described in Malachi 3:16 and every other person who pressed into God through worship rather than recoiling from Him, and that fear is a reverent and respectful fear.
If you recall, I showed you that it is the fear described in Proverbs 9:10, Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. You can see it here: There is a fear that causes those who belong to God to recoil from evil for the purpose of pursuing and pressing into God. It is the kind of fear that inspired Abel to offer a better sacrifice to God (Heb. 11:4). It is the kind of fear that compelled Abraham to obey God by leaving the city of Ur to go to a place God would eventually show him even though Abraham did not know where he was going (v. 8-10). It is the kind of fear that compelled Moses to endure ill-treatment rather than the temporary pleasures of sin (v. 25). It is the type of fear that compels the Christian to, run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only to Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith (12:1-2).
What compels a man, woman, or even a child to worship God even if to do so is costly? These are the kinds of people described in Hebrews 11:37-38, They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground (Heb. 11:3738).
The kind of fear that results in the kind of reverence for God that the people described in Hebrews 11 had comes out of an understanding of who He is. Under some of the most severe seasons of suffering and persecution, what has been proven time and time again is the truth of Daniel 11:32, but the people who know their God will be strong and take action. To a people who were about to experience the terror of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire, the prophet Jeremiah wrote these words: Let no wise man boast of his wisdom, nor let the mighty man boast of his might, nor a rich man boast of his riches; but let the one who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises mercy, justice, and righteousness on the earth; for I delight in these things, declares the Lord (Jer. 9:23-24).
If you ever hope to revere God in the same way those described in Hebrews 11 did, you better seek to know Him! The way to know Him is to seek Him and to do so in the way that He has revealed Himself. How has He revealed Himself? He has done so by showing He exists by things seen, and more specifically through His Son, Jesus Christ and through His written Word!
Faith: A trust in God that deepens as the Christians knows Him more.
What is faith? We are told what it is in the very first verse: Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen. This faith begins with a confidence (NIV), an assurance (ESV), a certainty in a God, who, as the opening sentence in Hebrews states, has revealed Himself, to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son (Heb. 1:1-2).
It is a faith that begins with a rational and intelligent presupposition that God exists. It is a faith that is rational and intelligent because it makes a lot more sense than the alternative. We are not an accident, there is design in the universe, and you and I bear His image: By faith we understand that the world has been created by the word of God so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible (11:3). It is the kind of faith that came about in Noahs life because God revealed Himself to him in a very real and tangible way. Out of his understanding of who God was, Noah believed Him when he was told by God Almighty that it was going to rain. It was faith that compelled Noah to build a boat to escape the judgment of God.
It was out of a growing knowledge of who God was that Abraham was not simply looking for a land promised to him by God. It was through faith in a good and holy God that Abraham looked, for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (v. 10). It was through faith that Abraham responded in obedience to a sovereign and loving God that he, offered up Isaac because he considered that God was able to raise people even from the dead (vv. 17-19). It was out of a growing understanding of who God was that the men and women of old, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies (vv. 33-34). It is the type of faith that emboldens the Christian to, run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfector of the faith knowing with certainty that there is a great joy waiting for us on the other side of eternity.
As the Christian grows in his/her understanding of God, so will a reverence for God and faith in Him deepen. This cannot happen unless your reverence of Him moves you to know Him more, for the better that you know Him, the easier it will be trust Him.
Fellowship: A union in God that overflows into community with His people.
The forgiveness of your sins is not conditioned on anything that you do. If you are a Christian, it is all because of Jesus! What about the saints of Old before the birth of Jesus? It was their faith in the promise of God. The promise is not a what but a who. The who is Jesus, and the saints of old longed for His appearing: These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect (Heb. 11:39-40).
The point of Hebrews is that Jesus is sufficient to save us from our sins and reconcile us to a Holy God we have sinned against. It is all of Him and none of me! Throughout the book of Hebrews, Jesus is shown to be better than everything that has come before. This is why in the very first paragraph of Hebrews, we read:
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:1-3)
After Jesus lived the life we could never live, died the death we all deserved under the wrath of His Father for our sin, was buried, then rose three days later He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. What He accomplished was complete and there is not a thing or deed we can add to what He already accomplished. If that were not enough, the author of Hebrews added in 10:11-14, Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
We have the promise the saints of old look to and longed for! Therefore, it is out of a reverent infused fear that serves as the fuel of a faith that turns our eyes away from everything else and sets our hearts on Jesus and only Jesus as the originator and perfector of the faith.
Notice that it is Jesus we are running to, the One who is our Promise! There is a favorite phrase used by the apostle Paul, couched in three different ways that describes the kind of fellowship that is first and foremost rooted in Jesus, and that phrase is in Christ, in the Lord, and in Him. That phrase in its various forms is used about 164 times by the apostle Paul alone! It is the kind of fellowship Jesus described in John 15:1-5,
I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
To abide in Jesus is to take up residence in Him; it is a union with Him as you walk with Him. It is the sort of thing Paul describes in Philippians 3:7-11,
But whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
How does one abide in Jesus? You need to not only hear His words, but you must listen to them. Do not stop at listening to His words though, you must take them into your mind and heart and obey them. As you obey Him, you must follow Him and go where He goes to learn from Him. This is the very thing the Savior invites us to do, for He has said:
The one who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and the one who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And the one who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. The one who has found his life will lose it, and the one who has lost his life on My account will find it. (Matt. 10:34-36)
Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light. (Matt. 11:28-30)
From Adam and Eve all to those described in Malachi 3:16-18, and the faithful followers of Jesus who endure to the end all the way up to the end of the age (Matt. 24:13), the three F words that are characteristic of those who belong to God are fear, faith, and fellowship. We do not do this alone but do it within the community of His people before a great cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1).
I have been with you for five years Meadowbrooke. I am not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I do anticipate, with a heavy heart, that in the next five years, we may see and experience great global sorrows. Therefore, I leave you with Hebrews 10:19-25 as what I believe to be the most appropriate way to conclude this sermon on the fifth anniversary of what I consider to be a great honor to serve our great Savior as your incompetent and flawed pastor:
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, lets approach God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Lets hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and lets consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Amen. | |||
| The Glory of Christ is the Beauty of His Church | 19 Sep 2024 | 00:45:07 | |
In Genesis 1:26-27, we learn that both Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. He created Adam and Eve as male and female, and he created them equal as image bearers of God. When God created mankind, He declared: “‘Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:26-27). Listen, every time you see a human being, whether male or female, what is seen is a physical representation of the reality and presence of God. No other creature represents God in this way except humans!
When there was no suitable helper for Adam after naming the animals, we learn from Genesis 2:18-25 that God created from his rib one who was suitable for him. God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:18). So, we are told that God “caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept” (v. 21), and from Adam’s rib, God created Eve. Adam’s response to Eve was: “At last this is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of man” (v. 23). What follows Adam’s statement in Genesis 2:24 is what makes marriage so special and unlike any relationship that a person can have; it is also the verse the apostle Paul quotes in Ephesians 5:31, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
The reason why I have chosen to continue with my plan to preach on these verses in Ephesians 5:22-33 is because of what Paul said about Genesis 2:24 in Ephesians 5:32. Listen carefully to what is written: “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” I cannot remember who wrote it, but someone said that humans are the physical representation of the reality and presence of God. Just as it is true that we, as image bearers of the living God, are the physical representation of the reality and presence of God, it is equally true that marriage between a man and a woman is the physical representation of the reality and presence of Jesus’ church as His bride, and His great, faithful, and uncompromising love for her.
What marriage represents is the reason why we are told in Holy Scripture, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers” (Heb. 13:4). It is also the reason why Paul wrote that, “sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among the saints; and there must be no filthiness or foolish talk, or vulgar joking, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks” (Eph. 5:3-4). However, Paul did not stop there! He continued with these sobering words that we all must take very seriously: “For this you know with certainty, that no sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, which amounts to an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (v. 5). And just in case you are tempted to view these words as archaic, outdated, or that your feelings trump the authority of such words, listen very carefully to the verse that follows Paul’s warning about the danger the sexually immoral, impure, or greedy person faces if that person does not turn from such sins: “See that no one deceives you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (v. 6).
The original title of my sermon for this Sunday was, “The Grandeur of Marriage.” I believe God wants us to focus on the main point of Ephesians 5:22-33, and it is tucked away in verses 26-27, which states: “so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” In fact, I would like to submit to you that what Ephesians 5:22-33 teaches us is this: Just as humans are the physical representation of the reality of God, so marriage between a man and a woman is the physical representation of the reality and presence of Jesus’ church as His bride.
In light of that, I have titled today’s sermon: “The glory of Christ is the beauty of His church.” Instead of focusing our attention on the sins of a pastor and brother, our attention needs to be on Jesus and what He wants of us. Now, before we begin, I do want to read for you 1 Timothy 5:19-22, which states: “Do not accept an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. I solemnly exhort you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality. Do not lay hands upon anyone too quickly and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.” (1 Tim. 5:19–22)
We did have multiple credible accusations that the one under church discipline continued to lie and deceive; even when he was brought before the Board of Elders, he continued to lie and misrepresent the truth. Our hope is and will remain that he will repent of his sins. Our hearts remain broken over our need and responsibility to remove him from his position as Pastor of Discipleship and Pastor.
What I want to do with our time this morning is to step back and focus on our own hearts by allowing the word of God to wash over us as His people.
Jesus Intends to Present His Bride as Holy and Blameless All throughout Ephesians, we see that the reason why we have been chosen by God the Father, redeemed by Jesus the Son, and sealed by God the Holy Spirit for your holiness and blamelessness in Christ! How will He do it? With and through His Word! What does His Word say?
The Word of God says, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love” (Eph. 1:4) His Word says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)
The Word says, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Eph. 5:1–2)
The Word says, “Do not participate in the useless deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
The Word says, “‘Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise...” (Eph. 5:11–15)
Jesus intends for His people to pursue holiness! The only way we can pursue a Christ-centered holiness is if we flee from the sins that lead us away from Christ! The Bible calls us to, “Flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22). We must, “Flee sexual immorality” (1 Cor. 6:18). But it is not only sexual sins that we must flee from, but we must also flee from any sin that threatens to entangle us, and in case you are wondering what sins are there that do not threaten to entangle us? The answer is that there is no safe sin, they all threaten to entangle, and they all have the ability to destroy, rob, maim, and kill! The list of sins is long, but here is a short list given to us in Proverbs 6:16-19, “There are six things that the Lordhates, seven that are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who declares lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers” (Prov. 6:16–19).
Jesus has given to His church spiritually qualified and gifted persons for the equipping and building up of his church to teach and preach His word as one way to cleanse His people, “by the washing of water with the word...” (v. 26). What does this mean? In the ancient east, before the bride was presented to the bridegroom, she would receive a cleansing bath with water before she was adorned in her bridal dress and presented to her groom. We, as the Bride of Christ, are also being cleansed, and it is done through the Word of God. We are called to this individually, but there are men like myself that are called to administer the word of God and to show you how to bath yourself in the Word of God... because the best thing I can give you is not what Pastor Keith thinks, but what the Word of God says! I am fallible but God’s word is infallible, for: “All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16–17).
This is why when a pastor, elder, or church leader fails to meet the qualifications to be in such roles as listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:7-9, such people are a danger to Jesus’s church that He loves, cherishes, is sanctifying, and has called to His Bride, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” Those of us called by Jesus to serve His Bride to equip His people will, “incur a stricter judgment” (Jas. 3:1); for this reason, we are to take passages like 1 Timothy 5:19-22 seriously.
I am deeply grieved and heartbroken by the actions of the one under church discipline. I am crushed by the damage his actions have caused others. My prayer is that he will take 1 John 1:9 to heart which says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I also know that we are warned that what happened to our brother can happen to anyone in this room. If a pastor can fall into unrepentant sin, then so can you, because our, “adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8); intends to bring you harm and he is really good at doing it!
There are sins represented in this room such as gossip, sexual immorality, an unforgiving spirit, and more. Some of you are so committed to your sin, that you refuse to turn from them out of a fear that you will be exposed, or you believe the enemy’s lie that you are so stuck in your sin that you are unable to turn from it. Here is what Hebrews 3:12-13 says, “Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:12–13).
Our adversary is fiercely loud, but Jesus has ripped out his teeth! You may be overwhelmed by your sin, but you still have time to run to the One who still makes all things new (2 Cor. 5:17): “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Jesus Will Present His Bride in All Her Glory as Holy and Blameless How will Jesus present His Bride in all her glory as holy and blameless? He will do it, “by the washing of water with the word” (v. 26) along with the power of His Holy Spirit (1:18-19a; 3:20-21). God always uses the authority of His word and the power of His Spirit to do the things only He is capable of doing in our lives. Jesus is committed to not leaving His church the way He found her. What that means is that Philippians 1:6 is for you: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus.” However, the only way you will experience the thing He wants to do in you is if you listen to His word and obey it. So dear Christian, what are you going to do with what you heard today? Is Jesus asking you today, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say” (see Luke 6:46-49)?
Jesus will indeed present His Bride in all her glory as holy and blameless because He loves her too much to leave her the way He found her! What will her wedding day be like? It will be greater than any marriage you hope for or have dreamed to experience. In Revelation 19:7-10, we are given a small peek through the curtain of eternity, and this is what we see: Let’s rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brothers and sisters who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
This is why Jesus takes the sins within and by those who belong to His church very seriously. It is the same seriousness we see demonstrated in the way the sin of Achan was addressed (Josh. 7:1-26), the sins of Eli and his two worthless sons (1 Sam. 2:12-36), and the sins of David with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11:1-12:23). It is against the backdrop of the above examples I want you to consider as the most appropriate way I feel I can conclude my sermon:
Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. (Heb. 6:1–6)
For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26–31)
Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:1–2) | |||
| A Tale of Two Types of People | 29 Oct 2023 | 00:48:06 | |
Through a reading of the Bible and an understanding of human history, you will discover that there exists a major fault line that divides those who are a part of Gods true family and those who are not. The fault line divides those who honor God and those who do not honor Him, the righteous and the wicked, and those have been reconciled to Him and those who remain alienated from Him.
From the beginning we are introduced to Cain and Abel. We are told that both men participated in the worship of Yahweh, but it was Abels worship that was accepted by God and because Cain was jealous of Abel relationship with God, Cain murdered his brother. Noah had three sons who experienced the miraculous salvation of their family by God through the Ark, yet it was Noahs youngest son, Ham, who did not walk in the ways of his father (Gen. 9:18-29). Isaac and Rebekah had twins who grew up in the same household under the same roof, yet it was Jacob who became the son of promise and Esau who followed the appetites of his own flesh and was rejected by God.
The thing that set Abel apart from Cain, Noahs sons Shem and Japheth from Ham, and Jacob from Esau was fear. There are three types of fear used throughout the Old Testament. There is the kind of fear (pḥd) which means to dread (e.g. Isa. 33:14). A second type of fear used in the Old Testament is the kind of fear (mrāʾ) where one experiences terror (e.g. Isa. 8:12). The third type of fear (yareʾ) is a type of fear that includes reverence and respect; it is the kind of fear the people of God are called to in Proverbs 3:7, Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. The same Hebrew word for fear is used for the word fear in Proverbs 9:10, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Everything we have read in Malachi regarding the people has been negative so far. What have we learned of the Priests and the people to whom the book of Malachi is addressed?
They questioned the love of God (1:2)
They gave the poorest and cheapest of offerings to God (1:6-2:9)
They were covenant breakers with their spouses, neighbors, and with God (2:10-16).
They were stingy in their giving (3:8-9)
They questioned Gods character (3:13-15)
Finally, we learn of another group of people in verse 16 that look very different than the unfaithful priests and people addressed previously. We see the same fault line that exists between those who truly belong to Yahweh and those who do not especially when you see verse 16 in contrast to verses 13-15. Notice the stark difference between these two groups of people:
Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, How have we spoken against you? You have said, It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape. (Malachi 3:1315)
Now, notice the contrast between the above verses with verse 16,
Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.(Malachi 3:16)
What I find interesting about those described in Malachi 3:13-15 is that they assumed they belonged to God while questioning the value in serving God, obeying the Word of God, or what reward there was in walking as in mourning before the Lord (denying the pleasures of the world and sin). Their conclusion about life and the worship of God was very different than those who are described in Malachi 3:16.
Those Who Feared the Lord Belong to the Lord
Those who feared God, spoke with one another. Out of a reverent awe of God, these people spoke with one another about God do not miss this point! We are not told what they said to one another, but what we can assume is that their language was shaped by a genuine love of who God is. My guess is that those who feared the Lord, most likely testified about the goodness of God, believed that His infinite goodness was enough to stand on when things were difficult, and understood that He was not only worthy to be treasured but sufficient to be trusted.
Unlike those words that have been hard against God (v. 13), those who feared the Lord did not look at their relationship with God in the same way Cain or Enoch did before them. Those whose words were hard against God, viewed their religion as a transaction, and if you could put their attitude into a phrase, it would go something like this: You scratch my back, and I will scratch your back. One commentator describes those who had hard words against God as religious people who viewed their worship as something God needed from them: They gave something to Godsacrifices, offerings, and a variety of religious activitiesand they expected a return on their investment: the blessings of prosperity and welfare. As a result, if their religious efforts didnt materially benefit them in measurable ways, it meant that the Lord had not kept his end of the bargain. God owed them something in return for their obedience.[1]
Those described in verse 16 understood their worship of God as relational. They not only feared God, but they honored Him as their heavenly Father, and they trusted Him as being totally sovereign over their lives even when things did not go the way that they had hoped. They understood themselves to be children of the God Almighty instead of his customers.Because those who feared God, had a relationship with Him, we learn that Yahweh, paid attention and heard them. Those who fear Yahweh experience Him very differently than those described in Malachi 2:13 who, cover the Lords altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from their hand.
There are two things that need to be noted here: The first thing I have already stated, and that is that those who truly fear God love to talk to others about God. The second thing to be noted is that those who fear God live for God. This is why there is a book of remembrance written of those who, feared the Lord and esteemed his name. As one commentator wrote: The fear of God affects both their attitude toward Him and their actions before Him.[2]
The book of remembrance is different than the Book of Life that lists all those who have been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus as the Lamb of God (see Rev. 13:8), it is also unlike the Book of the Lord that records the judgment of God against the nations (Isa. 34:16), nor is the book of remembrance the same as the books that will be opened on the Day of judgment (Rev. 20:12). The book of remembrance is only for those who fear (yareʾ) God because they truly belong to Him; it is a book that records the righteous words, motives, and deeds of those who are treasured by God because they belong to Him as a son or daughter belongs to a father.
For those who do not fear Yahweh in verses 13-15, they see no value in serving God, no point in rejecting worldly pleasures in light of eternity, or the benefit in obeying the Word of Yahweh because they do not think He is able to see. However, those who fear Yahweh, know better! God sees, they know it, and they sing it: Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there (Ps. 139:78, NASB). God sees you Christian! He sees when you turn from sin out of a desire to please Him. In his commentary on Malachi, Robby Gallaty makes the following observation:
Every time a woman respects her body and rejects intimacy with another man before marriage, God sees and honors that decision. Every time a husband refuses to engage in immoral talk at work or to be seduced into looking at pornography, God recognizes it. Every time you avert gossip, every time you bear the burden of an injustice and refuse to lash out, God sees that. Every time a family opens their home to be a Christian witness to the world, God sees that. Every time you share the gospel with a lost family member or friend, God sees that, whether or not anyone else does.[3]
Not only does our God see, but for those who fear Him, this is what He says about such people: They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him (v. 17). Those who belong to God are not only seen by God, but are treasured by Him! Why are they treasured by Him? Not because of their deeds, but because of Him who spares out of mercy (v. 17b).
Dont forget what was already promised in Malachi 3:1-4. A messenger would come to prepare the way for Yahweh, and He will come to His temple as a refiners fire to purify the sons of Levi by suffering the fire of Gods justice for our sins. The same mercy that will purify Levi, is the same mercy spoken of in verse 17. Jesus, as the Fathers refiners fire, will purify a people, and if you are a Christian, you are that people!
We learn from 1 Peter 2:9-10 that all those whose have been reconciled to God through His Son belong to God as His treasured possession: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are Gods people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Pet. 2:910). This is what sets the righteous apart from the wicked, look at the next verse in Malachi: Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him (v. 18).
Those Who Belong to the Lord Will Enjoy the Salvation of the Lord
In Malachi 2:17, those who did not fear the Lord said of Him: Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in those who does evil. This is why the same people claimed that it was, pointless to serve God. Their view of God and lack of reverence for Him is the reason why they could have the audacity to show up for worship while asking: what benefit is it for us that we have done what He required? (v. 14).
Gods answer to the ridiculous accusations of those who claimed to worship Yahweh is found in Malachi 4:1, For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. You wonder where is the justice of God? Do you think that because you have not seen His justice yet that you can live the way you want to live? Do not mistake His mercy for indifference! Consider what the apostle Paul wrote to those who had similar questions related to sin and the justice of God: Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom. 2:45, NASB 2020).
Gods kindness, restraint, and patience is meant to lead you to repentance! But, if you take for granted His kindness, restraint, and patience so that you can continue in your sin, then the refiners fire will fall upon you and you will be consumed by it, but in the way the prophet Isaiah and Jesus described: For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh (Isa. 66:24b).
There is good news though! It is good news for those who fear the Lord and it is good news for those who do not presently fear the Lord: But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall (4:2). This is good news because the sun of righteousness is the Lord our Righteousness and the righteous Branch of David (Jer. 23:5-6). This is good news because the sun of righteousness is the Son of God who is also the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).This is good news because the sun of righteousness is the resurrection and the life who is making all things new (John 11:25; Rev. 21:5). This is good news because the sun of righteousness is the One who, loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father (Rev. 1:5-6). I am not sure who wrote this, but what this person wrote in light of Malachi 4:2 is too good not to share with you:
As the rays of the sun spread light and warmth over the earth for the growth and maturity of the plants and living creatures, so will the sun of righteousness bring the healing of all hurts and wounds which the power of darkness has inflicted upon the righteous. Then they will go forth from the holes and caves, into which they had withdrawn during the night of suffering and where they had kept themselves concealed, and skip like stalled calves which are driven from the stall to the pasture.
Malachi 4:2 is good news for those of us who have placed our faith and trust in Jesus out of a right fear for God. When the sun of righteousness appears, we will experience the promise of Revelation 21:4, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away (Rev. 21:4). Listen, for the one who does not yet fear God because you do not know Him, this promise is available to you through the same Jesus who experienced the wrath of God for sinners like you. You only need to come to Him in faith to receive the forgiveness of your sins.
So, of the two groups of people described in Malachi, who are you? Are you religious in words and empty deeds? Is your relationship with God merely commercial in that worship of God is no more than a transaction to you? When it comes to your worship, do you despise Gods name with your actions? Can you hear the Spirit of God ask you this question: A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? (1:6)?
Oh, wont you come to the sun of righteousness who invites all sinners to lay down their sin and pride to find their rest in Him: Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28, NASB 2020).
If you are the person described in Malachi 3:16, then you belong to God. With the cry, It is finished! from our Savior upon the cross, can be heard through the echo: They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him (Mal. 3:17).
Amen.
[1] Duguid, I. M., Harmon, M. P. (2018). Zephaniah, Haggai, Malachi (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, D. M. Doriani, Eds.; p. 176). PR Publishing.
[2] Fries, M., Rummage, S., Gallaty, R. (2015). Exalting jesus in zephaniah, haggai, zechariah, and malachi (D. Platt, D. L. Akin, T. Merida, Eds.; p. 264). Holman Reference.
[3] Ibid. | |||
| The Way Back to a Generous God | 22 Oct 2023 | 00:41:17 | |
Last week I said that this passage was not about money. What this passage is about is the spiritual health of those who say they worship God. When we read through Malachi, what we discover is that between the relationship that God and Israel shared with each other, there was one in the party who was consistently faithless. Israel demonstrated time and time again that as a people and nation that she was guilty of breaking her covenant with God.
After God demonstrated his power over Pharaoh and the Egyptian gods, which not even Pharaoh could ignore, Israel complained when they saw Pharaoh and his army pursue Israel one last time: Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt (Exod. 14:11)? For forty years Israel would be known for her complaining over Gods ways verses their own ways; it did not matter how much manna came down from heaven, how much water came out of a rock in the desert, the way God stopped time one day to deliver the Amorites into the hands of Joshua and the Hebrew army and the many other ways He protected Israel in the wilderness. Israel still complained against her leaders and her God.
After Israel crossed through the Red Sea and saw the great power of God deliver them from Pharaoh and his army, on the other side of the sea, God promised: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel (Exod. 19:4-6). What was Israels verbal response? It was this: All that the Lord has spoken we will do (v. 8). Yet, because the people thought Moses was taking too long up on Mount Sinai to receive the covenant Israel agreed to honor and obey they decided to make the Golden Calf, to worship it in place of Yahweh.
When Israel finally came to the threshold of Canaan, the land God promised to Israel and heard the report that there were giants in the land (Numbers 13-14), they believed that the giants in Canaan were bigger than God. They believed that the One of whom Scripture testifies: sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; whom brings princes to nothing, and makes the ruler of the earth as emptiness (Isa. 40:22-23) was too weak to honor His own Word! In response, God said of the Hebrews: How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them (Num. 14:11)?
When we read Israels story, it is not that hard to see our own story in theirs is it? We have something better than 10 plagues, manna from heaven, water from a rock, and a land flowing with milk and honey. We have the Christ who came as the Lamb of God to atone for our sin and liberate us from a greater tyrant than Pharoah and Egypt (John 1:29)! We have the Christ who is the Bread of Life who satisfies a deeper hunger (John 6:35). We have Jesus, who is the living water, who alone is able to satisfy the thirsty soul (John 4:14; 7:37-39). We have Jesus Christ, who not only died for our sins, but after being dead for three days, He conquered death by rising from the grave (John 19:38-20:29).Concerning Jesus and His power to redeem lost sinners, we have this promise: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you (Eph. 5:14).
How many times have you chosen to sin knowing that it would only lead to shame and disappointment? How many times have you sinned only to promise God that you will not do it again? Is your experience really all that different than Israels? What does set us apart from Malachis contemporaries is that they looked to the promise of the refiners fire who would purify Levi (Mal. 3:1-4), but we are able to look to Jesus as the fulfillment of that promise. If you are a Christian, you have the refiners fire who is Jesus! What was true of those in Malachis day is true for our own day: We have a God who is faithful: For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed (3:6).
Against the backdrop of Israels unfaithfulness and the heaviness and shame you may be feeling over your sin right now, I want you to see that the news of Malachi 3:1-6 is good news for you.
Return to God and He will Return to You (vv. 6-7)
The history of the Hebrews, according to verse 7, is a turning aside from Gods commandments. Because Yahweh does not change, those who have sinned against Him, can turn to Him. How does one return to Yahweh? The answer to verse 7 is in verse 8-10, Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, How have we robbed you? In your tithes and contributions. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
The story of Israel is mankinds story. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve trusted the lie of the serpent over the goodness of a God who wanted life and thriving for the first couple. They were free to choose the lie of the deceiver over the truth of the Life-giver, and the lie is what they chose. To sin is to choose to act upon the lie that the thing God forbids is the thing that will ultimately satisfy; this is what is at the heart of idolatry. Listen, idols make promises that they not only are unable to keep, but they will rob you of the life God intends for you.
Think about what it was that the people were guilty of doing. They doubted the love of God, but at the same time did not pursue Him (1:2-5). Their worship was not accepted by God because they really had no interest in attributing worth to Him (vv. 6-14). They did not value the covenant of marriage because they did not enjoy the covenant with God as the people of God (2:13-16). Everything that we have learned from Malachi so far is that the disconnect between the people and God was due to a heart problem the people had. The Hebrew contemporaries of Malachi had religion but what was missing was a genuine relationship with the God of their forefathers.
Why do you think the people offered cheap sacrifices instead of the best that they had? Why were the men divorcing the wives of their youth so that they could have the pagan women from other nations? The answer to these questions is the same answer for why they doubted the love of God and questioned His character as a just and holy God. Their problem was that they had the religion of their forefathers, but they did not have a relationship with Yahweh who was a Father to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, David, and every other man and woman who walked with God.
The problem of Malachis contemporaries was the same as the rich man who asked Jesus the following question: Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? The way Jesus answered the mans question is brilliant and will help you see that Malachi 3:6-15 is addressing something much more significant than giving ten percent of your income to church! Turn to Luke 18:18-30; Here is what we read of Jesus conversation with the rich man:
And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother. And he said, All these I have kept from my youth. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. (Luke 18:1925)
There are two questions you need to answer from Jesus dialogue with the rich ruler: First, why did Jesus initially respond to the mans question with the question, Why do you call me good when no one is good except God alone? The second question you need to answer is why did the man walk away sad? The answer to the first question is that Jesus is no mere man, for He is God in the flesh! Since He is God in the flesh, Jesus is good! The reason why the man walked away sad was because he loved his wealth more than he loved God, but that is not all. The man walked away because although he was very religious, he never experienced God as a Good Father! Knowing this makes sense for what we read in the verses that follow:
Those who heard it said, Then who can be saved? But he said, What is impossible with man is possible with God. And Peter said, See, we have left our homes and followed you. And he said to them, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life. (Luke 18:2630)
Do you see how Jesus interaction with the rich religious man helps us understand the point of Malachi 3:6-15? You can really see it in Peters response: See, we have left our homes and followed you. You are correct Peter, and the reason why you have chosen to do so is because I am the treasure you seek, therefore as the One who is truly good: I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life.
The same thing that was missing in the rich mans life was the same thing missing in the religious Hebrew men and women of Malachis day! What was missing was their hearts; what was missing was joy because they did not have love!In Malachis day, the people had a temple and they had religious programs, but they did not treasure God; they did not know the treasure Jesus spoke of: The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matt. 13:44).
Give God Your Heart and He will Give you Infinitely More
Lets turn our attention back to Malachi. Remember what Gods response was to the way the Priests and the people treated God in their worship: Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand (1:10). The point in Gods command was to offer the best of what you have, not that He needed it.
You may be familiar with Psalm 50:10-11, which states: For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. However, consider the point Psalm 50 is making about God:
The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. (Psalm 50:1, 715)
Another passage to consider is one we already looked at during this series in Malachi:
Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:12)
The answer God provides for Israels question, How shall we return to God? is given in verse 10, Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. The point is not that God needs anything, but that we were made for Him! He is the treasure worth having, not the best of your flock that you think belongs to you. The great danger we face as humans is that we make the good things God has given us into ultimate things. We take good things and make them ultimate in our lives and put them in the place of the God who is ultimate. We have the propensity of worshiping the gift over the Giver. The only thing that will satisfy is a Person, and He is the Giver of life!
The way back to God is to surrender the things you have made ultimate in your life, to Him. The way back to God is to find in Him your greatest treasure, and the only way you can do that is to trust Him to be that treasure that is worth having above all other things! This is what the priests and people of Malachis day failed to do. They thought by being religious, by having the best of their crops and flocks, by using their time to gain more stuff, or by pursuing another person to experience a better joy or more pleasure would ultimately satisfy, but all that they found were idols of the heart that could not give them what they needed.
The reason why the tithe is singled out in verse 10 is because the way we treat money and stuff is an indicator of what we really value. Gods promise in these verses is that the people test Him by trusting Him. How do you test God by trusting God? If you really believe that He is infinitely good, then let go of the idols of your heart by surrendering or giving them to Him. How do you do that?
If your idol is money, then begin by deciding a certain percent of your gross income that you will give back to Him regardless of your circumstances.
If it something or someone you are holding onto that you know God has told you to let go of, then trust Him as wanting what is good for you by giving whatever it is back to Him.
If you are afraid to step out in faith and trust God for knowing what is best for you, decide to finally step out in faith and obey Him.
The point of Malachi 3:6-15 is not that God needs anything from you, but it is really about what He wants for you. The way to receive what it is that He wants for you is to give Him your heart. What God wants for you is a treasure worth having more than anything else in this world, because only God is good! What God wants for you is the only relationship that will satisfy; it is the relationship Jesus promised:
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:2730)
Oh, dear friend, find the rest you were made for. Find your treasure and rest through a relationship with Jesus Christ. | |||
| Behold the Refiner’s Fire | 15 Oct 2023 | 00:43:54 | |
Seven times, God makes a critical statement about Israel in the book of Malachi, and each time Israel responds with a challenge to that statement. Here are those statements and Gods answer to Israels objection.
God: I have loved you. (1:2)
Israel: How have you loved us? (v. 2)
Answer: I have chosen Jacob over Esau, remained faithful to Jacob, and will bless the nations through Jacob even though Israel has shown herself to be faithless. (v. 5)
God: You despise my name. (1:6)
Israel: How have we despised your name? (v. 6b)
Answer: Your worship of me is lackadaisical at best. (vv. 7-14)
God: You have offered polluted food on my altar because honoring me with your whole life is a weariness. (1:7)
Israel: How have we polluted you? (v. 7b)
Answer: You offer what is cheap and sick because you do not regard my Name as holy. (vv. 9-14)
God: You cover the Lords altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. (2:13)
Israel: Why does he not? (v. 14)
Answer: You have been faithless to the wife of your youth. (vv. 14-16)
God: You have wearied the Lord with your words. (2:17)
Israel: How have we wearied Him? (v. 17b)
Answer: You have said, Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them. Or by asking, Where is the God of justice? (v. 17c)
God: You are robbing me. (3:8)
Israel: How have we robbed you? (v. 8b)
Answer: In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. (vv. 8c-9)
God: Your words have been hard against me. (3:13)
Israel: How have we spoken against you? (v. 13b)
Answer: You have said it is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping His charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape. (vv. 14-15)
It is Gods response to Israels fifth objection that we now turn our attention, and it could not be more timely!
On October 7, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and murdered babies and children, abducted and raped women before killing them, and gunned down as many Israelis as they were able. Israel is at war, and the death toll of human causalities will continue to rise. China and Russia seem to be moving closer to a formal alliance, and it is not beyond reason that Iran and North Korea may join them. Based on what I read in my Bible, I am not surprised that this is happening, and it would not surprise me if Russia and Iran got involved in what is happening between Israel and Hamas.
Now, if you consider what is happening between Russia and Ukraine, the conflict with Israel and Hamas and possibly Iran, and Chinas plans to have its military ready by 2027 to annex Taiwan, what we have is the recipe for a cataclysmic global war. If that were not enough to worry about, represented in this room is a sea of worries (some legitimate and some illegitimate). If you are anxious, if you are bothered, if you are feeling hopeless, if you are tired, or if you are discouraged Malachi 3:1-6 is for you.
The problem of Israel and our problem can be traced all the way back to Adam and Eves great sin, there was a type of darkness. After Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God drove them out of the beauty of Eden into the despair of the wilderness. Before God forced Adam and Eve outside the place of life and into the place of the curse, He promised them a deliverer who would destroy all that is an enemy of life (Gen. 3:15).
Outside the Garden is the place of the curse the wilderness. It is the place of pain, distrust, frustration, thorns and thistles, weariness, sweat, burdens, and death. The Bible says, sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come (Rom. 5:12, 14). In being cast out of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were driven away from the face of God.
Gods Justice is Not Deficient (2:17)
The people have wearied the Lord. The Message Bible, which is a paraphrase of the Bible, interprets Malachi 2:17 this way: You make God tired with all your talk. I think this is a terrible translation of Malachi 2:17! God does not get tired, he does not need a break, and He does not get frustrated because things do not go His way. Based on the Hebrew word that is used for wearied, for God to be wearied is for Him to be troubled or irritated. Have you ever had to deal with a person whose hypocrisy is so blatant that it is aggravating? Think about what God accused Israel and her priests of in chapter two. They were guilty of breaking their covenant by marrying people who worshiped terrible gods, such as Molech, whose worship included child sacrifice. The men were divorcing the wives of their youth to marry younger women who also worshiped other gods. If anyone was guilty of injustice, it was Israel.
Israel has been on the receiving end of nations and people groups who wanted nothing but their destruction. Do you think what is happening today is new? No, what is happening between Israel and Hamas is nothing new, for throughout her history, her story is about a God who rescues and delivers. God liberated Israel from the tyranny of Pharaoh, He saved Israel from Goliath and the Philistines, He delivered His people from the Amorites, He sustained and preserved rebellious Israel through the exiles of Assyria and Babylon. Now, here they are in Jerusalem with a temple and walls by the grace and mercy of God, having demonstrated that they had no real desire to serve and worship Him, and now they have the audacity to question His moral character.
Now, this question that Israel asks in 2:17 is different than the kind of lamenting those who love God demonstrate, such as the one we are introduced to in Habakkuk 1:2-3, How long, Lord, have I called for help, And You do not hear? I cry out to You, Violence! Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see disaster, And make me look at destitution? Yes, devastation and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises (NASB). Wow, Habakkuks question could not be more relevant for what we are seeing in our world today! His question is very different than the one Israel asked in Malachi, and it is very different than some of the questions you have been asked, questions like: How can you believe in a good God when there is so much suffering in the world? Or How can God be in control, when the world is so out of control?
We tend to measure the justice of God against our own sense of justice. The problem with that is that our sense of justice is only as pure as we are good human beings. The crazy thing is that most Americans (80%) rightly believe that most of the suffering in our world is caused by humans. The bad news is that we have tried all kinds of things to fix ourselves, but only seem to make our situation worse. There are more slaves today than ever before. An increase of over 100 million people faced hunger in 2022, with a total of 783 million people who continue to go hungry in our world today even though there are more than enough food producers to meet the needs of the hungry. With all of our talk about peace, we humans are still the most dangerous species on planet earth. Our problem is as old as the Garden when Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Or, as the prophet Jeremiah put it: The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it (Jer. 17:9; NASB)?
I have preached whole sermons on the topic of Gods goodness alone, but I do not have the time to do that here. What I will say is that God is good (Nah. 1:7) because He is Holy (Isa. 6:3). Because God is God, for Him to be good, He must be infinitely good. What does it mean for God to be infinitely good? What it means is that there is absolutely no room or any need for improvement for God. Therefore, if God is infinitely good, then He is equally just! This is why the Psalmist says of our great God: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you (Ps. 89:14).
Gods Plan is Redemptive
Gods answer to Israels question regarding the justice of God is Malachi 3:1-6. Where is the God of Justice? Oh, He has never left! He has always been with His people. He has been with His people because He is also a God of mercy. When Moses asked to see the face of God, he was permitted to see Him pass by while not being permitted to see His face; when God passed by, this is what Moses heard Him say:
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the childrens children, to the third and the fourth generation. (Exod. 34:6-7)
Gods justice was coming, and the people who deserved to experience it first were all of Israel, beginning with her priests who did not regard Gods name as holy. However, the way that He would do it would be in a way where His infinite justice and his infinite mercy will intersect with His infinite holiness and His infinite love. How would He do it? The answer is in the first verse: Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
The One that Israel calls Father (2:10), is the One who will send His messenger. Who is the messenger that will be sent? It was John the Baptist, who is a type of Elijah, who went before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17). Who is the Lord that would, come to his temple? He is someone greater than Elijah or John the Baptist. The Lord whom John was sent to prepare the way for is the One who owns the temple. He is the One spoken of in Jeremiah 23:5-6, 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. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The Lord is our righteousness.
The first word in Malachi 3:1 is Behold and it literally means: Here am I. Israel asks: Where is the God of Justice? Gods answers: Here I am! I am sending my messenger before me who will prepare the way for Me to come to my Temple that you have polluted, for when I come, you will call Me: The Lord is our righteousness. Who is this Lord our righteousness? He is the righteous Branch of David! If Israel and the Priests had the sense to ask, they would have asked God: How can Yahweh come as the human descendant of David? This is the question the apostle John answers over 400 years later:
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Fathers side, he has made him known. (John 1:618)
Jesus is, The Lord our righteousness who came, but the priests and much of Israel did not receive Him. What was the purpose of his coming? Well, Malachi tells us in verses 2-3, But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiners fire and like fullers soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
Gods Love is Restorative
The story of humanity is one where we cannot help ourselves, for there is no remedy we can create to fix our sin problem. Our story is also Israels story, and the promise of Malachi 3:3 is that God would not and does not abandon impure people like us not because we deserve salvation, but because He is committed to his promise to bless the nations through Israel and the way that he would do it is through the righteous branch of David, namely Jesus the Christ.
Through Jesus, a day will come when Israel says, Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel (Mal. 1:5)! Through Jesus, a day is coming when the nations will worship Yahweh: From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations says the Lord (1:11)! How will he do it? Through Jesus, the righteous branch of David, He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring the offerings in righteousness to the Lord (3:3), and when he does, the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord (v. 4).
The question begs for an answer; how will he do it? How can He refine out of mercy without the fire of his perfect justice? He would do it and He did do it by entering into our wilderness. Jesus lived the life Israel failed to live and by doing so was the perfect Jew (Heb. 1-2), the sinless and better Priest then Levi (Heb. 3, 5-7), and better than Moses because the covenant He mediates is better than the old (Heb. 8-10). Jesus entered into our wilderness for the purpose of suffering the fire of the Fathers perfect justice on our behalf; the fire fell upon Jesus instead of us. This is why the messenger said of Jesus when he saw him: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)! The Lamb was crucified and on that cross the wrath of God the Father was satisfied while His perfect justice, mercy, love, grace, and holiness intersected without contradiction.
After Jesus died for our sins and was buried, he rose three days later! The refiners fire has come to us for the purpose of redeeming lost sinners. His work continues as His fire continues to remove the dross from our lives! As the author of Hebrews exhorts the Christian, we set our eyes on Him to, run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-2).
As for the rest of the wilderness and those who refuse to turn to the One who suffered the fire of Gods justice for sin, a judgment awaits and will come: Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. The Lamb of God is coming to bring the fire of Gods justice as the Lion of Judah! Jesus will come as the King of kings and Lord of lords; we are told that when He comes, all of the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him (Rev. 1:7).
You may be tempted to ask: Where is the God of justice? His answer is simply, Here I am, I never left. In the same way God answered Israels question in Malachi 3, He does the same for us in the last book of the Bible:
Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Rev. 22:1215)
Amen. | |||
| Broken Relationships and the Worship of a Faithful God | 08 Oct 2023 | 00:41:17 | |
Jesus was asked what he believed the greatest of Gods commandments was, and his answer was simple: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:3740). Jesus answer can be reduced to seven words: Love God and also love your neighbor. How you love God will affect the way you treat the people in your life, and the way you treat the people in your life can serve as a barometer for the spiritual climate of your heart and relationship with God.
What does this have to do with Malachi 2:10-17? The way the people were treating one another and the way the men were treating their wives, was symptomatic of their relationship with God. Because the men did not think highly of the promise made to their wives, God did not regard or accept their worship. We will unpack verse 13 but consider the shocking tone of this verse to set the tone for the whole passage: You cover the Lords altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
I am reading a book titled, The Great Dechurching; what got my attention before I purchased the book is what it said in the back: We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in US history. This shift is greater than the First and Second Great Awakenings combined (when America experienced the largest religious shift in the Church towards growth) but in the opposite direction. In the opening pages of the book, Jim Davis and Michael Graham glean from the largest and most comprehensive study of dechurching in America: About 40 million adults in America today used to go to church but no longer do, which accounts for around 16 percent of our adult population. For the first time in the eight decades that the Gallup has tracked American religious membership, more adults in the United States do not attend church than attend church. This is not a gradual shift; it is a jolting one.[1] What this means in the words of Davis and Graham: More people have left the church in the last twenty-five years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, and Billy Graham crusades combined.[2]
Here are some of the takeaways so far from my reading of The Great Dechurching:
Dechurching is happening on every income level, regardless of educational status, and area of the country people live, which means that people all over the country are, deciding to forgo their in-person worship for other activities on Sunday morning.[3] And they are doing so for a variety of reasons.[4]
The children of the dechurched will inevitably become unchurched, which in the words of the authors of their book will change, the nature of spirituality in America significantly.[5]
One of the most alarming findings that I have read in The Great Dechurching so far is what the authors state at the beginning of their book: We learned in our research that 68 percent of dechurched evangelicals said their parents played a role in the decision to leave the Church.[6] There was something about the culture of the home these evangelical dechurched Christians experienced that turned them away from the church. I believe Malachi 2:10-17 speaks into the phenomena of the great dechurching.
Know God as Your Father
Tozer said it well when he wrote, What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and mans spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.[7] I have used this quote so many times in sermons, Bible studies, and classes I have taught; it still has not lost its punch because it is so true!
So, who is this God we identify as our Father? Or as Malachi states in the form of a question: Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? (v. 10). If you are a Christian, then our Father is the creator God who spoke the galaxies into existence with only the word of his mouth in only six days (Gen. 1:1; Exod. 20:11; Heb. 11:3). Our Father is El Elyon, which means, The Most High God. There is no God like him and there is not god above him (Gen. 14:18-20; Ps. 57:2; Isa. 46:8-10). Our Father is El Roi, which means, The God Who Sees. Nothing goes unnoticed by him. He sees our circumstances, he sees the secret places, he sees when no one else notices, he sees all things (Gen. 16:13-14; Prov. 24:12). Our Father is El Shaddai, which means, The All-Sufficient One. He lacks absolutely nothing, he cannot be outdone, and he is able to do what he says he will do. Our Father is Yahweh who is the covenant keeping God; He does not break his promises and He is faithful even when we are faithless (Exod. 3:13-14). Dear brothers and sisters, what comes to mind when you think of the God that you call, Father?
As Yahweh, our Father provides (Yahweh-Jireh) for his children (Gen. 22:11-14). In Exodus 15:26, we discover that our Father heals his children (Yahweh-Rapha). In Exodus 17:15, our Father is a banner for his people in Whom we find our true identity and purpose (Yahweh-Nissi). In Exodus 31:13, we discover that our Father loves his children too much to leave them as they are, for He is the one who sanctifies His people (Yahweh-Mekoddishkem). In Judges 6:24, our Father is the only One who is able to bring peace (shalom) to His children (Yahweh-Shalom). In Psalm 46:7, our Father is a refuge and fortress for his children even when you find yourself standing on the ashes of what once was (Yahweh-Sabaoth). In Psalm 23, our Father is our Good Shepherd (Yahweh-Raah). But wait, there is one other name I want you to see that describes what our heavenly Father will do for His children in Jeremiah 23:5-6,
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. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The Lord is our righteousness.
Now skip down to Malachi 3:1; the Messenger Malachi prophesied would come to prepare the way for the Lord, is the One Jeremiah described as, The Lord is our righteousness. The messenger would be John the Baptist: Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 3:1 is a part of next weeks sermon, but before we look at the rest of Malachi 2, I want you to hear two things:
The Righteous Branch from David is Jesus, the righteousness of all whose faith rests in Him, for in Jesus we discover a Father who is our righteousness who sent His Son to be our righteousness: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Because of what Jesus accomplished for you, Christian, we read in five verses earlier in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come. Richard Gaffin wrote something that amplifies the significance of what it means to have God as your Father in the following statement: At the core of their being, in the deepest recesses of what they arein other words, in the inner selfbelievers will never be more resurrected than they already are. God has done a work in each believer, a work of nothing less than resurrection proportions that will not be undone. Such languageis not just a metaphor.[8]
If you can truly call God, Father because you have reconciled to Him by faith through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then you, will never be more resurrected at the core of your inner self than you already are. Before we can go any further, I want you to let that truth settle upon your heart for a moment.
Recognize the Bond You Share with Gods People
If you are a Christian, then God has done a work in your life that has changed the DNA of your inner self is such a way that what was once spiritually dead is now alive! That work will and can never be undone (if you doubt that, just read Ephesians 1:3-14 and Romans 8). So, if you are tempted to believe the lie that you cannot change, you need to preach to your own heart that the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the grave, is the same power that has made you spiritually alive and empowers change in you. The power at work in your life is a power those addressed in Malachi 2 did not know.
The evidence that a person can truly call God, Father is seen by that persons loving response to God and those who bear His image. So, for those in Malachis day who claimed to know God as Father, but were faithless to one another received the following rebuke:
Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts! (Malachi 2:1012)
What was the covenant of the fathers that was being profaned? It was the covenant that included certain prohibitions, and one such prohibition was not to marry individuals from certain people groups who did not love or worship Yahweh because they worshiped other gods. Specifically, God instructed His people: You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods (Deut. 7:34). Generations before Malachi, Solomon married women from other people groups who worshiped other gods and they turned his heart away from God and the consequences where catastrophic for the nation of Israel. Solomons disregard of Deuteronomy 7 was the soil that resulted in nation-wide idolatry and the eventual discipline of God that exiled the Hebrew people, yet the men of Malachis day ignored all of that and went and married women who worshiped other gods anyway.
If God is a Father to you and you know Him to be all that He has identified Himself to be, then why on Gods green earth would you enter into the one covenantal relationship that was instituted by God with a person who does not love or worship that same God as you do? If God is God and He is a Father to you, then why would you risk entering into a relationship with someone who will at best make the worship of Him burdensome and at worst turn your heart against Him? If the God who instituted marriage where is to be enjoyed and the procreation of children to be shared for the purpose of raising them up to know the One True God, why would you willingly enter into a relationship where your child/children will inevitably be torn between whatever god is worshiped by one parent verses the true God worshiped by the other?
Listen, Malachi 2:10-12 is not just for Malachis contemporaries, these verses are for the Church too! What is in Malachi 2:10-12 is not an Old Testament principle to be ignored by New Testament saints in the name of grace or missionary dating, for we are told in the New Testament: Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial, or what does a believer share with an unbeliever (2 Cor. 6:1415, NASB20)? Listen carefully, the point being made in these verses is that the only reason you would want to marry someone who does not love or know the true God is because you love the unbelieving man or woman more than you love God.
To profane the covenant of marriage in verse 11, is to treat the covenant of marriage as common and nothing more than simple romance that can be disregarded when the feelings fade, or the intimacy is gone. If what I just said seems harsh to you, then how else do you explain verse 13, which states: And this second thing you do. You cover the Lords altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. This is exactly what Esau did after he found out that by trading his birthright for a bowl of stew and after the blessing was given to his younger brother, he wept (see Gen. 28:30-38); Hebrews 12:17 describes Esaus response this way: For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears (Heb. 12:17). Sin is simply the trading your birthright in for a bowl of stew that will not satisfy your soul.
Faithfully Nurture the Covenant You Have Entered
The other thing the men in Malachis day were doing, was that they were divorcing their Hebrew wives to marry women who worshiped other gods. The way the men were treating their wives was evidence that they really had little regard for the covenant of marriage. There were some who desired marriage with foreign women who worshiped another god, and then there were men who married a Hebrew wife who did worship Yahweh but divorced them to marry women who worshiped other gods. To these men, Malachi addresses in verse 15, Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth (Mal. 2:15).
We read in Genesis 1 something that Malachi and his contemporaries would have been familiar with: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Gen. 1:27). God then commanded the man and woman to create and fill the earth with people like themselves and to manage creation. Furthermore, we are told in Genesis 1:28 that God told Adam and his wife, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth (Genesis 1:28). This is the covenant of marriage, and in Genesis 2:24-25 we are told of the sacredness of marriage and the place that had within that covenantal relationship: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed (Genesis 2:2425).
By profaning the covenant of their fathers (Mal. 2:10), the people (mostly the men) treated everything about marriage as common. Their primary reason for doing so had more to do with than anything else. The way Malachis contemporaries were treating marriage and was not all that dissimilar to the way marriage and is treated by our own culture where marriage and is treated as common instead of sacred. Malachis day and our own treats marriage as something to be experimented with or to be experienced with few barriers, if any. As it is treated in our day, so it was in Malachis day: Marriage was not viewed as a sacred covenant by those who claimed to know God, nor as a covenant instituted by God. The reason why this was, is the same reason for our own day: They did not stand in awe of Gods name. Gods response and feelings toward the way the people treated the covenant of marriage in Malachis day is still the same for our own day, and we see that response in verse 16. There are two legitimate ways Malachi 2:16 can be translated; both ways are seen in the way the ESV and the NASB translates this verse:
For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.(Mal. 2:16; ESV)
For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and him who covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of armies. So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously. (Mal. 2:16; NASB20)
What is the point? God hates divorce because of what it does to the institution He has called sacred. Why is it sacred, well besides the obvious, marriage is also a portrait of something much greater than the love two people have for one another. Here is what the apostle Paul said of marriage: Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband (Eph. 5:3133).
Not only were the men and women of Malachis day faithless to those within their community of faith as worshipers of One true God, but they were faithless to God because they desired the women of foreign gods over the women who loved Yahweh. This was evil in the sight of God, but what was even more detestable was the way the Hebrew men treated their Hebrew wives by divorcing them because they desired to be with the women of a foreign god more than they wanted to be with their own wives because they did not really know, love, or stand in awe of the God they offered sacrifices too.
Conclusion
Remember Jesus answer to the question regarding the greatest of the commandments: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:3740). I will reiterate again that the way you love others is symptomatic of the kind of love you have for God. The apostle John picked up on this in his epistle by writing: Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes (1 John 2:911).
Did you know that there are at least 59 one another verses in the New Testament? At least 12 of those 59 one another statements include: Love one another. Do you know why that is? Because if you are a genuine Christian, you are able to love God in such a way that it will affect the way you treat others. What is different about you is that you, will never be more resurrected at the core of your inner self than you already are because of what Jesus has done for you and in you. Now that you know God and are loved by Him, you are able to love others in a way unlike the rest of the world.
I am going to say something that might shock you into wanting to leave frustrated or angry, but it really needs to be said. So here it is: the point being made in Malachi 2:10-16 is that the reason you treat people, , and the institution of marriage as common is because you love the act of and or the person you are with more than you love God. The good news is that this does not have to be the legacy of your life.
In the words of Richard Gaffin, if you are a Christian, then At the core of your being, in the deepest recesses of what you arein other words, in your inner selfyou will never be more resurrected than you already are. God has done a work in you, and that work cannot be undone if you really are a Christian and not only religious. What this means is that it is not too late for you! I asked you last week: What threshold were you hesitant to cross to go all in to follow Jesus? What are you holding onto that Jesus is asking you to surrender to Him? What act of obedience have you not taken because you are more afraid of what others might think than you are of what God thinks?
God wants life for you. He is not against your joy He is for your joy! The same appeal that was always before Israel is before you today:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. (Deut. 30:19-20)
That relationship you participated in that included outside of marriage does not need to define you. That marriage you entered into with your unbelieving spouse is worth investing in and your spouse is not beyond the reach of grace of God. That divorce you initiated or pursued and now you are in your second or third marriage your present marriage can thrive! If you are single, married, divorced, or remarried if you are a Christian, Gods will for your life cannot be any clearer that what is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, For this is the will of God, your sanctification. For the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is doing the impossible in your life too! In closing I leave you the hope of Romans 8:11 to combat the lie of the enemy that would convince you that your old self is who you are: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Amen.
[1] Jim Davis, Michael Graham; The Great Dechurching (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan; 2023), p. 3.
[2] Ibid; p. 5.
[3] Ibid, p. 24.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid, p. 33.
[6] Ibid, p. 9.
[7] A.W. Tozer. The Knowledge of the Holy (San Francisco, CO: HarperSanFrancisco; 1961), p. 1.
[8] Paul Miller; A Praying Church (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2023), p. 73. | |||
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