Loving the Church Is an Act of Reverence

In Matthew 18, Jesus likens his disciples to vulnerable little children who are susceptible to the world’s temptations and who must live their lives in needy dependence upon him. Woven into the text are also explicit statements and constant indications about the heart of God for his church. Each of these statements place a weight of responsibility on our shoulders. They tell us that if God’s heart for every one of his little children is so intense, there is no room for us to treat any believer with indifference. Loving the church is an act of reverence, and reverence is a life of holy fear before the Lord. Acting in reverence before God is probably not our first thought when we are thinking about the church, but it is impossible to read through the verses in the first half of Matthew 18 and not be compelled by God’s heart for his children. While seeing God’s heart we hear loud and clear implications about how this must be reflected in our own attitudes toward his church.

Matthew 18:4 “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

-       Jesus tells us what God values. God does not value a church concerned with greatness; he values a humble neediness for him.

Matthew 18:5 "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me…”

-       To welcome/receive/love another believer (depicted by a little child) is to actually welcome Christ himself.

Matthew 18:6 “…but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

-       If we are careless in the way we live and act toward the church, we are at risk of leading our own brothers and sisters into sin. We face the awesome judgment of God.

Matthew 18:7 "Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!”

-       The whole world and any individual who through temptation hurts even one of God’s children will face his wrath.

Matthew 18:10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”

-       If you treat any other believer with indifference, you are ignoring that God sends his angels from his very throne room to serve his church. You ignore the holy edicts of God in his utmost position of authority and glory.

Matthew 18:14 “So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

-       The heart of God is displayed in his very will to protect every single one of his children and bring them to his eternal glorious presence.

Matthew 18:19 “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”

-       In the context of pursuing a sinning brother or sister, when God’s children come together in rebuking sin or seeking his forgiveness, God is with them and answers them. In the restoration of a sinning child through the loving pursuit of the church, God will never refuse them who turn to him for restoration. This comes from the very throne of God in heaven.

If you have ever thought lightly about the church, you need to think again. God loves his children and expects his children to love each other according to his own heart for his sheep. The very fact that twice in this text we are reminded that this comes from heaven tells us that we must have a sincere reverence before God as we approach his church. What would happen if you reminded yourself of this before the next time you walked through the doors where your church family meets? What would happen if you reminded yourself about this before the next time you spoke about the church?

Fundamentalists Rarely Rejoice

Whenever I use the term, ‘fundamentalist,’ I need to remind myself that in the eyes of the world, that’s how many would describe me. I am a Christian who stands on the inerrant truth of the word of God. I am particularly concerned about the biblical doctrines that are essential for gospel coherency and hold them as fundamentals of the Christian faith. If someone wants to use this to call me a fundamentalist, then I am guilty as charged. I have, however, separated myself from the term partially on the basis that fundamentalism has become known for a harsh and critical spirit of judgmentalism and leadership on the basis of fear and intimidation. The fundamentalist mindset often tends to be an ultimatum, “align or leave,” and when such a culture is cultivated, outward conformity trumps real confession and repentance. Any true acknowledgement of sin and shame is simply too dangerous to divulge in the consequences of a critical, judgmental attitude. If the apostle Paul were to walk into a fundamentalist church, he would be robbed of his desire to rejoice.

Paul certainly had his fair share of difficult dialogue with the church in Corinth.  He wrote to rebuke them for their lack of concern about sin wreaking havoc on their church family. Even with the difficulty of confronting uneasy situations, Paul’s words clearly show that he was not the fundamentalist of his day.  2 Corinthians 2:1-4 – “For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” Where is Paul’s judgmental, critical spirit? Where is his partialism? It is nowhere to be seen.

What we see in Paul is a heart of affection that cries real tears of anguish out of love for his brothers and sisters who are hurting themselves in sin. Paul displays a care and love that acts for the benefit of the church, even when it’s difficult, and desires nothing more than to rejoice when those who are straying are convicted of their sin and restored to God and his people. Paul longs most of all to find joy in the restoration of a sinning saint. The very fact that this letter was read and preserved shows that there was indeed a humility in the Corinthian church leadership in heeding Paul’s words of anguish. While there were massive, heart breaking issues in the church in Corinth, it seems that it became a safe place for church members to be transparent because greater joy was found in their restoration. As I read both of Paul’s letters to Corinth, I can’t help but note that a church that had major problems turned out to be a safe haven to confess sin. I can’t help but wonder if some of this safety comes from a previous statement Paul had once made when he named a list of sins and expressed, “such were some of you.” (1 Cor 6:11).

In Matthew 18:12-14, Jesus talks of wandering sheep in much the same way. Jesus says that there is greater rejoicing in the one wandering sheep that is found and returned than in the ninety-nine who did not stray. This rejoicing in the restoration of a saint is not just the heart of Paul, it’s the heart of God. It says that confession of sin and transparency of heart in the church is much more important than the appearance of toeing the line.

As a pastor I often think, “Is our church a safe place for people to confess sin, find help, and embrace the joy of restoration?” When someone reveals that they are in a dangerous position and wandering in the opposite direction of Christ, are we showing the pointed fingers of fundamentalism or a heart that longs to rejoice in restoration? Are we serious about sin to the extent that we are in desperate anguish for the brother or sister we sincerely love?

Why do fundamentalists rarely rejoice? Perhaps that's a question they need to ask themselves.  I would say, it’s good to teach and stand on holy dogma and truth, but if the first thought of your heart toward a sinning saint is critical judgmentalism, you may be missing your opportunity to rejoice. Unless you can run in loving anguish after the wandering saint, you will not know the rejoicing so prominently displayed by Paul and Jesus. Unless there is a safe environment for the saint to confess, you will rob each other of the joy of restoration.

God Never Makes Empty Threats

Hell might not be a palatable subject for our culture, but culture has never been the arbiter of truth. We have all heard the objections to the biblical concept of an eternal hell, and most often they are made in reference to the perceived character of God. If God is a good and loving God, why would he torment people forever? If God is loving and merciful, surely that love must win, and everyone eventually gets to heaven. The problem with these perceptions of God is that they are blindly selective of God’s attributes and greatly ignorant of the seriousness of human sin. The Bible clearly speaks of our God as eternal, immutable, righteous, jealous, wrathful, holy, and just. Put these attributes together and we understand that God is eternally unchanging in his judgment against evil perpetrated against his infinite holiness. If God’s mercy, love, and grace are eternal, then God’s righteous judgment and wrath are also eternal, and our relationship with God is based on one or the other depending on whether or not we are in Christ.

The objections to God’s eternal and righteous judgment are not just found in those who find the gospel reprehensible, but also many who claim to profess Christ. Some professing Christians have suggested many alternatives to an eternal hell in an attempt to make the love of God more palatable for themselves and others. The problem with this is that if you deny the eternality of hell, you end up having the same problem with heaven.

 In Matthew 19:16, Jesus is asked a very important question: “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” When Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give to the poor, the man went away sorrowful. If the temporal is more important to us than putting our faith in Jesus, what have we left but sorrow? In Christ, however, there is eternal reward. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29).

One chapter before, Jesus was talking to his disciples about the seriousness of sin. He said, “And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire”(Matthew 18:8-9). Notice that Jesus uses the word “eternal” in reference to hell. This is the same word used in Matthew 19 in reference to eternal life. It is the same word used in reference to the eternal God (Romans 16:26) and the eternal power and nature of God (Romans 1:20). It’s also the same word used in the verse every Christian loves to quote as we give witness to the gospel – John 3:16, a verse we quote because we want everyone who hears to know that through faith in Christ we have eternal life.

When God warns us to be serious about sin, he does so to emphasize the seriousness of sin’s punishment.  It’s not simply hell (as horrific a thought as even one single day in hell would be). It is eternal hell. It is as everlasting as eternal life. We can’t have one without the other. If hell is not eternal, then Matthew 18 is an empty threat. It would be as if God is saying, “Sin is serious, so don’t forsake Jesus to follow your sin because sin leads to an eternal hell – but – not really.” What we can know from Matthew 18 is that if hell is not eternal, then neither is heaven, and sin is not really that serious, and the gospel loses its relief. It’s no longer good news. It’s just news.

The reality is that whether you want to believe in eternal hell or not, the Scriptures give us no alternative. The good news of Jesus is not salvation from an empty threat, but salvation from the eternal judgment of the all-holy God of the universe. Our only hope is indeed to repent of sin and put our faith in Jesus Christ who paid the eternal price for our salvation when he died for our sins on the cross. He is our only hope, but he is also our eternal hope. God never makes empty threats, and therefore, God also never makes empty promises.  

The Devastation of Self-Reliance

In Matthew 18:1-4, Jesus brought out a little child before his disciples as an example of how they were to be as needy little children completely reliant on their Father. In our world, this type of posture is seen as a sign of weakness. The worldly attitude is to be the best you that you can be, to be rich or successful or famous or independent. According to the world, those who would value meekness and neediness allow others to step on them, and as a result they never achieve their true potential. Not only is the worldly pursuit of being a self-made success opposite to Christ-likeness, it is also the way of ultimate devastation. 

A great example of this is demonstrated through the first king of Israel, Saul.  Saul starts well and even portrays a significant level of humility. In 1 Samuel 9:21, Saul asks, “Am I not a Benjamite, from the least of the tribes of Israel?”  Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for Saul’s station as king to become a source of self-reliant pride in his life.

Even though it was clearly God who set Saul on the throne and established him with a victory in battle, Saul started relying on his own agenda as king rather than relying on God. Saul rejected the absolute King and tried to make his own way without relying of God. As is often the case, this happens when the pressure starts mounting. As the Philistines were mustering to fight the Israelites with 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore, the men of Israel were cowering in fear in caves and under rocks. It was at this time that Saul was awaiting Samuel the prophet to come and offer burnt offerings to God. Samuel had told Saul to wait for this at Gilgal so that he might be shown what to do (10:8). But Saul’s agenda did not fit with this. Even though he had been told to wait for Samuel for burnt offerings and instruction, Saul would wait no longer, so he took it upon himself to make the burnt offerings (13:8). Saul’s fear of the Philistines and lack of reliance on God brought him to an act of disobedience in an attempt to follow his own agenda.  In 1 Samuel 13:12, Saul says that he “forced himself” to do this.  His desire for victory over the Philistines trumped his need for God of the universe.

Throughout Saul’s life from this time on, we see a king who continues to ignore God’s will and pursue his own agenda. God gave Saul’s son, Jonathan, victory over the Philistines, but Saul attempts to have him for going against his wishes.  When God tells Saul to destroy every Amalekite and everything they owned, he disobeyed God and spared their king and livestock (15:7-9). Rather than acknowledging his own lack of disobedience, Saul set up a monument to himself as if to claim his own victory, agenda and kingdom (15:12). In response to this, God gave Samuel these words for Saul. 1 Samuel 15:23 says, “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” In other words, following your own plan is the same as following your own god.  As a result of this, God completely rejected Saul as king over his people, and even more devastating is that the God of the universe grieved for this man.

This world constantly reveres self-made, self-reliant people, but God does not. In the end, to be rejected by God is the most devastating result any human can face. When we stop relying on God and start relying on our own strength, wisdom, and desires, we are effectively choosing a god of our own making. While people hold the high station of worldly greatness on a pedestal, Christians should aim for something much higher. We should aim for total reliance upon the One True King who holds all things in the palm of his hand. We should aim for complete neediness upon the substitutionary atonement made for us by our Savior. We should trust and hope, not in ourselves, but in Christ.

The Testimony Every American Christian Needs to Hear Right Now

This past Sunday at Hyde Park Baptist Church, we finished our sermon series titled, “Exiles.” As we considered what it really means to be exiles in our country and world, four of our congregation gave outstanding testimonies about what God had taught them and how God had changed them. One of those was from our sister, Mindy. This particular testimony is a wonderful example of what it means to have a biblical view of being an American citizen in uncertain days.

My Identity as a Kingdom Citizen Changes My Perspective on Exile Life

I have always been a very patriotic American citizen. I’m thankful for the pledges to the American flag and the Christian flag that I’ve said all my life, for songs of America and God’s grace on our nation, for my 9th grade Government & Economics teacher that inspired such enthusiasm in me that I would have willingly marched to war after class. I’m thankful for my family members who have served in our military in the past and those in my family serving currently. I’m thankful for the opportunities I’ve had to encourage Christian citizens to call our Senators/Representatives to speak up for truth and for the opportunities to work in the voting polls as an “election official”.

Early last year when the pandemic was no longer just an international problem, but also a U.S. problem, I remember feeling shocked and embarrassed to realize that in my heart, somehow that nationalism and patriotism had become intertwined with my faith. I’ve based some of my life security on the nation I live in and the safety I can expect here or the option to be rescued out of any international conflict because I am an American citizen. I saw the United States as the current Israel of God & had developed confidence in our nation. But I suddenly realized what national insecurity and an unraveling country felt like and had to realize that if I view the U.S. as the current Israel, then it’s easy to see the U.S. shaking and wonder if God is shaking.

So, all during 2020, in so many ways, God was asking me: where is your faith and trust placed? I had to stare these questions in the face. God began to teach me that while I want my vote to count, I’m never electing a spiritual leader to shepherd my heart. Instead I’m electing a person to lead a human government.

He taught me throughout Scripture God’s people have served as leaders in kingdoms- kingdoms that were not Godly and were not spiritually ok: Mordecai, Esther, and Nehemiah served in the Medes/Persian empire, Daniel -who we’ve been talking about in this series- served under several kings in Babylon and Persia, and Joseph served under the king of Egypt. All the prophets (including Jeremiah and Ezekiel in this sermon series), John the Baptist, and even Jesus ministered in the middle of countries and national leaders who were full of moral ruin.

Jesus said in John 18:36, “… ‘I am not an earthly king. If I were, my followers would have fought when I was arrested by the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.’ ”

So often we as believers say, This or that is going on and is so terrible, BUT GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL. Of course that statement is true, but it can sound like doom and gloom with a positive reminder tacked on to the end. Why do I say this like there was a doubt that maybe He wasn’t in control or maybe had lost His grip? What does this show about how I view the Kingdom? Do I see God as just King in the past or just King in the future? Do I see Him as King right now?

I’ve been blown away over the last few months by the descriptions all throughout Psalms like Psalm 11:3-4 of Jesus as King established, comfortably seated and unruffled on His throne. He is not going to move and He is forever in charge.

We’ve learned in this sermon series about Daniel and that knowing and holding on to our identity helps us to stay true, engage with the world, and live in the reality of God’s faithfulness. Knowing our identity as Kingdom citizens changes our perspective on Exile Life and really pulls the fear out of exile life.

Hebrews 11 and 13 says that God’s people have always been “foreigners” and “nomads here on earth” and that “this world is not our home”. That’s exile language. Philippians 3:20 says that “… we are citizens of heaven…”- that city we were learning about in Ezekiel and Revelation last week- the “heavenly city” with “eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God” as Hebrews 11 describes it. 

I haven’t gone from being a patriotic American to suddenly not caring about what is happening in my country. I haven’t painted everything cheery. But I don’t feel the scare factor of: things have never been this bad or will the church/God’s people survive?  If our country has to go into a time of punishment or if our whole country falls apart, God is not scrambling. God is the King of His unshakeable Kingdom and there is no need for me to worry. He is at work impacting our current reality to carry out His plans.  I’m a citizen of God’s Kingdom and my part is to obey Him. With an exile identity, I can experience joy even if/when the government is not a God-honoring government and when I don’t feel at home.

I feel like God has had me in the science lab and has been mixing so many things together to produce a reaction- an explosion in my worldview. God has set me free. He has given me comfort and peace amidst a pandemic, amidst an election, amidst travel and plan changes, an economic downturn, social upheaval, and even the death of some people I love.

If God has said we are more important to Him than birds or flowers, if He has promised to provide for us, if all our days are in His hands (Luke 12), if He is our Good Shepherd, if He is our King… “If [He] is all those things to [us], [we are] going to be ok.”

The Unhelpful Practice of "Israelizing" America

2 Chronicles 7:14 – If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

So often verses like these are applied to America, and in doing so I believe we do a great disservice to our fellow citizens. When we view America the same way we view Old Covenant Israel, we think and act with a mindset that does not help our fellow citizens know the most urgent, life transforming solution to their greatest need.

2 Chronicles 7:14 clearly talks about God’s covenant people who have betrayed the covenant God made with them, and God responds by calling them back to the covenant relationship and its blessing through repentance and faith. In the Scriptures we see two examples of people in a covenant with God. First, we see the people of Israel, the Old Covenant. Through their rebellion they proved that there was no way for sinners to maintain their covenant with God. They needed a Covenant Keeper to save them. The New Covenant, the better covenant relationship with God in Scripture, is the everlasting relationship through faith in Christ and his completed work on the cross.

Often when people make comparative associations between America and Israel, they fail to realize that God never made a covenant with America, and to equate America with Israel is to treat America as God’s people without any concern for entry into the New Covenant through Christ alone.

In the Bible, Babylon is most associated with the nations of the world. God’s covenant people were under judgment and exiled to Babylon for 70 years. This historical reality seems to be a picture of how the New Testament church is seen in this world. In the Apostle Peter’s first letter, he writes to the church and explains that he is with “she who is in Babylon” (5:13). In Peter’s day Rome was the great nation that was comparatively associated with Babylon, so when Peter sent greetings from “she who is in Babylon,” he was sending greetings from the church (she) who was in Rome.

As you read First Peter, you find that Peter echoes the sentiments of the prophets of the Babylonian exile. He implores Christians to respect kings and governments, to honor unbelievers and contribute to their wellbeing, and to share with them the hope of Christ. Peter’s point is for us to live in Babylon and display a life that emanates Christ in the face of impending judgment for those who reject salvation. When Christians acknowledge Babylon for what it is, we truly live according to Christ’s great commission for the world. 

When we view America as Israel, we treat it as if it has a covenantal relationship with God, and when we suggest that a nation is God’s people without the work of the cross, we eradicate any hope of salvation and consign ourselves to constant frustration with unbelievers. Instead of having compassion for “Babylonians,” we feel only disdain for a country that should be something other than what it currently is. Instead of demonstrating God’s love, we condemn others and separate ourselves. We long for a moralized society rather than regenerate people, and there is a profound difference between the two.

Because I value the Babylon that I have been graciously allowed to live in, I refuse to compare America with the Old Covenant Israel. I love Americans too much to muddy our view of this country and rob people of the grace of Christ that people so desperately need. We live well in Babylon because Babylon is our mission ground. Our main message must always be a compassionate plea for Americans to come out of Babylon and become exiles with us. We want every new exile in Babylon to look forward to the ultimate homecoming when we will be exiles no more.

It's Time To Value the Church

When difficult times arrive, they can bring out the best and worst of us. This year the church has learned by experience that many of us approach turmoil in differing ways with differing convictions. Christians doing their best to honor the Lord and live according to what they believe to be obedient are finding themselves at odds with other Christians attempting to do exactly the same. It’s at this time that good pastors will point to Scriptures such as 1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14 to help guide folks who, whether weak or strong, may be on either side of the conscience line. When it comes to matters of conscience (gray areas where we need to live by conviction), Romans 14:5-6 guides us to be fully convinced but to think the best of other brothers and sisters who are also doing their best to honor the Lord.  These passages are invaluable for the church in a time like this.

There is another thought that helps us to value our brothers and sisters in the church even when there are eternally inconsequential differences. We can remember that we are all part of one, great, eternal structure of beauty being built by God as his glorious eternal city. Many passages in the New Testament refer to the church as being built into a great temple of the Lord. The one that helps us to contemplate the glory of God’s completed work is in Revelation 21. In Revelation 21, the Apostle John receives a most glorious vision of the “wife of the Lamb.” (21:9). This vision is then described in terms of a great city structure. What do we notice?

1.     It’s beautiful: It should be seen as a shining spectacle of God’s beautiful glory. Revelation 21:10-11 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

2.     It’s inclusive: It should be celebrated because it includes every child of God either from the 12 tribes of Israel or those who have believed through the witness of the 12 Apostles. Revelation 21:12-14 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed-- 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

3.     It’s huge: Measurements like 12,000 stadia may not be well known to us, but roughly 1400 miles is. God has built a big, glorious, eternal city. Revelation 21:15-17 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement.

4.     It’s adorned: Like a bride for her wedding day, this city is adorned with the finest jewels. Revelation 21:18-21 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

5.     It will require no temple to worship our spectacular God in his spectacular glory. Revelation 21:22-25 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day--and there will be no night there.

6.     It will be filled with all nations: Revelation 21:26  They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

7.     It will be pure and holy: Revelation 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

If this is describing the wife of the Lamb, surely we can be reminded that every believer on every side of the conscience issues in this temporal world is described this way. Yes, for you and me both, it’s time to start valuing the church.

Take Notice of Biblical Déjà Vu

Sometimes, as long as we are familiar with the Scriptures, when we read the New Testament, we get a sense of “déjà vu.” It’s that faint sense of recollection that we have heard or seen something before.  The reason for this is because the New Testament authors, under the inspiration of the Divine Author of the entire Scriptures, are constantly recalling previous Scriptures to bring us God’s progressive revelation with a unified truth. The Scriptures have a ring of truth and unity and a supernatural sense that no other book on this planet shares.

Regardless of innumerable attestations of the Bible, the unity of the Scriptures is an internal attestation of God’s divine authorship. This is why we might read sections of the gospels or New Testament letters even where they are not making direct quotations of Old Testament texts and hear the ring of familiarity – even through a translated text.  

One of the most amazing aspects of this in the Scriptures is considered when we realize that each text individually has its own historical context. For example, when God delivered Israel from the hands of Egypt, God brought judgment upon Egypt through plagues.  The ten plagues of Egypt were a local judgment on a local people in a real time and place. While we read the narrative about the exodus on pages, God actually ordained and wrote a living narrative in real history.  God has sovereignty in his authorship that no other human author possesses. In delivering his people through judgment, God consistently reminds us in later texts of Scripture that this real historical event of the exodus in its local setting is a picture of something much greater on a grander scale. We see this most prominently in Christ who is the Son who came out of Egypt to deliver God’s children (Matthew 2:15). 

Again, at the time of the Babylonian exile, God delivers his people through judgment upon the great city as he returns his people to their land. When we read the Old Testament, we get the sense that even when God is chastising his own children for their sin, he will not allow those who hate him and his children to go unpunished.  God’s children will always have hope that God’s enemies will not win, and God will restore his children and bring them home.

When you and I read the New Testament, we are constantly shown that these repeated themes help us to know that the history we read is not disconnected from us in our time.  In Christ, we are God’s children and we don’t need to wonder what will happen to the enemies of God and his children in our current world. God continues to point us in the same direction as he pointed his children in Egypt and Babylon. He even uses the judgments upon Egypt and Babylon to remind us that one day his judgment will not just be with a local people in a local place, but it will be a universal application of God’s judgment upon the entire unbelieving world.

A great example of this “universalization” is found in Revelation 16.  In this amazing chapter, persecuted Christians can take great comfort in the fact that God will pour out his wrath on unrepentant idolators and persecutors of God’s children. The church in this world can know for sure that there will be vindication and God will bring retribution on all who are unwilling to humbly repent and trust Jesus. In Revelation 16 we read the account of bowls of wrath being poured out.  The wrath of God is described as plagues upon the world. There are frogs, darkness, waters turning to blood, hail, and even painful sores. It is impossible to read this chapter and not think of the exodus. This time in Revelation 16, there are not ten plagues but seven. This is because seven is a number of fullness and completion. We read that the judgment does not just come on one Pharaoh in one geographic location, but the scope is the whole world (vs. 2, 14..). At the end of these judgments there seems to be a very final sense of the completion of judgment upon the nations.  The seventh bowl is poured out and the whole earth quakes, nations fall, and we are told to remember that Babylon was once the epitome of pride and arrogance in the world and it has been finally destroyed (vs. 17-20).

These images of Egypt and mention of Babylon should be of extreme importance and comfort to Christians. This is the case because we have a historical foundation of real events in world history. We know that God actually did bring these judgments on real places in real times. If God is referring us back to history, it is as if he is saying, “If I have been faithful in judgment for the delivery of my people in the past in real places and times, you can be absolutely sure that I will be faithful in judgment of this whole world and the delivery of my people on the final day.” In Revelation 16 God says this (through John) in spectacular apocalyptic language and imagery to impress upon us that his sovereign judgment and salvation is on a scale beyond everything we can imagine in our little place in this world.

Because of Christ’s victory in the cross, Christians persevere in this world looking forward to the final day of salvation in the final consummation of all things. It may be disturbing to us to think of the scope of judgment that is yet to come to unbelievers, but I hope that it also motivates us to be evermore concerned about the proclamation of the gospel and ultimately concerned about the vindication of God’s holy name in all of his creation. We persevere and live toward that day because in Christ, God’s victory is also ours and history gives us certainty because God has already proven himself faithful.

So take notice of Biblical déjà vu, it’s often happening for very good reason!

Was King Nebuchadnezzar Saved?

As long as I can remember growing up in the church, I have often heard speculation about whether or not we will see King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in heaven. This is certainly not a biblical contention that Christian brothers and sisters should lose unity over. Even so, as we consider this question it does raise a point about what should be most important to Christians as we engage with our culture. There is a big difference between acknowledgment of God in law, and regeneration in Christ.

To understand the context of this question we must understand the context of the book of Daniel. Daniel wrote as a man who was taken from his home in Israel to live as an exile in Babylon.  God had judged Israel for their disobedience and idolatry and had used Babylon to conquer his people, take them into exile and eventually destroy the city and temple of Jerusalem. The whole survival of the people of God was down to exiles living out 70 years in Babylon to turn their hearts back to God and return to the land in repentance.

In Daniel 1, we read that God was preserving his people from the very beginning by giving Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of those Babylonians over him. We see this favor working out by the end of chapter 2 as Daniel was given a position of esteem and audience with the king. God was moving in the heart of a Babylonian king to preserve the remnant of his children in exile.

We see God at work in this powerful king when we see Nebuchadnezzar’s responses to the work of God’s power before him. In Chapter 2, when God had revealed a mystery of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar says, “Truly your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” (2:47). Note that Nebuchadnezzar does not claim Daniel’s God as his own.

As we move into chapter 3, we come to the famous account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. After God supernaturally delivers these three young men from Nebuchadnezzar’s rage, the king again declares, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants….(3:28). Note again that Nebuchadnezzar does not claim Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s God as his own. Further to this, Nebuchadnezzar then makes a decree that nobody from any nation, people or tongue under his empire shall say anything against the God of Israel. He even declares that no other god could rescue in this way.

Often when we see favorable decrees or laws like this, we may be tempted to identify the law maker as one of God’s own people. The moment we jump to that conclusion we have missed one of the most important factors in all of Scripture.  The only way to forgiveness and reconciliation with God is through repentance of sin and faith in God’s provision of a substitutionary sacrifice for the appeasement of his wrath – Jesus Christ. In Jesus words to Nicodemus in John 3, “unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Nowhere in the text of Daniel do we see any explicit account of repentance and faith in Nebuchadnezzar’s life, though some believe that Daniel 4 implies it. The point that Christians should note is that while we might rejoice when God sovereignly gives us civil laws in favor toward us, we should never assume the word “Christian” without hearing an account of regeneration and seeing fruit of it. A king making an edict or law in some essence of favor or compatibility with God’s truth, does not make him a true believer. Laws do not equal faith. Morality and favorable attitudes about God does not equal salvation.

As we finally move into Daniel 4, we find the account of Nebuchadnezzar’s humbling when God made him like an animal for 7 years of his life. Most of this chapter is the first person account of Nebuchadnezzar as he retells the whole experience from his own perspective.  Nebuchadnezzar recounts that at the end of this experience, he praised and honored God for his everlasting power and dominion. At the same time, he also talks of the glory of his own kingdom and “my majesty and splendor returned to me.” (4:36). It is very difficult to put all of his words together and discern if they are the words of a repentant heart or a king forced to his knees.  The bigger problem in Nebuchadnezzar’s words is that at the beginning of chapter 4 as he is recounting his past experience, he also makes the statement that “he who was named Belteshazzar after the name of my god and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods” had interpreted his dream (4:8). In the present recounting of his  past, he still speaks in terms of polytheistic idolatry.

While there is an acknowledgement of the greatness of God from Nebuchadnezzar’s lips, readers of Daniel are left with the absence, in any of these instances, of the king of Babylon proclaiming the God of Israel as his own in repentance and faith. We are reminded in Philippians 2:10-11 that one day…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

While any believer can be thankful to live in a time when the favor of God bends the heart of a king to give favorable laws, we should always live with the greatest concern that those same kings, and in fact everyone, will one day bow before God.  They will either bow under terrifying judgment or joyful grace. The gospel today is the only answer for all.  

What a Great Week to Pray Through John 17

Yes, it’s been a tough week.  We’ve all seen the news and we all know the tensions. It’s also totally reasonable that those who love Jesus might wonder how we as the church live and respond and pray in these troublesome times. Well, I suggest that we just sit down and open up John 17 and pray the prayer that our risen Lord has already prayed.

Jesus prayed not only for his immediate disciples living in a difficult world, but also for us.  “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.”(vs. 20).  If you are in Christ, that’s you. Surely if Jesus prayed something for the entire church of every age in every situation, what he prayed must surely govern our central priority and purpose in every age and every situation. As we see this, we also find it is the most encouraging hope we can imagine as we pray.  Let’s have a small peak at a selection of verses. Grab your bible and get ready to pray as Christ prays.

Vs. 1-8 These verses are a glorious introduction of Jesus ‘prayer.  The glory of the Father is revealed in the Son being lifted up and giving the Son all those he has elected unto eternal life. The appeal from the Son to the Father is on the basis of his perfect obedience and true glorification of God in all of his work on earth.  It is a work that will be seen in the glorification of Jesus to his eternal pre-incarnate glory. It is a glory that is revealed to us in Jesus and it is a glory that is beyond this world. Praise God.

Vs. 9 The priority of Jesus’ prayer is for whoever is his elect in the world, not for the world itself.

Vs. 11 While we are still in this world, Jesus prays that the Father keeps us in his name and secures our unity with each other with that of the unity in the Trinity.

Vs. 13 That joy in our life will be found in being kept in Christ.

Vs. 14-15 We are not of the world because Jesus is not of the world. Jesus’ prayer in this is not that we are taken out of the world, but that we are kept from the evil one as we live in a world that hates us.

Vs. 16-17 We are not of the world as Jesus is not of the world, and therefore we are to be set apart for God’s truth. 

Vs. 18 Jesus prays for us as we are sent into the world with the same mission in which he was sent – to save people from their sins.

Vs. 19 Jesus prays that our whole life is sanctified (set apart) by his truth.

Vs. 20-21 Jesus prays that our unity is so reflective of the Trinity that it is an evangelistic proof for the world to believe in him.

And Just read vs.23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

It sounds very much to me that Jesus’ priority and prayer for us is that we would be more concerned about living in this world but not being of this world while we have a mission to this world to take people out of this world.  The way we are to fulfill this mission in this world is to have a unity within the church that reflects that we are not of this world and that unity is based on the truth that can only come from God.

How do you think you are right now aligned to this glorious prayer and purpose for the church?

If you prayed through your concerns about our current situations in this world using Jesus’ prayer, how would it sound?  What do you think God’s answer will be if you pray it? This is a prayer that is prayed within the perfection of the Godhead. When we consider this, we cannot come to any other conclusion other than this is a prayer of Trinitarian unity. We can know for sure that at the end of chapter 17, the Father says, “Yes.”

Two Words Every Christian Needs Right Now

Keep going!

We live in interesting times. The worldly temptations around us are continually taunting us from every billboard, internet and TV screen, and also in the ever more brazen materialism and sensuality of our culture. On top of that is an increasing antagonism from our culture toward the narrow view of morality and truth in Christianity that seems to be so foreign to the relativity of our day. As Christians are continually more isolated in this country (and the world), we need to hear words to help us respond.

Some people want to hear the words that say, “stand up and fight.” Some others want to hear the false promises that say, “it’s ok, God won’t let you go through bad times. It’ll all be over soon.” Pastors are consistently tempted to preach what some people in their congregation may most want to hear. As a pastor in 2020, I have heard from many pastors who have felt this pressure. What are the best words for us to hear as we face the continual and rising antagonism against our precious Savior and Lord? I propose that the best words are always the biblical ones and for me to sum them up most succinctly would be to simply say, “Keep going!”

The book of Hebrews seems to have this message as its flavor in various ways. It seems that there is a continual need for the author of Hebrews to give arguments for his audience not to give in as they live as exiles in this world. The author of Hebrews therefore makes his case by reminding us that Jesus is supreme above everything else in this world and above every possible realm and sphere and power. He is the fulfillment of all that God has been preparing us for through the types and shadows of the Old Testament. From this base, he uses specific arguments to encourage the church to persevere in a difficult world with the hope of entering their rest. In other more simplified words, the author of Hebrews is saying, “Keep going!”

We all need encouragement to keep persevering in our faith because it is not only the world itself that can bring us down, but our own reactions to the world can distract us from living in the faith that God has brought us into. We can so easily take our eyes of the prize of Christ and fight battles that are not in line with us living toward our rest and helping others know that same hope. Our fight is to stay in line with loving and pleasing God as our prize, but it seems that so many Christians are easily distracted by fighting to win the world, rather than fighting to win Christ. The book of Hebrews keeps us in check.

One great example of this is found in Hebrews 3:14-19. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." 16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”

These verses are in the form of a warning.  If you want to enter the promised land (your rest, or heaven) you need to persevere in the faith and not let go of your need for Jesus all the way until you get there.  The writer of Hebrews tells us that a tragedy happened to a generation of Israelites from Egypt who lived in unbelief and did not enter into the promised land.  This warning is used to help us see that the Christian who truly has saving faith is one that perseveres to the end and doesn’t give up faith in Christ no matter what. This doesn’t mean that one can lose their salvation, but it is a consistent message in Hebrews that tells us that saving faith is persevering faith.  The message of Hebrews therefore is to say that no matter what the hardship is that we face in this world, keep your eyes on Christ, live in constant need of him for redemption, and never give up. “Keep going.”

When we are confronted by voices around us telling us to stand up and fight or that things are going to be alright, the author of Hebrews has something different to say.  He says, you have something so much better than this world, so live consistently in and for Jesus and never give up living in and for him no matter the cost. “Keep going.”

A Christmas Note to My Church Family

Dear Church Family,

Once again Christmas is upon us and who would have possibly anticipated the events between last Christmas and this one. I want to say what a privilege it has been to walk through this time with you and I am so looking forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior together.

As I have been preparing the Christmas messages, I have realized that this year there is one word that has jumped out to me as I have been meditating on the incarnation of Christ. That word is “certainty.” The Son of God, second in the Trinity, and Creator of the universe determined before the foundation of the world to come into this world to save us from sin. We see this as the thrust and promise of the entire bible.

Our Savior being born is something that we understand from Genesis 3 in the hope of a seed/offspring who will crush the serpent’s head. This seed will be the seed of a human woman and will be a human solution to our human problem. Our Savior being born is foreshadowed in countless pictures in the narrative of Old Testament history. Just like Abraham will be given an offspring through the miraculous working of God, so too Jesus would be that offspring of Abraham to receive and bring promise to the nations. Just as Moses would survive a plot to kill Hebrew boys to become the deliverer of Israel, Jesus survived the violent orders of Herod to become the greater Prophet of deliverance. Just as Isaiah promised a son to be born as a sign of God saving Judah against its enemies, so too our Savior was called Jesus to save his people from their sin. The Old Testament constantly points us to the hope of the Messiah in direct prophecies, allusions, types and shadows and in the general thrust and hope of the redemptive thread. The consistency of the expectation of Jesus in many different books written by different authors over hundreds of years is one of the testimonies of the Divine inspiration of Scripture.

In the New Testament, we read that all of the expectation of Jesus, his kingdom, and his entire work of atonement was determined before the foundation of the world. Paull tells us over and over in Ephesians 1 that Christ was determined as Savior of the world according to the eternal counsel of God, the purpose of his will, before the foundation of the world, and all to the praise of his glory. In Philippians, Paul also tells us that Christ came into this world from being in a position of owning all the glory of the throne of God. The pre-ordained will of God in Jesus coming into this world to save us from sin to bring glory to God could not possibly be thwarted, even by Satan himself. It is in the counsel of God’s will to glorify himself through the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of man.

Brothers and sisters, please, I am pleading with you. Hang all your hope on being in this Savior. This Christmas, please realize that our infinite blessing resides in being part of God’s plan to glorify himself through his Son. He has done that by taking undeserving sinners, and through the cross changing their relationship from one based on wrath to one based on grace and mercy and love. We get to participate in God’s glory through faith in Christ alone. That glory is beyond imagination and will have an infinite glorious outworking in our life for all eternity in ways we can only imagine. All of this because Jesus was born and it was never going to happen any other way. 

If 2020 has done anything for us, I plead with you that it should have increased our anticipation of loving Christ and living with him in his glorious presence for all eternity.  When you look at the various representations of this babe in a manger this Christmas, please remind yourself that 2000 years ago, the certainty of God’s promise to save us was sealed in the incarnation of the Son of God who came into this world to die for sin and rise as Lord and King. Remind yourself, that the expectation of history has come.  The expectation and anticipation of salvation has arrived. He was born as one of us, lived with us, died for us, and rose for us to share in his victory over sin and death. His birth says “ABSOLUTELY, GOD SAVES!” With all the uncertainty in this world, Christmas shouts to us, “CERTAINTY!”

Merry Christmas.

Steve.

Atonement: The Same Cost for Every Believer

Exodus 30:11-16 The LORD said to Moses, 12 "When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. 13 Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the LORD. 14 Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the LORD's offering. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the LORD's offering to make atonement for your lives. 16 You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the LORD, so as to make atonement for your lives."

As the people of Israel are wandering through the desert on their way to the Promised Land, Moses is commanded by God to take a census. As part of that census of the people, a tax is instituted. It is a payment made by all males of military age (between 20 and 50) and it showed that all Israel were reliant upon God’s presence with them through the atoning work of the tabernacle and temple. Each half shekel was to be a statement of faith and affirmation of the covenant between God and his people as represented in the tabernacle. The money from the census went toward the construction and maintenance of the tabernacle (Exodus 38:25-28).

It is important to see in this that it is not the giving of funds itself that provides atonement.  Nowhere in the entire Scripture do we see that someone can purchase favor with God through money.  It is only through the work of the temple in the sacrificial shedding of blood that atonement for sin can be made. Only through faith people can be reconciled to God. This money given at the time of the census was called atonement money because it represented the sacrificial mediation of the tabernacle/temple and was used for that work.

As we read through the details of this tax/redemption money, we should not look past that this tax is not a percentage of wealth. It is not a tithe. No matter rich or poor, the price is the same – one half shekel. The poor pay as much as the rich and vice versa. We cannot read this without considering what this must surely represent.  The cost of atonement is the same for every believer. No matter who they were, the atoning work of salvation through the temple is the same for all. 

More than 1500 years later, the temple tax was still being collected, but this time it was being collected on an annual basis rather than simply at a time of census. When those collecting the tax asked Peter whether his teacher would pay this tax, Peter said yes. Jesus did indeed pay it. Jesus didn’t pay it because he was reliant on the temple for atonement for sin. Jesus was sinless. Jesus also didn’t need to get baptized, but he allowed John the Baptist to baptize him.  Jesus graciously came and lived with us as one of us. One of the amazing factors of Jesus paying the temple tax is in the way he pays it for himself and Peter.  Matthew 17:27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself."

Jesus doesn’t tell Peter to go out and earn some money to pay the temple tax, but Jesus provides it in a miraculous way. Peter, a fisherman, is to put a hook in the water and pull up a fish with a shekel in its mouth and pay two portions of the half shekel tax, one for him and one for Jesus. Jesus provides the payment for atonement for Peter and it seems that it is only by faith that Peter would even consider putting a hook in the water to get a coin from a fish. The same tax with the same amount represented that the same price of atonement was made for both Peter and the wilderness people of Israel. The provision of atonement is the temple, and the temple is Jesus.

Israel knew that the coin did not pay for their sin. They relied on the bloody sacrifice as they brought an animal to be slain at the tabernacle/temple. This happened over and over as a foreshadowing of the only sacrifice that could truly, once and for all, atone for sin. The sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God. He is the One in whom the cost was priceless and paid for all who would believe. The same cost for every believer of all time is not a half shekel, it's a full Jesus.

Galatians 3:26-29 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

The Hope of a Faithless Generation

At one point of Jesus’ ministry, he found that his own disciples had acted without faith. They had attempted to heal a young man and failed (Matthew 17:14-20). Even though they had previously been given authority to do so (Matthew 10:8), Jesus expressed his grief in their failure by crying out, “O faithless and twisted generation.”  Imagine being likened to the morally twisted unbelief of those who were rejecting the Messiah. When disciples act in a way that ignores Christ, they end up looking and sounding just like other unbelievers. When Jesus cries out in grief at the sight of faithlessness, it shows us how serious faithlessness, in whatever form, is. 

This is not the only times we have heard these words in the Scriptures. In the same way that Jesus describes the generation before him, God had once before described Israel in the time of Moses. Even though God had brought Israel out of Egypt and sustained them through the wilderness, they did not believe that God would fight for them to bring them into his promised land. Deuteronomy 1:32, Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the LORD your God.  Because of their unbelief and wicked ways, a whole generation would not reach the promised land. Vs. 35 'Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers. Later in Deuteronomy this statement is echoed as Moses looks at the people before him and the word of God is pronounced. Deuteronomy 32:20-21 And he said, 'I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness. 21 They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

It would seem very clear that God takes faithless living very seriously and these verses show us what faithless living is.  It is putting faith in something other than God. It is idolatry. We see various examples of this faithless living in Israel. Sometimes as God’s chastises them, they turn back to God in repentance, but other times we see them act so callously that they spiral in their idolatry. Eventually our long-suffering God gives Israel over to the other nations. The prophets continually warned that if they continued in their faithlessness and wickedness that they would be handed over and given into the hands of their enemies. Ezekiel 23:28 "For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust.”

What is most amazing to me is that when Jesus sees the faithless and twisted generation of his day, the judgment immediately expressed is not about this generation being handed over into the hands of its enemies, but that Jesus would be delivered into the hands of men. Matthew 17:22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”

God makes it clear to Israel that faithlessness and wickedness will be handed over for judgment. I do not believe that it is simply coincidental that immediately after hearing Jesus describe the generation before him as faithless and wicked, that he talks about himself being handed over for judgment. This is nothing other than absolute hope. Our wickedness and unbelief must be judged and will be judged, but Jesus shows that he has come to be delivered over on our behalf. He takes the judgment for us and our idolatry and wickedness are placed upon him and God has poured his righteous anger out upon his Son who has paid our price in full. The amazing twist in this is that the men to whom Jesus is handed over in facing judgment for us are the leaders of Israel.

 When the disciples recognized the faithlessness in their life, in that moment and in hearing those words they didn’t realize the immense hope that Jesus was actually giving them. Matthew tells us that in hearing these words they were “distressed.” Later they would all know that anyone who puts their trust in Jesus would not be handed over for judgment but would trust in the One who came under judgment for us. Anyone not willing to abandon their faith in this world and trust in Christ will await the day that they are handed over for all eternity with the remainder of the faithless and wicked generation. The answer to the world’s faithlessness, and ours, is always the cross. The place where Jesus was handed over to men to come under the judgment of God for our sin. This is the only hope for a faithless and twisted generation.

Why Did Elijah Come?

Matthew 17:10-13 And the disciples asked him, "Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?" 11 He answered, "Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. 12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also, the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands." 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

The disciples are walking down a mountain with Jesus after seeing his glory in physical manifestation at the transfiguration.  It was in that experience that they also saw Moses and Elijah next to Jesus as the prophets of old now standing with the One they both foreshadowed and expected. After this glorious event, the disciples were prompted to ask Jesus a question based on what they had heard from the teaching of the scribes. The scribes taught that Elijah must come in anticipation of the Messiah.

Jesus indeed confirmed the statement made by the scribes.  Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. This repetition of the statement from the scribes is Jesus way of saying that the scribes were indeed accurate in their expectation. Even so, in verse 12 Jesus helps the disciples to understand that the scribes were off in their timing and in the typological nature of the fulfillment of this prophecy. The scribes had missed the prophet who had already come in the power and spirit of Elijah, John the Baptist. In Luke 1:16-17, Luke gives us this description of John the Baptist,  “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared." Luke here is referring back to the expectation of Elijah from the prophet Malachi. 

Malachi 4:5-6 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." What we understand from this passage and Jesus’ explanation to the disciples is that Elijah must come prior to the awesome day of the LORD and in so doing will prepare Israel in a restorative way so that they will not face utter destruction. If we consider this in the ministry of John the Baptist, we do indeed see that John came as a forerunner to Jesus.  John came with many of the same traits as Elijah, even down to the way he dressed. He also preached a restorative message. While, Malachi talks about the restoration of the hearts of fathers and children, Luke expands this to talking about bringing disobedience to wisdom. This is all easily captured in the thrust of John the Baptist’s message. The message of repentance in preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven is one that has restorative quality for all who will believe.  As those who listened to John did indeed repent with expectancy for the Messiah, they would bring a new humility of faith into their homes and a new obedience to their God.

Repentance is a call to restoration. As we see our sin in the light of God’s holiness, we are humbled before his righteous judgment and transformed by his mercy and grace as we turn away from our arrogant sinful life and seek to live in his wisdom. When you bring repentance into your home, it changes not only your nature, but the nature of your relationships.  It has you showing others of the new hope that you have found and calls those around you to join you in knowing the salvation of God rather than facing utter destruction. 

Elijah and John the Baptist had a message of repentance and restoration for Israel in preparation for the expected Messiah.  If they had not come in preparation, the Messiah would not arrive and there would be no true salvation for these people who had lost their way. The sad reality is found in the way that Jesus tells his disciples that this Elijah has already come, the message and preparation has already happened, and he has been rejected.  If they have rejected the one introducing the Messiah, why would they accept the Messiah himself? But even this is a proof of the ministry of John the Baptist who prepares the way for Jesus.  He suffered and died and was rejected as he pointed to the Messiah, just as Jesus suffered and died and his salvation was rejected by many of his own people. 

Elijah had to come because he would be the forerunner to confirm that the expected Messiah had arrived. The Kingdom has come into this world with the coming of the King and this is now the fulfillment of the promise in Malachi. If you miss it, you will face destruction. If you repent and accept it, you will find eternal hope in the Suffering Servant who came to atone for your sin. So, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  In fact, for us, it is now here, and this call of repentance is even more urgent.

Today we in Christ continue to have an Elijah and John the Baptist type of ministry. We point to the Messiah in hope of restoration for those who will repent and believe. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

How Much Is Your Soul Worth?

This week’s blog is written by Jeremy Draper.

Matthew 16:26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Humans are finite creatures. We also have a finite understanding and perspective of life. In other words, we live according to what we can see, touch, feel, and experience in our bodies, which are finite. As such, we have trouble seeing beyond the matters of the here and now. It is a part of our fallen nature to live in such a way, because it has darkened our understanding.

The result is that we end up becoming like Esau, who traded his birthright for a bowl of stew. A birthright was a very important thing in his day. It was given to the first born son, which he was, because he was the first twin to be born just before Jacob. The birthright meant special privilege and portion of the inheritance of his father. But in this particular family, it meant so much more. This is because of the promises that God had made to Abraham and his descendants after him. There would be a special line with a special purpose, which would receive a special blessing.

So why would Esau give his birthright up for a bowl of stew? Two main reasons: He was short-sighted and the Bible says that he despised his birthright. Both boil down to the fact that he was more concerned with short-term, temporary things than he was long-term, eternal things.

Esau did become a great man in the world. The nation of Edom came from his loins. He was wealthy and powerful. But Scripture’s final word on Esau in Hebrews 12:16-17 is that he was an immoral and godless person, who was rejected by God because of his unrepentant heart. He remained steadfast in living a short-sighted life and forfeited not only his birthright, but his soul.

What a fearful lesson for us to consider! God has provided the promise of the gift of eternal life by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, through His death on behalf of sinners and His powerful resurrection conquering death and hell. The offer of eternal salvation is made to us all. However, it is not guaranteed to us all. It will only come to those who repent of holding to and trusting in our finite understanding and the things of this world, and instead turn to holding to and trusting in Christ.

In the verse just previous to the verses about Esau in Hebrews 12 it gives a warning, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God.” God’s requirement is that we do not come short of His grace, but to instead come all the way. Don’t trade away your eternal soul for a bowl of stew, no matter how good it may seem in the here and now.

As for the second part of Matthew 16:26 above, it might be a clearer translation to say, “What would a man give in return for his soul?” In other words, can a man redeem himself by some means that he can come up with on his own?

We can actually go to Psalm 49 to get an answer to this question. In this psalm, the psalmist is making clear that the righteous need not fear nor envy those who trust their wealth or boast in the abundance of their riches in this world. Why not? Because their wealth will do them no good when it comes to that which is most important, the redemption of their souls. He plainly states, “No man can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of his soul is costly, and he should cease trying forever.”

So then, no matter how much wealth, power, influence, popularity or any other such thing that seems valuable in the world that someone may possess, none of it amounts to a hill of beans for the redemption of one’s soul.

The reason why is because the redemption of a man’s soul is much too costly for him to pay the price for it. So who can pay the price for a man’s soul? Only God can provide the payment. Because what is impossible with men is possible with God.

Jesus shed his precious blood to pay the penalty for our sins and make it possible for our souls to be redeemed. The psalmist declares triumphantly that as opposed to the eternal punishment that those who trust in their riches will receive, “God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me.”

So how much is your eternal soul worth to you? Is it worth abandoning everything you have been trusting in and holding to in your finite mind and body in order to trust in and follow the One who paid the costly price for your soul so that you could have eternal life? After all, Jesus is the only way. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

The Only Reason it is Better that You Don’t Speak of Jesus

Matthew 16:20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Why would Jesus tell his disciples not to tell others that he was the Messiah? When we hear phrases like this from Jesus, we can’t help but wonder why he would humble himself to come into this world and live among us and not announce to the world who he really was. Instead, we see Jesus strictly charging his disciples not to tell others that he is the Christ. This comes directly after him affirming Peter’s famous statement, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Surely this confused the disciples who would want all of their countrymen to know that the Messiah of Israel is really here, and it is Jesus.

We are not told in the gospels why Jesus would say such a thing in response to Peter’s confession, especially after acknowledging that it was revealed to Peter by God. Some might guess that this is the same response that Jesus makes when he tells people not to tell others about his healing miracles. It seems that Jesus seeks at times to avoid the popularity of the crowds. We get the distinct impression that Jesus does not want to be a travelling healing show. Even so, when people need healing, Jesus does show compassion. In the instance of telling his disciples not to reveal his identity as the Messiah, there are no healings or crowds involved. It is just Jesus and his disciples in a discussion about who he really is.

It seems to me that it might be possible to understand Jesus’ charge for secrecy as we see it positioned between two very important statements by Peter. In the preceding verses, Peter makes the important confession as he declares that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus responded in complete affirmation and gloriously pronouncing the victory and authority of his church. The verses that follow Jesus’ charge for secrecy show Peter aghast at Jesus’ declaration that he would go to Jerusalem to suffer, be killed and to raise. Peter says that this must never happen, and Jesus tells Peter that he is a satanic hinderance to his purpose. Could it be that the charge for secrecy has something to do with Peter’s own confusion?

As we read two adjacent conversations between Jesus and Peter, we go from thinking that Peter really gets it to thinking that Peter is clueless. Peter understands that Jesus is the Messiah, but he still hasn’t caught on to the most important work that the Messiah has come to complete. It would seem that prior to the cross, there was a common misconception that the Messiah would come to restore Israel as a nation in its land free from Roman rule. What would happen if Peter and the other disciples were to go through Israel announcing Jesus as the Messiah without fully understanding the nature of the salvation he would bring? Is it possible that the confusion about the purpose of the Messiah might have caused a political uprising as the people sought out Jesus to regain their true national identity? There was already a previous situation when Jesus had to disperse a crowd who wanted to take him by force and make him their King (John 6:15). How would this serve Jesus’ purpose to save his people from sin?

Jesus’ demand for secrecy from his disciples seems to have a pivotal role in the text. You can know all the right things about Jesus. You can declare his divinity. You can name him as King. You can show he is the expected Messiah. You can proclaim his power. In all of this you can miss the point. Jesus is all of these things, but his purpose is not to reclaim your culture. He did not come to fix your worldly problems. He did not come to make your world a better place. To ensure you do not misunderstand the Messiah you must not ever separate who he is with what he has done. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who went to Jerusalem and suffered and died and rose. He did it so that he might be the once and for all substitutionary sacrifice for sin for all those who will repent and believe in him. He is not just the Christ; he is the Christ of the glorious work of the cross. Without the cross, he would not have been the Christ.

If you are going to speak of the Christ without the cross, I charge you to tell no one that he is the Christ. The only reason it is better that you don’t speak of Jesus is if you are unwilling to speak of the necessity of the cross. Peter eventually understood that. Do you?

Two Leavens and an Election

Most of us understand that leaven (or yeast) is an agent used in baking to help bread to rise. If anyone has ever baked bread before, you will understand the process. You mix a very small portion of active yeast into flour and after kneading it, you give it time to rise, often to double its size. Yeast is a powerful agent and we know its power in that a small portion impacts the entire structure of a whole loaf of bread. It is in the illustration of leaven that I find it very difficult not to see its application for Christians as we face the turmoil of this year’s election.

The New Testament mainly speaks of the power of ‘leaven’ as illustrations of negative influence, but there is also an example where it is a powerful picture of Christian optimism. Let’s start with the negative. In all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) Jesus has conversations with his disciples about the Pharisees and uses the picture of leaven. He tells his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6, Mark 8:15, Luke 12:1). What he means by this is that the teaching and influence of the Pharisees is that which easily permeates the entire population of Israel who look to them as leaders. Their focus on the rabbinical laws, good works, reputation, and confidence in the flesh is an influence that spreads like leaven in bread. Pharisaical influences spread like an atmosphere of self-righteousness. The Pharisees were all about being Jewish and their goal was to maintain their Jewish culture and nation that was under the continual threatening influence of Roman rule. They were all about pointing the people of Israel to keeping Jewish traditions and rules and protecting their culture from gentile influence. To be leaven is to have an influential presence within the entire demographic in which you enter or belong. In this way, the Pharisees were leaven.

Jesus warns his disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees because these leaders influence a whole community of people away from what really matters. The whole thrust of the Jewish Scriptures promise and foreshadow the coming of a Messianic King who is to be the Savior of God’s people and rule on the throne of David forever. Instead of focusing on the clear signs of Jesus and the hope of salvation, the Pharisees rejected Jesus and placed the hope of the people in their own works, rituals and “Jewishness.” The warning from Jesus is that any influence that seeks to put people’s confidence in our own worldly agendas rather than God’s great saving purpose in Christ is a leaven to beware of.

Paul uses leaven in a similar way. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul uses the illustration about leaven in warning about how immorality can spread in the church. In Galatians 5:7-9, however, we find much the same discussion from Paul that Jesus has with his disciples. In writing to the churches of Galatia, Paul warns them about a dangerous Jewish element that had come among them to take their hope and confidence away from Christ’s substitutionary atonement for sin and to place it on the works of their own flesh. They were influencing the Galatians toward self-righteousness rather than Christ’s righteousness. They were putting confidence upon their own work in the world rather than Christ’s eternal work in the cross and resurrection. Paul said, “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”

In every negative use of the illustration of leaven, the New Testament makes it clear that we should fight against every influence that has us placing confidence in our own works and outcomes in this world to find hope. Throughout the gospels and the epistles, God wants us to know that hope is only certain and eternal when it is found in Christ alone and in putting all our trust in his completed work of substituting himself for us to completely atone for our sin to reconcile us to God. Our justification before God relies on Christ. Our ongoing sanctification is in Christ and our hope and confidence for all eternity is in Christ. The moment anyone places their hope in life in any other earthly influence is the moment true eternal hope is forgotten or lost.

There is one other use of the word leaven in the New Testament and it is as optimistic as it could possibly be. When Jesus was teaching in parables to describe his kingdom, he said, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened." (Matthew 13:33). In this example, Jesus is not just talking about the influence of an ideology, he is talking about the actual growth of his kingdom. Jesus wants us to know that his kingdom is like leaven. Those who are in Christ know that compared to the powers this world, the reign of Christ and his church seems to be small and insignificant. In reality, this small leaven in the world is growing and spreading across the globe as the great reigning Kingdom of Heaven. Another way Jesus said this was when he told his disciples that he was building his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it.

There are two leavens. Beware of one and be a part of the other. Beware of any leaven that puts our hope in our self or in this world. In contrast, we are to be part of the leaven that preaches the hope of Christ and spreads throughout the age. The name most prominently on the lips of the church must be Jesus. How does this relate to the current election? I’ll let you figure that out.

2020: The Year That Offended Me.

As we look back on the year of 2020, it’s hard not to think about the panic and desperation. Perhaps you recall the scenes of makeshift hospitals in New York’s Central Park and morgues overflowing to trucks in hospital parking lots. Perhaps it’s rioting in the streets, protests for black lives, or the hype, debates, and backstabbing of an election year. These events and scenes will not soon fade from my mind and yet these are not the only serious concerns that will remind me of this tumultuous year. I will also remember 2020 as the year I was surprised at the fickleness of Christians greatly offended over the subjects of masks, government reach, meeting strategies, differing ideologies, election perspectives and more. I am thankful to have a church family who for the most part have displayed exceptional character through this time. It’s on social media, however, where Christian offense has been most evident. It’s the reason I have, for the most part, resigned much of my interaction. Too often I had seen my laptop screen as a picture of public Christian grievance aired to the world. Too often the angry tones of dogma have done disservice to the name of Christ.  

What is it that brings out this offense in those who are supposed to be God’s people? Why do we let anger rage so publicly? I would propose one BIG reason – SELF. We hold self in greater magnitude than we do God. We also miscalculate our real problem and divert our eyes away from what is massive to that which is menial. We are Pharisees in disguise.

In Matthew 15, The Pharisees and Scribes came to assess Jesus.  It seems that reports about Jesus’ popularity had made it to Jerusalem and what else could a Jewish leadership do but go and assess the threat to their leadership. If this Jesus was saying anything contrary to their teaching, what would happen to the people’s respect for their Rabbis? What would happen to the position of the Pharisees and the Scribes? When the Pharisees confronted Jesus, he promptly reminded them that their laws, their very way of life, was contrary to word of God. He called them ‘hypocrites.’ Jesus was basically telling them that his (and his disciple’s) disregard of their laws were not their problem. Their sinful hearts were their problem. The next thing we see is the disciples coming to Jesus to tell him that these men were greatly offended.  They were offended because they were unwilling to see their biggest problem and unwilling to accept that their own agendas were not the most highly rated importance in the world. Jesus’ response to the arrogant offense of the Pharisees was to teach his disciples about the sinfulness of the human heart and withdraw to the region of the Gentiles.

Consider the difference between the offense of the Jewish Pharisees in Matthew 15:1-20 and the gentile woman in Matthew 15:21-28. A gentile woman stands before Jesus and in what can only be described as Jesus’ perfectly righteous and divine sovereign reason, he refers to her as a ‘dog.’ The Pharisees rightly hear the word, ‘hypocrite’ and are offended. This woman rightly hears the word, ‘dog’ and asks for whatever crumb Jesus might allow to drop from the table. Jesus withdraws from Jews to tell a gentile she has great faith.  

Why do Christians so easily get offended? I put it to you that it happens when we forget what it is to be like this gentile woman. We forget that we truly are dogs. We truly do deserve hell and our sin is an immense problem that none of us can solve in this world. We truly do need a Savior and that Savior is God himself. When we allow our own agendas to control our thoughts, the reality of our sin dissipates in the clouds of our own egos. Our selfish desire to be respected and right overrides the One who is always standing before us. It becomes too easy to ignore the glory of Christ and how he has commanded us to treat each other in pleasing Him.  

Are you offended? Are you expressing it? Remember who you are. Remember your sin. Remember your Savior. Remember the privilege and blessing that it is to be a child of God. Remember that there is nothing, NOTHING, in this world that compares. Remember a gentile dog who is happy with a crumb.

Don't Miss the Purpose of the Law

Many people who read through the bible in a year arrive at Leviticus and find that looming temptation to skip reading one rule after the other that seems to have no relevance to our life today. If you are one of those people, firstly, you are not alone.  But…you are also missing the point of the law found right in the midst of those rules on the very pages you are tempted to skip. The problem many of us have when we read the law is that we focus on each and every statute wondering how we would have been walking around with a big list of do’s and don’ts in our pocket.  We consider a life where you are desperately trying not to forget that one rule that might be your undoing in the presence of God. Too often we read the law for the sake of the law rather than understanding the purposeful operation of the law in its context.

From Leviticus 11-20 we have laws about what is clean and unclean, food related laws, and laws about family and societal life. When you start in chapter 11, we read through what can and cannot be eaten by the people of Israel. After forty-three verses telling you what you can and cannot eat, we start wondering what would happen if we were dying of hunger on the side of the road and a stranger offered us a piece of stewed camel. At verse forty-four we then read perspective for the entire chapter. Leviticus 11:44-45 “For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. 45 For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy."

The concentration of the law is based upon the fact that God had already saved these people out of Egypt. He brought them out of a land that had no care for the God of the universe. Out of the pure grace of God’s electing love, God made this Israelite nation his people and separated them from a world oblivious to his goodness and love. They are to look completely different to all other nations and in doing so would preach the peculiar holiness of God as he protects and cares for his own all the way through the wilderness and into the promised land. The law is not about winning the favor of God who has already given it, it is about living unto the glory of God who desires his people to be like him. In telling us to be holy like God, the law also proves our inability to reach his perfect standard.  The law points us to our desperate need for his forgiveness and salvation and promise of a seed who would defeat evil once and for all. 

In Leviticus we are reminded of God’s standard of holiness in the way that there is constant repetition of phrases such as “I am the Lord your God,” and “you shall be holy” and “not like the other nations.” As Israel is constantly in view of their inability to live out God’s holiness in all of its perfection, chapter 16 brings grace even within the law by setting out what must happen on the day of atonement. Within the law, there is grace in that even the law makes provision for what must happen in the shedding of blood for the remission of sin as the Priest takes the blood of a substitutionary sacrifice for a repentant people into the holy of holies to be accepted by God. Year after year Israel were expected to live according to God’s law because of who their God is and because the God of the universe is the forgiving and saving God.

Knowing this about God, how on earth could Israel even desire to live like the other nations who have no care for God’s goodness, beauty and truth? Leviticus 18:3-5 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

It is in keeping covenant with God that Israel would always have God’s protection in a world that hates God and seeks to live according to its own standards. Leviticus 18:24-26 "Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you

The law was never given as a dictatorial act of oppression. The law was given in love by the holy God who by grace established a people as his own to love him and be like him and enjoy him in the land he was giving them. The law is not meant for the sake of law, it is meant for the sake of a holy people loving a holy God. It is meant for the people to know who they need most. It is meant to show us that we are not God. It is meant to show us that God is jealous for his own as those who are separate from the world. Leviticus 20:7-8 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. 8 Keep my statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

At the end of the day, Israel’s constant failure in keeping God’s law also points us toward our desperate desire to see it fulfilled. Can any human meet God’s standard? Is there any hope for a people who cannot possibly be the people they are called to be? Yes. His name is Jesus. In him alone God’s covenant is kept – for all of us who have faith in him.