Cornerstone Congregational Church Sermon Podcast: Recent Episodes
Cornerstone Congregational Church
Sunday sermons from Cornerstone Congregational Church in Westford, MA. Find videos, manuscripts, and other resources at CornerstoneWestford.com.
Happy Mother’s Day. I want to start by saying how grateful I am for my mom encouraging my walk with Christ, and I’m constantly grateful for how my wife Monica teaches our kids about Jesus. Today, in scripture, we see two examples of women who did the same thing. We’ve been in this series, Women in the Kingdom, and we’ve been looking at lots of women, wives, and mothers throughout the Bible. Today we’re going to look at a grandmother
Today, we’re jumping back into our three sermons looking at complementarianism, egalitarianism, and a hybrid view of women in ministry (complementarian in the home, egalitarian in the church). Last week, we looked at complementarianism, which generally believes God only calls men to preach and serve as elders, starting with 1 Timothy 2:8-3:7. Today, we’re looking at egalitarianism, which believes that God calls both men and women to preach, serve as elders, and serve in ordained pastoral ministry. Next week we’re
Today in our Women in the Kingdom series we’re diving into the text so many go to when deciding the role of women in the church. 1 Timothy 2:12 says, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man…” We look at that verse, we equate teaching with preaching and holding authority with being an elder. That is one way to interpret the text, and it’s called complementarianism. For the next three weeks, including
Martha is hard at work preparing for dinner in the kitchen. She is dicing the carrots, washing the salad, and setting the table with her very best wedding china, which she’s only used 2-3 times before. She got a roast from the local butcher, but she’s having trouble keeping her eye on it. She’s just too busy, and she’s worried it’s going to burn. And if it burns, dinner will be ruined, and all her guests in the very next
Andy Bradshaw preached on women in the New Testament this morning. You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube. You can check out our full Women in the Kingdom sermon series here and access some of our resources on women in ministry here. Discussion Questions: 1. Are you celebrating/commemorating lent (the 40/46 days leading up to Easter) in order to prepare for Easter? If so, how? 2. Please share any prayer requests or praises?
As I was preparing for this message, I remembered James Brown and Betty Newsome’s song, It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World (take on mad mad mad world). The first half of the song goes like this: You see, man made the cars to take us over the road Man made the train to carry the heavy load Man made electric light to take us out of the dark Man made the boat for the water, like Noah made the ark
We started our series in Acts on January 5th, 2020. Acts is the first big book that we’ve covered in its entirety. Today is our 56th sermon in this series, Outward Church. How do you feel? Has anything changed in your life, in our church’s life? The question, as we come to a close, is twofold. 1) What did we learn? 2) And what are we doing about it? The heartbeat of Acts is missions. Jesus outlined the book in
Elijah really likes The Jungle Book. One of the characters in that story is a really big and sneaky snake named Kaa. He’s a python, and he’s famous for his colorful, hypnotic eyes and his ability to put Mowgli into a trance. He nearly catches and eats Mowgli, but Mowgli escapes. Snakes are a part of popular culture, from Indiana Jones to Harry Potter to the movie, Anaconda, and Snakes on a Plane (neither of which I’ve seen). But, our
Flight 5220 took off “from Magadan Airport, just north of the Sea of Okhotsk in far eastern Russia” this last December.[1] Shortly after takeoff, the airplane threw its almost 200 passengers down, then up, and the plane dove, then recovered. One aviation website reports, “Picture one of those terrible C-grade Hollywood movies that show an airliner out of control, with baggage bins coming open, carry-ons floating through the cabin and oxygen masks dropping. It was that kind of awful. And
A couple of years ago, Monica and I went through this brief stent where we were really into TV shows about preppers, people who are prepared for disaster. We’d watch these shows, and it would always go like this. “Katie lives in downtown Salt Lake City, but she’s been stockpiling canned goods, dried food, and has a bug-out bag ready to go if she needs to leave in a hurry. Katie is afraid that the famous salt-lake city volcano could
One of the annual traditions of the town I grew up in was to host a day-after-Thanksgiving Day parade, which was really a Christmas parade. Now they call it the “Catch the Glow” parade. There were lots of rides and floats, people marching, colorful Christmas decorations. But every year, at the end of the parade, Santa and his reindeer came parading down the main street. It was Santa, and presents, on a slay, on a semi, with fake reindeer. Rudolf
The actual sermon on Sunday, September 26th, came out much differently than the one written below. Please watch the video of the service here to see how the Spirit moved. This summer I started reading (and am still reading) a book by Skye Jethani called With. In With Skye talks about the four different ways people generally relate to God (pp. 6-7, 169-170): Life Under God — You may relate to God this way if you feel like you never
The actual sermon on Sunday, September 26th, came out much differently than the one written below. Please watch the video of the service here to see how the Spirit moved.
This summer I started reading (and am still reading) a book by Skye Jethani called With. In With Skye talks about the four different ways people generally relate to God (pp. 6-7, 169-170):
Life Under God — You may relate to God this way if you feel like you never measure up. You feel like if you can get yourself or your family to obey God, God will bless you. You try hard not to disobey. You’re afraid of what might happen if you do. God will be angry with you and judge you, so better not make him mad. Do you relate to God this way? Are you living life under God? Life Over God – Or maybe you relate to God on the other end of the spectrum. You don’t believe there is a God, so you ignore the very thought of him. Or you believe that God has created the world in such a way that if you live a good life, do what’s right, and don’t hurt others, God will bless you and you will be happy. God created the world in such a way that if I operate according to his rules or values or principles, I will be blessed. Do you relate to God this way? Are you living life over God? Life From God – What if you take a different approach? You continually ask God to bless your life and to give you the things you want. You pray all the time and expect him to move. When things get hard, you pray, but as soon as things return to normal you forget about God. Or, you get upset with God when he doesn’t give you what you want. You want God to do things for you, but don’t actually want God himself. Do you relate to God this way? Are you living life from God? Life For God – This, perhaps, is the approach many good Christians take. You want your life to matter, to not waste your life, to be radical for God, and so you fill your schedule or life-goals with things you can do to make a difference for God. God has given you a mission, and you will fulfill it if it’s the last thing you do. You are a servant of God and you know that’s what will make you a success. Do you relate to God this way? Are you living life for God?
Two weeks ago Bernie preached about Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Sons. The first son, the younger one, asked for the father to give him his inheritance and then he went and spent it on a lavish lifestyle in a foreign country. The younger son didn’t want a relationship with the father, but his inheritance from the father. When we don’t really want God, but worship him so he’ll give us a successful career, or marriage, or make us better parents, or just to get our fire-insurance—that’s living life life from God (See With pp. 73-74).
But if you’re a good Christian who always obeys, you might be living more like the older brother. There’s the son that ran away and lived a lavish lifestyle, but there’s also the older son who stayed home. That son god mad when he heard his brother had returned home and his father had welcomed him by killing the fatted calf. He refused to go inside to the party and the father had to beg him to come inside and join the party. Jesus was talking to the pharisees and religious lawyers of his day, the most religious people of all. They were living life for God. They thought if they did what God wanted God would be pleased. You might be an older brother if you think what God wants most is your service, and not your heart. (With pp. 93-94)
We can live life under God, over God, from God, and for God. But what if none of these ways are what God intends? What if we’re supposed to relate to God a different way, not for what he can do for us or what we can do for him, but for who he is? Skye Jethani calls this other posture:
Life with God Life with God is what God intended all the way back in the Garden of Eden. Eden was supposed to be a place where people knew God and lived and worked and played with him. I watched the BibleProject’s video on the Tree of Life this week. They reminded me that the garden of Eden was a kind of temple where God’s presence dwelled. And the Holy of Holies, the place where God’s presence was most manifest, was in the center of the garden at the tree of life. God gave Adam and Eve and all humanity access to this tree so they could experience his life. To eat from this tree, from God himself, granted eternal life.
But instead of choosing eternal life with God, Adam and Eve and all humanity chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9, 3:6). They had access to God’s eternal life through the tree of life, or they could do life their own way through the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They chose life apart from God and ever since then humanity has been wandering in the wilderness trying to recapture what we lost in the garden, access to eternal life with God. We try life over God, life under God, life from God, and life for God, but none of them are the same as life with God. No matter how hard we try, we cannot recapture Eden, we cannot rebuild the temple we lost. But God has a plan for a new and better temple that will house his presence and we can have access to God. This is what the gospel of John says:
John 1:14 (ESV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This verse tells us God became flesh and dwelt among us. That word for “dwell” is the Greek word for tabernacle, a tent where God dwells, a temple. So the garden temple has returned to the world but this time in the form of flesh and bones, a man. This man Jesus is full of the Father’s glory and is both God and man. He is the holy of holies made manifest. And as we look at our passage today, Jesus identifies himself as the tree of life walking among us.
Jesus is the tree of life. John 14-17 is a summary of Jesus’ final words the night he was betrayed. We call it the “farewell discourse.” At the start of his discourse he said this:
John 14:6 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus wants us to have access to the one and only true God, and so receive eternal life. But it’s only through him that you and I can experience eternal life. Later Jesus prays this for his followers:
John 17:3 (ESV) And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Jesus is the way we access eternal life through God. And it’s only through knowing him that we can know God, that we can know eternal life. Jesus is the tree of life.
Jesus is the tree of life who makes life with God possible. And in John 15 Jesus actually describes himself as a tree.
John 15:1 (ESV) “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
John 15:4-5 (ESV) 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
If you want eternal life, if you want access to God, if you want access to the tree of life, abide in Christ. Jesus is the new tree of life, and he invites us to come and connect to him. He wants us to come and find our complete growth and nurturing in him. You want to do life with God? Come do life with Christ. Jesus is the tree of life who makes life with God possible. Jesus allows us to connect with God through worshipping him and enjoying God’s presence through the Holy Spirit. This helps us bear fruit.
Jesus is the tree of life who makes a fruitful life with God possible. Maybe you’re wondering how we know if we are connecting to life with God. Jesus talks about fruit.
John 15:4-5 (ESV) 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
When we connect to Christ, we’ll bear fruit, and it might come in the most surprising of places. Next to our house is an empty office complex and next to the parking-lot there are bushes with vines full of concord grapes. We didn’t even realize there were vines there for multiple years until Monica smelled the grapes. For some reason I’m okay with getting grapes from the store, when they’re packaged in plastic. But I feel more awkward picking grapes off the side of a parking lot and eating them that way. My wife and kids just went down to her grandmother’s house where she also has a vine with concord grapes. They picked the grapes and brought a whole tuber-ware full of them home. We are overflowing with grapes from unexpected places. That’s what God does.
When we connect to Christ, he bears fruit in our lives.
There are lots of different types of grapes. There are moon drop grapes, concord grapes, pinot noir grapes, lemberger grapes, sweet jubilee grapes, champaign grapes, crimson seedless grapes, and the list goes on and on. As we look at scripture, there seems to be a lot of different types of fruit too.
Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
I don’t think this list is exhaustive, but representative of lots of kinds of fruit. I think there could also be the fruit of repentance, the fruit of obedience, the fruit of a life lived in faith, the fruit of serving your neighbor, the fruit of loving God, loving others, and loving your enemy (it does talk about love). But here’s the commonality all of these fruits share. They all come from knowing and being known by God. They all come from spending time with Christ, abiding in him, knowing him, communing with him. So how do we do that?
How can we abide in Christ? How can we abide in the vine? How can we do life with God. We find in our John 15 passage several ways:
1) Be open to the pruning of Father. Verse one calls the Father the “vinedresser.” I watched a YouTube video about a vinedresser this week. The vinedresser takes care of the vine. The vinedresser plants the vine, grafts it to a root that is resistant to the critters in the soil. The vinedresser is the only one who carries the sharp clippers. The vinedresser trims back leaves so they have access to the sun and cuts off limbs if they get sick.
John 15:2-3 (ESV) 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
The pruning of the vinedresser makes fruit possible. Who does all the work? The vinedresser. The branch’s job is to just stay connected to the vine. Our job is to seek to know Christ and trust the pruning up to the Father. Pruning is painful. When he addresses sin in our lives, it hurts. But “the Lord disciples the one He loves.” (Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews 12:6) So we need to be open to what the Father wants to do in our lives. If we’re not, he’ll cut us off and we’ll wither.
John 15:6 (ESV) If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
The vinedresser said that they have to gather up all the branches that have been cut off and burn them, because if they don’t they will attract vermin and critters and bugs. To not be pruned leads to sickness and death. 1) Be open to the pruning of Father.
2) Abide in the word. Christ is the word of God made manifest. And we have access to Christ through the Holy Spirit and to his words through the scriptures.
John 15:7 (ESV) 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Do God’s words abide in us? One of the ways we abide in Christ is by reading scripture, meditating on what it means, memorizing it, and applying it to our lives. And as a church body, we don’t do it alone. We do it with other branches. We bear fruit together as we receive God’s word together. I think this includes spending time in prayer and listening.
3) Abide in prayer. At the end of this passage, Jesus talks about sending the Holy Spirit.
John 15:26 (ESV) 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
The vinedresser has given us Christ to cling to and the Holy Spirit to help us grow. We’re called to spend time in solitude in prayer, to pray together as a church community, and to “pray without ceasing”(1 Thess 5:17). We’re to abide in God through abiding in prayer. What does that look like? Skye Jethani illustrates:
In 1982, the Today show in New York City scheduled an interview with Reverend Billy Graham. When he arrived at the studio, one of the program’s producers informed Graham’s assistant that a private room had been set aside for the reverend for prayer before the broadcast. The assistant thanked the producer for the thoughtful gesture, but told him that Mr. Graham would not need the room. The producer was a bit shocked that a world-famous Christian leader would not wish to pray before being interviewed on live national television. Graham’s assistant responded, “Mr. Graham started praying when he got up this morning, he prayed while eating breakfast, he prayed on the way over in the car, and he’ll probably be praying all the way through the interview.” (With by Skye, pp. 116)
What would it look like for you to abide in prayer? It would look like times of solitude and retreat, just like Jesus retreated into the wilderness to pray (Luke 5:16). But it would also look like joining us for the Sunday morning pray gathering, and then praying for each other throughout the week. Our job as believers is to 1) be open to the father’s pruning, 2) abide in the word, 3) abide in prayer; and…
4) Abide in community. We don’t realize it in our english translations, but this entire passage is written in the second-person plural. Here’s a more accurate translation.
John 15:4 (ESV&ME) Abide in me, and I in ya’ll. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can ya’ll, unless ya’ll abide in me.
We abide in Christ together. You notice how grapes never come by themselves? You can’t go to the store and buy one grape. Grapes come in clumps. Fruit comes in clumps. We need each other. It’s been hard due to gather due to Covid, but I want to encourage us that if it’s nice out, come to worship. Make the extra effort to abide in community. We can’t worship alone forever. I know it’s almost October and winter is coming. So let’s take advantage of the women’s ministry, men’s ministry, youth group, and other ways to gather outside. Abide in Christ by abiding in community.
Jesus is the tree of life who makes a fruitful life with God possible. How can we abide in Christ? 1) Be open to the pruning of the Spirit. 2) Abide in the word. 3) Abide in prayer. 4) Abide in community.
If I want to be successful as a pastor, or we want to be successful as a church and see fruit happen, then take time to abide in Christ. And let’s not abide in Christ for the things we want, success. That’s like being the older or younger brother. Instead, let’s abide in Christ for the sake of knowing Christ and through Christ knowing God. We want to know him and be known by him. Come and abide in Christ.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen via Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
Of which of Skye’s ways do you feel like you relate to God? Under God? Over God? From God? For God? Or maybe With God? What does it mean to live life with God? What are some ways we can seek that? What is hindering you from pursuing a life with God? Why is the father’s pruning important? What does it mean to abide in the word? How might you abide in prayer? How might you abide in community? How does Christ make life with God possible?
Sources With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God by Skye Jethani (2011)
The Vinedresser (John 15) 2019 YouTube Video
Tree of Life YouTube BibleProject Video
*Fact check of the video sermon: my family discovered the Concord grapes several years prior to Covid.
The Sower’s Song – Andrew Peterson Pastor Jonathan played The Sower’s Song by Andrew Peterson at the end of his sermon.
BibleProject – Tree of Life
It seems like in the last couple years many of us have lost ones we loved—parents, siblings, friends, to covid, to cancer, to sickness of all kinds. As I’ve been thinking about my dad’s death, and those of you who have lost someone, I wanted to preach a message that could encourage us, and remind us of some of the resurrection hope God has given believers.
But I also recognize that as I preach this, me sharing my personal story of loss might bother some of you, it might be too much. So this is a content advisory, which I guess is the new way of saying trigger warning. If it’s too much to hear my story, no one will be offended if you need to go inside or go for a walk. Let’s pray.
If you could only summarize the gospel message, the heart of Christianity, with one word (besides “Jesus”) I think that word would be the word, “resurrection.” The resurrection is the true story that Jesus died and then had the audacity to come back to life again, even new and better than before. And it even gets better because Jesus extends the resurrection promise to any who will repent and believe in him. If you will put your whole life on Christ, he promises he will never forget you as you walk through life’s hardships and on that final day when your story draws to a close, he will not forget you in your death, but will raise you back up again.
This really matters! As I was sitting with my dad in the hospital with a face mask, a face shield, gloves, and disposable scrubs we talked about the resurrection. I read most of John 6 to him and re-read this verse:
John 6:40 (ESV) For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
I thought my dad was getting better, but still there was something deeply assuring to talk about the resurrection. My dad believed that if he looked to the Son, and believed in him, he would have eternal life and one day Jesus would raise him up again. And I know many of your loved ones believed the same.
After my dad died, I turned to another Scripture passage about the resurrection that I want to share with you today. The Apostle Paul wrote this passage to some really new Christians who were wondering what happens to believers when they die (1 Thess 3:10). Paul explains God’s resurrection promise—that one day Christ is going to return, and bring back the dead in Christ too. Today I want to tell you about the resurrection promise and how it can give us hope for our future and for today.
The Resurrection Promise: I find two truths contained within the resurrection promise that give me comfort.
1) The dead in Christ are only “sleeping.” Look at how Paul describes those believers who have died. Does he even describe them as “dead?” How does he describe them? Twice, he says they’re “sleeping.”
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (ESV) 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Paul describes Christians as “sleeping” because he wants to redefine how we understand death. Death feels so permanent and awful, but what if for Christians, it’s more like a really long nap, from which they will awake? I don’t mean soul sleep, that those who die will be unconscious till the resurrection. When we’re absent from the body, we’re present with Jesus (2 Cor 5:8). But rather, to those who are left behind it’s good to think about it like sleeping because it’s only temporary.
I think it’s really interesting, really providential, that the first week I was back in Colorado, prior to my dad’s death (my dad’s sleeping), Mark preached on John 11, Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead.
Lazarus’s sisters, Mary and Martha, send for Jesus because Lazarus is sick and they know Jesus can heal him. But when Jesus hears that Lazarus is sick, he doesn’t go rushing to his side. First he says this:
John 11:4 (ESV) But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now we know the story. This illness does lead to death! Lazarus does die. But, that’s not the end of the story. Jesus is going to use Lazarus’s death to bring glory to God the Father and God the Son. And you know what, that’s exactly what Jesus is going to do with my dad, and the ones you love who trust in Jesus. My father’s covid does not lead to death, but to glory. Who here has lost someone recently who they know trusted Christ? What were there names? Patt and Douglas and Turnice’s illnesses do not lead to death, but to glory. Jesus is so confident in this he describes Lazarus’s death as sleeping.
John 11:11-15 (ESV) 11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
Jesus had a plan. He had a plan to call Lazarus out of the grave and that’s his plan for our loved ones as well. While those who have died and been buried or cremated feel so separate, so far away, in Christ, it is but a temporary state. They are with him right now, feeling more joy and love and happiness than they’ve ever known, and one day they will awaken to new resurrected bodies.
Are you afraid of death? If you’re someone who worries about death, I want you to know that you don’t have to be afraid. Imagine it like sleeping. I like sleeping. Now of course, for those of us who die it won’t be like sleeping because we’ll be with Jesus. But it will appear like sleeping to those who we leave behind.
The first resurrection promise is that the dead in Christ are only “sleeping.” The second is this:
2) The dead in Christ will return with him and rise again. I love what Paul says after this, because we’re supposed to trust it, and let it sink deep in our hearts. Paul says he got this directly from Jesus. This is what the Lord says will happen:
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 (ESV) 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
One day, on a day we do not expect, Jesus will will appear in the sky in the clouds and all around the globe every eye will see him (Matthew 24:40-41). This will absolutely terrify the inhabitants of the earth who don’t know Jesus and worship the true and living God.
Revelation 1:7 (ESV) 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Accompanying Jesus’s appearance there will be “a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of a trumpet of God.” So there will be some sort of cry, some sort of voice, and some sort of trumpet blast that will resound throughout the whole universe. Every living being and every inanimate object will hear it, it will reverberate through every fiber of their being, and they will know that Christ has come.
At that time Jesus will call to our loved ones like he did to Lazarus, “Paul, come out! Patt, come out! Douglas and Turnice, come out!” You fill in the name, “_____, come out!” And you’ll probably hear it too unless Jesus comes back in your lifetime. At that point, the souls of our loved ones who knew Jesus, and ours too if we’ve already died, will go from being spiritually in-heaven to rushing into our bodies.
Those who were buried and their bones are still in their coffins will have their flesh reknit and their skin regrown. Their hearts will begin to beat and their eyes will open. Their bodies will be made better than they ever were in their lives. Paul says this elsewhere about the type of transformation our bodies will experience.
1 Corinthians 15:42-43 (ESV) 42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
Our bodies will be completely transformed. No more cancer. No more sickness. No more tears (Rev 21:1-5). All who have died will go blasting from their graves, soaring into the sky to be with Jesus, not only in soul, but in body too. Those saints that died in fires or were cremated and their ashes spread. No problem! Jesus will gather the dust of their DNA and reknit them for all eternity. Their hearts will beat again too.
At that time, when a noteworthy official came to town or a war hero returned from victory, a city would send out a delegation to greet the hero and escort them back into town (Matthew 25:6; Acts 28:15). These could become incredibly lavish events celebrating the hero is a kind of demigod of the day. When Julius Caesar returned from his wars he mounted the steps in the capitol city by the torches held by forty elephants. His procession bore the inscription, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” (see descriptions)
Likewise, Jesus will come, he will see the world displayed before him, and he will conquer death and sin once and for all, vanquishing them and parading home to earth with the resurrected saints with him. Any who are still alive, which may be us, will be caught up bodily to meet Christ in the clouds. So Jesus, surrounded by resurrected saints and saints who haven’t yet died, will return to earth. And most importantly, “And so we will always be with the Lord.” We will be with Jesus forever and ever and it will be glorious. The dead in Christ will return with him and rise again.
The morning my dad died I actually dreamed about the resurrection of the dead. I don’t know why, maybe it was just a little gift from the Lord. In my dream I saw a group of people, maybe twenty, I do remember black hair, I don’t know why, were taken up into the sky. Then they all huddled in these kinda campfire circles in the sky and looked down below. I didn’t see Jesus but I knew what it was. Now obviously, the actual event will be way better. But all this to say is that the resurrection can give us a lot of comfort in our grief.
Notice how Paul finishes his statement, “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” This vision of the return of Christ and resurrection of our loved ones who trust Jesus, and we ourselves, fills us with hope. This is why we get to grieve differently than the world.
I started reading our counseling mini-book on grief this week. The author, Paul David Tripp, said, “In times of death, Christians should be sadder than anyone else. […] Yet we should also be the most hopeful of any who mourn.” We get how bad and evil sin and death are, and yet, at the same time we know that Christ will absolute demolish them and undo the sting of death.
1 Corinthians 15:54b-55 (ESV) “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Why can Paul write these words, quoting Isaiah 25:8?
The resurrection promise helps us grieve with hope. Here’s what Paul says one more time. And this time as I read it, notice the emotions Paul addresses.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 (ESV) But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
Paul does call us to grieve. When someone dies, it’s okay to mourn. On September 1st, when my dad died, it wrecked me. I was supposed to be flying home to see my wife and kids and instead I went to the hospital to see my dad’s body. I cried more in those 3-4 days than I have in all the years combined since I was probably six years old. I’m at a place now where I feel sadness and other strong emotions over the circumstances that led to my father’ death, but, at this moment, I feel all cried out. And it’s okay. And if you’re grieving for your loved one who died, cry, weep, let the tears role. It’s okay.
But never let it stop there. Let those tears water our hope. Let hope grow down deep and sprout that assurance that one day you will get to talk and laugh and enjoy Jesus with any family member or friend who trusted in Jesus. We will get to see them again, better than before. Maybe that doesn’t make you feel happy, but that’s not what Paul says here. He says hope. Hope can turn into happiness, but it will probably take time and sorrow and thanking God for their lives, the good parts and bad.
But what about those of us who don’t know if our family members or friends trusted in Jesus. Sadly, we can’t experience the same level of hope. We can still trust that God is good and will do what is right and just, but we can’t nurture as clear a resurrection hope. In moments like that, grieve, and trust. And let it be a reminder for all of us to get serious about our relationship with God.
Good deeds will not get you into heaven. Believing in heaven will not get you into heaven. Only by placing your complete trust in Christ Jesus can you rest secure. The reward of the resurrection is Christ. We don’t believe in Jesus just to get the resurrection. We believe in Jesus to get Jesus. He is our reward, he is our treasure, he is the one we want to spend eternity with.
My dad told me this summer that he felt like the Holy Spirit wanted him to read his Bible this year as fast as he could. When I saw him in June, he was trying to read 10-chapters a day, 10 chapters! I think the Lord was getting him ready for that last lap. At his funeral, I preached out of my dad’s Bible, and when I opened it up his page marker was at 1 Corinthians 15, which is a chapter about “The Resurrection of Christ.” It says a lot but I want to close with this one key first.
1 Corinthians 15:20 (ESV) But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Here’s what it’s saying. It’s a fact that Jesus has risen from the dead. And those who have died, who are sleeping, are enjoying him like you might enjoy a fresh bowl of fruit. He is refreshing them. He is nurturing them. They are satisfied. I had just sat down at the Denver gate for Jet Blue, a gate I will never be able to walk by the same again, when I saw I had missed my brother’s phone call. I called him back and the first thing my brother said to me was not, “Dad died” or “Dad is sleeping” but, “Dad went to be with Jesus.”
Isn’t that what it’s all about? Dad went to be with Jesus. Grandpa or Grandma or mom went to be with Jesus. Our friends and cousins and any who know Christ have gone to spend all eternity with him, the shepherd of our souls. And guess what, one day all who believe in Jesus will return with Jesus, Lord willing you and me too. We’ll get our bodies back, even better than before, but even better than that, we’ll get Jesus. Let’s pray.
Jonathan Romig preached this sermon at Cornerstone Congregational Church in Westford, MA. In loving memory of Paul Ralph Romig (obituary, service, sermon).
Next Steps
Pick up and read a copy of On Death by Timothy Keller. Pick up and read a copy of A Small Book for the Hurting Heart by Paul Tautges.
Sources The Roman Triumph: https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook/chapter/the-roman-triumph/ Accessed September 15th, 2021.
Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or the sermon only on YouTube.
It seems like in the last couple years many of us have lost ones we loved—parents, siblings, friends, to covid, to cancer, to sickness of all kinds. As I’ve been thinking about my dad’s death, and those of you who have lost someone, I wanted to preach a message that could encourage us, and remind us of some of the resurrection hope God has given believers. But I also recognize that as I preach this, me sharing my personal story
Today I want to share a passage I was meditating on during sabbatical. I started reading the gospel of John and for a while, I got caught up on these two verses. John 1:12-13 (ESV) But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. These verses
Today I want to share a passage I was meditating on during sabbatical. I started reading the gospel of John and for a while, I got caught up on these two verses.
John 1:12-13 (ESV) But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
These verses caught my eye because they talk about Christians being identified as children of God. I wrestle with what it means to be a child of God. Do you know what that means? Do you get it? Other pastors tell me all the time how important this is, and how identifying as children of God can make a huge difference.
I went into sabbatical really wanting to experience what it means to be a child of God. See, I don’t believe everyone is a child of God, only people God adopts into his family. But just because I know a “theological truth” that “I’m a child of God” through faith in Christ doesn’t mean I really get it in my heart.
Unfortunately, I can’t say I figured it all out on sabbatical, but I want to share a few things the Lord is teaching me. Three words help us find our identity as children of God: blood, flesh, and will.
1a) I’m not a child of God because of my blood. I’m sorry if you’re squeamish about blood, like I am, but the passage talks about it. “…he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood…” I won’t be showing you any pictures of ER or Grey’s Anatomy. My mom used to like watching those shows when we had an old TV that had lots of static and the color wasn’t very good. When we got a high-def television, she didn’t like them as much. Too much blood! Blood may be kinda gross, but it’s also really significant for identity.
Remember who wrote this book. Jesus’ disciple John wrote the gospel of John, one of Jesus’ most beloved disciples. He’s Jewish, but he’s writing the gospel of John to a mixed audience made up of Jews and Gentiles, non-Jews. In the verse right before ours, John says the Israelites rejected Jesus and then adds, “But to all who did receive him.” One of John’s most important messages in the gospel of John is that “all” or “whoever” believes in Jesus receives eternal life, whether they have Jewish blood or non-Jewish blood.
That’s a complete turn of events because for over a thousand years the story they’ve been living has been all about blood. Back in Deuteronomy 14:1 God identified the Israelite people as “the sons of the Lord your God.” The Israelites were to be one blood. The sign that marked all males as Jewish was a sign stamped in blood, circumcision. The Israelite people, and Jewish people today, still find a lot of identify and security in believing they are children of Abraham and God’s chosen people. But John is saying you’re not a child of God, or Abraham, because of your blood type or mark made in blood but through faith in Christ Jesus.
I was able to make progress on my Doctorate of Ministry (D.Min) this summer. One of the people helping keep me accountable is Pastor Nathan Willems, the English Pastor at CBCGL. We’ve been reading each other’s chapters and encouraging one another. His project is about second-generation Asian-Americans and identity formation. He’s now the English pastor, but he was the Youth Pastor for many years, and found that children of immigrants, second-generation immigrants have a difficult time figuring out who they are. Am I Chinese? Am I American? Am I Christian? I feel out of place. In his paper, he shares this quote from the book, Becoming Asian American:
One of Meg’s most vivid early memories, from when she was about 8 years old, was that of a group of neighborhood children, primarily white, following and harassing her as she walked home from school. They pulled their eyelids up to make fun and chanted racial slurs. When Meg got home, her parents comforted her. Besides advising her to ignore the attacks, they also emphasized that she should take pride in her Chinese ancestry: “They told me not to pay any attention, that the kids were just ignorant and mean. They also told me that I was Chinese, it was in my blood, it wasn’t something to be ashamed of. It was one of the few times they actually talked about it, but I think it was really important to them that we be proud of being Chinese.”
Maybe you can relate to that. You find a lot of identity in your Asian blood, your American blood, your New England blood (also known as Dunkin blood), or your family’s blood. I find a significant amount of identity in being a Romig, son of Paul and Ellen, brother of Christy, Timothy, Matthew, and Nathanael. But here, in this text, Christians can find a new way to identify themselves. And if you’re someone who has struggled with ethnic or family identity, here’s a new way to identify yourself, as a child of God.
We’re born, not of human blood, but of God. “But to all who did receive HIM, who believed in HIS name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Whose the “him?” Who do we receive to become a child of God? Who do we believe in to get this new identity? Jesus! I’m not a child of God because of my blood…
1b) I’m a child of God because of His blood. These two verses, 12-13, tell us that we “become children of God . . . not by blood, flesh, or man, but by God.” So you have to kind of back track and ask, how does God make us his child? By his blood, his flesh, his man. I’m a child of God because of Christ’s blood on the cross, ultimately, because of God’s blood.
We’ve been in the book of Acts for a while, and are going back next week. And one verse that really stuck out to me describes God bleeding for us. Paul says, “Care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28b ESV) God, through Christ Jesus, spilt his own blood on the cross to save us from our sins so that whoever believes in him can receive eternal life but also be adopted into a new family.
God’s blood, through Christ’s blood, doesn’t just save us, it transforms our identity. No longer are we foreigners and aliens to God, but his beloved children. The blood of God covers us on the cross. What is one of the primary rituals Jesus gave all believers to remember him, and form community? Communion, the Lord’s Supper, where he said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25b ESV) He wants us to remember his shed blood, to symbolically internalize his shed blood, and for our identities as believers and as a church to be defined by his shed blood.
When you put your faith and trust in Christ Jesus, Christ’s blood covers you, not just cleansing you from sin, but giving you a new identity as a child of God. You can still find identity in your Asian American blood or European American blood or African American blood or Romig blood, but as Christians, the blood of Christ gives us eternal identity that far surpasses anything this world offers. I’m not a child of God because of my blood, but because of His blood, and his blood covers me through Christ.
2a) I’m not a child of God because of my flesh. John says we don’t become God’s children through the “flesh.” Nothing the Jewish people or the Gentile people could do with their bodies could make them children of God. When we think about identity formation, we often think about what we do, don’t we. What’s the first thing people ask you when they meet you? What do you do? I’m a pastor. I’m a civil engineer. I’m a teacher. The Jewish people also found a lot of identity in the things they did, especially obeying the law of God. God gave them lots of rules to follow back in Exodus through Deuteronomy, and those laws gave them a lot of identity. But John says there’s nothing you can do in your flesh that will make you a child of God, no rule you can follow, no law you can keep.
You might have had a father or a mother or teacher or significant authority in your life who insisted we acted or behaved a certain way. They could have insisted on good things, like doing your chores, your homework, being polite, etc. And each of us probably discovered that when we did those things, our parents or parental figure seemed happier with us. What we did in the flesh really mattered for the day to day relationship with them. Some of our parents did a good job of assuring us that they love us no matter how we behave, but some did not. Here’s the dark side of all this.
I can come to believe deep in my soul that my heavenly father feels the same way about me. That he only loves me when I’m obeying him. And pretty soon you and I begin to live under a constant raincloud of feeling like we’re always disappointing our heavenly father. Maybe he does love us, but in kind-of a frustrated way. Do you ever feel that way? I feel that way all the time. But here’s the thing, I’m not a child of God because of my flesh, because of the things I do in the body.
2b) I’m a child of God because of His flesh. Before Jesus started his ministry, before he multiplied the fish and loaves and walked on water, before he proved he wouldn’t fall to Satan’s temptation, the father said this about Jesus: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17b ESV) Before Jesus ever accomplished the mission his father had given him, his father said how much he loved him, and that he was “well pleased” with him.
When we believe in Jesus, we become identified as being “in Christ” (Romans 6:11, 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17). In Christ, I’ve already lived a perfect life of obedience. In Christ, I’ve never ever disobeyed. In Christ, I’m not a disappointment, but the greatest glory. In Christ, my heavenly father also says of me, “This is my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased.”
I know that can be hard to hear. I struggle to hear it because I want to prove myself. I also argue back. Yeah, but we’re supposed to obey (John 14:15). Yes, but we obey not in order to win love, but as a response to love. I love my son and my daughter and I hope they’ll obey, but their lack of obedience does not make them any less my child who I absolutely adore. There’s nothing I can do in my flesh to make myself any more or any less his child than I already am.
The verse after ours says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14a ESV). God recognized that in our own flesh we’re not enough, which is why he came. We’re not just not God’s children, Paul actually calls us “children of wrath” (see Ephesians 2:1-10). God didn’t just come to save us, but to make us his children, to adopt us into his family. How he did that was by putting his flesh on the line. But once he laid down his flesh on the cross through Christ Jesus, our very identity changes. And the question becomes, do I identify more as a “child of God” or as a “child of wrath?” Part of believing the gospel is learning to identify more as a child of God, no matter what I feel inside. I am a child of God because of his blood and his flesh and his will.
3) I am not a child of God because of my will but because of his will. John talks about “the will of the flesh” and “the will of man.” If I trust in Jesus, there is nothing I can think or will that makes me any more or less God’s child. If I can only have a pure thought life, then God will love me. False. God loves you as his child and is helping change your thought life. If I can only get the mental help I need, then God will love me. God loves you no matter your mental health. If I can only have the right goals and aspirations, then God will love me. Wrong, God loves you because your his child, because you love his Son. It was the will of God, his will, that you would be his child.
On sabbatical I also read the book of Job. The book of Job is the story of a really successful man losing everything. He losses his family, his wealth, his wife’s love, and his friends’ support, his happiness, his joy. And we’re led to wonder if Job will curse God and die. But instead, Job chooses to trust in God, the mighty God who made the heavens and the earth and the underworld itself (Job 26). And by the end of Job, God shows up and says how he made the earth and the sky and the rain and the seas (Job 38).
I was sitting on top of Mt. Avalon in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, close to Mt. Washington, just looking at the side of a mountain covered it lots and lots of trees. God reminded me that the one who made all of that loves me. This summer I saw the mountains of Colorado, the mountains of New Hampshire, the Atlantic ocean along Cape Cod, and I heard deep in my soul that it was the will of the one who made all of that that I would be his child. And if you know Jesus, the creator of the mountains and the oceans, your creator, it’s his will that you would be his child too.
God calls you his child and there’s nothing you can do about it but believe in Jesus. “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” There is some sort of deep paradox here. You can’t win God’s favor through your blood, your flesh, or your will. God loves you and adopts you into his family. You believe because you’ve received and yet you also believe to receive. It’s as we believe in Christ and wrestle with our identities that we come to know we are God’s children. Maybe today’s sermon message helped, but maybe you’re just more confused than ever.
Here’s what I’m doing. There are a couple of things I pray for on a semi-regular basis, and one of those things is that I would know deep in my soul that I am a child of God. Sometimes I pray that for my family too. If you wrestle with finding your identity as a child of God, then add it to your prayers. Pray it for yourself, for your family, and for your church family, including your pastor. God calls you his child and there’s nothing you can do about it but believe in Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen via Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What does it mean to be a child of God? Do you identify yourself as a child of God? Why or why not? How do blood, flesh, and will tell us about being children of God. How do we become children of God? Is it something we’re born with?
Take a moment to pray to identify as a child of God.
Sources Nazli Kibria, Becoming Asian American (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 42. *Thank you Pastor Nathan for giving me permission to reference your D.Min project.
Listen to Tom Taylor as he takes a deeper look at the paradoxical message of the blessings of the Beatitudes. Tom is an elder at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford and an ordained minister.
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Listen to Tom Taylor as he takes a deeper look at the paradoxical message of the blessings of the Beatitudes. Tom is an elder at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford and an ordained minister.
Dave Astolfi is a second career pastor, having earned an M.Div from Bethel Seminary of the East. He retired early from a 35 year career in science research to devote more time and energy to pastoral ministry. Dave was ordained at Grace Community Church in Chelmsford, while serving as Pastor of Care. He is enjoying semi-retirement, serving God through pulpit supply, interim ministry, mentoring and volunteering at a community pantry … Oh, and he also keeps busy playing with his four grandsons.
Dave Astolfi is a second career pastor, having earned an M.Div from Bethel Seminary of the East. He retired early from a 35 year career in science research to devote more time and energy to pastoral ministry. Dave was ordained at Grace Community Church in Chelmsford, while serving as Pastor of Care. He is enjoying semi-retirement, serving God through pulpit supply, interim ministry, mentoring and volunteering at a community pantry … Oh, and he also keeps busy playing with his
On Palm Sunday, I preached about donkeys. My big idea was “Be a donkey!” Well, we’re talking about deer today, so maybe the big idea should be, “Be a deer!” A doe, a deer, a female deer. Be a deer. About a month ago, I was meditating on this passage, and the elders and I were talking about my sabbatical, and we thought this text could be a good way to kick off my time away, but also the church’s
On Palm Sunday, I preached about donkeys. My big idea was “Be a donkey!” Well, we’re talking about deer today, so maybe the big idea should be, “Be a deer!” A doe, a deer, a female deer. Be a deer.
About a month ago, I was meditating on this passage, and the elders and I were talking about my sabbatical, and we thought this text could be a good way to kick off my time away, but also the church’s summer too. While you’re not taking a sabbatical, I hope that this summer can be restful for you. That’s why I’ve asked all our guest preachers to preach on “Rest, Renewal & Grace.” I hope you’ll take intentional time to rest. As I was reading this Psalm, I feel like I encountered that theme of Rest, Renewal & Grace.
Psalm 42:1-2 (ESV) 1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
The Psalmist describes himself as a thirsty deer panting for flowing waters. I don’t see many deer around here. I saw some white-tail deer in our office complex next door to our house but haven’t seen them since last summer. Last summer, when we traveled to Colorado, we saw two mule deer with big ears (that’s why they call them mule). They had antlers and came wandering through the picnic site in the National Park. I actually have a selfie of Elijah napping in my lap and deer walking past us in the background.
The campground picnic area was really beautiful. There was lots of vegetation and a gurgling river flowing by. I could see why the deer would be attracted to it. My family went on a short hike and saw a moose, but Elijah and I missed it. We were napping. But did you know you don’t have to go into the National Park to see deer? You can swing by my parent’s house. They’ll walk right through the yard.
Or I just had someone tell me the story this week of how they went all the way to the National Park to see a big herd of elk, and they were so excited, and afterward, they went to the Safeway parking lot, where they saw another herd of elk. The elk love the town golf courses too. The elk love Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park because there’s plenty to eat, and they are safe. It’s a place of abundance and free from hunters. A deer puts its head down to drink when it feels safe.
And that’s what this Psalm does. It invites us to come and drink at God’s well, to feel safe enough to seek him. The Psalmist longs for that experience, but you know, he actually doesn’t feel safe or satisfied. He actually feels far from God. “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before him?” This Psalm is about a depressed deer. It’s about a thirsty deer who feels far from God.
Psalm 42:3-4 (ESV) 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.
My parents would put up protective wire around their crabapple trees because the elk would come through and rub themselves against it, sometimes destroying it. They get all itchy when their velvet comes off. We call it Elk rutting. My mom just sent a video of the trees in bloom, lots of pink flowers. But one year, a baby deer got caught in the wire. So, we called the police department, and they came by and cut it loose. But it’s a sad story because the baby deer didn’t recover.
Here’s a man who is so far from God he feels like he won’t recover. Will he ever draw close to God’s presence again? He used to be a worship leader at the temple, the place where God’s presence was real and tangible, a place where he knew he could be near God. But verse 6 tells us the Psalmist is all the way at the heights of Hermon, a mountain range over 100 miles north of Jerusalem. It’s like he wants to go to a Boston Red Sox game, but he’s in Canada. It’s terrible.
I love seeing our teens go on mission trips to places like France. But we warn our kids about the “after-camp” crash. We go to camp, and we worship the Lord. We get real with Jesus. He feels so close. And then what happens? You go home, and Jesus doesn’t feel so close. He feels far away. And that can be true of the Christian journey too. I remember when I got real about my faith in high school. The Lord felt so close. I was so excited. I just wanted to tell everyone about him. And then time went on, and I’ve gone through seasons where Jesus feels close, but I’ve gone through many seasons where he feels far. When the “camp high” wears off, we can sometimes ask, “Where are you, God?”
What do you do when you feel that way? It’s not that I want to recapture the camp high. I just want to sense Jesus’ presence, and maybe you do too. Maybe you’re a thirsty deer like me. Don’t you wish you were a camel? Camels can walk for miles and miles in the desert without drinking any water. They’re huge. They’re sturdy. You ever know someone like that? Who always seems to be okay, even in the hot desert sun? Even when life gets hard? Maybe it’s just an act, but maybe it’s because they’ve drunk from the well. If you’re a thirsty deer, come to the “streams of water.”
Look at what the Psalmist does; he directs his mind’s eye back to God. He purposefully and intentionally calls out his soul and places his hope in God. In other words, he talks to himself and reminds himself of the goodness of God.
Psalm 42:5-6 (ESV) 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation 6 and my God.
My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
No matter how far away he feels from God, no matter how thirsty or even depressed, he is going to place his hope in God. The Psalmist says, “I shall again praise him! My salvation and my God!” What does the Psalmist mean by “I shall again praise him?” I think he’s thinking of all those times he praised God. All those times, he led in worship. All those times when he really felt close to God. He senses he’ll be back there again. This dry desert is only for a time.
But, I also wonder if he’s thinking further back to his family’s story. If we look back to verse 0, the header for the Psalm says “the Sons of Korah” wrote Psalm 42. So, it’s not just one Psalmist who composed this, but many. There’s comfort in that. A whole bunch of people felt this way. Worship leaders and pastors struggle too. Guys, I struggle. But looking even further back at Israel’s story, we find a man named Korah, and Korah wasn’t a great guy.
My English translation calls Numbers 16 “Korah’s rebellion.” Korah and 250 chiefs rose up and complained that Moses and Aaron were acting as priests, and they couldn’t do the same. God had given them the role of Levites, who served at the tabernacle, but they wanted more. I don’t think they wanted to be closer to God. I think they wanted more power. So, they grumbled against Moses and Aaron, God’s appointed leaders, and disobeyed them. So, God almost consumed the whole Israelite camp. But instead, he had Moses separate out Korah, his family, and his followers, and the earth opened up and swallowed them (Num 16:33).
You would think that all of Korah’s family would be lost. But God, in His mercy, spared Korah’s sons (Num 26:11). So, they’re especially grateful for all God has done for them and want to worship as close to God’s presence as they can. They don’t want God’s presence for their own empowerment like Korah seemed to want. They want to know God for God, to be close to him. God has transformed their entire family.
Look back at your family, your history. How has God been working in it to redeem it? God can even use trauma and loss to bring renewal. He did it for Korah’s family and can do it for yours. Seeing God move and sensing his presence is what makes us want to draw near to him, to joyfully praise him.
I struggle with joy. One of my mentors, Sam Kim, who is preaching in August, suggested I reframe my thinking by journaling and writing all the ways God has been faithful. So, our family created a “God is on the move” thankfulness notebook. And we try to take time over family dinner to write down one thing we’re thankful to God for from the day. For example, Elijah is thankful for “Going to school.” When we ask him, what Evangeline is thankful for, Elijah says, “Butterflies!” Monica is thankful for the chance to garden, and I’m thankful for completing a little more of my Doctorate of Ministry.
I read one commentary that said the big idea of this passage is, “When God seems far away, it’s time for an honest talk with him—and with yourself.” I listened to another pastor who said that when we’re feeling down, don’t listen to yourself; talk to yourself. What he meant by that is if we only ever listen to our mind and heart, chances are we’ll become more depressed. But if we talk to ourselves and tell our hearts and our minds what God has done through Christ Jesus, it will re-orient how we think. It’s not just that we pump ourselves up and say nice things to ourselves, but we remind ourselves of God’s goodness.
The pastor listed several things God promises. If you’re justified in Christ, if you’ve been forgiven and made holy, you don’t need to beat yourself up for the past. You don’t have to keep piling on yourself with shame. Be free, child. But God is also sanctifying us. That means you don’t have to feel discouraged that you’ll always be this way and will never grow and change. The Holy Spirit is changing you for the better! That’s sanctification. How about God’s adoption of us? Through Christ Jesus, God adopts us into his family. He loves us and hears our prayers. How about the resurrection? Because of Jesus’ death and rising again from the grave, and his extension that any who believe in him will receive the same, you don’t have to be afraid of growing old, of getting sick, or even of dying. Talk to yourself. Remind yourself of Jesus and his good work.
God will draw near, but it might not feel like you expect.
Psalm 42:7 (ESV)7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.
The deer begins drinking at a flowing stream but ends tumbling in raging waters. This should be no surprise because one of the words for “flowing streams” (v1) can mean “ravine,” a dark place where there’s water and shadow. God’s torrent isn’t a manageable stream but a rushing ocean. God is much bigger and more dangerous than we realize. When we come to him, at first, we might find a refreshing river, but he’s going to reveal himself more and more. And that can be both glorious and terrifying. God’s presence can give us everlasting joy or “the dark night of the soul.”
In our Christian Education hour, we recently discussed the song “It Is Well With My Soul.” One of the verses goes like this.
If Jordan above me shall roll, No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
Even if the water is way above me, even if death feels imminent, even if the pangs of life are overwhelming, I’ll be okay because Jesus is whispering peace to my soul.
Psalm 42:8-11 (ESV)8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” 10 As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
The deer imagery in this Psalm reminds me of the book Hinds Feet on High Places. I was reminded of this story because a “Hind” is a kind of deer, a female deer, especially a red deer. Have any of you read that book? My parents read it, or the children’s version, when we were growing up. This week I went back and watched “A Fan Animated Summary,” which was a little dorky but fun to watch. Hinds Feet on High Places is an allegory, kind of like a modern version of The Pilgrim’s Progress. Instead of dealing with the overall Christian journey, it focuses on a life of fear, anxiety, and self-loathing.
The main character is named Much-Afraid. Much-Afraid is constantly harassed by the Fearings, her family. They oppress and criticize her all the time. But Much-Afraid likes the Chief Shepherd, who wishes to take her to the High Places, the mountains. For her journey, the Chief Shepherd gives her two companions; two sisters named Sorrow and Suffering. There comes a moment when she is tempted to give into Pride, to listen to him, and abandon her journey. But she calls to the Chief Shepherd, who comes and rescues her, and gently rebukes her that she should not have let go of the hands of Sorrow and Suffering.
As Christians, our Chief Shepherd gives us Sorrow and Suffering on our journey to keep us humble and to help us call out for Christ. By the end of the journey, the Shepherd transforms Sorrow and Suffering into Peace and Joy and Much-Afraid into Grace and Glory. It’s by loving the Shepherd that God changes us.
And if we look back over this Psalm, we actually find Christ in it. Look back to verses 5-6, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” The Hebrew word for “salvation” is “yeshuah.” The English spelling of Yeshua is “Jesus.” Though perhaps the Sons of Korah don’t realize it, their salvation is Jesus, who is their God. In verse 9, the Psalmist calls God “my rock.” In the New Testament, Christ is identified as the “rock” the Israelites drank from in the wilderness, near the time of God’s judgment on Korah’s family (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:7-11).
See, if you’re a thirsty deer, if your soul is parched and you are down, come to Jesus. Come and remember all the amazing things Christ has done, how he defeated sin and death at the cross and rose to give you a brand-new life. Your life will have sorrow and suffering, but he will transform those into peace and joy. “As the deer panteth for the water, so many soul longeth after thee.” Come to the waters. Be a deer. Let’s pray.
Romans 15:13 (ESV) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen via Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What has you down or depressed? What truths of the Scripture might counteract your feelings and/or circumstance? How do Jesus’ death and resurrection change us? Why are sorrow and suffering a part of the Christian walk? If you could tell your younger self how to deal with suffering, what would you say? How might we better focus our eyes on Christ and recall his goodness?
Sources Hinds’ Feet High Places – A Fan Animated Summary. YouTube. May 15, 2016.
Psalms Volume 2: Psalms 42-106 (Expositional Commentary) by James Montgomery Boice
Talking to Yourself, Not Listening to Yourself – Psalm 42 Meditation by Tim Keller. YouTube. May 5, 2020.
The Big Idea Companion for Preaching and Teaching (p. 207). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
This morning, I got up thinking about the first time I ever shared my testimony, my story of coming to faith in Christ. In college, I took a spring-break missions trip down to Chinle, Arizona, to the Indian reservation to run a program for kids. I think we must have talked about sharing our testimonies because, on the drive down, I spent time writing my testimony. I wanted to share it, but I didn’t volunteer myself. But a few days later, one of my fellow college students nominated me to share my testimony, and I was ready.
I was nervous-excited to share, and it went really well. Afterward, my college pastor said I should go to seminary, which is perhaps the first time someone said that to me. So, in one sense, sharing my testimony helped put me here. God is good! Sharing your testimony can lead to surprising places. Or, the reverse is true. God can lead us to surprising places to share our testimony. That’s true of Paul’s story.
God led Paul into the heart of a riot to share his testimony, into the center of Jerusalem. Some people wrongly accused him of bringing Gentiles into the temple, a capital offense, and an angry mob dragged him out of the temple, ready to kill him. The Holy Spirit might lead you to share your testimony with a friend over breakfast, in a packed board room, at your family’s 2021 reunion. Will you be ready? Chances are, you won’t get stoned. What can you do to not offend?
Paul took a Nazarite vow. He shaved his head. He sponsored four other Jewish men in their Nazarite vows. He went above and beyond to not offend culturally so that maybe, just maybe, they would hear the gospel and believe. But it didn’t matter because those who hated him were there.
Acts 21:27b-28 (ESV) . . . the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, 28 crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
The Jews from Asia know how well Paul preached Christ there, and they want to put a stop to him in Jerusalem (Acts 19:26). They sparked the riot. They want Paul dead.
Acts 21:30 (ESV) Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.
That’s the last time Paul will ever see the temple. He almost dies, but a Roman tribune, an elected official, took soldiers and rescued him, literally carrying Paul out of there, like a very dangerous mosh-pit. This mob provides Paul with a unique opportunity, an opportunity to share Jesus with an angry mob. He’d wanted to do that back at Ephesus in Acts 19, but here he finally gets his opportunity with his own countrymen, people he might have known and recognized.
As we look at Paul’s testimony, it serves as a model for us as we share our testimonies. We may never face an angry mob, but we still might have the opportunity to share Christ with a coworker, neighbor, friend, or family member. That’s why it helps to break down Paul’s testimony into a three-part testimony:
I. Who I was (Acts 22:3-5) Paul gives his background to establish some credibility. He’s a Jew, educated by a notable teacher, Gamaliel, who we met back in Acts 5:34-39. He was so zealous for the law he persecuted the earliest followers of Jesus, simply called “the Way.” He even had letters from the high priest and council of elders to punish the Christians, not something most people had. Some of those people who wrote him his letter might be listening to Paul now. They knew him. They knew his story.
Why does Paul tell us this? Because God is about to change him. When Jesus saw Paul, he didn’t just see opposition, someone who was fighting him, but an opportunity. God saw a man who could become a mighty missionary to the Gentiles, the non-Jews, someone who was incredibly zealous for the Jewish people.
When we look at our own lives and our friends, family, and other people that need Jesus, do we see opposition to Christ? Or opportunities for Christ? We can’t save them, but God can, no matter how far gone they seem.
I recently watched an interview with “Pastor X,” an underground pastor in the Middle East. He told the story of his wife coming to faith. She was a radical Muslim. She wore a Burka at the age of 3. She started reading the Quran at the age of 5. At the age of 9 memorized the Quran. At the age of 13, she was so in love with the god of Islam that they took her out of school and put her in the Islamic Fundamentalist School. At the age of 17, she became an evangelist for Islam, like the religious police for it. At the age of 23, she and her mom were listening to a Christian broadcast, and her mom called the pastor and became a Christian. Then she talked to the pastor for two hours, and he challenged her to give Jesus a try for one week. She said the sinner’s prayer and was convinced nothing would happen, and that night her mom wakes up screaming and walking perfectly. She had MS. They take her to the doctor, and her MS is completely gone. Jesus had healed her. People at the hospital asked her who she had prayed to, and she said Jesus, then five people come to Christ.
God can take anyone, no matter who they are, and change them. Have you thought about the ways Jesus has changed you? I know some have grown up in a Christian household and identified as a Christian since a very young age. You might not have a “before and after” story, but we can all track the places Jesus is changing us, softening our hearts to him, and helping us love others even when it’s not easy. First, just talk about who I was or who I’ve been, but then it gets really good.
II. How Jesus is transforming me (Acts 22:6-16) That’s what Paul does. He tells how he was on the road to Damascus to persecute the Christians and throw them in jail, but a bright light shone around him, and he fell to the ground, and a loud voice said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And Jesus said, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.” Then he repented. He asked Jesus what he should do. And Jesus told him to go to Damascus, and there Ananias came to him and healed him of his blindness.
Acts 22:14-16 (ESV) And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; 15 for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’
Here’s the message that changes Paul and can change you too. “God has appointed you to know the Righteous One, Jesus Christ, and you’ll be his witness. Now rise, be baptized, wash away the sin and the old life, and call on the name of Jesus.” Jesus wants to change us, to transform our lives.
Maybe the story of “Pastor X” seems a little removed from your life. This week I sent Mark a text asking him if he’d be willing to share his testimony today, and he said he just this week thought of how he’s never shared his testimony at Cornerstone. It seems like the Holy Spirit is moving, so I’m excited to hear his testimony of who he was and how Jesus is transforming him. [Listen to Mark’s testimony]
Thanks for sharing, Mark. I appreciate your willingness to tell your story. You could share your testimony, too, of who you were and how Jesus is transforming you. He’s transforming all of us. Come talk to me if you’d like to share your story. Let’s get back to Paul’s story and what he does. He transitions from himself to God’s mission.
III. God’s love for all people (Acts 22:17-22) This is the part that gets the crowd so upset.
Acts 22:17-22 (ESV) 17 “When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19 And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. 20 And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’ 21 And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
22 Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.”
Jesus says that the Jews aren’t going to accept Paul’s testimony about him, but he doesn’t get it. He was a zealous Jew who was willing to kill Stephen. What could possibly transform someone like Paul unless he encountered the living breathing God And here’s why they reject Paul because he says Christ has sent him to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. That’s when the crowd erupts, and they shout for Paul’s life!
I recently watched a season of the CBS Television show Survivor. You guys may not know, but I like watching this show. It’s the ultimate game. In this season, there are two teams that have been remixed together. And the host of the show, Jeff Probst, gives anyone on either of the teams the opportunity to defect to the other team. But they have ten seconds to decide. One girl, Candace, does change sides, followed by another man named Jonathan. But because Candace was the first one to defect, she can’t escape her team’s wrath for the rest of the season. Her old team hates her. Every time they win a challenge, and she loses, they send her to exile island to pay for what she did, a harsh, cold, unforgiving place. And that’s just a game!
Now put on top of Paul and his Jewish brethren 1,500 years of religion, an exile for Jewish unfaithfulness to God, and enemy occupiers, the Romans. Put on Paul and the Jews a nationalism stronger than almost anything we have in our country, bound with a sense of identity and faith, and then for Paul to step off the Jewish team, and go to the Gentiles, was like a stab in the back. They didn’t just want to send him to exile island; they wanted to exile him permanently; they wanted his life.
The gospel is for us, but it’s not just for us. It’s for the whole world. The Jews in Jerusalem at this time were so zealous they forgot about God’s plan for Abraham’s descendants to bless the whole world (Gen 12:1-3). As Christians, it can be easy for us to get caught up thinking the gospel is just for us, but God has a mission for us to go beyond ourselves to the people he loves.
Application 1: God is more loving and gracious than we can ever imagine. 2 Peter 3:9 (NIV) The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
God doesn’t want anyone to perish. He’s incredibly patient. He wants us to come to repentance. As we think about others, let’s capture a little bit of God’s heart here for the outsider. Let’s look beyond ourselves to those we don’t understand and know. God loves them and wants them to come to repentance.
Application 2: Be prepared to share your story. 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV) But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
Part of the way we can see people come to faith is by sharing our stories. Paul’s testimony is an apologetic. He tells his story to help them come to faith. Vaishali has written her faith story for her baptism. I’m looking forward to her sharing it. If I asked you to share your testimony, “to give the reason for the hope you have,” right now, would you be able to get up and do it? I actually texted Mark yesterday, and here he is. It’s good to write it down and prepare, but we really just want the Holy Spirit to speak.
Application 3: Trust the Holy Spirit to give you the right words. Luke 12:11-12 (ESV) And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
I’m kind of contradicting myself, aren’t I? Be prepared, but trust the Holy Spirit. Know your story, but when the time comes, don’t try to download your testimony from Google Drive. Simply share. The Holy Spirit will bring to mind the parts he wants you to remember.
I really enjoyed the interview with “Pastor X,” but I was also really convicted by it. He shared how he married his wife, and she came to live with him at his nice house with his nice cars and lots of money, and two months later, she was depressed. He says, “How are you depressed? You came from a third-world country, and we’re in a first-world country.” She says, “Because the church here is under a satanic lullaby, and I’m falling asleep, and every time I try to wake up, the lullaby goes faster. Let’s go back to my country.” He was so shocked that they left everything and moved back to her country to tell others about Jesus.
They wanted to follow the Holy Spirit, wherever the Holy Spirit would lead them. They felt like they were asleep, too comfortable. God picked them up and put them back in the Middle East to share Christ. Maybe the Lord hasn’t called you to the Middle East, but he’s going to call you to your neighbors or family or even to move. I want us to end with the second half of Mark’s story because it shows God does call people from one place to another. When we follow the Spirit, anything is possible. [Mark, come on up, and then we’ll have the worship team sing one more song.]
Romans 15:13 (ESV) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
Have you shared your faith story, your testimony? Who were you before you met Jesus? Or what sin patterns have you seen God change? How is Jesus changing and transforming you? Need help? Ask a friend what they see God doing. How does God’s love for others motivate us to share the love of Christ? How prepared are you to tell your story? Could you share it right now? Do you need to take time to write it out? Spend time in prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to give you the right words and present you with opportunities to share.
Sources The Big Idea Companion for Preaching and Teaching (p. 471). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. My big idea is adapted from this book.
I edited some mental health issues out of the Pastor X interview.
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This morning, I got up thinking about the first time I ever shared my testimony, my story of coming to faith in Christ. In college, I took a spring-break missions trip down to Chinle, Arizona, to the Indian reservation to run a program for kids. I think we must have talked about sharing our testimonies because, on the drive down, I spent time writing my testimony. I wanted to share it, but I didn’t volunteer myself. But a few days
Jamie is a Senior in college. That summer, she works at a Christian camp as a camp counselor. She leads hikes, runs workshops, and leaders her cabin time small group. She even gives some of the devotionals in the large group setting. Over the course of the summer, she begins to sense, not with audible words, but deep in her soul that the Holy Spirit might be calling her into Christian ministry.
Jamie doesn’t know what that means, so she talks it over with her camp director. He encourages her to continue praying, reflecting, and asking others for input. She invites a few of her fellow counselors to pray and fast with her, and discern what the Spirit might be doing. They affirm that they too have seen a love for God’s people in he and that she seems to be gifted for ministry. Maybe she could work at a Christian camp, or maybe the Lord would call her to college ministry or even to serve a local church.
At the end of that summer, she goes home excited by this new potential calling on her life. She determines to spend her final year in college serving her church, exploring her gifting, and praying about where the Spirit might be leading. At first, things seem to go well in her church. The pastor and leadership are grateful for her increased volunteering and service, but when she starts to talk about a call to ministry, her family and church don’t express the enthusiasm or support she received from her fellow camp counselors.
Her parents would much rather have Jamie continue her original plan and go to medical school. They were hoping for a doctor in their family. Couldn’t she go to med school and do medical mission trips on the side? Jamie recognizes that that is a legitimate and good calling, but she’s not sensing that’s what the Holy Spirit is doing. She’s especially surprised when a well-meaning church member asks her if she wants to go to seminary to marry a pastor. “No,” she replies, “I’m thinking about going to seminary because I sense that may be where the Holy Spirit is leading.”
It all comes to a head when her pastor preaches on male headship and male church leadership. She catches a few church members glancing her way. She felt like the pastor was preaching at her. She goes home discouraged and wondering if she misheard the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit calling her to ministry? Should she go to medical school or seminary or just marry a pastor? What should she do?
This is not my story, but I don’t think this type of situation is so uncommon. We hear the Holy Spirit direct us to do something, but when we talk to other Christians, they seem less convinced, sometimes resistant, and even opposed to what we think God is calling us to do. How do you navigate something like that? We care about what our church family and other Christians think. So what should we do? Trust the Holy Spirit is speaking through our church family or you personally?
As believers, we will face resistance. When we look at Paul’s life and ministry, we see he faced a lot of resistance. Our minds immediately jump to examples of him being accused by false teachers or being beaten up by angry mobs. But he faced resistance not just from external sources but from within the church as well. He faced push-back from well-meaning Christians. I’m sure none of us can relate to that.
We’re in Acts 21 now. Paul just finished passing the ministry baton to the Ephesian Elders at Miletus and is now sailing for Jerusalem. I’m putting up the same map I used last week. This is the end of Paul’s third missionary journey. This last portion shows Paul’s journey from Miletus to Cos, then Rhodes, Patara, and then Tyre north of Jerusalem. When Paul gets to Tyre, the believers do something really interesting. They try to divert Paul from going to Jerusalem.
Acts 21:4 (ESV) And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.
Notice that it wasn’t just that they were well-meaning, but they did this “through the Spirit.” Now, this could mean that the Holy Spirit told them to warn Paul not to go. However, Paul just said that the Holy Spirit was compelling him towards Jerusalem.
Acts 20:22-23 (ESV) And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.
Now could the Holy Spirit convict one person of one thing and another person of something else? I’m actually fine with that. Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit.
John 3:8 (ESV) The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit is like the wind. He has a mind of his own and doesn’t have to fit into our boxes. I think it’s possible the Holy Spirit convicts people in different ways. This is not a sin and truth issue, but about God’s plans. Some think the Holy Spirit simply revealed what was going to happen to these believers, and they took it upon themselves to try and stop Paul. Perhaps, I don’t know.
So what do you do when a well-meaning, possibly Spirit-filled Christian, tells you not to do what you think the Holy Spirit is calling you to do? We’re supposed to listen to our church family and fellow Christians. We put stock in the words of those we love and trust, and God has given us for our good.
I was thinking of my own life, not so much how I’ve been stopped by well-meaning Christians, but how I’ve been a well-meaning Christian who put a stop to what God seemed to be doing. I once served at a church where a group of teenagers wanted to create a self-run Bible study. Doesn’t that sound amazing? These teens wanted to get together and study God’s word and talk about it?
But I was like, “You can’t do that! You need adult supervision. You know, because you might hurt yourself,. . . studying the Bible.” So I came up with a bunch of guidelines for them to follow if they wanted to study the Bible together. I suspect that my resistance did not ingratiate those teens to the church or studying the Bible. I suspect my desire to protect those teens actually hurt them. Have you ever done that? You want to protect a fellow believer, but you actually end up hurting them? That’s kind of like what the believers at Tyre do. They so badly want to protect Paul they try to stop him doing what the Holy Spirit has called him to do.
So what is Paul to do? What should someone like Jamie, the High School Senior sensing a call to ministry, do? What should you do in a similar situation?
When you face resistance, listen to the Holy Spirit. That’s what Paul does. He hears these Christians, but he listened to the Holy Spirit and kept going. And you know what, the believers at that church recognize the Spirit’s presence and bless him on his way.
Acts 21:5-6 (ESV) When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.
Look how his brothers and sisters in Christ support him, despite seeing things differently. There’s a lesson for us in here, isn’t there? We, as Christians, are not always going to see eye-to-eye. But also, shouldn’t we give each other the benefit of the doubt? If someone is saying they are sensing the Holy Spirit is leading them in a particular direction, and they’re clearly walking in step with the Spirit unless they’re disobeying God’s word, I can show I care about and support them as people even if I see things differently.
Paul and his companions go down to Caesarea and stay at Philip the evangelist’s house. That’s when Paul encounters the stiffest resistance, even from the author of Acts himself, his companion Luke.
Acts 21:10-12 (ESV) While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.
So now a prophet comes, takes Paul’s belt, and binds his hand and feet. Then he says the Holy Spirit says suffering is what is going to happen to Paul if he goes to Jerusalem. It’s interesting the Christian church’s first response is, “Well, don’t do it then!” But I think one of the ways we can tell if the Holy Spirit is speaking to us is if we look closer to Christ, if we’re transformed into his likeness. Jesus was bound. He was led away and handed over to the Gentiles (Matt 27:2). And then he was crucified, all to pay the penalty for the sins of any who would repent and believe in him. It should be no surprise the Holy Spirit would call Paul to be bound and led away, just like Jesus. When Paul hears the Holy Spirit tell him to go to Jerusalem, it doesn’t advantage him. It disadvantages him. His obedience requires his suffering, persecution, and sacrifice.
If anyone tells you, “The Holy Spirit wants you to give me money,” pause and take stock. They might be right, but you should be very careful. If, on the other hand, you are arguing with your spouse or are in a church meeting, and things aren’t going your way, I’d really resist the temptation to say, “the Holy Spirit says so” unless you’re absolutely certain, especially if the decision gets us something that advantages ourselves. I do think the Holy Spirit can lead us to do things that are a blessing to us, which are even financially rewarding (like being a doctor), but I also think the Holy Spirit will call us to do sacrificial things too (a doctor who serves those who can’t repay her). Look at how Paul responds to their resistance.
Acts 21:13-14 (ESV) Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”
Now Paul is an Apostle, and so he has a special kind of authority you and I don’t have. Only rarely should we go against our church family, and only if we’re certain and walking by faith and have spent the time praying and seeking God. Then we look at if it’s a sacrificial thing, but also a gospel thing. Paul is going forward not for his own sake but for the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ.
When you face resistance, listen to the Holy Spirit and do what’s best for the gospel. Paul and his companions finally sail down to Jerusalem. Paul meets with James, the brother of Jesus, and the other church elders. He reports what God has done among the Gentiles, the non-Jews, and they all praise God. But Paul has a reputation for being someone who cares most about Gentiles, and so the church leaders raise a concern and a request.
Acts 21:20b-24 (ESV) And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.
They tell Paul what his critics are saying about him. “Hey Paul, don’t forget about all the observant Jews in Jerusalem and a part of our church. They think you are teaching the Gentiles to reject Moses and our traditions. So why don’t you do something an especially observant Jew would do. Why don’t you take the Nazarite vow and go through its ritual purification and even sponsor four other men to do the same? That will show the observant Jews in Jerusalem you still care about the law.” A man or woman could make a Nazarite vow for a period of time by promising not to drink alcohol, by not cutting their hair, and by not touching a dead body (Numbers 6:1-21). Samson was a Nazarite for a lifetime, not just for seven days like Paul (Acts 21:27).
Acts 21:26 (ESV) Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.
So why would Paul go through the trouble of doing this? Paul knows that going through these religious motions won’t bring him salvation. He argued heatedly against salvation through the law, which leads to the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 (see Acts 21:25). See, when people will only listen to the gospel of Paul makes cultural changes, Paul is willing to do it. Paul isn’t willing to take full advantage of the freedom we have in Christ if it means others won’t listen to the gospel message. He wants them to hear, and again, he’s willing to sacrifice his own rights for the benefit of others. Paul does what’s best not for himself but for the gospel. He’s willing to compromise his own rights and freedoms for the success of the gospel.
If I were to go back to Jamie’s story, as she senses her call to ministry, I think she needs to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. I believe the Scriptures grant her to pursue her calling wherever God may lead. But, I would also say there may be times when she will need to think about contextualization. For example, if she thinks the Holy Spirit is leading her to do ministry in a conservative Islamic country, she’s going to have to take into account that as a woman, she will face some cultural limitations. She should act differently for the sake of the gospel in that context. Church unity matters for the mission field (Romans 14:1-15:7; 1 Corinthians 10:23-33).
So how might this apply to you? If you think the Holy Spirit is leading you to do something or say something, but are encountering resistance, take time to pray, fast, and really seek the Lord. Know that you are in tune with the Holy Spirit. Dive deep into the word. Make sure you’re operating within what Scripture says. Pray, pray, pray. Listen. Pray some more. Examine if this costs you something and if that’s honoring to God. And then trust the Holy Spirit and do what’s best for the gospel message. That’s not easy. As you faithfully follow Jesus, I’m sure you’ll encounter difficult situations too, but the Spirit can lead you through.
When you face resistance, listen to the Holy Spirit and do what’s best for the gospel.
I want to close by reminding us of the gospel. Jesus faced resistance, a lot of it. He encountered resistance from the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and at times his own followers. And yet, he continually followed the Holy Spirit and shared the good news. And you know what, it cost him his life. It cost him everything. Sometimes it will cost us everything to follow the Holy Spirit. Paul took the vow, but his critics in Jerusalem are about to throw a riot anyways. He’ll almost lose his life in Jerusalem and will one day lose it in Rome. Jesus lost his life in Jerusalem. When you face resistance, listen to the Holy Spirit and do what’s best for the gospel.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What type of resistance or opposition are you facing? Is this of your own doing, or because you are faithfully following Jesus? What do you sense the Holy Spirit is leading you to do? Why do you think it’s the Holy Spirit and not your own imagination? Does it line up with Scripture? Is it sacrificial? How might you faithfully follow the Spirit’s leading? What is your prayer time going to look like, preparing you for the sacrifice and resistance you may face? What is the gospel message, and how can you prioritize it above your own needs or wants?
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Jamie is a Senior in college. That summer, she works at a Christian camp as a camp counselor. She leads hikes, runs workshops, and leaders her cabin time small group. She even gives some of the devotionals in the large group setting. Over the course of the summer, she begins to sense, not with audible words, but deep in her soul that the Holy Spirit might be calling her into Christian ministry. Jamie doesn’t know what that means, so she
I know some of our teens do track. I think that’s pretty cool. I never did it, but my brother Matthew did the long jump and ran hurdles, 110 and 300. I love watching the Olympics, which are supposed to happen this summer in Tokyo. There are all sorts of great events, especially the team-relay events. The 4×100 involves four sprinters, who each pass a baton to one another before sprinting to their next partner.
Did you know that in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, in the 4×100, the women’s team dropped the baton? The teammates, English Gardner, Allyson Felix, Tianna Bartoletta, and Tori Bowie, were almost disqualified. Bartoletta started the race, smoothly handing the baton to Allyson Felix, who sprinted down the track. But when Felix tried handing it to English Gardner, she tripped and dropped the baton. All was lost. But then she picked up the baton and passed it off to Gardner, who passed it to Bowie, who finished the race.
Allyson Felix realized that the runner from Brazil bumped into her, so they challenged the results. Rio was disqualified, and the USA women’s team was allowed to run again, this time on a completely empty track and field. Felix said it felt really weird, but they were able to qualify for the finals.
Today, Paul is passing the baton to the elders at Ephesus. He’s on his way to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit has told him that he is going to face hardship. And even though he has yet to write the letter to the Ephesians, this is the last time he will see them in person again. Here as he sprints towards Jerusalem, he wants to pass the ministry baton to the church’s leadership and make sure that they run a good race going forward.
Acts 20:24 (ESV) But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Paul wants to keep preaching the gospel, and he hopes that the church and Ephesus will continue to do the same. This summer I’m going on sabbatical for nine weeks. It’s an opportunity to practice passing the baton for the race to keep going forward, even as I’m away for a brief period. Thankfully, I’ll be back, and we’ll continue the race together, but I want to do my very best to make sure you’ve got the baton. I don’t want to be the one to drop it, and I want you to catch it so that we as a church can pursue God’s plans going forward.
Now, we are running our race in a particular time and place, Westford, Massachusetts, and the surrounding communities. But Paul was running his race all around the Mediterranean. I’m putting up a map that shows the end of Paul’s third missionary journey. Paul has already traveled all the way to Athens and Corinth and is now on the way back home. You can follow along as I read. Starting in Troas:
Acts 20:13-17 (ESV) But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and the day after that we went to Miletus. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.
Paul could have traveled by land, 30 miles, several days journey, to Ephesus. He spent more time with Ephesus than he did any other church in his missionary travels, three years. Remember how the Holy Spirit forbade Paul to go to Asia (Acts 16:6)? It was all about God’s timing. Now Paul is trying to make it back to Jerusalem by Pentecost, a Jewish holiday celebrating the harvest, and which commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit on the church (Acts 2:1-13). So he asks the Ephesian Elders, the church leaders, to come to him, and they do. It gives him another opportunity to pass the baton. As we look at his baton pass, we find four ways to keep running the race, to keep the ministry going.
Four ways to keep the ministry going forward: 1) Through genuinely loving the church. (v18, 36-38) We find Paul deeply loves the church at Ephesus, the people, the elders.
Acts 20:18 (ESV) And when they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,”
Paul spent three years with the Ephesians. You know how you spell “love?” T.I.M.E. By spending time with the church, I don’t mean spending a lot of time in a building. I mean spending time with each other, and not just the people we like in the church, but the people we don’t know well. The men’s firepit, women’s firepit, and college firepits have all been great ways to spend time with our church family. Yes, I made an appearance at the women’s firepit. I wanted a donut. We show our love for each other by spending time with each other. Look how much the people at Ephesus loved him back—skipping down to the last couple verses:
Acts 20:36-38 (ESV) And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.
It’s a really genuine scene. They kneel down, pray, weep, embrace, kiss, and then they accompany him to the boat to watch as he sails away. It reminds me of that last scene in the Lord of the Rings when Sam, Merry, and Pippin have to say goodbye to Bilbo and Frodo. They embrace and watch from the dock as they sail away to the Undying Lands. That’s a little like what Paul is doing. He’s sailing to Jerusalem, to go to Rome, and ultimately, to lose his life as a martyr for Christ. But before they go, they embrace and say goodbye. I remember when the Tangs left Cornerstone. Karyn and her kids stopped by the church on the way out. And I had the privilege of waving goodbye to them. I felt like I was representing Cornerstone, and I could feel their love for us as they left.
Monica, Mackenna, Alex, and I just did a discipleship intensive with the CCCC. In one of the trainings, we talked about how everything we do as believers begins with first loving God. It’s out of genuinely loving God that we can love each other and the church. One of the most convicting things our trainer said was that if you’re struggling with relationships in the church, chances are your relationship with God is not okay. Genuinely loving the church starts with genuinely loving God.
How can we foster that kind of love? Some of the things we do as we run our race actually help us foster that kind of love. Let’s look at the next one. We also keep the ministry going…
2) Through receiving and sharing the gospel. (v19-26) Acts 20:19-21 (ESV) serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul taught them anything that would be good for them. He discipled them publicly and personally. And he talked about the two main things that help us be in a relationship with God: repentance and faith. To know God, you need to admit your sin and receive forgiveness through faith in Christ. Gospel is the good news that Jesus forgives any who comes to him. I went kayaking with Bernie this week, and he was telling me about how he’s been preaching Galatians to the church in Worcester, and he keeps talking about grace, how God forgives and loves us despite anything we do. I think we see that grace here. Paul keeps telling them about God’s grace, and that’s what we need to remember too. We receive the gospel, then share it. We feel so touched by God’s grace; we can’t help but want to share it with others. This grace is good, no matter the circumstance.
Acts 20:22-26 (ESV) “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all,
Paul keeps pointing to Christ and the grace God offers. But Paul does something surprising. He says, “I am innocent of the blood of all” because he preached about the kingdom of God. Mark recently preached out of Ezekiel, and Paul jumps there too. He’s making a “shout out” to the story of the watchman in Ezekiel 33:1-9.
God tells the prophet, Ezekiel, that if there’s a watchman who sees the sword coming on the land, and he blows the trumpet, but the people don’t listen, their blood is on themselves. But if there’s a watchman who knows the sword is coming, and he does nothing, their blood is on his hands. Paul is saying, “I’ve warned you. Your blood is on your hands.”
Take a moment and think of the watchman who warned you. I came to Christ pretty early. I was only four. So my parents and church were the ones who acted as my watchman. I know for others it’s a stranger, maybe someone who gave you a tract. But maybe it was a coworker or a friend. Let’s take a moment and thank God for the watchmen, the sentries, in our life, who shared the gospel with us, warned us, and helped bring us into the kingdom. Now let’s take a moment and ask God who we need to be a watchman for. Who might God be asking us to share the gospel with and to warn? If they don’t listen, that’s their choice, but let’s not let it be said of us that their blood is on our hands because we never told them.
On July 4th, you as a church are, Lord willing, going to have an opportunity to share the gospel without me. The worship team is hoping to lead another service on the Westford common. This is an opportunity for the church to share the gospel. We’re inviting an evangelistic preacher that week, one of Andy’s friends, and he’ll do a great job. Who will you invite? Who will you sound the alarm for?
We keep the ministry going forward four ways: 1) Through genuinely loving the church; 2) through receiving and sharing the gospel, and…
3) Through raising up elders to lead and protect the church. (v27-31) We see here Paul addressing the elders of the church he spent three years of his life pouring into, likely before some of them were considered elders.
Acts 20:27-31 (ESV) for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.
As a church, we need to recognize elders who can lead and protect the church congregation. We need to disciple them, raise them up, equip them, and call them to lead us. It’s not just the elders who do that, but everyone involved in discipleship, from children’s ministry to youth ministry, all the way up. How do we do that? By learning the whole counsel of God.
I want to take a moment and plug a ministry of our church. This is one of the reasons we have a Christian Education hour and have had it on Zoom for the last year and a half. We want our church to know “the whole counsel of God” because it protects us from going astray. Terry Iles taught us Old Testament survey last year, and Monica Romig taught us New Testament survey this past spring. They’re teaching us the whole counsel of God, and now Jennie is leading us to learn about worship through music. Knowing the Bible and theology help protect us from falling into wrong belief.
It’s so easy to fall into believing whatever we want to believe. That’s why we need to make sure we have good elders and leaders to guard and protect those that really understand the Bible. Paul warns them that fierce wolves are going to arise from their very group. That’s why we need to keep a close eye even on our elders, as they too can go astray. Let’s be in prayer for our leaders
John has just finished his sixth year, first on the Church Plant Ministry Team, then the Board of Elders. Our bylaws say you have to take a year at that point, which is really important, a season of rest. But that means after I return from sabbatical, it will just be Mark and myself serving as Elders. Two is not enough, but that’s what we got for now. Please be in prayer that the Lord will raise up more. We want to do that, and we’re constantly looking for opportunities.
We keep the ministry going forward four ways: 1) Through genuinely loving the church; 2) through receiving and sharing the gospel; 3) through raising up elders to lead and protect the church; and…
4) Through serving sacrificially. (v32-35) Acts 20:32-35 (ESV) And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Paul sacrificed time and time again for the church, and they loved him in return. As the church body, we’re called to serve each other sacrificially. To not do it for the money or the power or the recognition, but to, as I said earlier, do it all out of love. Paul loves the church like Jesus loves the church, and that’s the way we’re supposed to love the church too.
Back in verse 28, Paul said, “care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” God spilled his own blood for the church. We usually think about Jesus spilling his blood, but remember, Jesus is God. In some mysterious way, God bled for us, his church. God substituted his life for ours so that we might live. Wow, God must love us!
When the USA women’s team was preparing to run their final relay, English Gardner realized she hadn’t brought her “spikes,” her running shoes. That’s kind of important when running in the Olympics. But Allyson Felix brought an extra pair. They weren’t quite the right size, but she laced them up, and then they ran the race and won gold. The team that was almost disqualified for dropping the baton won the Olympics.
No matter if we’ve dropped the baton or aren’t feeling very fast lately, we have the opportunity to press into what God is calling us to do. I believe God has something special for Cornerstone this summer. I want it to be a season of rest, renewal, and grace at Cornerstone. But how we often receive those things is by seeing God move and do amazing things. I pray that he will. Let’s pray for that now.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
Why is passing the ministry baton so important? Who are you passing the baton to? What does it mean to genuinely love the church? What are some ways to practice this as a spiritual discipline? Who was your watchman, your sentry? Who sounded the alarm and shared the gospel with you? Who do you need to be a watchman for? Who do you need to share the gospel with? What is grace, and how does it fill us up? How can grace overflow? What are elders, and why do they matter? How are you raising up elders in your church? This is not just the job of the elders, but the whole church can take part, even from an early age. How might you serve sacrificially? What does that demonstrate?
Sources Apostle Paul’s Third Journey large map
How Allyson Felix and Team USA won gold after dropping the baton | NBC Sports YouTube Video
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Photo by Agência Brasil Fotografias – Provas de Atletismo nas Olimpíadas Rio 2016, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50784298
I know some of our teens do track. I think that’s pretty cool. I never did it, but my brother Matthew did the long jump and ran hurdles, 110 and 300. I love watching the Olympics, which are supposed to happen this summer in Tokyo. There are all sorts of great events, especially the team-relay events. The 4×100 involves four sprinters, who each pass a baton to one another before sprinting to their next partner. Did you know that in
*Content Warning! The audio version especially, but also potentially the written version of this sermon, may be highly triggering to those who have experienced disabilities and/or seizures. I have done my best to make the written manuscript less triggering. – Pastor Jonathan
Today I’m talking about freak accidents. I am going to tell a true story of a sudden death, a tragedy that hit me personally. Our Elders and Deacons recently did a mental health training through Harbor Christian Counseling in Boston and I asked them how to preach on triggering issues. They said to tell you that I’m going to talk about it. So this is me letting you know this sermon could be triggering for some of you, and it’s okay if it would be better for you to go outside and go for a walk in the sunshine. So this is me giving you a heads-up. For those who do stay, I’m hopeful that even though we will look at the tragedy of freak accidents, somehow Christ will redeem them a little bit, and bring hope through the resurrection. So I’m going to pray, and if anyone needs to step out, please feel free to do so, then we’ll get started. Let’s pray.
Lord, today’s sermon is a difficult one. Topics like this one can be really hard to think about and discuss. For those who should leave, would you give them the wisdom and confidence that no one is judging them to step outside. For those who should stay, would you give them the courage to listen, learn, and reflect on what you can do in even terrible situations. Lord, we know that you can and will redeem your broken and hurting world. We look forward to that day. In Jesus’ good name, amen.
In the summer of 2011, I traveled back to Colorado and lived in Estes Park my hometown for the summer. I was going to seminary and I had to do an internship, so I ran a college group at the church I grew up at. I don’t remember how he heard about it, but one of the guys who attended was a young man named Sam (name changed). He went to a different church and I hadn’t spent time with him for years, but he wanted to attend. But that first evening he couldn’t find our house. I tried explaining it over the phone to him, but he couldn’t get it, so I told him to go to the Post Office and I’d meet him there. When I met Sam, I quickly realized that he had some challenges most of us do not have. He had a spinal issue, so he was always kinda hunched, and he had cognitive issues. He couldn’t put things together as quickly or communicate smoothly.
But, he also had one of the most caring and kind hearts I knew. He loved people, and wanted to serve others. Sam wanted to become a volunteer fire fighter. Sam spent that summer faithfully attending our weekly small group Bible study, and he joined us for a hike. He went a little slower than the rest of us, but he had a good time. Here’s some pictures of that hike, and Sam. When I returned to seminary, he actually continued the Bible study with others from our group before it puttered out. I saw Sam again a summer or two later. He was working at the local senior assisted living center serving food in the dining hall.
After that summer he messaged me on Facebook. Once he wished me Happy Valentines Day! His neighbor passed away and he messaged me asking what he could say to the widow to comfort her. He told me he was lost for words, but he would give her a hug and try and help her. The last time I heard from him he reached out to me after a big storm to see if we were okay. His last post on Facebook was of a really cute puppy. Sam walked into a local fitness center and while he was relaxing in the hot tub and the Lord took him. He had a freak accident, and he died. Just like that, Jesus took Sam home.
Acts 20:7-9 (ESV) On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. 9 And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.
Freak accident! Death. Paul preached on and on and this young man fell asleep and fell to his death. Sometimes I think we read the very next verse so quickly we don’t really let the full impact of Eutychus’s death hit us. That day started like any other. That morning, on a Sunday, he probably went to work. The Jews took the Sabbath, Saturdays off, but Sunday would have been spent laboring. The Christians gathered that Sunday evening, “the first day of the week,” because that was the day Jesus rose from the grave.
Eutychus is tired and worn and hungry. They gathered to break bread and eat, to take communion, but Paul preaches so long it reaches midnight. And then all of a sudden, Eutychus is gone. Did he even cry out as he fell? Or did he simply slip away? His death is sudden, violent, and tragic.
As I was telling Sam story, maybe you were thinking of someone you’ve lost, someone taken from you in an instant. Maybe they had a car wreck or got sick and passed unexpectedly or had a bad allergic reaction. One of my classmates in seminary, Joshua Hicks, died from a restaurant not preparing his food correctly. Freak accident! And when we think back, our hearts shake because there was nothing we could do. It happened so fast. Or maybe you were there and tried to help but it didn’t work. Maybe you weren’t there, but your imagination keeps their death in your mind. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that death is so terrible.
Did you know that Jesus hates death? Jesus had a Sam, but he went by the name of Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha. Lazarus became ill, and Mary and Martha sent for Jesus to come and heal him. But Jesus didn’t rush to Lazarus’s side. He took two days, and by the time he did get there, Lazarus had died. He had been dead for four days. When Martha heard Jesus was coming, she went to see him.
John 11:21-27 (ESV) 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Paul, if you hadn’t preached so long, Eutychus wouldn’t have died! Did you know Eutychus’s name means “lucky” or “fortunate”? Jesus, if you had been there my friend Sam wouldn’t have died! Is there a name you’re saying? Someone you wish Jesus had rescued? Why wasn’t Jesus there for them? But he was!
22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
What is resurrection? Resurrection is when someone who was dead, comes back to life. As Christians, I think we generally think the resurrection matters for two people: 1) Jesus; and 2) our future selves. Jesus rose from the grave, so the resurrection matters for him. He experienced it, and in so doing conquered sin and death. Amen! And the resurrection also matters for our future selves because one day, sometime after we’ve died, Jesus will return to this world and call forth all who have died from the grave. Some will rise to God’s goodness and grace, while others will rise to face God’s judgment and wrath, depending on all on their relationship with Christ Jesus (John 5:29). But did you know the resurrection is not just an event? The resurrection is a person, Jesus!
25 Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Jesus not only provides resurrection, he embodies it. Through his veins runs the power of life over death. And anyone who believes in Jesus will never truly taste death. Which would you rather get hit by? A train? Or the train’s shadow? The train’s shadow! No doubt! I think that’s kinda what Jesus is saying here. If you believe in Jesus, you will never truly taste death. The shadow of death will fall on us when we’re taken from this life, but the full trainload of death won’t run us over because it already ran Christ Jesus over at the cross. Jesus conquered that death train with resurrection and provides each of us with a new state of life. See, to know him is to have a taste of the resurrection already.
Galatians 2:20 (ESV) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
If Jesus Christ embodies the resurrection, and Christ’s spirit lives in me, then somehow the power of the resurrection is already present in me. It’s not that I’m already resurrected, but that somehow, through the Holy Spirit, we are counted as good as resurrected, and can live in light of that today. That means we don’t have to be afraid of death, and I believe we can taste moments of miraculous-supernatural moments of Christ’s resurrection power overcoming sin and death and freak accidents and cancer and sickness. It’s not only that the train’s shadow hits us instead of the train. Sometimes the light of Christ can chase away even the shadow. That’s resurrection power my friends! How many people have you known who have received supernatural healing? I used to clean fish tanks. My old boss told me that it was either his mother, or mother-in-law, or grand mother, who had really bad breast cancer, blackened breasts. But God supernaturally healed her. It just went away. Jesus resurrection has ushered in an entirely new reality with new possibilities! How might you live today in light of that? How might you pray differently? Live differently?
But Lazarus is still dead, isn’t he? Eutychus is still dead, isn’t he? Did you know there’s another story in the Old Testament of a widow, her son, and a prophet? This story foreshadows what Paul is about to do. A widow’s son dies and the way the prophet Elijah heals him is by laying him on a bed, crying out to the Lord in prayer, and stretching his body over the child three times (1 Kings 17:17-24). That’s how God saves the boy and that’s very similar to what Paul does, re-enacting Elijah’s miracle to show this is the same story. God gave resurrection power in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and I believe he still does it today!
Elijah’s miracle leads to the salvation of the woman at Zarephath. She wasn’t a Jew, but a gentile, a non-Jew. As we look at Paul’s story, he’s also not in Jewish territory. He’s in Troas, modern-day Turkey on the coast near the Aegean Sea. Eutychus was just like the widow’s son. He is a gentile, and Paul is aware enough of what the Holy Spirit is doing that he wants to signal that the resurrection is for all people, just like the widow’s son at Zarephath. The resurrection isn’t just for the Jews, or just the gentiles, but for any who are willing to repent and trust in Jesus.
Acts 20:9-12 (ESV) 9 And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. 10 But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.
Here’s what I think Paul recognizes. The resurrection is for anyone who knows Jesus. If Jesus is indeed “the resurrection and the life,” then the resurrection is for Eutychus. The resurrection isn’t just for Jesus. And, the resurrection isn’t just for our future selves. The resurrection can also be for today, if God wills it. Do you believe that you could see God’s resurrection power in your lifetime?
I tried to find where I read it, but I didn’t write it down at the time. But it has stuck in my head, so I’ll share it and maybe the source will turn up one day. I read how in a tribal village (maybe more) in Asia, when a believer dies, the first thing they do is pray. They don’t go immediately into burial plans. Instead, they pray for three hours, asking for Jesus to resurrection the one who has died. So when someone dies, whether by freak accident, sickness, or anything else, the Christians gather in their church and pray for three hours. And when the three hours are over, if their loved one is still dead, they mourn and bury them. But sometimes, God does something amazing, and the one who has died comes back to life.
So my question for you is this. Do you believe the resurrection is for today? Or do you just believe it’s for Jesus and for your corpse? Those things are important, but if Jesus is himself the resurrection, and we can know Christ Jesus intimately, can’t we also know the power of his resurrection? Can’t we see people come back to life, sickness healed supernaturally, and the power of death overcome? As modern-Western logical Christians, we tend to pray that God would heal people through their doctors? Why not pray that God would supernaturally heal in that moment? Maybe we’ll save money on our copay!
Here’s my challenge to you Cornerstone. Next time someone dies unexpectedly, let’s stop and pray and ask for resurrection. Would we ever be so bold as to pray for resurrection, for miracles? When Jesus sent out his twelve disciples he said:
Matthew 10:8 (ESV) Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
Maybe this promise of raising the dead only applied to the twelve, but elsewhere Jesus said this.
John 14:12-14 (ESV) 12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Jesus never calls us to ask for less. He calls us to ask for more of him, more of his power, more of his strength, more miracles. The Lord God wants to manifest his resurrection power in Jesus today. Remember what the villagers pray? It works. People come back to life. Why don’t we see Christ’s resurrection power in the West? I think it’s because we don’t ask. So if I or someone we love get hit by a bus, you can mourn and grieve, but why not take three hours and pray for resurrection? Why not exercise resurrection hope?
John 11:38-43 (ESV) 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
Do you know what happened? Jesus, the resurrection and the life, called Lazarus forth!
John 11:44 (ESV) The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Jesus called Lazarus back to life, and if you trust in him, one day he’ll call you back from the grave too. Jesus has this master plan to undo death, to reverse its power, to bring life from the grave. When we trust in Jesus, and his resurrection power, the Holy Spirit fills us with resurrection hope. We have hope whether Jesus answers yes, and brings those who have died back to life, or we have hope in that one-day future promise of resurrection life. My friend Sam didn’t come back to life, and honestly, I didn’t pray for a present resurrection. Instead, I looked to the future. After Sam’s death, I posted on Facebook the following words:
“Sam, my heart is so sad to hear you’re taken so soon. But I rejoice with you my brother in Christ because one day not long from now we will talk, laugh, and climb mountains like we never could in this life. I’ll see you in the far country my friend.”
Several of you from my Cornerstone family posted kind words. Thank you. I wrote those words back in 2017 and I still believe them. I will see Sam again because he knows Jesus, and we will enjoy a friendship even better than the one we had in this lifetime, all, because of Christ and the resurrection.
Maybe you’re thinking of someone you’ve lost, someone dear to you, someone who God took in an instant with no explanation. I’m so sorry. But here’s the hope I do have. For those who believe in Christ, there is an “undo button” on freak accidents. Maybe you have dreams where you wish it could be undone. Well, one day, the resurrection will “undo” the freak accidents of all God’s people. Jesus will turn to Sam and cry with a loud voice, “Sam, come out!” Not only will he be fully alive, his spine will be healed and his mind will be clear. He will be able to make it to my house just fine! And if you trust in Jesus, no matter what happens, and if those you love him, no matter what happens, you’ll hear your name and their names too. Freak accidents undone!
I love what Paul does right after bringing Eutychus back to life. Verse 11 says, “And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed.” They eat a meal! They take communion, they remember the fellowship they have in Jesus Christ. That’s what I want us to do today as we close the service, take communion. Why, because communion is all about the death of Jesus Christ, and thus also his resurrection. The bread and juice remind us not only that he broke his body and shed his blood for us, but that one day our broken bodies and shed blood will return to life, and that sometimes we can catch a glimpse of that today.
As we take the bread and the juice, I want you to remember your loved ones, family members, friends, and acquaintances who died too soon, and have gone to be with Jesus. God is going to undo their deaths, any who trust in him, and one day soon you’ll break bread together with them. Thanks for not falling asleep. Let’s pray.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What do you find surprising about the story of Eutychus? What is the resurrection and why does it matter? Who do you hope to see Jesus resurrect? Who do you know that needs to hear about our resurrection hope?
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*Content Warning! The audio version (and maybe the written version) of this message, may be highly troublesome to those who have experienced disabilities and/or seizures. I have done my best to make the written manuscript easier to read. – Pastor Jonathan Today I’m talking about freak accidents. I am going to tell a true story of sudden death, a tragedy that hit me personally. Our Elders and Deacons recently did a mental health training through Harbor Christian Counseling in Boston
On Mother’s Day 2021, Pastor Jonathan and several Cornerstone moms, Monica Romig, Angela Christoffel, Ann Ralls, and Diana Walker-Moyer shared about the mothers and grandmothers of Jesus. You can find each one of their reflections here. Happy Mother’s Day to all the biological, adoptive, and spiritual moms of Cornerstone Congregational Church! 1. Mary by Jonathan Romig Happy Mother’s Day! A woman named Anna Jarvis started Mother’s Day all the way back in 1908, and it became an official U.S. holiday
On Mother’s Day 2021, Pastor Jonathan and several Cornerstone moms, Monica Romig, Angela Christoffel, Ann Ralls, and Diana Walker-Moyer shared about the mothers and grandmothers of Jesus. You can find each one of their reflections here. Happy Mother’s Day to all the biological, adoptive, and spiritual moms of Cornerstone Congregational Church!
1. Mary by Jonathan Romig Happy Mother’s Day! A woman named Anna Jarvis started Mother’s Day all the way back in 1908, and it became an official U.S. holiday six years later in 1914. Anna later tried to stop Mother’s Day because of how commercialized it became. “Did you know? More phone calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year. These holiday chats with Mom often cause phone traffic to spike by as much as 37 percent.”
Today Mother’s Day is a special day to remember and thank our moms; typically our biological or adopted ones, but maybe spiritual moms too. I want today to be a special day at Cornerstone to celebrate the moms in our midst; and I thought it might be encouraging to look at some of the moms of the Bible. But instead of me telling you everything about these mothers, I’ve asked some of our Cornerstone moms to come and share a little about each mom and something that has encouraged or challenged them from their stories. I’m really excited to hear from them, but first I want to introduce to you these five moms.
These aren’t just any moms. They’re the five mothers of Christ. Maybe you’re thinking, “What?! Jesus only had one mother, Mary.” You are correct! She is the first mother I want to talk about.
Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Mary was a young woman who lived in Nazareth, a town in Galilee far north of Jerusalem. One day an angel appeared to Mary and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” At first Mary was troubled, but the angel told her not to be afraid, but she had “found favor with God.” And that through her would come the Son of the Most High, and they should name him Jesus. In other words, the angel told her she was going to give birth to God’s son.
Mary asked how this could be since she was a virgin, and the angel said the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and she would conceive and give birth to a son. Mary’s response tells us about her character. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Whatever God wants, I’ll do it.
When Mary gave birth to Jesus, angels announced to shepherds who this child was going to be. They came and worshipped him, and it says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Mary trusted the Lord and wondered what God was doing.
When Jesus grew older, Mary urged Jesus to save a wedding feast (John 2:1-11). Jesus told her it wasn’t his time yet, but she didn’t care. Jesus would do a miracle when she said it was time. Haha. Somewhere along the way she seemed to lose sight of God’s special presence on him. Mary and Jesus’ brothers tried to get Jesus to come home with them (Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21).
If we stop and look at the over-arching narrative of Mary’s life; as a young woman she’s faithful and blessed. As she grows older she wants Jesus to perform miracles, maybe to show what he can do. Then when he becomes too popular, she doesn’t like it. You can only imagine how she must have felt when she watched Jesus be crucified. Jesus called out to John, the disciple Jesus loved, and told him to treat Mary like his mother (John 19:26-27). Jesus loved her till the end.
How Mary encourages and challenges me. What I appreciate about Mary is that she is on a journey. When we first meet her, she seems kind of perfect, submissive to God’s will, almost ideal. I think church tradition has tended to idealize her. I mean, half the paintings we have of her put a halo over her head! But in so doing it has also made her less approachable. But if we look at her life, yes she honored Jesus, but she also treated him like her son, and maybe even lost site of his special status as God’s son first. And yet, Jesus loves her, accepts her, and honors her. We don’t honor mother’s on mother’s day for being perfect, but for being moms and loving us.
And that’s the message I want the moms to hear this morning. You’re on a journey. Sometimes you’re close to Jesus, you’re reading your Bible, praying, keeping the kids happy, healthy, fed, and well-behaved, doing all the good mom things, but other times it’s really tough, and you feel like it’s all falling apart. Whether you’re the perfect mom, or having a hard day, you are a mom in need of grace. Jesus loves you. He loves you no matter what, just like he loved his own mother and took care of her, even as he was on the cross. Jesus loves you through the cross as well, offering you his kindness, grace, and love, just like he did Mary.
Jesus’ mothers But I told you today is about five mothers and how they can encourage us. If we read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-17, we read of Mary, but also other “grand-mothers” in his family line. We read of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and “Uriah’s wife,” Bathsheba. Each one is significant in Jesus’ story. The genealogy in Matthew includes these women, signifying their importance, and I want us to do that today too.
What better way to do that and to honor them and all mothers than by asking some of our Cornerstone moms to come and share about these characters, and how they encourage them. So we’re going to sing a song, then Monica is going to share about Tamar. We’ll sing another song, then Angela will tell us about Rahab. We’ll sing a song of response to that, and then Ann will talk about Ruth followed by Diana sharing about Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. We’ll close in worship, praising God for the amazing mothers of Jesus’ story, and all the mothers he has given us. Let’s sing.
Sources Keller, Timothy. Hidden Christmas. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. His book is the inspiration of this Mother’s Day message. You can also check out the “Mothers of Jesus” series at Free Christian Church in Andover, MA.
2. Tamar by Monica Romig Tamar gets a bad rap when it comes to Bible stories. Not because of the way the story describes her, but the way people often remember her. She is remembered primarily for disguising herself as a prostitute and sleeping with her father-in-law. Granted that’s not a great series of actions no matter what the context, but I actually think the context of this case is incredibly important. Because before I started reflecting on the story in preparation for this Mother’s Day, I, like many other people, judged Tamar. I judged her to be a woman of questionable moral character who is listed in the genealogy of Christ primarily to show that God can use broken people. After reflecting, I still think that’s true, but I also think there’s more to it.
Tamar is judged within her own story as well. At first she is judged completely inaccurately. Judah, her father-in-law, judges her to be the problem in her marriage to his son. Her husband, Judah’s oldest son, dies. Judah follows an ancient tradition and tells his second son to marry Tamar and produce an heir for his brother. When it doesn’t work out, Judah judges Tamar to be the issue. Now the story tells us that actually it was Judah’s sons who were wicked and God smote them. But Judah thinks Tamar is the problem and he sends her back to her father’s home to live as a widow and wait for his youngest son to grow up. But the text tells us Judah never intended to give his youngest son to Tamar because he thought she might be cursed and his youngest son would die if he married her. So, instead of caring for her as a member of his family he effectively stamps her forehead “defective merchandise: return to sender” and prevents her from marrying anyone else by telling her to live as a widow and wait for a marriage that will never happen.
In addition to Judah’s judgment, Tamar would have felt societal judgment as well. It would’ve been incredibly shameful to live in her fathers house as a widow having not had any children. In her culture this was the ultimate failure.
Have you ever been judged completely inaccurately? Have you ever had people make assumptions about you that were 100% off the mark? How does it feel when people who don’t know the whole story decide that you’re the one at fault?
As the story continues Tamar gets judged again. This time it’s for something she does do. She does put on a veil and sit by the city gate. She does have sex with a man in exchange for the promise of material gain. And she does get pregnant. However it’s the rest of the details of the story that make Tamar a bit of a more sympathetic character. Despite the fact that people often talk about Tamar seducing her father-in-law, the narrative doesn’t describe it that way. Judah is the one who propositions her. Also the very next chapter is the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. A story where a woman clearly is attempting to seduce, tempt, and forcibly be physical with a man who resists her advances. This is a stark contrast to Tamar who puts on a veil and sits by the city gate. After one encounter she returns to her widow’s clothes and returns to her father’s house.
Nevertheless when Judah hears that Tamar is pregnant because of an act of prostitution he not only judges her he condemns her. He says that she must be burned to death. Judah does not seem eager to own up to his own moral failures in this department—One has to wonder how Tamar knew her father-in-law would be interested in sex with a harlot— nor does he seem concerned about the innocent life of the child that Tamar is carrying. But the fact remains that his judgment is grounded in reality. Tamar had acted as a prostitute and now she was facing the consequences.
Have you ever been judged for something that you did, that was wrong, and had to endure punishment? Have people ever looked at you and rightfully condemned your actions? Have you been made aware of your own failings and had to face them in a public way?
And then Tamar is judged again. As she is being brought out for her punishment she reveals to Judah that he is the one who has fathered her child. Judah makes the statement “she is more righteous than I.” Notice it is not that Tamar is declared completely righteous. Just that she is more righteous than Judah. This is not saying much since up until now Judah has been essentially the villain of the story. However, her actions do seem somewhat vindicated as she gives birth to twin boys and through her older son the line of Judah is blessed. Even to the point where in the book of Ruth she and her son are used as a blessing from the townspeople to Boaz “may your household be like that of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah.”
Have you ever been vindicated? Is there an area in your life right now where you are seeking or hoping for vindication?
Tamar has been cast in many lights. The broken woman whose sin God uses for good. The woman who is relentless in her pursuit of justice. The clever woman who uses her wits to make the best of a bad situation.
I think it’s important to see her story in light of the broader narrative in Genesis. Before this encounter with Tamar, Judah is not a good guy. After it, he is the one who is willing to substitute himself for his brother Benjamin in order that Jacob, his father, would not be grieved again. Judah earns his fathers blessing even as Jacob passed over his three older sons. Tamar offered her body and her actions bring about a new life in Judah. Tamar is judged and condemned yet in the end she becomes a vessel of blessing. In some sense Tamar foreshadows her ultimate descendant. She isthe Christ figure of the story.
I do not think the lesson from the narrative is to be more like Tamar. I do think we can see ourselves in her story, and I think we’re encouraged to see our own stories through the lens of her ultimate descendant, Jesus.
And seeing as it is Mother’s day, I think the story of Tamar has something specifically for moms. Everyone else, you can listen in.
First, the story of Tamar reminds us not to judge other moms. It’s so easy to judge other parents for the way they are raising their kids. And moms especially. From the time you’re pregnant — how much weight will you gain? How long will it take for the weight to come off? Are you drinking caffeine while you’re pregnant? And it just keeps going once the baby is born –Will you use formula? Will you go back to work? What kind of child care will you use? Are you co-sleeping? Did you sleep train? And it just keeps going– What kinds of food are they eating? How much screen time are they getting? Are your kids polite? Rambunctious? Doing well academically? Are they physically fit? What kinds of clothes do they wear? How do they get along with other kids? Are they having trouble in school? Where will they go to college? What are their career aspirations? Are they dating anyone? Married? When will they have their own kids?
We love to judge, in part because it makes us feel better about ourselves. Judah probably felt relieved when he was able to condemn Tamar because it justified his actions towards her. But just like Judah, we don’t always have all the information about the situation. And Jesus says, even if you see a reason to judge someone else, a speck in their own eye, make sure to take the log out of your own first.
And let’s talk about those logs in our own eyes moms. Because we’re gonna have logs. Tamar was judged for things that weren’t her fault, but she was judged for the choices she did make too. We’re not going to be perfect. We’re going to mess up, and make mistakes, and do things that deserve judgment. And that’s when the temptation comes to either try to justify ourselves or condemn ourselves. And the story of Tamar reminds us not to do either. Tamar doesn’t come up with excuses for why she put on that veil and sat by that gate. And Tamar doesn’t allow herself to be wrongfully condemned and put to death. On this side of the cross, we can look to that ultimate descendant of Tamar and know that He too was judged. He too was condemned. He took on our unrighteousness and suffered that consequence so that we can be declared righteous as a result. Moms, we’re going to mess it up. But praise God, He forgives us. And he can work through us too, logs and all.
Because ultimately, it doesn’t matter what other people think of our parenting. It doesn’t matter what I think of Tamar. What matters is what God thinks of Tamar. And what God thinks of you. And if your faith is in Him, He sees you as His child. Holy and dearly loved. The story of Tamar reminds us not to put our identity in how we judge others, or how others judge us, or even how we judge ourselves but instead in our relationship to the true Judge who has declared us righteous in Him.
*We posted the Tamar part of this message to YouTube. Click here to watch or share.
3. Rahab, Brave & Bold Mother of Jesus by Angela Christoffel The mother of Jesus I am speaking about today is Rahab. I want to start her story at the end and rewind back to the beginning in a bit. What we know about Rahab at the end of her life is short and sweet. She was a faithful believer in God, a wife and the mother of Boaz. Matthew 1:5 simply states in the genealogy of Jesus-Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz, her son, she raised to be kind, faithful, generous and accepting of those who had different backgrounds. We know that after her death the writers of the New Testament were impressed with her faith and good works. She is hailed in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 with men like Noah and Abraham and James 2:25 speaks of her acts in Jericho as righteous.
When you hear about how Rahab ended her life, you think what an amazing woman. If the end of her life was all you knew about, you might be tempted to think she must have been so blessed throughout her life. Her faith and righteous came about because of strife, difficulty and bold brave choices she made. Now let’s rewind to the first time we hear about Rahab-it is in the city of Jericho where she is known as the prostitute named Rahab. Maybe not the label you would expect from a woman hailed in the hall of faith.
Rahab’s story in the bible is short but action packed. You can find her entire story in Joshua Chapter 2 and Chapter 6. Since Jonathon only gave me up to 7 minutes, I will give you the Netflix synopsis version. Joshua sent spies to Jericho and they ended up staying at Rahab’s house. The king of Jericho sent her a message (Joshua 2:3) “Bring out the men who came to you, they have come to spy out the whole land.” Rahab lied to the King. Again, maybe not the behavior you would expect from someone James raved about as righteous. (Joshua 2:4-5) She admits the men were there but tells the King they left and says they might be able to catch up. As the King’s men are trying to catch up to the spies outside the city gate, Rahab has safely hidden them on her roof.
Rahab boldly askes the spies to not only spare her own life, but also for the lives of her parents, siblings and all who belong to them. She is answered by the spies “Our lives for your lives!”. The spies instruct her to tie a scarlet cord in her window, so they will know to spare her and all in her home when they attack. She lowers the spies out her window with a rope and tells the spies to go to the hills and hide for three days.
So, we see how Rahab’s story begins with her being a prostitute and a liar. We see how Rahab’s story ends with her being one of the mothers of Jesus and hailed in the Hall of Faith. How did she have a complete transformation? What I learned thru Rahab is not to fear bold moves based on faith. Rahab lived in a place that was going to be taken over by the Israelites. Even though the people of Jericho heard about all God had done for the Israelites-parting the red sea, conquering and destroying kingdoms, the people of Jericho around Rahab weren’t going to believe in the Israelites God. However, Rahab did believe. Bold choice for someone living on the margins of society-literally she lived on the outside wall of Jericho and had an immoral career. Yet she says in verse Joshua 2:11 “…for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”
Rahab’s name will always be tied to the phrase “the prostitute”. However, to me, it is small side note in her story, we all have done things we aren’t proud of. What I see in Rahab is a brave woman who made a bold choice to have faith in God. She could have turned in the spies and been done with the drama. However, she heard of the amazing things God had done and believed them. Changing from prostitute to God’s secret operative in one smooth move. She was willing to take a risk. In a moment, Rahab went from a town prostitute to a woman instrumental in getting God’s people to their homeland.
She took the opportunity God gave her and started down the road to the hall of faith. Like something right out of a spy movie-She came up with the cover story for the men, found a place to hide them. She lied to the King and even sent his men away from the city. She came up with a plan to save her family. She planned the spy’s escape. It makes me wonder if the spies had a plan at all! She found a way for her belief in God to transform her story.
Often, we are so practical about our faith. We are so busy as mothers; we forget to take risks. We get busy caring for our families-especially as we have dealt with the pandemic. Let me tell you in all honesty how this story would go if it were me. The two spies knock on my door and ask for my help. First, I would have to think about whether I really wanted to even answer the door. If I did answer it, most likely I would say, “that sounds like an amazing opportunity to help, do you mind coming back in a few days?” You see I would need to make a pro/con list whether it is wise to do this. Then I would need to think about what will my neighbors think if I do this? Would these new God-fearing people accept me? Then I would most likely sit and worry about whether I would fit in and what would my family think.
So, in short Joshua would be waiting awhile. There are practices to get to, school work to look over, groceries to get, on top of that work. In the important tasks of the day to day of our lives we don’t make room for God’s opportunities. What started out as two strangers visiting a prostitute became the transformation of Rahab’s life. Became the saving of the two spy’s lives. It became Joshua’s victory over Jericho. Became the saving of her family. It became her salvation and bold faith in God. It became a branch on the family tree of Jesus. That red cord Rahab placed in her window for protection is like the blood of Jesus that offers us protection. I know often, I forget just how amazing that protection is. I forget that protection is worth bold and brave acts of faith.
Our lives may not always offer us the opportunity to become God’s spy or secret operative, unless you count me hiding in the bathroom from my family, but I bet if you look around your life there are opportunities to take risks for God. You are brave and this past year has forced us to face the unexpected and the unknown. The risks you take for God and the protection of Jesus, our scarlet cord, offers to our families can have long lasting repercussions. Think about Rahab’s risk-it led to changes that lasted generations. Joshua says her descendants are still in that land to this day. She is in the family tree of Jesus, a mother of Jesus. So, no matter where your story is beginning, just remember bold faith and a willingness to take risks can transform your ending.
“By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient”. Hebrews 11:31
4. Ruth by Ann Ralls I took most of this summary from the website the Basilica. The story starts with a famine in the land of Judah. A man named Elimelek moved his family from Bethlehem to Moab. His wife’s name was Naomi and they had two sons.
While in Moab, Elimelek died. Naomi was left with her two sons. They both married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about 10 years, both sons also died.
Naomi, hearing of the Lord’s faithfulness to his people in the land of Judah, decided to return there. Both Ruth and Orpah insisted on going with her, but she told them to return to their own mothers instead. Hearing this, Orpah kissed Naomi and left, but Ruth clung to her, saying “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:16)
Realizing that Ruth was determined to accompany her, Naomi set out with her towards Bethlehem. When they arrived in the land, the barley harvest was just beginning. Ruth went to glean (or pick grain) in the fields of a man named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi. When he saw Ruth working there, he asked his reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” And they told him that she was a Moabite who had come with Naomi.
Boaz then spoke to Ruth, asking her to stay in his fields and offering her his protection. Ruth was awed by his kindness, asking what she could have done to earn his favor. He replied:
“I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ruth 2:11-12
After they spoke, Boaz instructed his other workers to leave extra grain for her to glean.
Ruth returned to her mother-in-law that night and told her where she had worked in the fields that day. Noami responded with joy, say of Boaz:
“May he be blessed by the Lord, who never fails to show kindness to the living and to the dead. This man is a near relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” – Ruth 2:19-20
Then Naomi instructed Ruth to go see Boaz on the threshing floor that night. So Ruth did as Naomi bade her to, and went down to the threshing floor and uncovered his feet where he lay. Boaz awoke at midnight to see Ruth laying at his feet and was startled:
9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings[a] over your servant, for you are a redeemer.” 10 And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. 12 And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. 13 Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you.”- Ruth 3:9-13
After this, Boaz went and spoke to the elders of the city, telling them of Naomi’s inheritance: a parcel of land from their relative Elimelech. He told the redeemer that in taking this land, he would have the duty of marrying Ruth. But the redeemer renounced his claim to the land, and so Boaz bought it for himself. Then Boaz took Ruth as his wife, and together they had a son named Obed. Obed gave birth to Jesse, who was the father of David, the eventual king of Israel.
Ruth and I have one thing in common, we both left our own families and moved to a different land. What amazes me about Ruth is her loyalty to her mother in law with complete trust. She knew she would be despised by being a Moabite. She knew that she would remain poor by being a widow. She knew she may not see her family again. She set aside her own interests and followed Naomi and her God till death. Her love and care for Naomi were so evident that the Israelites took notice. She had never thought of herself and what would become of her by honoring Naomi’s request to go lay at Boaz’s feet at night. God weaved this woman in the lineage to Jesus to show us He too wants to redeem us from the sins that entangle us. This story encourages me to continue trusting God regardless the circumstances. He is our Father who loves us, our provider who gave us Jesus to redeem us through His blood and the giver of eternal life. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not parish but have eternal life.”
Original Article: https://www.nationalshrine.org/blog/ruth-and-naomi-a-story-of-redemption/
5. Bathsheba by Diana Walker-Moyer 2 Samuel 11: 1-4, 26-27, 1 Kings 1:11-31, 2:13-22, 1 Chronicles 3:5
I have always been grateful for this story of David, “a man after God’s own heart” who committed terrible sins yet repented and was shown God’s grace. What a reassurance for me. Bathsheba is part of this redemption story.
The Bible really doesn’t say a lot about Bathsheba yet most of us know the story of David and Bathsheba, or at least the seamier side which was even immortalized in a 1951 movie starring Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward.
I’d like to tell you a little more of what we do know.
Bathsheba was a member of a God fearing family. Her grandfather, Ahithopel, was a valued military and political counselor to King David although he eventually betrayed him. Her father, Eliam, was one of David’s officers and her husband, Uriah, was a high-ranking professional soldier, one of the elite “Group of Thirty”. Bathsheba was no stranger to the politics of her day.
We do not know how old she was as this story begins but I imagine that she was a young woman and fairly recently wed as she had no children at that time. The story seems to indicate that David and Bathsheba had not met as, after seeing her, he had to send someone to find out about her. Learning that she was the daughter of one of his officers and the wife of one of his soldiers, he sent for her anyway.
Being summoned by the King, Bathsheba had little choice but to go. The scripture says “he slept with her. Then she went back home.” 2 Sam 11:4. That sounds a little cold. I wonder what was going through her mind at that time. Was she ashamed, frightened, angry, anxious? In the next verse, we are told, “The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, I am pregnant.” Here she seems to be a strong woman. She does not try to hide what has happened but confronts the King with the consequences of his sinful actions.
Unfortunately, this is where David compounds his sin. His initial attempts to cover up the paternity of Bathsheba’s child by calling Uriah back from the battle front and encouraging him to go home to his wife fail and he resorts to a plan that will lead to Uriah’s death. 2 Sam 11: 6-17 Now, he has added deceit, treachery and murder to his earlier sins of lust and adultery.
Bathsheba is now a widow and “when she heard that that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, (this may have been about 30 days) David had her brought to his house and she became his wife and bore him a son.” 2 Sam 11:26-27 But as Nathan the prophet confronts David with his sin and God’s anger, he tells David that “the son born to you will die.” 2 Sam 12:4
Scripture describes in detail David’s reaction to this, his fasting and praying but says little of what Bathsheba felt. Having had children of my own, I cannot imagine the anguish of losing a child. She and David must have felt the terrible guilt of this child’s death knowing that it was a judgement for their sin.
But then, “David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son and they named him Solomon.” 2 Sam 12:24. Now the text goes silent on Bathsheba and her life with David until much later when her story resumes as David is nearing death.
In the intervening years, we know that she bore David three more sons. We know the most about Solomon and from the man that he became, I imagine that Bathsheba was a wise and diligent mother.
Turning to 1 Kings, we have two more glimpses into Bathsheba’s life.
At this time we see David as “old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him.: 1 Kings 1:1. One of David’s sons, Adonijah “put himself forward and said, I will be king.” 1 Kings 1:5. As he began to carry out his plan to take the throne, Nathan, the prophet, heard of this and went to Bathsheba. He advised her on what she should do to save her own life and that of her son Solomon. I believe that David was around 70 years old at this point, Bathsheba was probably about 50 and Solomon around 30. Nathan instructs Bathsheba to go to King David and remind him of his promise to have Solomon succeed him as King. And yet, Adonijah has declared himself King without David’s knowledge. Nathan would confirm this information. Bathsheba shows the King deference and then states her appeal. 1 Kings 1:17-21. Nathan arrives and corroborates what Bathsheba has said. David calls her back into his presence and then “the king took an oath: As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, I will surely carry out today what I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel: Solomon, your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place. Then Bathsheba bowed low with her face to the ground and kneeling before the king, said, May my Lord, King David live forever!” 1 Kings 1:29-31.
Again, Bathsheba shows her strength in going to David with a situation that needs to be made right. She is holding David to his promise, but more importantly is carrying out the will of God as brought to her by the prophet Nathan. If Adonijah had become king, there was a strong chance that Solomon and Bathsheba would have been killed. Bathsheba’s boldness in going before the king saved both of their lives and, as we now know, continued David’s line through Solomon to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In the last story that we have of Bathsheba, Adonijah, having lost his chance to be king, comes to her and asks her to make a request of King Solomon for him. From this we can see that Bathsheba has recognized stature in the King’s reign. I believe that this speaks to the respect which Solomon must have for his mother, for her wisdom and strength and courage. Adonijah asks Bathsheba to ask Solomon to give Abishag the Shunammite woman who was David’s comfort in his last years to be his wife. When Bathsheba went to King Solomon, “the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down at his right hand.” 1 Kings 2:19.
This request of Adonijah was a threat to King Solomon as marriage to a widow of the previous king was a way of making a claim on the throne. This resulted in the execution of Adonijah and secured Solomon’s reign as king.
I imagine that Bathsheba lived out her days secure in the abundant and peaceful reign of her son.
What would have happened if Bathsheba had not gone with David’s messengers? I believe that, like Mary and other strong women of the Bible, she followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit – her actions were ordained by God.
As I said when I began, David’s story, in particular the story of his terrible sin has been a story for me of the reassurance of God’s mercy and grace. Bathsheba was the partner to this sin, she too suffered God’s wrath with the loss of her first-born son. And yet, God’s grace and mercy were also shown to her as she raised the next King of Israel and became one of the “mothers of Jesus”.
Discussion Questions
What do each of the mothers of Jesus have to teach you? Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary? How can each one’s story encourage and challenge us? What are some recurring themes you notice? Why do you think the genealogy highlights each person? What does Jesus’ love on the cross for his mother tell us about his love for moms today, and us?
The Mothers of Christ Tamar YouTube Video
Listen to Pastor Brian Gearin preach on homelessness and what the Bible has to say in Mark 10:17-23, John 4:13-18, 5:1-9, Luke 19:1-10, and Matthew 18:1-5. Brian has served the homeless and trained those working with this population for many years. He has lots of stories and wisdom to share. You can review slides from our service below.
Listen to Pastor Brian Gearin preach on homelessness and what the Bible has to say in Mark 10:17-23, John 4:13-18, 5:1-9, Luke 19:1-10, and Matthew 18:1-5. Brian has served the homeless and trained those working with this population for many years. He has lots of stories and wisdom to share. You can review slides from our service below.
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“Power is the ability to make something of the world.” Paul first introduces religious power in Acts 19 when he is in Ephesus. As Paul was doing ministry there God, was doing something powerful. Acts 19:11-12 (ESV) 11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. God was doing amazing things
“Power is the ability to make something of the world.” Paul first introduces religious power in Acts 19 when he is in Ephesus. As Paul was doing ministry there God, was doing something powerful.
Acts 19:11-12 (ESV) 11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
God was doing amazing things in Ephesus, people were being healed and others were coming to faith in Christ. But this led to some who tried to imitate Paul. It led to some who wanted to take advantage of Paul’s power for their own financial gain. A group of Jewish exorcists called the seven sons of Sceva attempted to cast out a demon in Jesus’ name and Paul’s name. But when they did this, it didn’t go well. They didn’t know Jesus, and the demon knew that.
Acts 19:15-16 (ESV)15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all[d] of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
These guys tried to cast out a demon in Jesus’ name, but they didn’t know Jesus, and the demon cast them out instead of them casting the demon out. And this has a huge effect on the city, a place of occult practices.
Acts 19:19 (ESV) 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.
The new believers brought their books together and burned them, a huge fortune going up in flames. Imagine paying 150 people full-time salaries for a year. That’s how much money they burned up. Paul has challenged the religious powers by preaching the gospel, but that challenge has implications for the economic powers of his day. Their whole economy in Ephesus is built on the intertwining of religion and business. To question one, leads to questioning the other.
As we think about our own lives, the religion we participate in, and the economic systems we ascribe to, I hope we will shine them under the light of God’s Word to see what they really are. You ever see one of those lamps that also has a magnifying glass in it. You can use them for sewing or threading needles. They’re kind of funny because if you look through them the reverse direction your nose looks really big. My mom had one of those growing up and I loved to look through it. You could look at smaller objects under a lot of light. It exposed what was there.
What the Bible does is shine the light of the gospel on the religious and economic system in Ephesus.
The light of the gospel: Paul preaches the gospel, and God moves to bring back the curtain, and expose what’s underneath. It’s painful for Ephesus, but it leads to the salvation of many. I wonder if we could do the same thing today. If we could pull back the curtain on our own religious and economic systems, and shine the gospel on them. It’s no fun to have someone shine a bright light in your face, but it wakes you up if you were sleeping. How does the gospel expose the religious and economic powers at Ephesus? The light of the gospel:
Exposes the intermingling of false religion and money. (v21-27) We shouldn’t be surprised when a riot erupts in Ephesus. Paul has been going around preaching the gospel message. People are starting to following Jesus and become disciples. They burn their treasury of books. That would have made headlines, “Town library burns priceless collection costing millions of dollars due to recent gospel crusade!” But that’s just the first of many fires, as slowly more and more people come to faith, and less and less people participate in the economic systems of the city.
Much of this city’s power is based on the two working together. Above the city on a rocky outcropping sat the temple of Artemis. Last time I mentioned that it is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. That’s because of its sheer size. It was at least twice the size of the Parthenon in Athens. It had 127 columns that were each 4 feet in diameter and 60 feet high. It had a decorative frieze (painting/molding) that depicted scenes from their gods and inside was a statue of Artemis that people could pray to and offer offerings to for fertility, childbearing, and a good crop. The temple also functioned as a bank and a place to eat the sacrifice.
Silversmiths like the one in our story, Demetrius, would create silver replicas of Artemis, little shrines for pilgrims and worshippers to take home. I traveled to the great wall of China a couple summers ago, and at the bottom of the wall you could buy food and drink and any sort of item you wanted. They had a lot of magnets and other items with Chairman Mao’s face on it. You could go to the great wall, admire China’s power, and then take a reminder of that power home, a picture of Mao. But, if over time, sales of Chairman Mao began to drop, the shopkeepers would take notice. They could either try something new, or call on the government to address the problem. That’s what Demetrius does. He gives an impassioned speech:
Acts 19:25b-27 (ESV) “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. 26 And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods.27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”
Demetrius is well aware that Paul’s mission is not a localized mission, but all of Asia is hearing the gospel. There’s a national movement and he’s afraid for not only his personal wealth, but the economy. And if they don’t do something, not only will they lose money, their goddess Artemis will be dishonored, and they can’t have that. Demetrius shows that his religion isn’t a true religion, but it’s dependent on money, on wealth.
When I preached on religious power, I told the story of Rabi’s conversion from being a Hindu guru to becoming a Christian. One of the things that God used to convict him was how poor people would come and give him offerings and would get nothing in return. He grew in wealth. He got lots of money. But the poor just seemed to get poor. Gurus like him did nothing without pay, and it convicted him. It’s easy to look outside Christianity, but let’s open the door to our faith. How might money be corrupting our religion?
Go no further than the Instagram channel Preachers N Sneakers. The creator of this Instagram channel began to wonder how come he saw so many pastors in designer clothing. For example:
He questioned Steven Furtick’s choice of $965 sneakers. He made us wonder if a $450 Gucci belt really does make a better worship leader. He asked if Pastor John Gray really should wear $5,611 Red Octobers.
Apparently, I’ve been shopping at the wrong store. Would Jesus wear sweet kicks? Would Jesus call us to pick up our crosses, follow him, and pick up a pair of air-Jordans? But I doubt many of us are Hindu gurus or going to be featured on Preachers N Sneakers. But that doesn’t mean we’re blameless.
I listened to a Holy Post Podcast episode entitled The Evangelical Industrial Complex where they talked about how the Christian publishing industry often publishes those who are famous, or have big churches but ignores faithful small-town pastors who have years and years of wisdom. They told one story of a reporter actually calling out a mega-church pastor for plagiarizing, and then her radio station told her to apologize. Turns out the radio station and that author’s Christian publishing house had a lucrative business partnership. They weren’t saying that all Christian publishers are bad, but when there’s a loss of integrity, and keeping Christ first, that’s when things fall apart. One of the hosts said, “The problem is when we take good things, like money or status or influence, and make them into ultimate things.” That’s idolatry, and that’s what happens at Ephesus.
The light of the gospel comes along and exposes the intermingling of false religion and money and it…
Exposes the heart’s love of wealth. (v28-34) Look what happens when Demetrius finishes his speech. The people get enraged! There’s nothing to tick people off like messing with their finances.
Acts 19:28-29 (ESV) 28 When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s companions in travel.
Now is this so hard to imagine? Based on town meetings here in Westford where the issue of spending more money comes up, I don’t think so. The crowd rushes Paul’s friend, since Paul isn’t there, and drags them into the amphitheater, a stadium that could hold 20,000 people built into the side of a hill. Paul tries to go in but his friends won’t let him because they figure he’ll be killed. And things just get more out of hand.
Acts 19:32-34 (ESV) 32 Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33 Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
It was so loud and uncontrolled that some of the people who were there didn’t even know why they were there. And when one of the local Jews did try to speak, the people shouted him down because he was a Jew, and Jews only believe in one God. He’s part of the problem so they won’t listen to him. And so they scream and shout for two hours.
Do you see what the gospel has done? It has exposed the heart’s love of wealth. If the gospel pulled back the cover on your heart, what would it find? Would it find a love of money? Of wealth? Of wanting more and more and never being satisfied? Christians at Ephesus repented and we should too. Earning money is not wrong. Trying out a new business idea is not wrong. But when our hearts begin to love those things, and they consume us, we’re quickly approaching idol territory. I wish Jesus hadn’t said this.
Matthew 6:24 (ESV) “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Why Jesus, did you have to be so convicting? Because he knows what’s best for us, to root out our idols, even if it’s painful. Did you know this is one of the reasons we as Christians practice the spiritual discipline of giving tithes and offerings? That’s right. When we put money in the plate or give online that is a spiritual discipline. Don’t worry, it doesn’t fund my air-Jordans! It funds my Reebok CrossFit shoes… Please don’t take a picture of my feet while working out. But the reason we give to a charity or to the church is to tear our heart’s vice-like grip away from money. We need a regular practice to do so, or we’ll sit and watch our bank accounts grow and feel comfortable and safe and the grip will start to clamp down once more. The light of the gospel exposes the heart’s love of wealth.
Gives us an entirely new economic system. (v35-41) At the end of the chapter, the town clerk gets up and quiets the crowd. He makes four points:
Artemis is a great goddess; we don’t need to worry about her. (v35-36) The Christians have not been sacrilegious or blasphemed Artemis. (v37) Demetrius and his crew can go to the courts to make their case. (v38) If you cause a riot, Rome will be displeased; and when Rome is unhappy, no one is happy.
This quiets the crowd down and they go away. That’s how the story ends but I want to take a step back and look at Paul and the gospel’s impact on Ephesus from a bigger viewpoint. When Paul brought the gospel message of Jesus Christ to Ephesus, it led to the destruction of part of an economic system that promoted idolatry, and that made those who benefited economically from the idolatry very mad.
As believers, we don’t live in Ephesus, but we do live in a specific time and place. We live in America under a capitalistic system. As Christians, we need to make sure that our ultimate allegiance is not to capitalism, socialism, communism, or any other economic system, but to Jesus Christ. We’ll know if we’re doing that if we’re willing to both appreciate the benefits of our current economic system, but also hold it up to critique.
As part of the Ockenga Program, I read the book, Redeeming Capitalism by Kenneth Barnes. Kenneth was one of our cohort leaders. He argues that historic or traditional capitalism has been based in virtue much more than the capitalism of today. Barnes calls today’s capitalism “postmodern capitalism,” that is rooted in the idea that there is no ultimate truth or good. He argues that we need to “redeem Capitalism” by re-introducing virtue into it, faith, hope, and love, and seeking the common good. A summary of his book reads:
Traditional capitalism was driven by self-interest―defined as a willingness to do something of value for others while also securing the things that benefit oneself. In other words, our self-interest, or pursuing and using our own gifts, talents, and resources, informs how we will be useful to others. Yet postmodern capitalism blurs this once-clear difference between self-interest and pure greed, and over the long haul, a system operating outside any moral constraints cannot possibly be sustainable.
As Christians, we need to think about ways to re-introduce virtue into our systems that we are a part of. How can you make your economic system, the one you contribute to, more virtuous and wise? When Paul preaches the gospel, it not only saves sinners, it begins to redeem a sinful city and system. In conclusion:
The light of the gospel:
Exposes the intermingling of false religion and money. (v21-27) Exposes the heart’s love of wealth. (v28-34) Gives us an entirely new economic system. (v35-41)
What the gospel does is exposes what’s inside our hearts and re-orients us to God. We are so greedy and selfish Jesus had to die for us. But we are so loved and cherished Jesus chose to die for us. That transforms us; and as we interact with a fallen world, it transforms our world too. The Son of God became poor to give us the riches of heaven. Will you receive it? Do you want your heart to love God or money? Do you want to be part of a new economic system that pyritizes sacrifice and generosity over profit and greed? That’s what we get to be as the church. We get to show that God’s economy is greater than anything the world can offer.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What is power? How do religion and money both have power? What is the gospel and how does it correct our love of power? In what ways does the gospel expose religious and economic power? How does the gospel give us a new way to operate?
Sources For part one of this series, click here.
Mark Cartwright, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. World History Encyclopedia. Published July 26, 2018. Accessed April 8, 2021. https://www.ancient.eu/Temple_of_Artemis_at_Ephesus/.
Hugh C. Whelchel, Imagining a Virtuous Capitalism. ChristianityToday. Posted June 21, 2018. Accessed April 8, 2021. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/channel/utilities/print.html?type=article&id=142598.
Phil Vischer. Episode 450: The Evangelical Industrial Complex with Love Thy Neighborhood. YouTube. Published March 31, 2021. Accessed April 8, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCmyWHRxKJU.
PreachersNSneakers. https://www.instagram.com/preachersnsneakers/
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Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
Today is Palm Sunday, the day the church celebrates Jesus’ triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem, only to be crucified by the end of the week. There’s one character in the story of Jesus’ ride into town that has just captured my imagination. This character shares the spotlight with Jesus, but I don’t think we give him or her enough time. Can you guess who I’m talking about?… The donkey! I was reading a book for my Doctorate of
Today is Palm Sunday, the day the church celebrates Jesus’ triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem, only to be crucified by the end of the week. There’s one character in the story of Jesus’ ride into town that has just captured my imagination. This character shares the spotlight with Jesus, but I don’t think we give him or her enough time. Can you guess who I’m talking about?… The donkey!
I was reading a book for my Doctorate of Ministry that talked about the donkey, and what the author said captured my imagination. Out of that came a deep dive into the story of the donkey in the Bible. So out of that research, I want to share with you my Ode to a Donkey today. And maybe you’re wondering, “Why should I care about a donkey? Why are you so interested in donkeys?”
Donkeys are amazing. Haven’t you heard of Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey who carried gifts for Santa “Because the reindeer cannot climb the hills of Italy?” Or maybe you’ve sung the Christmas Song, “What Child is this?” that sings of “Where ox and donkeys are feeding?” That’s the polite version. Maybe you prefer to watch Shrek and Donkey? “You might have seen a housefly. Maybe even a super-fly. But I bet you ain’t never seen a donkey fly!” And if you don’t know what that means, you’ll have to watch Shrek.
Can you think of any Bible stories that have a donkey in them? Mary, Joseph, and the birth of Jesus, right? Wrong! The Bible doesn’t say there was a donkey there. There’s a Christmas song called “Jog Along Little Donkey” and it’s complete propaganda, fake news! We have to go much further back for donkey’s major entry into the story, back to the first book of the Bible. If you’re not paying attention, you might miss him.
Genesis 22:1-3 (ESV) After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Do you all remember the story? Abraham didn’t have a child till he turned a 100 years old. He didn’t think he and his wife could have one, but God gave them their precious baby boy Isaac. But then God tests Abraham. He tells him to go and sacrifice his son, and Abraham obeys. But let’s stop and notice the donkey’s place in the story. The donkey isn’t the sacrifice, but he makes sure the wood or Isaac or even Abraham get to the place of sacrifice. A typical donkey can carry about 125 pounds. If a donkey colt could carry Jesus, it could have carried Isaac. Then Abraham places the wood on his son, like a cross, to carry it up mount Moriah.
I also don’t want us to miss something special. Mount Moriah, the place Abraham nearly offers his son, is the place where the temple would be built. Mount Moriah is Jerusalem, the mountain Jesus rode up to on his triumphant entry. So just like when Abraham’s donkey carried the wood for the sacrifice to the future home of Jerusalem, the donkey at the triumphant entry is carrying another sacrifice, this time the true and final sacrifice, to the same exact city, with calvary just outside its walls. God provides a ram to save Isaac, and he provides the lamb of God to save us.
I’ve created a list of five things I love about donkeys. This is the first one.
1) Donkeys can carry heavy burdens. When people think of donkeys, they think of something sturdy, that can carry a burden. That’s why they call donkeys “beasts of burden.” And in the opening pages of Genesis we find a donkey, carrying a burden, foreshadowing that one day one of his great-great-great-great grand-donkeys would carry another burden, a pure and holy sacrifice, a much heavier load, the savior of the world. The donkey is caring Christ Jesus, the final offering for our sins that makes forgiveness possible. 1) Donkeys can carry heavy burdens and…
2) Donkeys are faithful even when frightened. If you’ve seen Shrek, you probably don’t think donkeys are faithful when frightened, but they are. In fact, in Shrek 2, Donkey tries to comfort Shrek. When Shrek is on the run from trouble, Donkey says, “Don’t worry. Things seem bad because it’s dark and rainy and Fiona’s father hired a sleazy hitman to whack you. It’ll be better in the morning.” Donkeys are beasts of comfort.
If we look at our story today, while Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey takes place in all four gospels, Matthew’s account is the only one that takes note of the donkey’s mother coming with them (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-38; John 12:12-19). So what we realize is that Jesus’ donkey isn’t just any donkey, it’s a colt that’s less than 3-4 years old, and has never been ridden. Jesus is about to take this colt through a crowd of cheering people waving palm branches, and walking over cloaks so he can’t see the ground. So they bring the mother, to try and calm the colt. But what we find is that this donkey is faithful, even when frightened. If I were a donkey, that’s the kind of donkey I would want to be. You can pray this week, “Lord, would I be faithful even when I’m scared. Would I be a donkey.”
Apparently, when donkeys stop, it’s because “donkeys are safety conscious,” which makes them good trail partners. They may see something is wrong before their riders do. We actually see this to be true in Numbers 22, the story of Balaam’s donkey. This is one of Elijah’s favorite Bible stories right now.
There was once a man named Balaam who a very bad king wanted to hire to curse the children of God, the Israelites. That means the king was being a “bully goat” and wanted to hire Balaam to be a “bully goat” too. At first Balaam didn’t curse the Israelites because God didn’t want him too. Then Balaam made a bad decision. He chose to disobey God and go with the bad king to curse the Israelites. This made God very angry, and he sent an angel to punish Balaam for what he had done.
Balaam was riding a donkey. The donkey saw the angel standing in the road ready to kill Balaam, but Balaam did not see the angel. The donkey said “Hee Haw!” and turned away from the road and went into a field. Balaam struck the donkey because he did not know why the donkey had turned aside. Balaam was being a bully goat to the donkey. The angel of the Lord stood in the path again and the donkey said, “Hee Haw! Hee haw!” and turned aside a second time. Balaam hit the donkey again. He was not being nice. He was disobeying God. The donkey saw the angel a third time, and there was no way to turn to the right or the left. “Hee haw! Hee haw!” This time the donkey lay down instead of carrying Balaam to his death. Balaam was so angry he hit the donkey with his staff.
Then God opened the mouth of the donkey and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” A talking donkey, Balaam! But Balaam didn’t care. He told his donkey he wished he could have a sword so he could kill him. Balaam? A talking donkey! So the donkey asked, “Haven’t I been a good donkey all your life? Do I normally treat you this way?” Donkey is going easy on Balaam and he finally get’s it. Then God opened Balaam’s eyes and he saw the angel that almost killed him. Balaam fell on his face and said he was sorry.
Balaam’s donkey saved Balaam at cost to himself. Three times Balaam wounded the donkey, three times the donkey saved Balaam’s life. He bore the wounds so that Balaam might live. The donkey took Balaam’s curses so that Balaam wouldn’t take God’s curse. Balaam’s donkey is a Christ figure. Balaam’s donkey points forward to Jesus who takes our wounds so that we don’t have to. He bears God’s curse, so that we can fall on our faces and say we’re sorry to God.
So why do I love donkeys? 1) Donkeys can carry heavy burdens. 2) Donkeys are faithful even when frightened (or Balaam’s donkey is a Christ figure), and…
3) Donkeys are symbols of rescue. I know we haven’t gotten very far in this donkey history, but I want to take us back to Genesis again. There were three patriarchs of Israel, Abraham, his son Isaac, and his son Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons, and when he was lying on his death bed, he blessed each one. Those twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. As he blessed each one, he gave them each a special blessing. Jacob gave a royal blessing to Judah, promising that the kings of Israel would come from his line.
Genesis 49:10-11 (ESV) The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
Jacob promises that one of Judah’s descendants is going to be king, and under his reign his people will flourish. They will bring in such fruitful harvests that there will be no place to tie your donkey but to a vine branch, overflowing abundance. But even as he promises this abundance, he promises that the king will wash his garments in the “blood of grapes.” That word for blood doesn’t normally mean juice. It means blood. Jacob his promises that through Judah will come someone, with a donkey, who will wash his garments in blood. This reminds us of not only the crucifixion, but the last supper as he took the wine cup and drank, associating his body with the blood of grapes (Luke 22:14-23). Donkeys are symbols of rescue.
This is a more common theme than you might expect. You might remember Samson, one of the Old Testament judges. The Spirit of God rushed upon him and he took a jawbone of a donkey and struck down a 1,000 Philistines, the enemies of Israel to rescue Israel (Judges 15:14-17). Donkey to the rescue!
In 1 Samuel 25, when a foolish man named Nabal verbally assaulted David, the future king of Israel, his wife Abigail saved his life by loading her donkeys with grain and raisins and figs and taking them to David. The donkeys helped save both David and Nabal’s lives (see also 2 Samuel 16:1-4). Donkey to the rescue!
Of course, when Nabal realized what he’d done, he had a heart attack and died. And then donkey brought Abigail to David and they got married. So not only is donkey a symbol of rescue, but a symbol of love, and matchmaking. Husbands, give your wives a donkey figurine for date night or Valentines Day. She’ll love it. Super romantic. There’s nothing donkeys can’t do.
So why do I love donkeys? 1) Donkeys can carry heavy burdens. 2) Donkeys are faithful even when frightened (or Balaam’s donkey is a Christ figure). 3) Donkeys are symbols of rescue (love too).
4) Donkeys are a (surprising) sign of royalty. When king David is dying, he declares his son Solomon king. To show he was king, a priest, a prophet, and a commander of his army place Solomon on one of king David’s mules, which is essentially a donkey.
1 Kings 1:38-39 (ESV) 38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gihon. 39 There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!”
This is amazing and surprising because donkeys weren’t really symbols of power. They were symbols of strength, hard work, but also humility. No one rides they’re donkey around to impress others. This is why it’s especially surprising when the prophet Zechariah, prophesies that Israel’s final king will enter Jerusalem riding a colt, a young donkey.
Zechariah 9:9 (ESV) Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem that day, if he really wanted to make a statement, he could have ridden in on a war horse. In Shrek 2, Donkey actually turns into a stallion. That’s the kind of vehicle you’d expect to ride into town on if you were proclaiming yourself king. And make no mistake, Jesus could have walked into Jerusalem. He walked everywhere he went. No one else is riding a horse. Pilgrims were supposed to walk to Jerusalem for passover. But Jesus is purposefully making a show of it. By riding into Jerusalem on a donkey he is publicly claiming to be king in the line of David, yet a humble king.
World leader’s today travel much differently to show their power.
The North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un likes to ride a “ a bulletproof train stocked with wine and cheese” that goes a full “37 MPH.” Vladimir Putin likes to ride shirtless on a horse to show his power and might. Our American Presidents have “Air Force One. Marine One. Armored Limos.” (Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk by Eugene Cho)
What’s so surprising about the donkey is it’s none of these things. The donkey is humble, meek, stubborn, and kind. What we love about donkeys in the Bible is who they point to. It’s not really about the donkey, but Jesus. Jesus’ vehicle of choice tells us about the kind of king he is, humble, meek, stubborn, and kind.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem to the cheers of his disciples. They were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Hosanna means “Save us now!” They understood Jesus was a king, but they didn’t understand what kind of king he was. They still wanted an Air Force One Jesus, someone to keep them safe and secure. Palm branches were like their national flag, symbols of Jewish patriotism. But instead, Jesus gave them donkey Jesus, humble king, rescuer of all.
So what kind of king have you been making Jesus into? One that looks like he belongs on Marine One or riding a horse shirtless? He wants to upturn your expectation. Jesus does not ride into Jerusalem to rule, but to die. The donkey is kinda like Jesus and Jesus is kinda like the donkey, a humble servant.
Five things I love about donkeys: 1) Donkeys can carry heavy burdens. 2) Donkeys are faithful even when frightened. 3) Donkeys are symbols of rescue. 4) Donkeys are a sign of (humble) royalty. And…
5) If a donkey can point to Jesus and serve him, we can too. I don’t want you to walk away singing an ode to donkeys from this sermon, but an ode to Jesus instead.
A donkey can carry a heavy burden, but Jesus carried the heaviest burden of all, the wrath of God and the sins of the world to give us eternal life. Jesus was faithful, all the way to the cross, even when he felt deep anguish at what was about to happen (Luke 22:42). Jesus is our rescuer. Jesus is the king, donkey just carries him up the hill to become a sacrifice for us.
Our donkey points to Jesus and serves him, so we can too. That’s what I’m doing too. I’m a donkey, pointing to Jesus, trying to serve him, asking you to love him, worship him, serve him too. So here’s the take away.
Be a donkey. You might be just the kind of donkey Jesus can use. Do you hold a lot on your shoulders? Are you easily frightened? You sound like the perfect donkey for Jesus. If donkeys are symbols of rescue, who might you bear Christ, the rescuer, too?
Maybe you think, “Jesus could never use me.” Well, if a donkey’s jawbone in Samson’s hands became a symbol of deliverance, God can use you. You’re in much better hands than Samson’s. You’re in Christ’s hands. And can take you and wield you for his glory if you’ll let him. God can do a lot with a donkey in the right hands, in his hands.
And you know what, even if you’re that other word for donkey… God can still use you. I know this because he uses me. So let me leave you with this. Be a donkey for Jesus. Whatever he asks of you, go, go and carry the king. Be a donkey. Let’s pray.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (NIV)
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon, which includes endnotes and references. Read our story here.
Sources: Eugene Cho, Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: a Christian’s Guide to Engaging Politics. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2020, Kindle.
Nicky Ellis, “How Much Weight Can a Donkey Carry?” Farm & Animals, December 2, 2019, accessed March 18, 2021 https://farmandanimals.com/how-much-weight-can-a-donkey-carry/.
Anglican theologian N. T. Wright tells the story of one of Britain’s most promising political leaders in the 1960s, George Brown. When he was a young man, [George Brown] said, he knew that things had to be changed. British society was in a mess; someone needed to get to the levers of power and make things happen, make things different. So he went into politics. But in local politics, even once he’d been elected to council office, he discovered that
Anglican theologian N. T. Wright tells the story of one of Britain’s most promising political leaders in the 1960s, George Brown.
When he was a young man, [George Brown] said, he knew that things had to be changed. British society was in a mess; someone needed to get to the levers of power and make things happen, make things different. So he went into politics. But in local politics, even once he’d been elected to council office, he discovered that neither he nor the council had any real power. Things were decided elsewhere. So he decided to run for Parliament. But, he said, when he got into Parliament, he found that members of Parliament didn’t have any real power. They could talk, and they could vote, but nothing much seemed to change, and the real decisions still seemed to happen somewhere else. So he pushed his way to the front and got into the Cabinet. To his amazement, it was the same there. And even when he got within one place of the top of the tree, to be Deputy Prime Minister under Harold Wilson, he looked around and still couldn’t see where the real power lay. Everyone just seemed to be doing the next thing that came to hand. Things happened but it wasn’t obvious why. Where was the power? – Acts for Everyone, Part Twoby N. T. Wright
One author defines power this way. “Power is the ability to make something of the world.” Power is the ability to change situations and circumstances around us. So where can we find that kind of power? Is power in politics like George Brown hoped? Is power somewhere else? On Wallstreet? In big banks? Do “diamond hands” hold all the GameStop power? When you think about your own life, who has the power? Do you? Your spouse? Your parents? Your employer? Your teacher? Who makes things happen? What would you do to be empowered? What would you do to take control? Run for office? Start a business? Marry rich?
Acts 19 is about power, three types of power: religious power, economic power, and Jesus power. Today we’re going to look at how religious power contrasts with the power of Christ. In part two, we’ll look at economic power.
Religious power Religious power uses religion, prayer, worship, liturgy, church, and even supernatural events to exert its control over the world. If “power is the ability to make something of the world,” religious power seeks to use religion or even spirits to control people to make something of the world.
a. Religious power values control over the world. Paul arrived in Ephesus, a place of religious, even supernatural, power. Ephesus had a population of 250,000 people, a quarter a million residents. It is a port city where trade flourishes. It is an economic powerhouse. But most importantly, the temple of Artemis is there. The temple of Artemis was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world. This picture shows what we think it might have looked like. Inside was an image of Artemis, which the people worshipped, and they believed she fell from heaven (Acts 19:35). The temple functioned as a place of sacrifice, a place of worship, and even a bank.
As a mother goddess Artemis possessed fertility and reproductive power that caused the earth to blossom with life of all kinds. She was the goddess of childbirth and a nourishing mother to all. Animals and wildlife were also a part of her domain and under her control. – Acts Zondervan
The people of Ephesus used cultic worship and magic letters and amulets to exert power. They believed Artemis could change their fate. There was religious, even supernatural power at Ephesus. People believed in Artemis for a reason. I suspect that things happened when they worshipped her. If you want to have a healthy baby and a safe delivery, go to Artemis. If you want your crop harvest to be plentiful, go to Artemis.
We used to have a Hindu temple in the same business complex as our CrossFit gym. Sometimes when I was running around the building, I would see the priests out blessing the cars with fruits and flower offerings. If you want your car to keep you safe and not break down, go to Artemis. Religion values control over life. Religion is when we do things in order for god, gods, or the universe to grant us safety and security.
What sort of things do you do when you want control of your life? When things threaten to spin out of control? Remember Keri Underwood’s song “Jesus, Take the Wheel?” “Jesus, take the wheel. Take it from my hands…” I kind of like the song, but I wonder if it would have been so popular if she’d been driving on a nice sunny day, the weather was great, and she wasn’t skidding on black ice. We seem to go to Jesus when things get bad and want back control of our life. To be fair to that song, I think the woman gets to the point of desperation and ultimately gives up control of not just the wheel but her entire life. But let’s not wait till things get so bad that we have to give everything to Jesus in a dramatic moment.
Can religion give us control of our life? Not really. When Paul comes to Ephesus, he finds it quite powerless. In fact, the people who claimed to believe in Jesus did not have the power of the Holy Spirit. These twelve men hadn’t been baptized in Jesus’ name and hadn’t received the Spirit. Perhaps they’re even caught up in the cult. We’re going to see that many are. Paul baptizes them, lays hands on them, prays for them, and the Holy Spirit shows up in power (Acts 19:1-10). It leads to all the Jews and Greeks in Asia hearing of Christ. Religious power values control over the world, but…
b. Jesus’ power transforms peoples’ lives. Verse 10 says that Paul did discipleship, “This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” People hear about Jesus, and their lives are changing. And God is doing it in the most unusual way.
Acts 19:11-12 (ESV) 11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
People were just touching objects that he had touched and getting healed, or demons were fleeing. As Protestants, we’re not used to the idea of church relics, which are religious objects attributed to Christian saints (a bone, a parchment, etc.) that were believed to have a special power. There’s a lot of deceit around these kinds of objects; many aren’t trustworthy. In fact, I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and copy what we see God doing here. I wouldn’t search for power in objects. Just because we see something described in Acts doesn’t mean it’s prescribed for us today.
However, the woman who suffered from bleeding touched Jesus’ garment and was healed (Matthew 9:18-26). But what does Jesus say? Is it actually his cloak that heals her or something else?
Matthew 9:22 (ESV) Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.
It’s not the cloak that heals her, but Jesus uses her faith to heal her. Likewise, God is giving Paul’s clothing and objects supernatural power so that people will listen to his message about Jesus. Ephesus is saturated with cult and magical objects. God is “condescending” to the culture; he’s lowering himself to their level in order to redeem them. Condescension isn’t always bad. I condescend when I lay on the floor to play with my daughter. I lower myself to her level, not out of pride but out of love and care for her. God condescends in Ephesus to transform people out of the cult and dead religious actions. That’s what he does for us. He condescends to our level, to redeem us, and transform us.
I recently picked back up the autobiography, The Death of a Guru, this week. It’s the story of how an Indian holy man, well, actually a teenager named Rabi, became a believing Christian. His father had been a great Yogi, someone who passed through the spiritual realm through trances and meditations. He had followed in his path, becoming a great Yogi by his teenage years. He became wealthy and semi-famous. People came to him for blessings. But even though he was able to do things like astral projection and talk with spirits, he always found the spirits to be angry, and he never felt at peace.
One day Rabi was enjoying a jungle walk and meditating on his oneness with all of nature when a giant cobra slithered up behind him to kill him. When he turned around and saw it, it frightened him and actually looked like the snake on the neck of the gods he worshiped, Shiva. It hissed at him and was about to strike him. And at that moment he remembered something his mom had once told him but he had forgotten:
“Rabi, if ever you’re in real danger and nothing else seems to work, there’s another god you can pray to. His name is Jesus.”
“Jesus! Help me!” I tried to yell, but the desperate cry was choked and hardly audible.
To my utter astonishment, the snake dropped its head to the ground, turned clumsily around, and wriggled off at a great rate into the underbrush.
He was amazed, but even then, he didn’t believe right away. Later he had a medical emergency where his appendix almost burst. After his surgery, he was walking back from the bathroom when he almost lost consciousness. As he was about to fall, he cried for Jesus, and a hand lifted him up, even though he knew no one was there. After that, he felt strangely calm. Someone left a Christian pamphlet in his room. It moved him, but still, he wasn’t ready yet. Jesus was slowly but surely peeling his hands off control over his world. Jesus was slowly but surely speaking to him in a way he could understand. How is Jesus trying to get ahold of your heart? How is he peeling your hands off control of your world?
Maybe you’re like Rabi. You’re using religious or even supernatural powers to try and control your world, to try and get a blessing. Jesus wants to transform you from the inside out. That’s where true power is, in him. Jesus is fundamentally different than religion. Religious power values control over the world but Jesus’ power transforms peoples’ lives. Also…
a. Religious power uses Jesus as a means to an end. We see a starting account of people trying to use Jesus’ power for their own means in Ephesus.
Acts 19:13-16 (ESV) 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Several Jews, who practice exorcisms and appear to maybe mixing cult-like practices into their religion, try to cast a demon out in Jesus’ name and Paul’s name. They don’t actually know Jesus or Paul, but they’re trying to exert religious power, which uses God as a means to an end. They’re running a business. They’re making money. And if they can find a more effective charm or incantation, they can make more money.
But the demon doesn’t cooperate. Instead, he says, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” That must have been terrifying because then the demon jumps on them, strips them naked, beats them, and sends all seven sons fleeing from the house. In that culture, nakedness was incredibly shameful (ours too). They were trying to use Jesus for their purposes, and it led to their ruin and shame. Religious power uses Jesus as a means to an end.
How might you be using Jesus as a means to an end? When you pray, what do you pray about? Is God your cosmic vending machine? Punch in the right prayer, pay your church attendance, and out pops a new trampoline? I remember praying for a trampoline when I was a kid, and then we got one. It was pretty exciting. God loves to give good things to his people. That’s not the issue. The issue is when we want those good things more than we want God himself. We can pray for a healthy and safe family, for a good job, for a successful church, but most of all, God just wants to give us himself, no matter our circumstances. Jesus wants to satisfy our hearts in ways our cravings never can. The question is. Will we take the time to seek him? Or will we only go to him when we want something? God exposes our hearts so he can redeem us. That’s what he did in Ephesus.
b. Jesus’ power transforms darkness into light. What happened with the seven sons of Sceva made a difference in the community of Ephesus.
Acts 19:17-20 (ESV) 17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
When the people realized what had happened, they brought their magic books and amulets and threw them in a fire. One commentary said, “it would require over 150 people working a full year to equal the financial value of these scrolls.” You could fund a medium-sized business with all of that money. They could have funded Christian missionary efforts all across the ancient world if they’d just sold the scrolls, but Jesus had set them free, and that made all the difference. Jesus’ power transforms darkness into light.
Jesus wants to set you free from your darkness too. He wants to transform the darkness of culture through his light. That’s what Jesus does, doesn’t he? He takes broken people and makes them well. He takes a broken city and renews it. There’s another story in the gospel of Luke, the same author of Acts, about Jesus casting out demons from a man (Luke 8:26-39). When Jesus meets him, he’s actually naked, living in tombs. He’s completely shamed, completely alone, except for his nightmares and demons. When the demons encounter Jesus, they beg Jesus not to torment them. They know who Jesus is. They know his power.
Jesus casts the demons out of a man into a herd of pigs that run down a steep bank and drown in a watery abyss. Then Jesus and his disciples clothe the man and leave him in his right mind, healed and whole. The healed man goes home and tells everyone how much Jesus has done for him. Jesus’ power transforms darkness into light.
I just read the chapter where the Indian Yogi Rabi comes to Jesus. He comes to Jesus because one of his classmates, a Christian girl, comes to his home and tells him about Jesus. He’s enraged and angry, but inside he knows that what he has isn’t working, and there seems to be something to this Jesus. He finds out the one true God is a God of love and forgiveness, not hate like Shiva. As his friend is preparing to walk out the door, she says, “Before you go to bed tonight, Rabi, please go on your knees and ask God to show you the truth—and I’ll be praying for you!” Strangely, he does pray, and God answers his prayer. Rabi goes to a church service at a broken-down house, but the people are honestly and genuinely worshipping God, and it leads him to Christ Jesus.
Maybe you too need to pray, “God, if you’re real, please reveal yourself to me?” Jesus wants to meet you where you’re at. Maybe you need to confess you’ve been Jesus as a means to an end. I know I struggle with that. Let’s pray and ask Jesus to forgive us and transform our hearts.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What is power? How would you explain religious power? How is Jesus’ power different than the power the world offers? What is the power of the gospel, and what can it do? How do we see the gospel renew individuals and a city? Have you wanted things more than Jesus? What do you need to confess?
End by praying for Jesus to transform your heart.
Sources Arnold, Clinton E.. Acts (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary) (p. 198). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.
Crouch, Andy. Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2013.
DeYoung, Kevin and Chris Ranson, Acts: A Visual Guide. Geanies House, Fearn: Scotland, Christian Focus Publications, 2018.
Maharaj, Rabi R.; Hunt, Dave. Death of a Guru (p. 96, 115). Harvest House Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Miller, Paul D. “What is Christian Nationalism?” Christianity Today. February 3, 2021. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/february-web-only/what-is-christian-nationalism.html.
Wright, N.T.. Acts for Everyone, Part Two: Chapters 13-18: 2 (The New Testament for Everyone) (pp. 114-115). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
Zee Prime at cs.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6347027
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Thank you Rob Cooper for guest-preaching at Cornerstone. We’ve recommended another one of Rob’s sermons here or you can access Rob’s sermon archive here. You can find a PDF of his sermon slides below.
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Please welcome Rob Cooper’s family. Top row: Bethany, Nadine, Zachoia. Bottom row: Philip, Jonathan, Elias. Center: Rob.
Thank you Rob Cooper for guest-preaching at Cornerstone. We’ve recommended another one of Rob’s sermons here or you can access Rob’s sermon archive here. You can find a PDF of his sermon slides below. Please welcome Rob Cooper’s family. Top row: Bethany, Nadine, Zachoia. Bottom row: Philip, Jonathan, Elias. Center: Rob.
Amy and Mack are Christians. They grew up going to church with their parents, and they go on Easter, Christmas, and about once a month. They go every month because they want their two daughters to have good morals. They want them to have Christian values. It will give them their best chance of success in life, and isn’t that what God wants anyway? They send their daughters to Vacation Bible School (VBS) every summer for good measure.
Amy’s sister just baptized her daughter, and Amy stood right there with her to be her niece’s godmother. Mack always makes sure that when they go to church, they write a check. He feels good about giving. He’s done his part. Amy and Mack consider themselves to be good people. They give to charity, and they donate to the food pantry. When they fill out their medical forms at the doctor’s office, they always mark “Christian” and write their church’s name. They are always friendly with the pastor and joke about the football game with him. They’re happy. It feels good to be Christian, at least, almost Christian. They don’t know Jesus said:
Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV) 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
If Amy and Mack heard these words, that not everyone who calls Jesus Lord will get into heaven, it might give them pause to reassess their lives. What about you? When you hear those words, do you need to reassess? Are you really a Christian? Or just a cultural Christian? Do you just go through the motions? Are you calling out “Lord, Lord” but on that final day, Jesus will say, “Depart from me?”
But what if you are a Christian? How can you help those people around you like Amy and Mack? How can you reach out to the “almost Christians” in your life? These are the cultural Christians, the people who think they’re going to heaven but don’t have saving faith in Jesus Christ, and their lives don’t show any fruit of knowing Christ. How should we reach them?
Like Paul, we should be mindful of almost Christians. (Acts 18:18-23) Paul is drawing his second missionary journey to a close. He was just in Corinth for 18 months and is about to make his way back to Jerusalem and then up north to Antioch. Just before he leaves the region of Corinth, he goes through a religious ceremony. When you and I think of a religious ceremony, we probably think of lighting a candle or praying or burning incense. But Paul goes to the barbershop.
Acts 18:18 (ESV) After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.
Paul cuts his hair because he has taken a Nazarite vow. If you go back to numbers 6, you can read how men or women could take a Nazirite vow and separate themselves for the Lord (Num 6:1-2). They weren’t supposed to drink wine or alcohol, eat grapes, touch a dead body, or cut their hair (Num 6:3-12). You may remember Samson was a Nazarene, just not a very obedient one (Num 13:5). He touched the carcass of a dead lion and allowed his hair to be cut, which led to his death. When you finished this vow, you took your hair and burned it at the temple in Jerusalem. It was sacred, special, and meant a lot to the Jews in Jerusalem.
Even today, we can think of shaving the head as something special. My sister-in-law had ALL as a child, Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. She often participates in St. Baldrick’s Day. The charity raises funds by people shaving their heads to help kids with cancer. I did it one year. It was the worst haircut I ever had, but it meant a lot to her. I think that’s kind of like what Paul is doing. He doesn’t shave his head and fulfill the Nazarite vow because it saves him, but because it means a lot to the Jews. Paul famously said this:
1 Corinthians 9:22b (ESV) I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
Paul is mindful of the “almost Christians” around him. Remember my sermon on gatekeeping? How we’re not supposed to erect anything that would keep someone from the gospel other than the gospel itself? This passage isn’t just about not hindering others; it’s about going out of our way to help others come to faith in Christ. What things can we do differently to help others believe in Jesus?
Think of your own life and things your non-Christian coworkers and neighbors appreciate or enjoy that you don’t really like, but there’s nothing immoral about it. How could you proactively go out of your way to care about the things they care about? Maybe you’re not a big sports fan, but you watch a football game with your coworkers. Or, maybe you’re not a big Oprah fan, but one of your neighbors is, so you watch an episode and talk about the spiritual things she says. Remember back when we used to go into the office and how sometimes coworkers would get drinks after works? Are you someone who would join them or go home? Maybe when we get back into the swing of things, you could join them, at least a couple of times a month. Maybe like Paul shaved his head, someone you know gets cancer, so you shave your head too. Let’s not only not gatekeep but go out of our way to help others come to faith in Christ.
After this, Paul sails to Ephesus, then back to Jerusalem, then back to Antioch, the missionary outpost church. It’s easy to miss. In Acts 18:23, he launches his third missionary journey going back to the region of Galatia and Phrygia. But then there’s this brief interlude about a gifted man named Apollos, which I think the author Luke includes because of this theme of almost Christianity. Like Paul, we should be mindful of almost Christians.
Like Apollos, it’s possible to know about Christ and be almost right. (Acts 18:24-28) Apollos was an incredibly gifted public speaker, someone you’d download his podcast to listen to, who didn’t quite know Jesus. He almost knew him. Apollos was almost right.
Acts 18:24-26 (ESV) 24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
While we don’t know exactly Apollos’s heart, we can make several observations. 1) He knew about the Messiah and Jesus, but he didn’t know the full story. I see this in: “He had been instructed in the way of the Lord” and “he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus.” I think it’s fair to say he knew about the promised Messiah in the Old Testament (Isaiah 53; Daniel 7:13-14), and he even knows of the figure of Jesus, but he perhaps didn’t know of the death and resurrection of Jesus or fully put his trust in him.
2) His knowledge was limited to what John the Baptist knew, which was only a partial story. It says, “he knew only the baptism of John.” John preached about the coming Messiah. When John saw Jesus, he said:
John 1:29b (ESV) “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
But his ministry was mostly about preaching a baptism of repentance, of preparing people for Jesus.
Matthew 3:1-2 (ESV) In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
But even later in his ministry, before his death, John questioned if Jesus really was the Messiah (Matt 11:1-19). So, while Apollos might have had some understanding of Jesus as the Messiah, his belief wasn’t enough. Something needed to change. He was almost right, but not quite right.
In the book, The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christians with the Gospel by Dean Inserra, he talks about “Generational Catholics.” I don’t agree with everything he says in this book. I believe you can be Catholic and Christian. But, he makes a good point that there are a bunch of Catholics who are going through the religious motions without knowing Christ or complete forgiveness. They don’t know that Jesus suffered and died for them. A Generational Catholic, or nominal Catholic, is someone whose family really identifies as Catholic and wants to have their children and grandchildren baptized and confirmed, but it stops short of a relationship with Jesus Christ. There’s a sense of all the things you have to do to be saved, have to be a good person, have to go to mass, but no real understanding of how Jesus paid for their every sin on the cross, past, present, and future.
Is that you? Do you suffer from Catholic guilt because you don’t get Jesus died to pay for your sins and to pay them in full? Well, you’re almost there. Understanding we’re sinful is a huge part of becoming a Christian. But Christianity is also about understanding we can’t save ourselves. No matter how good or how moral or how many masses we attend or communions we take, we’ll never be good enough. Only Jesus can make us good enough. Let that burden of shame and guilt and wondering if you’re good enough lift off of you. Jesus loves you and forgives you.
But how about if you have a family member, friend, or coworker who is a generational or nominal Catholic? How can you minister to them? Do two things: Continually crack open the Bible and continually point to the grace and forgiveness Jesus offers. Jesus does call us to a life of repentance and obedience, but as a response to his grace, not to earn it. Jesus loves us and forgives us, and the Holy Spirit transforms us. Pray for them. Pray they would come to saving faith in Jesus, whether they leave the Catholic church or not.
Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there for Apollos. He has a teachable heart. He listens to Priscilla and Aquilla, this husband-wife couple. He hears the truth, and he changes his theology. He keeps using his gifts to build up the church. And lest we pass it by, Priscilla is a woman and is mentioned first. Here she is serving as an evangelist and a teacher to lead a famous teacher to Christ. I believe women are called to evangelism and teaching, even over men. But that’s a different sermon. Let’s keep going because there’s one more story of almost Christians. Like Apollos, it’s possible to know about Christ and yet be almost right.
Like the twelve, it’s possible to almost have the Holy Spirit but not actually be transformed by Him. (Acts 19:1-10) Paul continues on his third missionary journey and returns once more to Ephesus in the middle of Asia. He encounters twelve leaders of the early church who, like Apollos, have heard of John’s baptism for repentance but are still lacking something, someone, the Holy Spirit.
Acts 19:1-6 (ESV) And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.
Many think this passage means that you have to experience a second baptism of the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues to be a true Christian. Just because we find something described in Acts doesn’t mean it’s prescribed for all believers. For example, if we go back to Acts 8:17, the Samaritans receive the Holy Spirit but don’t speak in tongues. I think it’s helpful to remember how Jesus described the Holy Spirit when Nicodemus came to see him at night.
John 3:8 (ESV) The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
What Jesus is telling us about the Holy Spirit is two things. 1) You can’t control the Holy Spirit. He does what he wants. 2) You need the Holy Spirit to be born again. It seems like the 12 disciples at Ephesus almost had the Holy Spirit. They theoretically believed in Jesus, but they weren’t transformed by the Holy Spirit. Here’s the thing, even the demons believe in Jesus.
James 3:19 (ESV) You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
But demons aren’t saved, are they? They have all the right beliefs. They call Jesus “Lord, Lord,” they know who he is, but they’re still going to hell. How about you? We can call Jesus Lord, but if the Holy Spirit hasn’t gotten ahold of our lives and is transforming us, our future is uncertain.
Two years ago, I read a biography about George Whitefield. He was like America’s first celebrity preacher. He once preached to 20,000 people on the Boston Common when he was just 25-years old. By the end of his career, about 8 of every ten people had heard George Whitefield preach in the American colonies. He often asked, “Are you born again? Have you really got the Holy Spirit? Has the Spirit really transformed you?” He used the illustration of a piece of ore. You take gold ore, melt it down, purify it, polish it, and it transforms into something beautiful, a bright and shiny piece of gold. Or you find a dirty piece of glass, you wash it off, and it becomes clear and beautiful. That’s what the Holy Spirit does to us. He takes us in all our sin and depravity and melts us down, refines us, polishes us up, makes us new.
It is possible to have all the right doctrine in the world, to theoretically believe that Jesus is God, but do not have the Holy Spirit. Christianity is not simply a set of correct beliefs. Rather, Christianity’s set of beliefs serve as a foundation for having a right relationship with God through the Spirit. We want to know who God is, so we want to believe the right things. We never simply want to believe the right things, so we have it all figured out. Instead, we really want to know God. We know him through his Word and Spirit and church.
So, if you have all the right beliefs, but your life looks just like everyone else who doesn’t know Jesus. If your affections, your love hasn’t changed. If your desires look like your non-Christian neighbor’s desires, you might need to reassess yourself. Jesus tells us how to do this.
Matthew 7:18-20 (ESV) 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
The guys who paired up for men’s discipleship got together yesterday morning to drink coffee, eat donuts, and sit around a fire in the snow. It was really nice. One of the things we discussed was how instead of focusing too much on the fruit, we should focus on our roots. We should focus on sinking deep in our relationship with God and ask him to bear fruit in our lives. We can’t control if we have these things, but we can ask the Holy Spirit to give us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc. (Galatians 5:22-23). We pray, trust, and walk in obedience the best we can, trusting God will work it out in us (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Like Paul, we should be mindful of almost Christians. Like Apollos, it’s possible to know about Christ and be almost right. Like the twelve, it’s possible to almost have the Holy Spirit but not actually be transformed by Him. Here’s my closing thought.
The Holy Spirit can transform almost Christians into genuine believers. Are you an Amy? Or are you a Mack? Are you an almost Christian? A nominal Christian? An Unsaved Christian, as that book would say? Today can be the day of your salvation. Today can be the day you repent, believe, receive grace, and begin to be transformed by the Holy Spirit. It begins by believing in Jesus’ death and resurrection and asking the Holy Spirit to transform you from the inside out.
Close service by singing the doxology.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What does it mean to be an almost Christian? What does Jesus say to almost Christians? How can believers be more mindful of almost Christians? What’s the difference between knowing Jesus and knowing about him? Do you struggle with religious guilt? Why is that, and what does the gospel offer? What are some signs or fruit of having a saving relationship with Christ Jesus? What sorts of things does the Holy Spirit do to transform a person? What would you like prayer for? Please feel free to contact us for prayer.
Sources Acts 18:22-19:10 Sermon Transcript & Audio – Emmanuel Baptist Church | New Caney, TX
George Whitefield: America’s Spiritual Founding Father by Thomas S. Kidd.
The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christians with the Gospel by Dean Inserra
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Amy and Mack are Christians. They grew up going to church with their parents, and they go on Easter, Christmas, and about once a month. They go every month because they want their two daughters to have good morals. They want them to have Christian values. It will give them their best chance of success in life, and isn’t that what God wants anyway? They send their daughters to Vacation Bible School (VBS) every summer for good measure. Amy’s sister
What do you think of when you hear the word “Missionaries?” I sometimes think of two young men, dressed in blue khakis, wearing white shirts and ties. They’re wearing nametags, “Elder Tim” and “Elder Rob.” Mormon missionaries. I remember the time I filled out a form on their website to receive a free copy of the Book of Mormon, and the confirmation page said, “Some missionaries will be by to deliver it soon.” I was like, what?! I thought they’d
What do you think of when you hear the word “Missionaries?” I sometimes think of two young men, dressed in blue khakis, wearing white shirts and ties. They’re wearing nametags, “Elder Tim” and “Elder Rob.” Mormon missionaries. I remember the time I filled out a form on their website to receive a free copy of the Book of Mormon, and the confirmation page said, “Some missionaries will be by to deliver it soon.” I was like, what?! I thought they’d mail it to me.
When the Mormon missionaries showed up at my house, I tried to share the gospel with them. I shared how at the cross, Jesus not only pays for our sins, but he makes us holy. He makes us righteous. They’d never heard that before. I tried to be a missionary to the missionaries.
Have you ever been on a missions trip? When I was ten, my family took a Missions Trip to Mexico, where we helped out at an orphanage and helped repair a house for a family. When I was about fourteen, I went on a mission trip to Argentina, where we teamed up with some local churches and helped them do outreach through gospel performances. I got to be the mime that tried wealth and partying and then turned to Jesus. Around then, I also helped out on a Missions Trip to Nebraska, where our middle-school team washed dishes at a Christian camp for a week. More recently, I’ve gone to France a couple of times.
Have you ever been on a mission trip? What do you think of it? When I told my old boss we were going to Argentina, she told me she didn’t think it was right for us to proselytize. What do you think? Was it right or wrong for my church to go do gospel skits in the park in Santiago del Estero and Catamarca, Argentina? My generation, Christian Millennials, are conflicted about missions. According to Barna:
96% of Christian millennials agree that “Part of my faith means being a witness about Jesus.” 94% of Christian millennials agree that “The best thing that could ever happen to someone is for them to come to know Jesus.” 47% of Christian millennials agree with this statement, “It is wrong to share one’s personal beliefs with someone of a different faith in hopes that they will one day share the same faith.”
So, we feel rather conflicted. We want people to know Jesus, but we think it’s wrong to be a missionary? Where are you at? Do you agree? Disagree? Wherever you’re at, I want to put a few ideas in your head today that might help you understand what the Bible says. The concept of mission comes from God himself.
Our God is a God of mission. As my missions professor taught us, the idea of mission is actually “rooted in the heart of God.” There is something about God’s character that mission flows out of who he is. We see this as far back as Genesis when God blessed Abraham, his descends, and said Israel would be a blessing to the whole world.
Genesis 12:2-3 (ESV) And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God took Abraham and his family, and through them, blessed the whole world. It’s through his line and his descendants that we get Jesus, God’s blessing for all peoples. The prophet Isaiah said this of Israel.
Isaiah 49:6b (ESV) I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Our God wants to send out his salvation through his people to the end of the earth. Our God is a God of mission. It’s in his being. “Missions” (plural) flows out of “mission” (singular).[1] This means the reason believers share about Christ with the hopes of others coming to faith in Jesus is because God wants to rescue and reconcile all peoples. He likes to work through us to do it. This is called the:
“Missio Dei” (Mission of God) That’s Latin for “Mission of God” or the “sending of God.” God wants to send his people out into the world to accomplish his mission. That’s why we’re called “Missionaries.” Our God is a God of mission. We find the Missio Dei throughout the gospels and Acts. The first one you might know:
Matthew 28:16-20 (ESV) “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”
My missions professor thought this is a call to go out “make disciples,” which “leads to church planting.”
Luke 24:46-47 (ESV) “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Luke talks about the role of the church to proclaim repentance and forgiveness to all the nations.
John 20:21 (ESV) Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
John speaks to the sending nature of God and of the sending nature of the church. We need to raise people up to send them out into the world. Jesus sent his disciples to go, and we do too. We even find God’s mission in our current series, Acts.
Acts 1:8 (ESV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Then what do we see in Acts? We see the gospel spread from Jerusalem to Judea to where we are, now on Paul’s second missionary journey all the way in Corinth, West of Athens, Greece. The “Missio De” (the Mission of God) tells us that it’s in God’s very nature to go out and get those who don’t know him yet. That means God is the only one who is really on mission. He’s the one doing the work; he just invites us to join. Because God exudes mission, he gives followers of Christ a heart for the mission too.
I invited Rob Cooper to come and preach at Cornerstone. He’s going to preach on March 14th. Rob was on a plane and wanted to tell the rugged and handsome man sitting next to him about Jesus. And that man sitting next to Rob Cooper, our own Mark Pender, wanted to tell the man sitting next to him about Jesus. Both wanted to tell the other about Christ, and both had faith (even confidence) that God could do something. They were on mission because they believe in a God of mission. This means…
He is the God who goes before us. I think Paul might be getting tired and worn out. 1 Corinthians 2:3 tells us he was actually pretty afraid when he came to Corinth. He’s escaped several attacks and mobs at previous cities already. He just left Athens, and now he’s reached Corinth. Corinth is not a place where a God-honoring religious Jew like Paul would feel very comfortable. It was like the Vegas of the ancient world; lots of money, parties, and sleeping around. He makes some friends, Priscilla and Aquila, fellow tentmakers. And they encourage him. But when he tries to share the gospel in the Synagogue, most of the Jews oppose him.
Acts 18:6 (ESV) And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
Paul loses his cool, which he rarely does, right? He’s tired of being rejected by the very people who were supposed to welcome the Messiah. When Jesus sent his disciples out, he told them to shake the dust off their feet as an act of judgment against any who reject him (Matthew 10:14-15; c.f., Nehemiah 5:13).
So Paul is discouraged. Why have the Jews rejected Jesus? He writes all about that in Romans 9-11. He’s discouraged, so discouraged it seems that Jesus has to show up and encourage him.
Acts 18:9-10 (ESV) And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”
There are two things I want us to get out of this: 1) Our God is the God who goes before us, and 2) He is the God who walks with us.
Look how Jesus says, “for I have many in this city who are my people.” What’s he saying? He’s telling Paul, “Don’t give up! There are people in Corinth who I am going to save. I just haven’t done it just yet. Keep preaching the gospel! Keep sharing me.” And then, if we look at this passage, we see two, maybe three other people who came to Christ. Right before this, we read about Titius Justus, a Gentile believer, and then Crispus, the ruler of the Synagogue, both come to faith (v7-8). So Paul, who just condemned the Jews for not believing, immediately had a leader of the Corinthian Synagogue put his faith in Christ.
Why so downcast, Paul? And then later, at the end of our story, a mob attacks Sosthenes. We’re not exactly sure who he is, but in the book of Corinthians, in the very first verse, Paul addresses a man named Sosthenes, who is his brother in Christ. I think Sosthenes is attacked because of his faith in Christ. Paul addresses him in the opening of 1st Corinthians. I believe he remembered the high price Sosthenes paid for Christ. But, others would disagree with me, so I’ll leave it up to you.
The point is that God goes before Paul to prepare Titius Justus, Crispus, and maybe Sosthenes. God prepares their hearts for the gospel message, and through Paul’s preaching, a whole church springs up in Corinth. God is on the move, on mission before his missionaries ever arrive. This is called “Divine Initiation” (the Proprieta-evangelical) or “Preparation to the Good News.” This is the “Idea that before the missionary arrives God has been at work.” Before you or I ever show up on the scene, God is doing something, softening hearts, preparing people. Because of this:
We can trust that our missionary efforts will be successful. We can trust that because God is a God of mission, many missionary efforts will succeed. God has already chosen those who are going to come to faith in him. It’s simply our job to go out and speak. This should give us confidence in our global missionary efforts. We should have confidence in God working through Thierry in France, and Mission of Hope, Haiti, and the Vere Institute, and other organizations. We can trust God will use our local efforts too. God has people picked out in Westford, Massachusetts, who have yet to come to faith in him. That gives us confidence for our efforts, not that we shouldn’t try, but that when we do try, God will do great things.
But this isn’t easy. It can be hard like Paul experienced. Monica reminded me this week of one of her students. She had him several years ago in her New Testament class, and he was a really tough student. He argued with Monica and would go and argue about what he was learning with others. He was one of her most difficult students, but last year he visited the school again because after leaving Monica’s class, he had come to faith in Christ and wanted to share his testimony. God completely transformed him, but Monica didn’t get to see it happen firsthand, but what she was doing was cultivating the soil. God was using Monica to go before the individual who did lead her student to Christ. God might be using you to go before another, or he might be going before you through the work of another or his Holy Spirit. This gives us great confidence and hope in the lost coming to saving faith in Christ Jesus.
Our God is a God of mission. He is the God who goes before us and:
He is the God who walks with us. Remember what Jesus said to Paul?
Acts 18:9-10 (ESV) And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”
Don’t be afraid; I’m with you. No one is going to harm you. I got you. This is why we don’t need to be afraid either, afraid to support global missionaries or to tell our neighbor about Christ. At the end of the day, this is about being “with Jesus.” Skye Jethani, in his book What’s Wrong with Religion? defines “Missionalism.”
The belief that the worth of one’s life is determined by the achievement of a great goal started by God.
Here’s the problem. We can make mission into an idol. We feel like God doesn’t love us unless we’re somehow producing for him. We should never confuse what flows out of God, the mission, for God himself. God is a missionary God, but the mission is not God. God, above all else, desires to be with us. If you stop and spend time with God, you’re not wasting your life. I’m preaching to myself here. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in doing-doing-doing that we can forget being. God just wants to be with us. That’s why he gets us, not so he can send us away, but so that we can experience life with him.
It’s out of being with God, a God who is a God of mission, that our missionary efforts flow. God wants us first, and he’ll invite us to be part of what he is doing as we walk with him. Our God is a God of mission. He is the God who goes before us. He is the God who walks with us.
Romans 8:38-39 (ESV) For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What do you think of the concept of missions and missionaries? What is the Missio Dei? What does it mean that God is a God of mission? Where do we see the Missio Dei in the Old Testament and New Testament? How does knowing that God goes before our efforts change the way we think about them? Does it make it feel like a waste of time? Or does it give us confidence and hope? Why is being with God so important? Why is it more important than doing for God?
Sources What’s Wrong with Religion? by Skye Jethani
World Mission of the Church by Dr. Timothy C. Tennent – Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary Semlink
[1] World Mission of the Church at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
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I want us to take some time this morning and think about our communities, the places where we live. I especially want us to think about Westford, the community God has placed us in. As we think about our towns, think of some of the things you really like about your community. What do you appreciate? I love Westford. It’s a beautiful town, with lots of winding roadways, big beautiful houses, land, and yet there’s also a nice modern part
I want us to take some time this morning and think about our communities, the places where we live. I especially want us to think about Westford, the community God has placed us in. As we think about our towns, think of some of the things you really like about your community. What do you appreciate?
I love Westford. It’s a beautiful town, with lots of winding roadways, big beautiful houses, land, and yet there’s also a nice modern part of town with doctor’s offices, Whole Foods, Market Basket, and some great restaurants. I personally like the craft beer shop in Westford, although it’s been a while since I’ve been there.
I also appreciate the good school system in Westford. Westford takes a lot of pride in giving its kids a great education. I’ve never seen a town-run government. That’s pretty interesting. One of the upside-sides of it is anyone can have their voice heard. At the Westford last annual meeting I attended, they were debating budgeting funds for a park, and a teenage boy got up and talked about he hoped there would be a dock for their rowing team. That’s really cool that he felt that civically engaged that he could do that. I serve on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee. I appreciate Westford trying to be more mindful of inclusion and being pro-active about addressing racial inequity. Westford has a great library, sports teams.
Westford can kind of seem like it has it all. But what about when those good things become our ultimate things? If we look more closely at a great education, a good education can be a way to prove that you’re better than others, smarter than them. A great job can be a way to show you don’t need to depend on anyone else or to purchase all the things you really want in life. But a big house won’t fill that even bigger hole inside our hearts. A town-run government has lots of benefits, but as many of you know, they can get pretty uncharitable, pretty mean. When good things become ultimate things, that’s what we call idolatry.
“What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” Timothy Keller
When a good thing becomes a, I must have it, or I’ll feel depressed; that’s a sign it’s an idol. People are made to worship. God designed us to worship him, but when we don’t worship him, we’ll find something else to worship, maybe even ourselves. The question for us as a church, and as individuals on our frontlines, is this… Does all the idolatry break your heart? Does it matter to you that our neighbors are worshipping false gods? Does it matter that our coworkers and classmates aren’t really living life to its fullest because their focus is on living life to its fullest and not God himself?
It tore the Apostle Paul up inside when he walked through the city of Athens and saw all the idols. It says, “his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.” The NET Bible says, “his spirit was greatly upset.” It really bothered him when he saw all the idols. It made him angry, frustrated, just like when he encountered the possessed girl back in Acts 16. When we see the idols in our community, how does it make us feel? Does it bother us? Does it vex us?
If I’m honest with myself, no, not really. But I think that says more about my heart and my awareness than anything else. If I really understood the afront my neighbor’s worship of idols is to God’s glory, and if I really understood how crippling it is to their souls, and if I really understood how lost my neighbors, and community and city are, I think I’d feel more like Paul feels.
We’re supposed to care about the lostness of our city. (Acts 17:16) We’re supposed to care about who our neighbor worships. It’s been said whatever building in your city is the largest is probably your idol.[1] In New York City, that might be some financial buildings. But did you know some have called Boston and Cambridge the Athens of the United States? Athens was a place of learning and education. Both Harvard and MIT are located in Cambridge. I would be really intimidated to go and lecture at Harvard or Cambridge. The one time I went on a field trip there with the Ockenga Program, I might have asked a question, but I don’t even know if I did that.
But Paul, on the other hand, isn’t afraid. He wades right in. He goes to a synagogue, tells them about Jesus, then goes to the marketplace and reasons with them. I’m not sure if he tells them about Jesus or just tries to understand them better. It’s like he goes to Cambridge, well, first goes to a Jewish synagogue to tell them Jesus is the Messiah. Then, he gets a crate, goes to Harvard Square, sets up right next to the “Out of Town News” stand, right smack dab in the middle of it all, and starts talking about God and truth. That would make me really uncomfortable.
My mentor, Sam Kim, worked in Corporate law for many years in Boston. He became so concerned for the lost of the city that he would use his lunch breaks to walk around the city and tell people about Jesus. People do what Paul did. We can do it too if the lostness of our city breaks our hearts enough. I’m a part of a pastor’s group with Sam where we’re talking about what it would take for every man, woman, and child to have multiple opportunities to hear about Jesus. For that to happen, every believer in all of our churches would need to be mobilized to be a missionary where they live, learn, work, and play. Something to think about. How can we better mobilize to share about Christ to our lost cities?
Paul is standing on this crate, talking about God and truth, and some Harvard philosophy students come by and begin to engage with him. Here’s my next point.
We have to be unafraid to engage because of the Holy Spirit and yet prepared to engage thoughtfully. (Acts 17:17-21) Paul engaged with the best and brightest in his city. He engaged with the:
Epicureans – They believed God was so far and so distant you couldn’t know him. Your body doesn’t live past death, so best to party and have fun because nothing matters in the end. “You only live once.” “Do whatever makes you happy.” That’s Epicurean. Stoics – An impersonal force called the “logos” holds all of creation together. God is everything. Everything is god. Pain and pleasure don’t matter. Just do what needs to be done. “We all believe in the same God.” “Just be a good person.”
Those are powerful and compelling philosophies. But Paul wasn’t afraid of these people. Paul had a good education. He sat under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), one of the foremost Jewish thinkers of his day. He was clearly a very smart man, very educated, and yet unafraid because he knew the Holy Spirit would take all his learning, and his personality, and his passions and giftings, and bring it all together to share Christ.
There are some really powerful philosophies and ideologies today. Post-modernism argues there is no absolute truth. You have your truth, and I have my truth. We can’t be afraid of this. We should research it, try to understand it, learn how to present the truth, and be unafraid to engage. We have the Holy Spirit. He’ll guide us and work through us.
This year we’re going to attempt to do our Easter Service on the Westford common. I’m really excited. It gives us an opportunity to try and engage our community, to get out there in our public square, and engage. Would you begin to pray about who the Lord might like you to invite to this service? Please pray. But how should we engage?
We can engage by finding common ground and also countering false beliefs. (Acts 17:22-28) Some Harvard professors hear what Paul is saying, and they invite him to come to give a lecture in one of Harvard’s auditoriums. Paul goes for it. He knows what he’s in for. Some are really interested in hearing him out, but others probably just want to make a fool of him. But Paul trusts the Holy Spirit. He steps forward in faith, and he buys himself a Harvard sweatshirt.
Now in Paul’s day, the Harvard lecture hall was this place called the Areopagus. The Areopagus was called Mar’s Hill, and it was this big hill covered in Rocks with the Greek Parthenon in the background. You could look out to the city but also look up the hill to where the people worshipped a 39-foot statue of Athena in the Parthenon. The Areopagus also functioned as a court. This could be dangerous for Paul. In other cities, people have responded with riots, imprisonment, and violence. There’s a risk here, but he goes, he engages, and he finds common ground.
Acts 17:22b-23 (ESV)“Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
Paul acknowledges that they’re religious, and he is too. They share a commonality. A lawyer friend of mine remarked that some of the lawyers he’s met with just want to win the argument. But his approach is to try and find 2-3 commonalities and build a solution from there. Paul finds an altar that says, “To the unknown God,” and uses that as a starting point. “Hey, I know this God you speak of! Let me tell you about him.”
But then, he begins to introduce who this God is. By doing this, he counters some of their false beliefs:
Acts 17:24-25 (ESV) The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
Remember how the Epicureans believe God is far away and distant? Paul is saying that’s not the case at all. Yes, God made us, but he’s still ruling as Lord over the heavens and the earth. In fact, he’s giving all people their life and energy as we speak. This also contradicts the Stoics, who believed that we are all god. God is distinct from us yet present with us. You’re not God, but you can know him. Paul also contradicts their false gods, which he calls “objects” in v23. He won’t even call them “gods.” They’re idols, objects, no power to them. Now he’s countering their entire religious paradigm, all those beautiful temples they made, and all the false beliefs they contain.
I know one of the things I need to get comfortable doing is countering false beliefs. I tend to just be silent and listen, and there certainly is a time for that, but there’s also a time to speak up and share the truth about Christ Jesus.
Lots of the people in Westford I know, especially from my gym, really believe in creating healthy bodies, minds, and spirits. They do it through things like education, fitness, and eating healthy. They love Whole Foods, and they love their gyms and schools. Those things matter, but there’s one relationship that’s missing, the one with God. How might we share that? How might we gently remind others that the body and soul really matter and God cares about both?
How about the environment? God doesn’t teach a “trash-the-environment” ethic for engaging with creation. The Bible doesn’t give us a “use-it-or-lose-it” philosophy. The Bible teaches a holistic ethic that tells us to care for the environment, to be wise with our bodies, and to steward well what God has given us. As Christians, we care about things like global warming because we want to do a good job of tending creation. There is lots of common ground there, yet also room for disagreement. Believing in God actually gives us a really good reason for taking care of our world, especially if he’s going to hold us accountable. Since our neighbors care about the environment, when we show we care too, that’s a commonality that can lead to conversations about Christ and creation care.
Then Paul quotes two poets, people outside the Bible.
Acts 17:26-28 (ESV) And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Wait a second, isn’t Paul doing it wrong? Isn’t he supposed to talk about the Ten Commandments and how they’ve all sinned somehow? And then when these Grecian people are convinced they’ve sinned, show them that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ? Doesn’t Paul believe in the Romans Road to salvation? Of course, he does, but that’s not the only way to tell others about Christ. This speech is boiled down to just the big points. We know Paul likes to preach for a long time because he once preached so long Eutychus fell asleep and fell out a window and died. Paul had to raise him back up again (Acts 20:7-12). But if you just look at the summary, Paul doesn’t mention Jesus’ name. Instead, he takes a different approach, heading towards the resurrection.
Paul has read widely, even some of their poets. Gasp, he’s read things outside the Bible, and that’s okay! He’s read their classics, he understands what they value, and he goes from there. He builds this amazing case that, just like one of their writers said, “In him we live and move and have our being,” so our God created and sustains us. God hasn’t abandoned us. He cares about us. Then he quotes one of their poets, “For we are indeed his offspring.” He agrees, “Yes, God did make us.” Paul is finding so much common ground, and he uses it to build a case for the truth of the Christian faith.
The Lord gave me an example in my own life of how the things I know outside the Bible helped me share the message of Jesus with some of my gym mates. I mentioned in our fitness class how my family went away on vacation, and I stayed home to work on my Doctorate of Ministry. That got my coach sharing about how she is learning about prisoners and the prison system in her classes. I told her about the Netflix Documentary the 13th on the prison system, and the book it’s based on, The New Jim Crow. We talked about the prison system in Norway and how it’s much different than the prison system in America. As the conversation progressed, I got to share about how we as a church support a prison ministry. I shared about Dennis and how he’s helping people come out of the prison system. Near the end of the conversation, I shared how Jesus, when he began his ministry, opened the great Isaiah scroll and read how he came to set the prisoners free and help those who are oppressed (Luke 4:18-19), how Jesus’ mission involved giving hope to those imprisoned. She seemed to resonate with what I was saying.
Afterward, I realized that it was a little like what Paul did. He used something he knew about and used it as a way to tell others about Christ. So the application is, watch that new Netflix Documentary all your coworkers are talking about. Think about how the documentary points to our need for Christ. Does it focus on a need or a problem to which Christ is the solution? They’re often about some form of human depravity. Christ can forgive and renew. Or it’s a hero narrative about someone who saved the day. How does that person somehow reflect Christ? Watch it, have an educated discussion, and share how Jesus connects. Doesn’t that sound like great homework? Go watch Netflix! We can engage by finding common ground and also countering false beliefs.
We also need to be honest about what’s at stake. (Acts 17:22-28) Paul goes someplace I find it really difficult to go, judgment.
Acts 17:29-31a (ESV) Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed;
God has revealed himself through Christ Jesus. That means people don’t have an excuse anymore to keep believing that they’re god, or that everything is god, or that God can be whatever you want. There’s only one true and living God who has revealed himself through Jesus. The only proper response is repentance, to say we’re sorry for our sins and sorry for rejecting the Son of God, even unwittingly. But here’s the good news.
We get to tell them about the resurrection too. (Acts 17:29-33) How can we know that all of this is true? Because God raised Jesus from the dead.
Acts 17:31b (ESV) and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Jesus’ resurrection is proof that all Jesus taught is true, even the hard bits. This is tough because we don’t have a video of Jesus rising from the grave. It takes faith to believe, but it is true. My Doctorate of Ministry professor asked our group of pastors what it means to share the gospel? He thinks it comes down to sharing the resurrection, that Jesus died and rose again from the grave. Any who repents and believes in him will receive eternal life.
So what was the response to Paul’s message and when he told the Epicureans and Stoics about the resurrection? Did you know?
There was actually “a fifth-century BC play by the Athenian dramatist Aeschylus, which would have been well known in Paul’s day, the god Apollo inaugurates the court of the Areopagus. And one of the things he says, solemnly and as it were bindingly, is that ‘when a man dies, and his blood is spilled on the ground, there is no resurrection.’ – Acts for Everyone by N.T. Wright
They didn’t believe in the resurrection. Mars hill is all about death, but Paul brought it back to life. The dead are raised. That would have shifted the ground under their feet. When we tell others that Jesus rose from the dead, it might shift the ground from underneath their feet too.
Some mocked Paul; some wanted to hear more, and others wanted to believe. Two notable early-church believers joined Paul’s movement. When we share and find common ground, whether it’s through the Easter service or through our frontline work, we might just be introducing Christ to somehow who believes and becomes an important part of a church community. That gives me a lot of hope.
So do you care about the lostness of your city? God might want to use you, in surprising ways, using the knowledge and experiences you have to share about Christ with others. Let’s pray.
Romans 15:13 (ESV) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
How would you describe your feelings about your city and the people that live in it? What areas of idolatry do you naturally dislike, and which ones might get past you? How does fear shape the way you interact with those around you? What are some “common ground” ways you can relate to your coworkers, friends, family, and city? What would it take for you to tell someone about the judgment? Why does the resurrection matter?
Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or watch only the sermon on YouTube.
Sources Arnold, Clinton E.. Acts (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary) (p. 168). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.
Gospel Saturation Primer from Christ Together.
Wax, Trevin, “Counterfeit Gods: Tim Keller Takes On Our Idols,” October 13, 2009, accessed February 11, 2021, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/counterfeit-gods-tim-keller-takes-on-our-idols/.
Wright, N.T. Acts for Everyone, Part Two: Chapters 13-18: 2 (The New Testament for Everyone) (p. 93). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
Areopagus photo by Jebulon – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46576207
[1] Another pastor said Timothy Keller said this.
My wife and I watched the Broadway Musical Hamilton last summer on Disney+. All the songs are brilliant, but I was reminded of one of them as I thought about today’s sermon. Have you heard the one about the battle of Yorktown? Washington is trying to defeat General Cornwallis, and he sends Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton to capture two key positions. In the musical, as they’re going into battle, they sing about what they’re trying to accomplish. They’re trying to
My wife and I watched the Broadway Musical Hamilton last summer on Disney+. All the songs are brilliant, but I was reminded of one of them as I thought about today’s sermon. Have you heard the one about the battle of Yorktown? Washington is trying to defeat General Cornwallis, and he sends Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton to capture two key positions. In the musical, as they’re going into battle, they sing about what they’re trying to accomplish. They’re trying to create a new and free nation, which will flip their world upside down. They sing, “Till the world turns upside down… Till the world turns upside down!” Hamilton and his men actually charged a quarter mile without their guns loaded so they could take their enemies by surprise. It was pretty bold, and when they win the Revolutionary war, they sing, “The world turned upside down. . . The world turned upside down.”
They had a goal to win freedom and turn the world upside-down. They did it through war, violence, diplomacy, and politics. They over-powered their enemies, and that’s how our nation won its freedom. The world turned upside down. By the end of our passage today, an angry mob sings a similar tune about Paul and his mission. They shout about Paul and his associates, “These men who have turned the world upside down. . .” But they didn’t do it through war, violence, diplomacy, or politics. They did it by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The early Christians turned the world upside-down by telling others about their upside-down king and living like his upside-down followers. Today I want to talk about 1) the upside-down king, 2) the upside-down kingdom, and 3) our upside-down church. When we truly get what the gospel is, it should turn our whole world upside-down. And it all begins with…
The Upside-Down King Paul and his team are on their second missionary journey, this time into Europe. Thessalonica is a strategic trade city in Northern Greece located on the shores of the Aegean sea and along the Via Egnatia Roman highway. When Paul arrives there, they go preach in the synagogue. He tells the Jews that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah and that he suffered and died.
Acts 17:2b-3 (ESV) . . . [Paul] reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
Christ is the Greek word for Messiah. According to the Hebrew scriptures, the Messiah was supposed to be from King David’s line and was going to rescue the people of Israel (2 Samuel 7). Over time this promise became less about healing the people’s relationship with God and more about casting out their foreign oppressors, the Romans. But if we look closely at Scripture, we see the Messiah was always going to suffer.
Genesis 22 is the story of Abraham nearly sacrificing his son Isaac, which pointed forward to God the Father sacrificing his son on the cross. Isaiah 53 talks prophesied the Messiah would be a suffering servant, someone who would be “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Psalm 22 is like the Isaiah 53 of the psalms. As Jesus hung suffering on the cross, he actually recited Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
But when Paul says, “Jesus is the Messiah, and he had to suffer and die,” it doesn’t make sense to many of his listeners. Some get it. Some stop, listen and believe, but others just get angry. They gather up all the rough characters in town and start a riot. That’s when they start shouting:
Acts 17:7b (ESV) “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also . . . and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
Paul is offending the Jews for saying their Messiah, which means their promised King, suffered and died. But he also offends the Greeks and Romans because he recognizes Jesus is king, which threatens Caesar and his power. To say “Jesus is Lord” is a political statement because “Caesar was Lord.” Jesus threatens their power, but not through power over, but by power under. He doesn’t muscle his way in through war or violence or diplomacy or politics but through suffering. Jesus flips the world’s patterns upside-down by coming under those who hate him.
It says when the city authorities heard this, they were disturbed. They weren’t intrigued. They were disturbed. Jesus threatens their power by modeling a different way, the way of true power, through self-sacrifice and submission. The upside-down is building an upside-down kingdom.
The Upside-Down Kingdom Paul stands for the kingdom of God, which is a kingdom of the suffering self-sacrificial Savior. But the Jews and Greeks, and Romans only understood the kingdom of this world. One author and pastor contrasted the kingdom of this world with the kingdom of God. He lists five contrasts (quoting):
A Contrast of Trusts: The kingdom of the world trusts the power of the sword, while the kingdom of God trusts the power of the cross. The kingdom of the world advances by exercising “power over,” while the kingdom of God advances by exercising “power under.”
In our story, the non-Christians trust in the power of the mob. Since they can’t find Paul, they drag the one hosting him, Jason, and some of the other Christian before the city’s authorities. Paul trusts in the Messiah, which means king. They trust in Caesar, but we as believers trust in Jesus. When we trust in economic stability, or political victories, or personal safety, or any aspect of the kingdom of this world, we’ll try to exert power over authors. But Jesus is the upside-down king of an upside-down kingdom. There’s also…
A Contrast of Aims: The kingdom of the world seeks to control behavior, while the kingdom of God seeks to transform lives from the inside out. Also, the kingdom of the world is rooted in preserving, if not advancing, one’s self-interests and one’s own will, while the kingdom of God is centered exclusively on carrying out God’s will, even if this requires sacrificing one’s own interests.
Paul wanted to change their hearts by telling them about the Savior who died for them, but many in Thessalonica didn’t want things to change. They liked being in power. They had it good. They just wanted to preserve what they already have, which is why when Paul leaves town, they chase him out of the next town, Berea. They don’t want anyone near them who might destabilize their power through the gospel message.
A Contrast of Scopes: The kingdom of the world is intrinsically tribal in nature, and is heavily invested in defending, if not advancing, one’s own people-group, one’s nation, one’s ethnicity, one’s state, one’s religion, one’s ideologies, or one’s political agendas. . . . The kingdom of God, however, is intrinsically universal, for it is centered on simply loving as God loves. It is centered on people living for the sole purpose of replicating the love of Jesus Christ to all people at all times in all places without condition.
The Jews, Greeks, and Romans in Thessalonica knew if word got back to Caesar there was an insurrectionist king in their city, it wouldn’t go well. They knew the best way to safeguard their city was to stop this teaching about a new king and squelch any rebellion. They got caught up in self-preservation instead of trying to love others as Christ loves them. How easy is it for us to get invested in tribalism and the kingdoms of this world rather than simply loving God and loving others as Jesus intended?
A Contrast of Responses: The kingdom of the world is intrinsically a tit-for-tat kingdom; its motto is “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”. . . But kingdom-of-God participants carry the cross, not the sword. We, thus, aren’t ever to return evil with evil, violence with violence. We are rather to manifest the unique kingdom life of Christ by returning evil with good, turning the other cheek, going the second mile, loving, and praying for our enemies. We are to respond to evil in a way that protects us from being defined by it and that exposes the evil as evil, thereby opening up the possibility that our “enemy” will be transformed. Far from seeking retaliation, we seek the well-being of our “enemy.”
How should a church protect itself? That question ties into what type of king we follow and what type of kingdom we are a part of. If king Jesus is a military king who came to overthrow the powers of this world, then let’s arm up. But Jesus says:
Matthew 16:24b-25 (ESV) . . . “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
If the church is a kingdom outpost of King Jesus, we arm ourselves with crosses, not swords. The church is a manifestation of the kingdom of God, and we abide by a different constitution than the country we live in. The church abides by the Bible, which calls the church to be a counter-cultural community defined by the cross, not by the sword. So this question is really a question of kingdoms. When the church gathers, and we’re all here worshipping, are we going to bear the cross or the sword? But this question also extends to your everyday lives. As believers, how will you represent the king in your daily lives? Will we carry swords, focusing our hearts on personal safety, or will we carry crosses, looking for kingdom opportunities in whatever Jesus bring us? The kingdom of God is also…
A Contrast of Battles: The kingdom of the world has earthly enemies and, thus, fights earthly battles; the kingdom of God, however, by definition has no earthly enemies, for its disciples are committed to loving “their enemies,” thereby treating them as friends, their “neighbors.” – The Myth of a Christian Nation by Gregory A. Boyd
We love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). Much of Acts is a story of believers sacrificing themselves repeatedly to share the gospel and bring others to Christ. And they get beaten and stoned and killed for it. But remember last week, when there was an earthquake, and the jail cell opened? Paul could have fled, but instead, he stayed put to see how God might transform his jailer’s heart. He didn’t exert his rights but showed his enemy compassion. How might we not get caught up in earthly battles but get caught up in loving our enemies and praying for them?
Jesus is the upside-down king of the upside-down kingdom. Are you starting to imagine how different Christianity is from the way the world operates? We have an upside-down king who is building an upside-down kingdom, and he wants to do it here in Westford by creating an upside-down church.
An Upside-Down Church Sometimes my personal study in the Bible overlaps with what we’re preaching. And that happened to be the case when I was preparing this message. I was meditating on the story of the sons of Zebedee, James and John, and their mother Salome’s request (Matthew 20:20-27). Right before Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey at the triumphant entry, James and John’s mother come to Jesus. Salome asks for them to sit on his right and his left in his kingdom. She must be thinking he will ride into Jerusalem, overthrow the Romans, and set himself up as king. She’s not thinking of a heavenly throne, but an earthly one. She wants her boys to become powerful. She wants to get in while the getting is good.
Jesus tells James and John they don’t know what they’re asking, but they will drink the cup he drinks. They will drink the cup of suffering, which Jesus drinks on the cross. And we know that James does. Herod kills James in Acts 12. But at the time, Jesus says this to James and John.
Matthew 20:25-28 (ESV) But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus says the rulers of the Gentiles use and abuse their power. They exercise power over others. But you, he says, are to exercise power under. You’re to be a servant. You’re to serve others like Jesus did, even giving up your life for others. An upside-down church is a place full of upside-down people exercising the power of the cross by coming under others. We serve and love and care for those in need and don’t try to exert power over them.
Jesus, the one who had it all, the one who had absolute sovereign power over all things, came under. He humbled himself, became a human, and allowed himself to be crucified. He died. Jesus died an upside-down king, but then God raised him from the dead. He rose again to new life, and yet he still exercises power under. He sends his upside-down kingdom outposts, churches, into the world to turn it right-side up.
Paul was only in Thessalonica for three weeks (v2 “three Sabbaths”) before he got chased out of town. But after he visited there, he wrote them a letter, the book of 1st Thessalonians. Near the end of the letter, he talks about how one day Jesus is going to flip his upside-down kingdom right-side up.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (ESV) For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
This passage isn’t about Christians disappearing in a rapture. It’s about the return of the king. When a king comes to visit, you go out to greet him just like the crowds did at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Matt 21:1-11). When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, the crowds streamed out of the city to wave palm branches and shout “Hosanna!” That’s what we’re going to do when Christ returns, but we’ll go up into the sky to greet our coming Savior. We’ll go up to greet our King, and will return in victory to the new heavens and the new earth and the eternal Jerusalem with our victorious king. One day, Jesus will turn the upside-down church right-side up.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What is the kingdom of the world like? How does it exercise power and authority? How is King Jesus fundamentally different than the kings of this world? What does it mean for the kingdom of God to be upside-down? What does it mean to be part of an upside-down church? How might you live an upside-down life? How does Jesus’ suffering grant us access to this kingdom?
Sources Boyd, Gregory A. The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005, 47-48, Kindle.
Watch the Bible Project: The Gospel of the Kingdom. It beautifully explains the upside-down nature of the gospel of the kingdom.
Christianity is like a nail; the harder you hit it, the deeper it goes.[1] In 1966, Mao cast out Western missionaries and persecuted Christians. A Star in the East reports, “Ironically, the persecution of Protestants may have been the single most beneficial event for the success of the Christianity in China!” It transformed the Chinese Christian movement into a local movement led by the Chinese. It got rid of the liberal missionaries who didn’t believe in Christ. Those who endured
Christianity is like a nail; the harder you hit it, the deeper it goes.[1] In 1966, Mao cast out Western missionaries and persecuted Christians. A Star in the East reports, “Ironically, the persecution of Protestants may have been the single most beneficial event for the success of the Christianity in China!”
It transformed the Chinese Christian movement into a local movement led by the Chinese. It got rid of the liberal missionaries who didn’t believe in Christ. Those who endured genuinely believed in Christ.
Christianity is like a nail; the harder you hit it, the deeper it goes. Do you think that’s true of the church in America? If our country persecuted us, would we go deeper into Christ and become more faithful Christians? Would we protest? Or would we rejoice? Would we see trial as an opportunity or a hardship?
Paul and Silas, and the early Christians face persecution in Philippi. Paul was going outside the city to the place of prayer, and a possessed girl follows him. She is known for telling fortunes and making her masters money. The slave girl cries out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” (v17)
Paul loses his temper. He grows so annoyed he calls her demon out, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” Of course, it comes out of her, and she loses her abilities, and it ruins her owner’s business. They seize Paul and Silas and throw them into jail, but not before a mob beats them with rods. Can you imagine an angry, sweaty mob surrounding you and beating you with rods?
My brother and I drove to our town’s marina one night, and there was a prom going on at the big lodge by the lake. Some of the high-schoolers were outside around a car. They came over to us and asked us if we had poured mustard on their vehicle. We hadn’t. We didn’t even know who they were. We went and got in our car, and as we were driving out, they started running after our car, like they were going to stop us or something. We sped away, and I did not speak words of edification as we left. It was pretty scary.
What Paul and Silas experienced was more like the riot we saw on the news on January 6. That’s like what they experienced. The magistrates beat them, threw them in prison, and shackled their feet. But they weren’t the ones rioting. They were the victims of the riot. They loved Jesus, and Paul had a short temper. Do you think it was partially Paul’s fault they were thrown in prison? I kind of do. So, is what Paul experienced really persecution or his own fault? Yes! I want to show you a chart I made asking this question (see slide at the bottom of this post):
Is it really Christian persecution (or just my fault)? How can we tell if what we experience is real persecution or just my fault? First, there has to be some experience of suffering. I don’t mean sickness or the relational struggles we usually face. I mean suffering caused by someone else. If suffering is a result of…
Faithfully following Jesus & sharing him This is persecution. Jesus taught his disciples that any who faithfully follow him will also face suffering.
John 15:18, 20b, 21 (ESV) “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. . . . If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. . . . But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”
If they persecuted Jesus, they’ll persecute his followers. If you are truly following Jesus, you should expect to face persecution in some form. This is dependent on them persecuting you “on account of my name.” It has to be for the name of Jesus, as opposed to some other reason, for it to be actual persecution. This brings us back to Paul because there’s another reason people suffer.
Behaving badly Paul got beat up (outside of God providentially allowing it) because he lost his temper. That doesn’t excuse what they did, but he also had a role in it. Maybe the town would have eventually risen up and stoned him, but we don’t know. Verse 18 says when this girl kept calling Paul and them out, he became “greatly annoyed.” This is the same word used back in Acts 4:2 to describe how the priests and captain of the temple and the Sadducees felt “greatly annoyed” at Peter and John for preaching Jesus rose from the grave. Generally, you don’t want to share character qualities with those guys, but here Paul loses it.
Now Paul is both, isn’t he? He is faithfully following Jesus and sharing him, and yet he’s also behaving badly, so I put a little center zone called “maybe” for Paul and those of us who mess up even as we share Christ. I don’t think it’s always persecution when others reject us or treat us badly. It depends on the situation. For Paul, I think it was clearly a yes. He was persecuted for Christ and his actions. But perhaps God wanted Paul to lose his temper, leading to this girl’s freedom. I think what he did was good, but he seemed to do it out of aggravation: good results, but lacking manner.
But there is this other zone where Christians are simply behaving badly. The suffering that results isn’t from persecution. It’s the consequences of making bad choices. Sometimes Christians do stupid things, and when people react, they act like they’re the ones being persecuted.
Two examples: I read an article this week entitled “What is Christian Persecution?” that gave two different examples. It’s from Ligonier Ministries, which is who our youth group is using right now. Tom Ascol writes:
The first was with a young professional who was full of love for Jesus and zeal to see the gospel spread. Steve became burdened about an unconverted coworker and saw it as his Christian duty to witness to this man in an effort to persuade him to become a believer. His zeal caused him to spend hours of his time at work talking to his friend about salvation and explaining the gospel to him.
When his boss warned him to stop “pushing his religion while on the clock” Steve took it as an affront to the lordship of Christ and refused. After he was fired, he told me his story in terms of suffering for his faith. Steve saw himself as having been persecuted by his boss.
What do you think? Was that persecution for Christ? Or did he lose his job because he wasn’t using his time to do his work? I believe there can be Spirit-inspired moments to share the gospel, even as you work, which is different than not doing your job. Why didn’t he invite his friend over for dinner or go out to drinks after work? There were other ways to witness without stealing time from his employer. God calls us to do a great job at our work as a way of bearing testimony to him (1 Cor 10:31). The same writer shares his experience meeting one of China’s most famous Christians, Samuel Lamb. Samuel Lamb . . .
. . . spent twenty years in a Communist prison [enduring extreme privation] because he refused to quit preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. I met Samuel Lamb while visiting the church that gathered in his home in Guangzhou, China. After two hours of worship in cramped conditions, our group of ten American pastors was invited to talk with Pastor Lamb at length.
I will never forget his response to one of our questions about persecution and the advance of the gospel. “In America,” he said, “the church has experienced prosperity and is growing weaker. In China, the church has experienced persecution and growing stronger. Persecution is much better than prosperity.”
The first time Lamb went into prison, he had 30 members in his church, then he had 100 when he came out. The third time he came out of prison, he preached to 4,000 to 5,000 every week. Christianity is like a nail; the harder you hit it, the deeper it goes. The Bible tells us:
Christians will face tribulations, even persecution. Writing to Timothy, Paul says:
2 Timothy 3:12 (ESV) Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
I think this means that genuine Christians who are sharing Christ and living for him should expect to face pushback or trial in their life. Attacks can come from outside the church but from within the church as well. I think for Christians today, this means we should be careful of how much time we spend trying to avoid persecution. If Jesus tells us it’s going to happen, why try to avoid it? Conversely, if persecution never comes, it doesn’t mean you’re not a Christian. But it might mean you need to get out of your comfort zone and take more risks for God. If we go back to the end of Paul’s first missionary journey, we remember:
Acts 15:22 (ESV) [Paul and Barnabas returned] strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
We’re all going to go through tribulations, a time we really wrestle with doubt, a loved one getting sick, the loss of a dear friend. We may even go through persecution where we are mistreated, harmed, or judged unfairly for our faith in Christ.
However, neither should we go around with a victim complex. We don’t want to go around looking for persecution where there isn’t persecution. We need to be careful to distinguish between:
Persecution vs. Loss of Privilege Genuine Christian persecution can take the form of various degrees of persecution: social, financial, or even physical harm (Matt 5:11-12). Social harm could be being mocked, or lied about or to, or made fun of, or bullied because of your faith in Christ. Financial harm could be loss of job or property or legal threats because of your faith in Christ. Physical harm could be kidnapping, slavery, imprisonment, beatings, torture, and even death. There are low to moderate to very severe forms of persecution.
Loss of privilege, on the other hand, is when Christianity was prioritized in our culture and in the public square and is no more because we have become a more pluralistic culture. For example, I don’t think a loss of prayer in the public schools or displays of the ten commandments in public buildings is persecution. That’s a loss of privilege. Now we are like other religions that don’t display their religion in public settings, and I’m fine with that. How about the war on Christmas? I’m fine with people saying Happy Holidays to me (happy Holy-days, right?). I just don’t think the Lord wants us to get upset about these things.
Likewise, I don’t think the church is being discriminated against over Covid. All sorts of businesses and movie theaters and restaurants are being limited in what they can do. Now is not the time to fight to not have to wear masks or to not follow capacity limits. I’m so grateful our church is working hard to comply with all state regulations. We try to go above and beyond what is required. I think that’s what it means to love your neighbor well.
Open Door USA is a Christian organization that supports persecuted Christians around the world. Every year they publish “The World Watch List” of “The top 50 countries where its most difficult to follow Jesus.” North Korea is #1. They report there are about 400,000 Christians there, and if you are discovered to be a Christian, if you’re not immediately executed, you and your family will be sent to a concentration camp where you’ll most likely die.
That’s the hardest place, but how about the 50th most persecuted place, the Union of Comoros (pronounced “kaa-mr-owz”), an island in the Indian Ocean? If you share your faith, you’ll face legal consequences. Some Christians face violence. Most have to keep their faith private. There are only 4,200 believers there. America isn’t on the list.
I actually received an email from a French missions organization today that outlines a law that might be passed in France that will make life very difficult for French churches. The law would make it so churches have to apply to be churches and could lose that status without any hearing or due process. They would have to get regularly audited, and if they’re not, the pastor can be fined 10,000 euros. And the government can oversee what the place of worship teaches, including closing it if it feels it incites hatred or violence. France is a secular state. It can be very difficult to be a church there. Let’s remember to pray for France. This is not happening to us in America, but even if it was, how would we respond? With protest? Or joy?
Genuine persecution is an opportunity for joy and to see the Holy Spirit move in incredible ways. Paul and Silas are chained in prison, singing and praying. Prison is no joke. It was a holding cell until the government figured out what to do with you. They didn’t feed you. You had to know people who would take care of you. Otherwise, you’d waste away. But they’re not worried because they have joy. And maybe they see it as an opportunity for God to move.
At about midnight, there’s an earthquake, and the door goes flying open, and their shackles fall off. Here it is, Paul and Silas. Here’s your chance to escape persecution! Go for it! Run! But they don’t. Why not? Because they know God is going to work through their persecution, and they’re happy! They’re joyful. Their happiness isn’t dependent on their rights but on what God is doing. They must sense the Holy Spirit is doing something significant. Then the guard comes running out, and when he sees the prison door open, he pulls his sword to kill himself. Paul saves his life. He yells they are all inside. When the jailer sees him, he rushes in trembling and asks, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Acts 16:31 (ESV) And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
When the jailer and his family hear the gospel, they repent and believe, and are baptized. Question: What if God wants to put the shackles on Christians so he can take it off non-Christians? What if he wants us to experience captivity so he can set the captives free? Doesn’t it strike you that this is what Jesus did?
The Son of God was free! Not like you and I are free! He was God from all eternity past, exploring the universe, creating the world, living, moving, boundless. And he allowed himself to be bound, in human flesh (Philippians 2:4-11). The Son of God allowed himself to be held captive by the world in bones and skin and in the form of a little baby boy and a teenager and a dirty man. But that wasn’t enough. He allowed himself to be held captive by a cross. Jesus was persecuted so we could be set free when we repent and believe in him. And friends, if you don’t know Jesus, you’re still bound. You’re bound in your sin and shame, and you need a Savior. Repent, believe, and be set free. Jesus rose again, casting off the grave, casting off the bonds of death, and one day, if you trust him, you’ll rise too. He came to transform your life now and forever.
So count it all joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds (James 1:2). That’s when the Holy Spirit moves. I think it’s really interesting that at the end of this story, Paul speaks up and says, “Hey, I’m a Roman citizen. I have legal protections. You can’t beat me without a fair trial.” It’s like, “Paul, why didn’t you say something yesterday?!” The Holy Spirit must have directed him not to say anything, not to exert his rights. Christianity is like a nail; the harder you hit it, the deeper it goes. Paul was willing to be a nail because he had God’s greater purposes in mind. He wanted to see God’s kingdom come, no matter the cost.
Is that what we want? Then let’s pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted. Let’s pray for those believers suffering in North Korea and the Union of Comoros. And if we are tempted to claim we’re being persecuted, let’s just be careful with our words. Maybe we are, but we also don’t want to cheapen what our brothers and sisters in those top 50 countries are experiencing. Genuine persecution is an opportunity for joy and to see the Holy Spirit move in incredible ways. Christianity is like a nail; the harder you hit it, the deeper it goes. Let’s pray.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What is Christian persecution? How might our behavior impact our suffering? Do you think the church in America is persecuted? How so? What is the difference between persecution and loss of privilege? How does seeing persecution as an opportunity for joy reframe it? How could the Holy Spirit use persecution for God’s will? Was Jesus persecuted? If so, what did it accomplish?
Sources Ascol, Tom. “What is Christian Persecution?” Ligonier Ministries. Tabletalk Magazine. August 1, 2015. Accessed January 21, 2021. https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-christian-persecution/.
Hickey, Steve. “Degrees of Religious Persecution.” March 15, 2013. Accessed January 21, 2021. https://stevehickey.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/degrees-of-religious-persecution/.
Noble, Alan. “The Evangelical Persecution Complex: The theological and cultural roots of a damaging attitude in the Christian community.” The Atlantic. August 4, 2014. Accessed January 21, 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/08/the-evangelical-persecution-complex/375506/.
Stark, Rodney; Wang, Xiuhua. A Star in the East (p. 43-44). Templeton Press. Kindle Edition. The original quote is, “Religion is like a nail, the harder you hit it, the deeper it goes.”
[1] The original quote is, “Religion is like a nail, the harder you hit it, the deeper it goes.” A Star in the East, 43, Kindle.
In today’s text, I want to tell you about three things. I want to tell you about something I find strangely comforting, something I find oh so convicting, and something I find incredibly hopeful. In that way, it kind of reminds me of 495. I find the sound of I-495 strangely comforting. When I wake up in the morning, if I listen carefully, I can hear the white-noise buzz of 495. When I hear the cars whizzing by, the truck
In today’s text, I want to tell you about three things. I want to tell you about something I find strangely comforting, something I find oh so convicting, and something I find incredibly hopeful.
In that way, it kind of reminds me of 495. I find the sound of I-495 strangely comforting. When I wake up in the morning, if I listen carefully, I can hear the white-noise buzz of 495. When I hear the cars whizzing by, the truck beds jostling, and the sound of traffic, I know the world hasn’t ended yet. Things are still happening. It’s strangely comforting. Today, in the Bible, I want to tell you about…
Something I find strangely comforting… Just like I find the sound of traffic strangely comforting, I find today’s passage strangely comforting. Paul and Barnabas just wrapped up one of the biggest church fights of all time, the Jerusalem council. The early Christians were debating over whether non-Jewish Gentiles had to be circumcised to become Christians or not. Paul and Barnabas and Peter argue that they don’t need to be circumcised, and their side wins.
The council writes a letter about the freedom the Gentiles have, and Paul and Barnabas take the letter to Antioch where they read it and then stay there teaching and preaching. Then Paul wants to go back to visit some of the churches they started before. There’s no Tik Tok, or Facebook, or Instagram, or email back then, and they want to know how the churches are doing. But then they get in a big fight.
Acts 15:36-41 (ESV) 36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” 37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
On their first missionary journey, right after leaving Cyprus, Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark sailed north to Perga in Pamphylia, the shores of modern-day Turkey. But as soon as they arrive, John Mark abandons them (Acts 15:13). He turns around and goes home. We don’t know why. Many think this John Mark is the same as the young man who ran away naked in the garden when Jesus was betrayed (Mark 14:51-52). So maybe he has a history of running away when things get hard. Paul doesn’t want to take him.
Paul and Barnabas get in an all out fight in the church. I don’t think it went as far as fisticuffs, but the word for “sharp disagreement” (paroxysmos) means they had it out. They had “a huge row.” The Greek says they were provoked, it was like the church was convulsing, writhing, thrashing. Have you ever thrashed around in your bed because you felt sick to your stomach? That’s what happens to their friendship.
How did they get to here? To get to that point of anger, you have to feel pretty justified. Barnabas probably felt angry for several reasons. First, John Mark was his cousin (Col 4:10). “When you mess with my family, you mess with me.” Second, Barnabas gave Paul the benefit of the doubt when he converted from murdering Christians to becoming one of them (Acts 9:27). Surely, what John Mark had done was not so bad? How could Paul judge John Mark so harshly, and forget their history? Barnabas meant encourager. He’s like one of those perpetually nice people, who when they finally get mad, you know it must be bad. He must be right.
How about Paul? Why did he get so mad? Because he loved the gospel, and he might be holding some resentment in his heart. Remember when the pro-circumcision party traveled from Jerusalem northward to Antioch to tell them they all had to be circumcised to be Christians, even the Gentiles? Well, in Galatians 2, it says that “even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy”(Gal 2:13). Even though Barnabas ended up on the right side of things, Paul probably questioned Barnabas straying from the gospel. And now when Barnabas says they should bring John Mark, someone who isn’t reliable, Paul gets angry, maybe even questioning if Barnabas cares about the success of their mission to share the gospel with the Gentiles.
Just because the Bible records their fight happened, doesn’t mean it approves how Paul or Barnabas handled themselves. They messed up. They sinned. So why do I find this strangely comforting?
If God still worked through Paul and Barnabas even though they had a huge fight and broke up, God can still work through you and me even when we mess up. If God can work through those mess-ups, he can work through these mess-ups. I’ll admit, part of the comfort comes from watching two perfect people make a really big mistake. Do you have someone in your life who’s never wrong about anything, and then they do something stupid, and you kind of laugh a little bit with glee, but then look around to make sure no one saw? Or maybe your that person? When you mess up, your spouse seems to relish it just a little too much? Let’s all take a moment and relish that Paul, author of 13 books of the Bible, most famous missionary in the history of Christianity, loves to tell Christians how to behave, wasn’t perfect. He was human, like the rest of us.
If God can use someone like Paul, he can use someone like me, because I mess up. I’m not perfect. And I bet neither are you, but God can still work through you to do amazing things for his kingdom. If you’re waiting to become a perfect Christian before you’ll let God work through you, you’re never going to get there. Christianity is rooted in grace. God doesn’t save perfect people. He saves rotten people. He saves rotten fruit. He buries it in the ground with Jesus, and out comes a beautiful fruit-bearing tree.
Maybe you’re not a Christian, and you’ve always had the impression that Christianity is full of a bunch of perfect people. Or the Christians you have met somehow make you feel less than. I’m sorry. We’re not perfect. Christianity is full of messed-up broken people who need redemption. The savior comes in and completely transforms our lives. Jesus so transformed Paul one day he wrote:
Romans 12:18 (ESV) If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
1 Corinthians 13:4-6 (ESV) Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
We hear later that Paul forgave John Mark and says how much he appreciates him (2 Tim 4:11). We don’t know if Barnabas and Paul became best buddies again, but I’m sure they forgave each other (2 Cor 5:18). Paul mentions him in 1 Corinthians 9:6. I find it strangely comforting that God used people like Paul and Barnabas. If he can use them, God can still work through you and me even when we mess up.
I want to show you a map. Paul and Barnabas split at Antioch. Barnabas and John Mark go to Cyprus. Paul and Silas go north to Derbe and Lystra, where they meed Timothy. And here is…
Something I find oh so convicting… Let me read what happens and see if you can guess what I find convicting.
Acts 16:1-5 (ESV) Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.
For those of you who have been with us, you might be feeling kinda shocked. Wasn’t the battle of the believers, the whole fight at Jerusalem about not having to circumcise the Gentiles in order to become Christians. Didn’t Paul win that argument? Why is he turning around here and circumcising Timothy? This passage in 1 Corinthians gives us a clue.
1 Corinthians 9:22b (ESV) I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
Timothy was not a Gentile, he was an uncircumcised Jew. He father was Greek but his mother was Jewish, so he was culturally Jewish. We don’t know why Timothy’s parents didn’t circumcise him, but they didn’t, and that would pose a problem wherever they wanted to go and share the gospel. If Timothy was going to have any authority to preach the gospel to his fellow Jews, he had to get circumcised. Otherwise, if he wasn’t, his fellow Jews would either not give him the time of day, or they’d be sitting there wondering why he wasn’t circumcised when he was trying to tell them about Jesus. His lack of circumcision would hinder the gospel. On the other hand, Paul does not circumcise Titus, who was entirely Greek, as that would have been contrary to the gospel (Titus 2:3). Titus, as a Gentile, did not need to become Jewish to be saved. Neither did Timothy, but he did it for the mission. So what do I find convicting here?
Timothy, a young man, was willing to go through the painful act of circumcision for the sake of the gospel. His level of commitment really convicts me. Today, when they circumcise little boys, there’s sugar cubes and medical devices. But Timothy had a nice knife that he had to go under. No anesthesia. No sugar cubes. Just something no guy ever wants to do. It doesn’t say Timothy argued with Paul. He just did it.
I don’t like pain or discomfort. I don’t like having to sacrifice. I don’t like things being difficult, and look at how far Timothy was willing to go because of his love for Jesus and the gospel. That’s powerful. That’s convicting. What won’t you do for Jesus because it makes you uncomfortable? Did you know that 80% of church goers believe it’s important to share their faith, but 61% have not done so in the last 6 months? (source) Have you shared your faith in the last six months? In the last year? Does Timothy’s commitment challenge you? Please pray for your frontline, the people you’re normally around who don’t know Jesus. Sometimes I sense the Holy Spirit leading me to pray for someone, right then and there in person. That can make me really uncomfortable, but I never regret it when I follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting.
What won’t we do for Jesus as a church body because it makes us feel uncomfortable? I’m really proud of our church for doing our Christmas Eve service on our town common. That was risky, and it took courage, but that was only a step. What courageous step might God be calling us to take next?
Does Timothy convict us? Let’s pray the Lord would help us raise our level of commitment to the level of Timothy, to whatever it takes to share the gospel, not sacrificing the gospel itself. Maybe Timothy remembered that Jesus himself was circumcised (Exod 13:2; Luke 2:23). Maybe he remembered how Jesus bore the cross unto death, and circumcision seemed kinda small in light of what Jesus did. I find his commitment convicting. But we’re not stopping here because of…
Something I find incredibly hopeful… I want to put back up the same map as I read. As you listen along, you can see where Paul, Silas, and Timothy go.
Acts 16:6-10 (ESV) 6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Paul, Silas, and Timothy are now setting out through Asia, and they think they’re going to be sharing the gospel throughout the region, but the Holy Spirit keeps stopping them. Can you imagine how discouraging that must have felt? Lord, I thought you brought us all the way here to share the gospel? Why won’t you let us in? Timothy had to get circumcised for this. Why is it going wrong? We don’t know exactly how the Spirit said no, circumstances or a vision, but we know he said no. Also, I don’t want you to miss it, but verse 10 has the first use of the first-person-plural pronoun “we.” This is when the author of Acts, Luke, joins Paul, Silas, and Timothy. I imagine he was a huge encouragement to them in their discouragement. Then God gives Paul a vision of a Greek man from Macedonia inviting him to come preach. So the four of them set out.
Acts 16:11-15 (ESV) 11 So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 15 And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
They make it across the Aegean sea and arrive in Philippi. Some think there’s no synagogue in Philippi, which is why they go to the place of prayer down by the river. Either way, they find a group of women there and Paul preaches to them. And Lydia, a woman from the city of Thyatira, comes to faith. The Lord opens her heart and she believes. Don’t miss that she is from Thyatira. Thyatira is in the heart of Asia. The Spirit told them not to stop in Asia. Instead, the Spirit brought Asia to them. Here’s what I find incredibly hopeful.
God saved Lydia, a woman from Asia, after he wouldn’t let Paul enter Asia. God knows what he’s doing and will bring his plans about. God had a different plan, a better plan, than they could have orchestrated. It gives me incredible hope. She is quite the believer. The Lord opens her house, she get’s baptized, her household and her believe and are baptized as well. And then she makes Paul and team stay with her. She seems to have a big leadership presence in Philippi going forward. Who’s the Lydia in your life you want to see come to faith? Who’s the person you are praying for God to open their heart? I have a Lydia, do you? Let’s pray for our Lydias, and that God would save them and use them to grow his kingdom. If God can save that Lydia, he can save your Lydia. That gives me hope. God knows what he’s doing.
I find God’s grace over Paul and Barnabas strangely comforting. I find Timothy’s commitment convicting. And I find Lydia’s conversion hopeful. Here’s the good news. Paul and Barnabas may have had a blow-out fight, but Jesus never did. He never lost it. He never sinned against his brother or sister. His life counts as your life. I find that strangely comforting.
Jesus was so committed to our salvation that he went to the cross and at the cost of his own life. He died because he knew we would never live up to God’s standards apart from him. I find that oh so convicting, but also comforting. I don’t have to earn my salvation. It’s a gift. I believe in Jesus and follow him.
Jesus died to save women like Lydia. He died to open hearts and bring businessmen and businesswomen, seekers and learnings, salvation through faith in him. I find that so hopeful.
I hope you’re strangely comforted, oh so convicted, and yet hopeful. Let’s pray.
1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
How do you feel about Paul and Barnabas’s blowout fight? What can Timothy’s example teach us? How can Lydia’s conversion encourage us? What is the gospel and how does it apply here?
Sources Gospel Saturation Primer from Christ Together.
Wright, N.T.. Acts for Everyone, Part Two: Chapters 13-18: 2 (The New Testament for Everyone) (p. 52). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
I wrote this sermon last week on Thursday, the day after the clash at the capitol. You probably watched the news and saw the pictures of journalists and politicians taking cover. I think the image I was most startled by was of the barricaded door into the House Chamber with the five agents with their guns drawn. The glass was broken and in another picture you could see another’s man’s face on the other side of the doorway. These images
I wrote this sermon last week on Thursday, the day after the clash at the capitol. You probably watched the news and saw the pictures of journalists and politicians taking cover. I think the image I was most startled by was of the barricaded door into the House Chamber with the five agents with their guns drawn. The glass was broken and in another picture you could see another’s man’s face on the other side of the doorway.
These images and memories got me thinking about the world where Paul, Peter, Barnabas, and the other Christians lived. I think there are some similarities. The New Testament took place in a time of tension and conflict. They lived under Rome’s control. Rome was tolerant and incredibly intolerant at the same time. If you worshipped their gods and emperor, they allowed you to worship your gods too. You could believe whatever you wanted as long as you played lip-service to what they believed. They showed some leniency to the Jews, depending on the emperor, but were quick to take away their freedoms.
Rome reminds me of our more liberal culture. You can believe whatever you want, all you have to say is the words, “My truth.” “This is true for me, but I wouldn’t want to impose my truth on your beliefs.” The only absolute truth is that there is no absolute truth, which is a self-contradiction. This perspective leads to alienation and isolation of any who disagree. Rome and many of the Greeks Paul encounters on his missionary journeys were both tolerant and quite intolerant of other beliefs.
But there was also a huge segment of the population that was intolerant not because of their liberalism, but because of their conservatism. In the New Testament we read about the zealots, violent insurrectionists who wanted to restore Judea to an independent statehood. How about the religious leaders in Jerusalem who stone Stephen and try to kill the Apostle Paul? They are just trying to preserve their religious traditions, their culture, their nation. They’re zealous for God and his laws, or so they think.
Then we encounter Christians. Christians were different than everyone else. They didn’t fall into the trap of “us” vs. “them” thinking. Instead, they established a gracious counterculture, someplace entirely different than anything else the world had seen. Christians established churches where liberal Romans, enlightened Greeks, and conservative Jews worshipped the one true God and had community.
The Church – A Gracious Counterculture There is a moment in the early church’s history when we could have divided into factions, conservative vs. liberal, but we don’t. A group of Pharisaical believers, claiming to be sent from James, Jesus’ brother, the leader of the Jerusalem church (Gal 2:11), travel to Antioch in Northern Syria. Jerusalem was an older more conservative church full of believers who lived and walked with Jesus. This delegation claims the church sent them, even though they did not (Acts 15:24). They go and the wreak havoc at Antioch.
This young church at Antioch was sending out missionaries all over the world. They were trying new things. They were rather liberal in the way they did church, it didn’t matter if you were Jew or Gentile. The Pharisees group argue that Peter shouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore, maybe because it’s causing Jews in Jerusalem to not take Christianity seriously (Gal 2:11-12). At this point, the whole church could have imploded. They could have formed one faction of conservative Jews who required circumcision to join their ranks. The other faction could have formed from liberal Antioch who are out there on mission. Instead of self-destructing, the church keeps the peace and stays unified. How did they do it? How can we do it today?
The church works it out by meeting up in Jerusalem for a council to decide the issue, whether or not Gentiles need to become circumcised and obey the law to become Christians. Peter gets up and says that what we need is grace. Grace is the gift of God’s forgiveness and love. Grace unites the church.
Acts 15:11 (ESV) But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
Peter is clear that we are saved by grace, not by circumcision, not by cultural trappings, not by obeying the law, but by grace. That grace helps them form a community that reacts differently to conflict than Rome or the Greeks or the rest of the Jews. Instead of condemning the believing Pharisees (Paul certainly opposes them in Galatians 2), in Acts they all agree to send a letter to Antioch. That letter says they are sorry for the pain the group claiming to be from James caused them (v24), and that they do not have to get circumcised to become Christians, but they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from animal strangulation, all things having to do with pagan worship, and also abstain from sexual immorality, which God prohibits. It also includes an encouragement. Keep the peace and you’ll do well.
As the church, we’re to create a gracious counterculture. Last week we didn’t see that in our country. In fact, we saw the opposite of that as protesters carried Bibles, picked signs that say, “Jesus Saves,” and they carried the Christian Flag into the capitol building itself. The Christian flag, a red-cross on a blue square, and white banner. Violent insurrectionists are the opposite of the gracious counterculture we’re called to create. That’s not true Christianity. So how are we going to do it? We don’t have to all agree on who should be President or the best pathway forward during Covid or what ice-cream flavor is the best. But as the church we do need to model what peace and unity look like in a fragmented and divided world.
In today’s passage, we find four characteristics of a gracious counterculture. A gracious counterculture is characterized by (2 “f”s and 2 “g”s) 1) faith in the Spirit, 2) forbearance, 3) gospel loyalty, and 4) gratitude.
1) faith in the Spirit After Peter’s speech, James gives a solution. Of course the Gentiles are saved by grace, but let’s have them refrain from certain activities. Then v22 says, “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.” I like the phrase “it seemed good.” They heard James speak, they recognized the truth, and they stepped forward in faith. Later it says they trusted the Holy Spirit; v28 says, “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” The Holy Spirit confirmed what they were supposed to do.
The church community was characterized by faith, not by fear. They believed the Spirit was steering the ship and that he was not going to steer them into an iceberg. They knew the Spirit would lead them where they should go, so they walked by faith. That’s completely countercultural. Our world takes a bubble bath in fear. People are constantly afraid of what’s under the surface of this agenda or that. Are you falling prey to that fear? Fear sure makes it difficult to love our neighbors. It’s hard to love our local police officer, or politician, or activist neighbor if we are afraid of them. It’s hard to love our neighbor because of covid.
During covid I’ve struggled with how to love my frontline. You all know I do CrossFit. They’re still open and I still go. I’ve struggled with fear. What if I get Covid? What if I spread it? I’ve thought about quitting, but I see the Lord doing things in the relationships I have there. If I quit, I won’t be able to share the love of Christ with them. I’ll also get really chubby on my pandemic diet. So I wear a mask, I wash my hands, I disinfect, and I pray. I pray that God will move, and I try to walk by faith, not foolishly, but also not by fear. So far he has protected me. I don’t share this story to try and convince you to join a gym, but wherever you are, to walk by faith in the Spirit. Don’t be afraid. It’s hard to form a gracious counterculture out of fear.
A gracious counterculture is characterized by faith and…
2) forbearance I love the word forbearance. It’s the idea of bearing with one another, despite difficulties. It’s different than tolerance. Tolerance is putting up with someone you disagree with. Forbearance requires you to cancel a debt they owe. You have to be gracious to them, to give them something they don’t deserve. Paul says:
Colossians 3:13 (ESV) Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Remember how I talked about “Grace wins!” two weeks ago? I said that James even shows grace to the believing Pharisees by making some cultural compromises. Don’t eat food polluted by idols, or blood, or strangled animals. James is helping the believers find “common ground.” The believers are following the minimum requirements for being considered a God-fearing Jew, which hopefully puts some of the believing Pharisees’ minds and hearts at ease (Tyndale).
How can we bear with those around us? How can we find common ground as a church community? I’m proud to say I saw us trying to do this last semester as we worked through our Race, Class, and the Kingdom of God study series. We did not all agree. We talked about some really hard things and it was… hard. But we also found some common ground of wanting to make Cornerstone a place where those from other cultures feel welcome. I actually think we found the most common ground down at 10 Kirk St. in Lowell at the Living Waters Center of Hope. While we might not agree how best to build more diversity at Cornerstone, we agreed serving the population in downtown Lowell is something we could all get behind. This required us to bear with one another, to work it out, to try new things, and to show each other grace.
A gracious counterculture is characterized by 1) faith in the Spirit, 2) forbearance (bear with one another)…
3) gospel loyalty Remember how Peter said we’re all saved by grace? The majority of believers at Jerusalem are unwilling to put the heavy weight of the law on the backs of the Gentiles. The majority of the believers sense the Holy Spirit’s leading to recognize the gospel freedom the Gentiles have in Christ. That being said, it’s not an easy issue. How to treat the Gentiles comes up over and over again throughout the New Testament. It’s a struggle, and the church has to learn how to remain loyal to the gospel.
We don’t know if the believing Pharisees walked away from the Christian community or stayed members of it. But if they did stay, they had to put gospel loyalty above party loyalty (Phil 1:27). As we think about what is going on in our world with all the division and strife, we too have to put gospel loyalty above party loyalty. If we are united in the gospel, it helps us find unity and harmony despite our cultural or political differences.
I listened to youtube video this week where one of the speakers talked about showing up to college to play on the Harvard crimson football team. He said how his parents dropped him off in front of the dorms and he didn’t know where to go. But then other teammates came out, and made room for him. It was because they all wore crimson. They all wore the same colors. They all identified as one. We also all wear crimson too. We wear the crimson blood of Christ. That crimson blood has washed away our sins. As Christians, we need to identify with that crimson banner, no other allegiance but the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Maybe you don’t wear crimson, but you want to. You want to be forgiven of your sins and receive eternal life. Well there’s plenty of room in the team. Repent of your sins and believe in Christ Jesus, the star quarterback who laid down his life for his team. But then three days later Jesus rose again from the grave, offering forgiveness, grace, and a new community to any who will seek him.
The good news is that crimson is for all of creation. The gospel is personal as it addresses my sins, but it’s enormous as it addresses us as a people and our world. The gospel changes us at our core and changes our cosmos. Gospel loyalty is not a call to only talk about the gospel and nothing else, but to faithfully work through how the gospel redeems all things.
A gracious counterculture is characterized by 1) faith in the Spirit, 2) forbearance (bearing with one another), 3) gospel loyalty, and…
4) gratitude Look how the Gentile believers respond when they hear the decision. Paul, Barnabas, and the other believers deliver the Jerusalem council’s letter to the believers at Antioch, and they rejoice. These believers are so joyful that they do not have to become culturally Jewish to be saved, and are happy to love each other by doing what it asks. V31 says, “ And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. They rejoice. They party. They are grateful. My mentor told me that “joy is gratitude.” When we are thankful we are joyful and when we are joyful we are thankful. The are thankful for the gospel and a gracious counterculture.
In a world marred by division and strife, how might we focus on what we have, instead of worrying about what we don’t have or what we might lose? We can be glad that we are free to worship. We can be glad that we have a church family. We can be glad that we are saved by God’s grace, not by our own good deeds. We can be glad that we can give up our Saturday mornings to feed the downtown Lowell community. We can be glad the ways God has gifted each one of us to love him and serve each other.
As a community, we have so much to thank God for. We are a part of a kingdom we can never lose. The world quakes because it is part of a kingdom that will one day fall. And as Christians, if we are putting our hope in that kingdom, we miss that we are members of another kingdom, Christ’s kingdom. Christ’s kingdom is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.” (1 Pet 3:3 ESV) No one can take this kingdom from those who belong to Jesus (John 10:28-29).
Have you ever been to the beach and built a sandcastle? Winter is a great time for the beach. Last time we were at the beach Elijah kept knocking down my sandcastles. I took a bucket full of sand, tipped it upside-down, then put a stick on the top like a flag. Then Elijah smooshed it. Have you ever seen one of those big, complex, beautiful sandcastles that must have taken an entire day to build? Whether the sandcastle is Elijah sized, or as big as me, it always washes away. We are living in a sandcastle kingdom, all the authorities and power structures in this world will wash away. We have an eternal kingdom coming handcrafted by an artisan carpenter. No one will ever take Christ’s kingdom away from us. Christ’s kingdom is imperishable and eternal. When we walk by faith, show forbearance, or speak the gospel, we build a little bit of that kingdom in a sandcastle world.
A gracious counterculture is characterized by faith, forbearance, gospel loyalty, and gratitude. So let’s be a gracious counterculture. Let’s do it in gestures of kindness, by praying for each other faithfully, by living out of faith in the Spirit, and by remembering Christ’s love and sacrifice for us. What’s one way you can model a gracious counterculture this week? How can we do it as a church? Let’s pray.
1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
How do those around you respond to conflict, both Christians and non-Christians? How do you respond when things go wrong in your world? What does it mean to form a gracious counterculture as the church? What’s wrong with letting fear motivate us? Fear, after all, is a powerful motivator. What’s better about faith? How does it help us live and serve? What is forbearance and how can we express it with others in the church? What is the gospel? Is it just the message of personal salvation, or is there more? How might you practice gospel loyalty this week? What’s the connection between gratitude and joy? What type of castle are you building?
Sources Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 2d; Accordance electronic ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 366 (Acts 15:19-20).
In December I really appreciated Jonathan’s and Andy’s messages on Success. I wanted to build off of those and take a look at how at the individual level we can position ourselves so that Cornerstone can be successful. How can you and I be the types of disciples that glorify God through Cornerstone? I am glad you asked.
Slide 2 Our passage today highlights important practices that are powerful, but not new. Prayer, Love, Hospitality, and Exercising Your Spiritual Gifts. Each of these would merit individual sermons, but I wanted to highlight these and focus a little on Spiritual Gifts. I have been really blessed and encouraged by what I have seen and experienced at Cornerstone by the way I have seen these things practiced by you. So I hope you hear the words today in a loving challenge to meet you where you’re at so that we can individually and collectively improve and reflect our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ even better. What I’m sharing are not new insights in any way. They are old truths that sometimes we may take for granted, but it is good to reflect how we are doing in light of God’s commandments. And be open to Holy Spirit’s movement in our life in one or multiple of these areas. In preparing for this sermon and looking in the mirror, I know I certainly have room for growth.
Slide 3 V7 – The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Peter calls us to have a clear and focused prayer life. I don’t want us to get distracted by the “end of all things portion.” In multiple places throughout the NT, the writers talk about Jesus’s return being imminent. The way to understand this is that in terms of the events of Salvation History series of events for the unfolding of God’s redemptive story, Jesus’s return in judgement is the next event to occur. Our prayers should be focused in this time because our enemy is focused on distracting the church and the individual from faithful and committed following of Christ. If we are emotionally tossed back and forth by the news and events around us or if we try to dull the pain of brokenness around us through too much drink or the balm of material goods, then we are distracted and our prayer life is not rooted and grounded in the reality and abundance of God. In Ephesians 6 when Paul is talking about the armor of God, he tells us that our enemies aren’t one another or someone with a different view point or allegiance. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. In talking of the armor of God, Paul concludes by saying And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. In light of the battle we face, I think our prayers for one another need to be more than for the infirmities we face, but for the battles we face to stay faithful. I don’t discourage praying for each other in sickness, because sometimes those are part of the battle. Let’s pray with clarity and focus for one another to remain faithful.
Slide 4 V8 – Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Love each other Cornerstone Above all. If we can’t love one another, then these other things won’t matter. Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians is often read at weddings because of its focus on the importance of love. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
However, in context Chapter 13 is talking about relationships within the church NOT a marriage and it is talking about love in the exercise of spiritual gifts. Love covers a multitude of sins doesn’t mean a Disney love story conquers all. It means that people who live in communion loving each other as 1st Corinthians 13 calls out are less likely to sin against each other in the first place and when we do, we aren’t quick to find fault and hold a grudge but to forgive and move on. Love each other. Let’s face it, proximity will bring conflict. The answer isn’t to avoid proximity, but to love one another like 1st Corinthians 13 says we should. We need God’s grace overflowing out of our lives because love like that is difficult in our own strength.
Slide 5 V9 – Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Love and hospitality are at the heart of living in community. Hospitality is not just coffee or tea and those little frozen quiches served on pretty paper plates. It is joyfully, not begrudgingly, opening yourself and your resources up to others. That can be as simple as dinner, that can be a place to stay, that can be a time by the pool together. But when we do that, we open ourselves up to some risk. People can abuse generosity, we may not be thanked, we may lose some measure of control or or time or independence in a situation. But if we only show hospitality when it is low risk, we are not demonstrating the kind of love Jesus calls us to in the Sermon on the Mount. Read my lips – Forget southern hospitality, how about Christian hospitality. But the word used for hospitable here can be broken down into two other words – friend and stranger. Being a friend to strangers. So not only can hospitality enrich community within the church, it can support the mission of the church.
Slide 6 V10-11 – Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. I’ll bring in 1 Corinthians 12:7 here as well. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
Some good stuff here, but there are two points from this section that I want to highlight:
Slide 7 The context here is spiritual gifts – so the manifestation of the Spirit is referring to the ways that Holy Spirit has empowered each believer – each one has at least one spiritual gift. Yes, you. You may not know what it is, it may be dusty from lack of use, it may be a little raw and uncomfortable because you are early in its use and development – but each believer in Jesus Christ has a spiritual gift! Now – this may be old news for some. And some may be asking, what’s a spiritual gift – is that on Amazon? Important and really big question that we will come back to, but no, they are not on Amazon.
Slide 8 It’s for the common good and glorification of God. For the common good of whom? Not your family. Not your job. Not the Global Church. Not a parachurch organization. It’s here. It’s the local church. The New Testament letters weren’t sent out as letters for personal devotion, but read out loud in the local church whether that is the specific audience of the church in Corinth or the more general letter of Peter to the churches spread over a broader region. Now, your gift may bear fruit in other places which brings God glory which is really great, but God’s design is for your gift to be firstly exercised in the local church for the benefit of the local church. And chances are if you are listening, that is Cornerstone.
Back in August – this notion of spiritual gifts and the common good was really resounding in my head and I tried to articulate it to the Elders, but for some reason it felt and seemed incomplete. Fast forward to a few weeks ago – Jonathan preached a sermon on what is a successful mission and Andy one on what is a successful church and it came together for me. God equips every church, even small ones, with everything they need to be successful. Remember from Jonathan’s sermon the better way to frame it is a faithful mission – not focusing on success. We should be faithful and leave the results to God. We faithfully exercise the gifts He has given us collectively and leave the results to Him. Otherwise we tend to be overly focused on metrics like the 3 Bs. And from Andy’s message, if we strip away all the churchy stuff – what is it that is central to church. Worship, community, mission and commitment. My proposal to you today is that we have the elements we need. God has equipped us with spiritual gifts to do the work He wants us to do – we don’t need more people – we don’t need more money in the bank – I do not believe that God has things for us to do that He will not equip us to do or directly intervene and do Himself. Actually, our Spiritual Gifts are God intervening in a sense as we carry no supernatural capacity on our own! The question is then, are we exercising those gifts? Are you exercising them within the context of Cornerstone? If so, thank you – thank you so much. If not, why not? If not, do you feel guilty yet? That isn’t my goal, because God doesn’t want us operating out of guilt because then it is me-focused and I’m doing it to address the guilt. It should be done out of Love of God and a love for each other that we spoke of earlier. It should be done out of a recognition of God’s graciousness in giving us a gift in the first place. When you don’t exercise your gifts, it is really inefficient and incomplete for the church and the kingdom. Because either some things don’t get done or they get done by someone who isn’t gifted in that area or they’re done by someone who is burning out because they are already carrying many other responsibilities. You and your gifting matter to us. You have your gift for us and for the kingdom of God. If Spiritual Gifts are truly empowered by God, then when you are exercising those there is a fulfillment and fruitfulness that is not paralleled because nothing comes close to being close to God.
I’ve had the opportunity to travel to France a handful of times and my French has never been very strong – some would say my English is not very strong either. The first time I went to the grocery store I filled up one of those baskets you carry through the store. I went through the checkout line and paid the cashier. There were plastic bags behind the counter, but after paying, my items just stayed on the counter. The cashier looked at the next customer in line. I asked in my preschool level French for a couple of bags. The lady behind the register told me I had to pay for them (which I thought was outrageous by itself.) It was pretty clear I didn’t have my own bags so I asked her why she didn’t offer me a bag and she responded “you didn’t ask.” She clearly had something that would have helped me and she knew I needed what she had. We each have something Cornerstone needs, that God’s kingdom needs. And He gave gifts to us for the common good. Don’t hold on to your plastic bags.
Some may not really understand what spiritual gifts are and some may get uncomfortable because talking about spiritual gifts can open the door to controversial topics like speaking in tongues.
Spiritual gifts are a big topic worthy of a deeper dive. There are several passages covering spiritual gifts we can point to. There are many resources and tests you can take to help uncover your gifting. But I first want each of us to recognize we have a gift we’re supposed to be using faithfully at Cornerstone. We don’t have a sign up sheet for various positions in the church in the foyer or on-line. But I encourage you first to consider how God has gifted you and then consider how you can serve within Cornerstone in the power of the gifting. This is a take-home test – it’s open book and you can ask for help. There isn’t a simple formula to figure out how we should each serve in our gifting – but I think that is a good thing. Because that causes us to dig, to pray, to draw close to God and one another, to try, to mess up and show grace, and to grow. And I think that when we exercise our gifts in a committed way towards worship, mission, and community then we’ll be successful because we’ll be faithful.
Slide 9 So what are spiritual gifts. This is one definition I think is helpful: Spiritual gifts are various supernatural capabilities …[given by] grace … to Christians by the Holy Spirit to be used to build up others and point them to Jesus. “ Chase Thompson There are various listings in different places in the New Testament and this list is not exhaustive: Prophecy, teaching, exhorting, service, leading, giving, mercy, tongues/interpretation of tongues, evangelism, administration, shepherds, apostles.
Couple of quick points on spiritual gifts so I don’t leave you completely hanging – having a talent is not the same as a spiritual gift. Public speaking is not a spiritual gift, but if you are able to evangelize or teach the congregation in a winsome, effective and supernatural way – that is. Spiritual gifts are not fruits of the spirit which we are all expected to demonstrate – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If I am not gifted in evangelism, I am not absolved from evangelism – I am still expected to share the gospel – I just won’t be a Billy Graham. However, if your gifting is teaching – don’t expect everyone else to be able to teach. But I’ll say, sometimes we don’t know we are gifted in something until we try it and what better context to try something than in a family of believers who loves you very much. Let’s also encourage one another when we see someone in their spiritual gift, because sometimes we don’t see it ourselves.
Slide 10 Pray with a clear mind, Love one another earnestly Above all, be Hospitable, serve Cornerstone in your Spiritual gifting. Let’s be faithful in these things individually, collectively as Cornerstone
I believe God has graciously given us everything we need to be successful – Holy Spirit and each other!
Slide 11 Benediction: 2nd Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Mark Pender shared this sermon with his church family, Cornerstone Congregational Church in Westford, MA, on January 10th, 2021 online.
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In December I really appreciated Jonathan’s and Andy’s messages on Success. I wanted to build off of those and take a look at how at the individual level we can position ourselves so that Cornerstone can be successful. How can you and I be the types of disciples that glorify God through Cornerstone? I am glad you asked. Slide 2 Our passage today highlights important practices that are powerful, but not new. Prayer, Love, Hospitality, and Exercising Your Spiritual Gifts.
We’re going back to Acts! We actually started our series in Acts, Outward Church, a year ago. I want to take a moment to look back, because it helps us look forward. When Jesus left his disciples and ascended into heaven he gave believers a special mission, which becomes a roadmap for Acts.
Acts 1:8 (ESV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
God is going to fill the believers to be his witnesses; first in Jerusalem, then cross-culturally in Samaria, and then to the Gentiles. We see the believers witness to those in Jerusalem as soon as the very next chapter. At pentecost the Holy Spirit descends on the believers as tongues of fire, fills them with his power, Jesus’ disciple Peter preaches the gospel and 3,000 repent and believe in Jesus. Then for the next couple chapters Peter and John get in trouble in Jerusalem as they perform miracles and preach the gospel. The gospel is spreading out from the core 12 disciples to the city and the religious powers in the city don’t like it.
Something terrible happens in Acts 7. One of their early leaders, a man named Stephen, get’s stoned to death by an angry religious mob. And here we encounter one of our first obstacles. Will Christianity come to a screeching halt, or will it persist? Can you imagine if those early believers had all been snuffed out? Would Christianity even be around today? What can keep the gospel moving forward?
Jesus actually uses the persecution itself to fulfill his plan in Acts 1:8. Persecution pushes the gospel beyond Jerusalem outward to Samaria and the ends of the earth, the Gentiles. In Acts 8, the Samaritans start coming to faith. But in order for the gospel message to make it across cultural barriers to the ends of the earth, the lands of the Gentiles, God is going to have to do something special.
First, God takes someone who is persecuting Christians and brings him to Christ—that’s Saul, or who we call Paul. God is going to use Paul to be a missionary to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. Second, God gives Peter a vision that confirms that the Gentiles are also a part of the family of God. From here the mission really starts to accelerate as the church at Antioch in Syria, sends out Barnabas and Paul, on the first missionary journey throughout the Gentile regions of Cyprus and Galatia. Many give their hearts to Christ.
At the end of Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas return from the mission field, reporting all the amazing things God has done among the Gentiles. Yes they faced trial and hardship, but God used it for good. And things just keep going more and more amazing from there. Ministry get’s easier and the mission goes smoothly. Wrong! That brings us to Acts chapter 15, the battle of the believers. The church’s leaders fight over what it takes to become a Christian. Do you have to be a Christian like me? Do you have to become Jewish to be saved?
Have you ever seen a boxing match? I’ve seen a couple on TV, but never in person. I did watch The Fighter a couple years ago, the boxing movie about Lowell’s Micky Ward. Our own Caiti and her sister Becky were extras in the Fighter for one of the fights. They filmed it at the Tsongas Center in Lowell. Someone recently told me (I think it was my dentist) that they filmed all the fight scenes over several days, and that the real boxers they hired were really sore afterwards. I don’t know if that’s true but it’s a fun story. In a boxing match, each boxer has their own corner and stool where they can rest between rounds and yell, “Cut me, Mick!” In the early church we have two corners.
Corner #1: Believing Pharisees – To be a Christian you have to become Jewish and obey the law.
Paul calls them the “Circumcision party” in Galatians. They are a group of Jews who say that to be a Christian you have to become Jewish. You have to get circumcised. Circumcision is removing some skin from newborn boys’ private parts. Starting with Abraham, it was the way God marked the Israelites as his people, and gave them a great sense of cultural and ethnic identity (Gen 17:13-14). But can you imagine if you’re a non-Jewish man who wants to believe in Jesus, or you have non-Jewish children in your family? You’re hearing about Christ, and you want to become a Christian, but people are telling you, you and your boys have to get circumcised first? No way! That would be a huge obstacle.
Corner #2: Paul & Peter – Cultural identity and law-keeping won’t save you. We’re saved by grace.
Paul and Peter don’t think you have to become Jewish to be saved. They argue that we’re saved entirely by grace, not cultural or ethnic identity, not any other thing we do. We’re saved by grace, not works.
Now like any boxing match, unless it’s a knockout, it usually goes a couple rounds. This match goes three rounds. Here’s the big argument in round one.
Round 1) You have to become cultural Jewish and obey the law to be saved. (v1-5) Here’s what happened. The Christians who are Pharisees, the pro-circumcision party, sent a delegation from southern Jerusalem up north 300 miles to Antioch. Antioch is an amazing place where Paul and Barnabas preached for a year and where Gentiles (non-Jews) are coming to faith. They’re the first church to send out missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, and seem like they’re willing to try new things and preach the gospel. They’re the young cool church. But the delegation of Pharisees doesn’t like what they’re seeing. People aren’t becoming Jewish or obeying the law. We can actually read about what these Pharisees taught in Antioch in Galatians chapter 2.
Galatians 2:4-5 (ESV)4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
Paul takes their arguments really seriously. He calls them false brothers, and says he wouldn’t yield, even for a moment. Paul describes how those pro-circumcision, pro-law, pro-Jewish identity Pharisees convinced Peter to not spend time with non-Jews anymore (v13 Barnabas was also lead astray).
Galatians 2:11-12 (ESV) 11 But when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
Why would Peter do that? Didn’t God give him a supernatural vision of clean and unclean animals coming down from heaven and God telling him to eat them all? Didn’t Peter see the non-Jewish Centurion Cornelius and his family get filled with the Holy Spirit simply by their faith in Jesus? Yes. He did. We don’t know why Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles. Maybe it was because the circumcision party convinced him that his eating with non-Jews was a stumbling block for Jews coming to faith in Christ in Jerusalem. We don’t know. But what we do know is that this is a gospel issue. Paul and Barnabas head to Jerusalem to argue their case at the Jerusalem council, a meeting of church leaders. Before they can do so the pro-circumcision party speaks.
Acts 15:5 (ESV) But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”
Do you get what they’re doing here? They’re saying Jesus + cultural identity + law-keeping (aka. circumcision) = salvation. See, what they’re doing is gatekeeping. Do you know what gatekeeping is? You ever go on reddit, the front page of the internet? They have a whole thread about gatekeeping.
Gatekeeping is when someone takes it upon themselves to decide who does or does not have access or rights to a community or identity. – reddit
People in this thread post examples of people gatekeeping each other. So, for example…
Gatekeeping Saving Lives “Saving lives? What kind of nurse are you? Are you a surgeons assistant? Not quite sure how YOU save lives.”
Wow. Gatekeeping! Or how about gatekeeping drinking coffee?
Gatekeeping Coffee Temperature “Hot Coffee is the only way to drink Coffee, not warm, not cold, and definitely NOT iced.”
This person has clearly never been to Dunkin Donuts. How about gatekeeping reading?
Gatekeeping Reading “Congratulations to anyone who read a book this year.”
“How about 29? And not two dozen 200-300 pages large font flavor of the month feel-good quickies. I’m talking about Robert Caro, Lyndon Johnson, deep dive biography, “A Promised Land,” Obama Vol 1, Robert Dallek’s Kennedy, “An Unfinished Life.” …But of course, I encourage any reading.”
Or how about this literal picture of gatekeeping?
Gatekeeping St. James’s Palace This is a picture of a Buckingham Palace Guard guarding St. James’s Palace, where the British royals live and work. In our story it’s like St. James’s Palace is the Kingdom of Heaven and the Pharisees are the guards. The big black gate is Jewish cultural identity and the law. Instead of opening wide the gate because Christ Jesus fulfilled the law, they’ve shut it (Matt 5:17). Instead of recognizing the gospel is for the non-culturally Jewish, they are saying, “You have to match our cultural identity to get in.” So here’s my question:
Do we ever “gatekeep” Christianity? What are the cultural and identity markers that we say, “If you’re this way, you’re a real Christian.” How might we be erecting a new type of law for non-believers to follow before coming to Jesus? It’s easy to erect well-intentioned gates that keep people from faith in Christ. I think they start in fear. If they don’t become Jewish, we’ll be sent into exile again. If they don’t become a Christian like me, they won’t really be saved.
How about gates we unintentionally erect? Do we require people to dress like us? Or listen to the same kind of Christian music as us? How about worship like us, quiet, with our arms down? Or speak the same language? We would never intentionally exclude anyone, but if we are not intentional about addressing our gates, we’re going to end up excluding more than we realize. Our Arrabon course this fall talked about the 70% rule—that if we are comfortable 70% of the time, we’re doing something wrong. In other words, if my cultural preferences are winning out all the time, that will naturally exclude others with different preferences.
How about voting like us? We just got through an election season. Do you believe that to be a Christian you have to be a Democrat? Or do you believe the reverse? That to be a Christian you have to be a Republican? That’s gatekeeping. Jesus isn’t a Republican or a Democrat (Josh 5:13-15). He’s on his own side.
How about young-earth creationism vs. evolution? I believe you can be a Christian whether you believe the earth was created 4.5 billion years ago and evolution is true or you believe God created the earth in a literal 24 7-hour-long days. You see what I did there? It frustrates me when I hear that people won’t believe in Jesus because they can’t believe the earth was created 4,000 years ago. Great! I don’t think the Bible says that either. When we insist that you have to believe in a young earth, that’s gatekeeping.
Do you ever gatekeep yourself? I know it’s about believing in Jesus, but really, I have to be a good person for God to love me. If only I can be better, then I’ll really get to heaven. That’s Jesus + works = salvation. How many of the ways we think we need to be better are rooted in cultural identity? If only I read my Bible more, I’d be a better Christian. The Bible wasn’t mass-produced till the printing press was invented in the 15th century. Was everyone before then a bad Christian? Don’t let a good thing, Bible reading and prayer, become gatekeeping. Isn’t the point to know Jesus, not beat yourself up? Jesus doesn’t gatekeep you that way. Why should you?
It’s so easy to erect well-intentioned gates that actually keep us from coming to faith in Christ Jesus. It’s tough because we have to discern “What’s a gatekeeping issue?” and “What’s a gospel issue?” Peter can help us figure it out. Round two of our boxing match.
Round 2) We are not saved by cultural identity or by works but by God’s grace. (v6-11) Peter gets up and recounts how God used him to share the gospel with the non-Jews (v7). And then to prove that he accepted the Gentiles, God poured his Holy Spirit on them (Acts 10:44-48). He cleansed their hearts through faith, not cultural identity, not works (v9). We couldn’t keep God’s law. Why should we expect them to (v10)? Then he sums up his argument:
Acts 10:11 (ESV) 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
His argument, and he knows what he’s talking about, is the grace of Jesus = salvation. You don’t need to become culturally Jewish to be saved. Neither do you need to become culturally Christian to be saved. Believing in Christian values won’t save you. Believing in Christ will save you. Neither do you need to do good works in order to be saved (Eph 2:8-9). Paul actually addresses this in Galatians chapter 2.
Galatians 2:16 (ESV) yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Paul and Peter want to make it very clear that we’re not saved by works or cultural identity but by God’s grace. We’re saved, then we do good works as a kind of fruit of our salvation (Eph 2:10). But God doesn’t measure our good deeds vs. our bad deeds to see if our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds, and then if they do you get into heaven. That’s not how it works. Why? Because Christ Jesus paid the penalty for our sin on the cross. He paid for it completely. He doesn’t need his blood plus your good deeds or your cultural identity to transform your life. He just needs his blood. His blood opened wide the way of salvation. We are not saved by cultural identity or by works but by God’s grace. God’s grace will transform us.
You know in boxing matches when they have that final knockout round? Or at least, that seems what it’s like in the movies. Here’s our knockout.
Round 3) God always planned to save the Gentiles by faith. (v12-21) The crowd hears Peter and goes silent. Then James, the brother of Jesus and leader of the church, speaks.
Acts 15:13b-17 (ESV) “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon (Simon Peter’s first name in Hebrew) has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,
16 “‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, 17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’
James quotes Amos 9:11-12 that says God always planned to rebuild king David’s nation, the Israelites. He always planned to build the people of God through the Gentiles (Amos: “all the Gentiles”). They too shall be “called by my name.” That’s astounding. That means it was always God’s plan to create one people out of Jew and non-Jew through faith in Jesus Christ. That means to become a Christian you don’t have to become Jewish, you have to become a Christ-follower. You have to know Jesus, nothing more, nothing less. You have to “call” on his name, the name of Jesus, an act of faith.
This is why in the last chapter of Galatians Paul calls the church “the Israel of God.” The church is the fulfillment of Israel, God’s ultimate plan coming to fruition. This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have a special plan to rescue the Jewish people. I believe we will see a mass conversion of the Jewish people to faith in Christ before Christ returns (Romans 11:25-26). But it’s not Christians who have to become Jewish, but Jewish people who need to become Christians, followers of Jesus Christ.
So who wins the battle of the believers? Do the Pharisees win? Does Paul win?
Grace wins. To be saved you don’t need to become one cultural identity or another. You don’t need to have your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds. You need to be forgiven by Jesus. And it’s amazing how even at the end of the passage God shows grace to the believing Pharisees, to the circumcision party. James get’s up and says that the Gentiles should “abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.” (v20) The non-Jews are to respect the Jewish customs, but understand that those things won’t save them. That’s a cultural compromise, but not a gospel compromise. Grace still wins.
Grace means receiving a gift we don’t deserve. Have you received it? That’s what salvation is. It’s a gift. If you feel like you have to align with certain cultural markers before you can become a Christian, it’s not true. Or if you’ve been working to earn your salvation, if you’ve been trying to be good for God to love you, it’s not true. Jesus loves you and forgives you for your sins. Believe in him. Grace wins.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
Why do you think most people think you need to be a good person to go to heaven? Why does the Bible tell us being good enough isn’t good enough? What sort of culturally identity-markers do you think make it hard for people to believe? Why don’t cultural identity markers matter? Do you ever “gatekeep” Christianity for yourself or others? How so? How does the Bible say we can be saved? Why is the Bible’s offer of salvation really good news (aka. gospel)? Do you believe this gospel message? What makes you excited about it? Who can you share the gospel with this week?
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We’re going back to Acts! We actually started our series in Acts, Outward Church, a year ago. I want to take a moment to look back, because it helps us look forward. When Jesus left his disciples and ascended into heaven he gave believers a special mission, which becomes a roadmap for Acts. Acts 1:8 (ESV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all
I love Christmas lights. After Thanksgiving my wife and I decorated our front yard with Christmas lights. We actually got into a bit of a contest. She decorated the bushes on one side of the house, and I decorated the other side. Which side you think is better? That’s right. The right side! My side. Now which house do you think is better? Our house? Or this house in Wilmington that won $50,000 for their Christmas lights display? They won ABC’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight.” Tim Keller says (you guys know I like Tim Keller, right?), “[Christmas] lights are not just decorative; they are symbolic.” What do these lights symbolize? What do they tell us about Christmas?
Lights being symbolic of Christmas actually pre-dates the birth of Jesus. 700 years before the birth of Jesus, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah said God was going to send his light into the darkness.
Isaiah 9:2 (ESV) The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
What does this mean? What does it mean that the people were “walking in darkness”?
Humankind lived in a state of darkness. (Isaiah 8:19-22) The people Isaiah prophesied to were living in a state of darkness and alienation from God. They were blinded by their sin, but they didn’t realize it. It was like they were colorblind, but they didn’t know it. They couldn’t see God’s truth. They only saw their truth, which wasn’t truth at all. Isaiah says of the people:
Isaiah 8:19-20 (ESV) 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
If the light is symbolic of Christ, the darkness is symbolic of control, emptiness and anger.
1. Control The people in Isaiah’s time had access to God. They could go to the temple and pray and offer sacrifices, but instead they choose to go to “mediums and the necromancers.” They’d rather talk to the dead instead of the living God. It’s because they don’t want to hear what God has to say. They don’t want to submit themselves to “the teaching and the testimony.” If they go to God, they have to do it God’s way. It’s much easier to try and get control over the spirit world, and do life on their terms. Whenever we approach God to get what we want out of him, whenever we think we can bend God to our will, we confirm that we’re living in darkness.
For some of you, that’s really hard to hear. You want to be in control of your life. You want to be in charge. Have you ever seen those commercials that say something like, “Give the gift of health this Christmas?” Maybe it’s for the newest Fitbit or Peloton or filtered water-bottle. You know what those commercials are really saying, “You’re fat but we can help with that.” That could be Peloton’s slogan, “You’re fat but we can help with that.” Or… you could take charge of your fitness by ignoring gyms for the rest of your life and never going to your doctor’s office. Isn’t that what we kind of do with God? I don’t want to know if I’m spiritually unhealthy, so I won’t go to church, or if I do, I won’t really let the Spirit move. I’ll get in and get out before he can catch me. That’s living in a state of darkness. When we ignore God’s teachings so that we can live in the outer-regions of our spirituality, we’re lost. That will leave us empty and angry.
Isaiah 8:21-22 (ESV) 21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
The darkness is symbolic of control, but also emptiness.
2. Emptiness Those walking in darkness are “greatly distressed and hungry…” If you’re hungry, if you’re never satisfied, if you’re stumbling around looking for something to satiate you, you might be in the darkness. This is especially true at Christmas time because Christmas is all about hungering for the next best thing, a new car, the newest game console, the newest styles. Those things might fill that inner hunger for a bit, but the hunger pangs come back. Charlie Brown get’s it. Lucy tells him Christmas is “a big commercial racket” run by “a big eastern syndicate.” Something about the way the world operates leaves us empty. That’s darkness. Charlie yearned for the true light of Christmas. Linus got it when he reads about the birth of Christ. The darkness is symbolic of control, emptiness, and sadly…
3. Anger The people look up to heaven and are “enraged” and they “speak contemptuously against their king and their God…” Intrinsically, we know that when things don’t go our way, it’s God’s fault. That’s why there must not be a God, because a good God would always see things my way, right? So we get angry, wound ourselves, and wound others. Do you find yourself always trying to be in control and yet feeling empty, even angry? That’s a sign you need Christ. You need Jesus’ light.
Maybe you think you can fix yourself on your own? I love Christmas lights, but I can never fix them when they go out. Have you ever tried to fix a light strand when a bulb goes out? What’s the trick? Some of the strands at my house are about halfway burnt out. I tried replacing the first bulb with one of the extras they give you in a tiny plastic bag, but I’ve never been successful. Just like I’ve never been able to fix my lights when they break, I’ll never be able to fix my need for control, my emptiness, and my anger. When we try, we just make the problem worse. We need a light, a solution, external to ourselves. We need light from the outside. That’s why I pray, “Lord would you give me joy?” We remember the light of Christ as we sing:
Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting light The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
Bethlehem gave us that light.
God sent his light into our darkness. (Isaiah 9:2, 6) There was nothing and there is nothing we can do to fix our problems, to turn on the light, so God sent his light into our world.
Isaiah 9:2 (ESV) The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
We’ve seen a great light. God sends his light into the world to save anyone trapped in an endless battle for control, broken with emptiness, or filled with anger. God sent his light into our darkness. What kind of light has shone? The light of a baby.
Isaiah 9:6 (ESV) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
We did nothing. We were in the night, in our sin, in ignorance. We didn’t build fires. We didn’t evolve into better human beings. We didn’t solve world hunger or create world peace. But somehow the light still came. That’s because God sent his light in the form of a baby, a son.
“A child is born” In the Old Testament, whenever God showed up, it was sometimes terrifying but always dangerous. He came as a smoking fire pot to Abraham, as a pillar of cloud and fire to Moses, and as a raging storm with smoke and thunder on top of Mount Sinai (listen to Timothy Keller’s 1991 advent sermon on Christmas). God is dangerous, un-contained, fiery hot. But here, God contains himself, God is still dangerous, but he’s also safe. He’s like Aslan from Narnia, not safe, but good. God becomes a baby.
“The government shall be upon his shoulder” He’s not just any baby. He’s king. All the weight and hope of the world rests on him.
“Wonderful Counselor… Prince of Peace” He shows us compassion. He’s our “Wonderful Counselor,” our “Prince of Peace.”
Why is he called a “counselor”? When you are going through something very difficult, it’s good to talk to someone who has walked the same path, who knows personally what you have been going through. If God has really been born in a manger, then we have something that no other religion even claims to have. It’s a God who truly understands you, from the inside of your experience. There’s no other religion that says God has suffered, that God had to be courageous, that he knows what it is like to be abandoned by friends, to be crushed by injustice, to be tortured and die. Christmas shows he knows what you’re going through. When you talk to him, he understands. Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ by Timothy Keller.
God understands what it’s like to live in darkness because he came and lived in our darkness and then bore our darkness on the cross. He did this to give us his light.
“Mighty God, Everlasting Father” While the Son of God may become a baby, a baby does not become God. Jesus is still that fiery pot, that cloud of fire and smoke, that raging storm. He deserves our worship. He is God in the flesh and nothing but absolute devotion is appropriate.
A couple weeks ago our power went out for several hours and it really scared Elijah. He was really frightened so we lit up a whole bunch of candles and set them around the kitchen and in the bathroom. That helped, but what really made him feel better was watching… Daniel Tiger. Daniel is kind and good. But we should never forget. He’s still a tiger. He could rip you limb from limb. I want to see the PBS episode where Daniel Tiger takes down his first antelope. That’s the kind of light God sent his light into this world.
What will you do with Jesus, the light of the world? (John 8:12) You know how every gospel account opens differently? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? The Gospel of John, chapter one, opens by identifying Jesus as the light.
John 1:5 (ESV) The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
It talks about Jesus as the light all the way through verse 9 (see John 1:5-13). But in chapter 8 Jesus actually identifies himself as “the light of the world.”
John 8:12 (ESV) Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
So there’s an implication here. What will you do with the Jesus, the light of the world? Will you stay in your own darkness, or turn from yourself, and step into the light of Christ Jesus? Will you repent and believe and receive the “light of life?” Or will you stay in the dark?
I really love all the Christmas lights out this time of year. I was admiring all the Christmas lights as I was driving to CrossFit. Did you really think I was going to get through this sermon without mentioning CrossFit? Timothy Keller and CrossFit. These are a few of my favorite things.
I love seeing the golden yellow strands wrapped around trees, multi-colored Christmas light displays, and any sort of Christmas lights. But no matter how many lights I plug in, even if lights hurt my eyes like that guy’s house from Wilmington, it’s still not the dawn. All the Christmas lights in the world can’t make it day. Only God can do that. And one day, he will. The darkness will flee and the Son will light up the night sky for all eternity. The dawn will come with Christ forever and ever and ever. Merry Christmas. Let’s pray.
John 8:12 (ESV) Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. You can also listen on Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What does it mean to be in a state of darkness? What is the darkness? What ways do we typically try to get out of the darkness? How did God send light into our world? What is so special about this light? How will you respond to God’s light sent into this world, Jesus?
Sources Keller, Timothy. “God with Us: Matthew 1:18-25” Youtube. Published August 10, 2015. Accessed December 10, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEvGGG297yg&t=1658s.
Keller, Timothy. Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ. New York: Penguin Publishing Group, 2016. Kindle.
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I love Christmas lights. After Thanksgiving my wife and I decorated our front yard with Christmas lights. We actually got into a bit of a contest. She decorated the bushes on one side of the house, and I decorated the other side. Which side you think is better? That’s right. The right side! My side. Now which house do you think is better? Our house? Or this house in Wilmington that won $50,000 for their Christmas lights display? They won
Sermon Acts 2:46-47 | Outward Church: What is a Successful Church? 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. The unit of thought starts at verse 42 or perhaps back at the beginning of the chapter/book. Subject: What is a Successful Church Compliment: The Church
Sermon Acts 2:46-47 | Outward Church: What is a Successful Church?
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
The unit of thought starts at verse 42 or perhaps back at the beginning of the chapter/book.
Subject: What is a Successful Church
Compliment: The Church is people committed to community, worship, and mission together.
Homiletical Idea: Being the church requires commitment and participation.
Introduction
I’ve been thinking, reading, listening, and praying about something for a long time. Years. Over this time, I will occasionally share something with Jonathan or one of the elders, and several weeks ago I did just that when Jonathan called me to talk about something else. When I mentioned this to him, he asked me if I would want to preach on that in December, that it would probably fit in the Acts series. It takes a lot of faith and trust in me, and in God, to hand over the pulpit without any preview of what I am going to say. Especially so given the topic. I was not eager to preach this sermon, but I was willing. So, I agreed. I know God’s been teaching me things, but I wasn’t certain that the message he was giving me was for the church as a whole. Now, I am more certain that there is a good chance God has given me this message to share with the church. Last week’s sermon by Jonathan helped me feel more confident as he prepared the way for this sermon without even knowing it.
Last week, Jonathan’s sermon was titled, what is a successful mission? Today’s sermon is titled, what is a successful church? During that sermon he touched on what he called the three B’s used to measure church success by many people. Can anyone remember what the three B’s are? Buildings, Budgets, and Bottoms. I agree with Jonathan that those are not the best metrics to measure the success of a mission or a church. They are probably really good metrics if you are measuring a business, a university, a theater group, etc… What is a successful church? I think it is impossible to define the success of something until you define the thing itself. So, what is the church? Not a church, but the church. We all know the big white building with a steeple in the center of a quaint New England town is a called a church regardless of the last time it housed the church. So, what is the church? I don’t mean the universal church, the bridge of Christ, that is made up of all believers of all places and all times. So, what is the local church? What makes it a church? What makes it different from other groups of people?
Anyone have any thoughts?
Acts 2:46-47 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Look at those verses on the screen or in your Bible. Do those two verses about the early believers give more insight into what it means to be the church?
Sometimes it is helpful to define things by looking at what they are not.
If we strip away all the things that are not essential to the church, what are we left with? What are the things that if we removed them, would cause us to no longer be a church? Brian Sanders calls this the irreducible minimum of the church and defines it as this: worship, community, and mission. There is a fourth thing that isn’t in the list, but implied; commitment.
If we look at the verses, we see that every day they continued… that is a commitment. Every day. What were they doing every day? …meeting together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together… that is community. Next it says they were praising God – worship. And finally, it tells us that God was adding to their number – mission.
Worship
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Just like the word church, where most people with think of a building or a place, worship is restricted by an immediate thought of singing. This leads to the thinking that a church is a place that fills with people for an hour of weekly worship. Even the term worship team always bothers me, as does worship leader. We really mean music team, song leader, etc… Worship is certainly singing praise to God, but it is so much more. The church must be filled with true and proper worshippers – those who offer their lives as a living sacrifice. I told you commitment wasn’t one of the three things but implied throughout. Talk about commitment – offering your bodies as a living sacrifice. That’s the worship God wants and expects. If worship is reduced to singing and preaching for an hour a week, what is the power of the church? If worship is each member of a church committing to living the way of Jesus and surrendering in response to God’s mercy each and every day – do you see the power in that church? A group of people without worship, no matter how tight the bond or unified the mission, is not a church. If it were, the fire station would be a church, the football team would be a church, CrossFit might be a church…
Community
John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Our deepest longing is for a place where we are loved and known. A place where we belong. The church is not the church without building deep and sincere relationships. Being known can also be one of our biggest fears, and it is the large, anonymous versions of church with optional or no community that allow us to go to church without being the church. But, you see, this deep love and community Jesus called us to have for one another is not just live giving for those of us in the church, it is the very thing that should identify us as followers of Jesus and make us attractive to the world around us. We are called to be a new family – brothers and sisters; mothers and fathers.
Matthew 12:48-50 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”. The church should be attractive to the outcasts, the fatherless, those without friends or family. A place to belong.
Mission
God is a missionary God. He sent his son to save us, to establish his kingdom. Jesus called his followers to be an ecclesia, an assembly, a church. Jesus said I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matthew 16:18b) Jesus established and builds the church, not man. Remember that someone tells you they believe in God but not the church. Since God is a missionary God and has been on mission for a long time. Our mission is His mission. He graciously, through Jesus, has allowed us to take part in growing his Kingdom. Jesus called us salt and light.
Salt preserves. It stops decay. We are to work to slow and stop of the decay of the world around us. What do you see that is rotting? How can you help? We are called to be light. Can you think of some dark places we can shine some light?
Think about this. The church was not given a mission. The mission was given a church. If that is true, then it is inarguable that a church that is not on mission, is not a church. A group of people with community and worship but not on mission are like salt that has lost its saltiness. Jesus says that is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled. I wonder if that is the picture of the lukewarm church described in Revelation? Gathering together, worshipping, but useless to the rotting and dark world around them.
Being the Church requires commitment and participation.
When we planted Cornerstone, I, like many others set out to create a church perhaps with flawed understanding of what a church is. I went to Immanuel for more than 30 years before helping to start Cornerstone. So perhaps I was trying to help establish more a model of Immanuel, with a few things tweaked for perceived improvement, or a few things left out due to lack of people or funding. I remember so many conversations I was involved in that looked forward to the day we had 100 people or more, because then we would have the people to really function as a church. And growing from there would be inevitable with the children’s program, youth program, outreach team, nursery, VBS, etc. None of those things are bad, but they are not the core of the church. They are not what a church should be measured against for success.
As I saw our attendance not grow, hold steady, and slowly decline over a several year period, I was discouraged at times. Each time a family left, it was hard. When we opened our house and pool for several dates in the summer of 2019, and the response was very low, I was sad. We thought about leaving the church for the same reasons so many other people leave churches. But, I couldn’t stop thinking that you don’t leave your family.
God started showing me that being small is not bad. In fact, it is good. I’m not going to bother to argue it is better, but it is enough to believe it is good.
A large church is expected to be well run and flawless, like a machine. They strive for perfection in worship, communication, publications, and experience. When they fall short, they are criticized. If you commit to production and performance excellence and come up short, it is a failure. Yet, if you are committed to being small, simple, humble, and pure, when you come up short you are simply reminding people of who you are. Being small should remove so much pressure. We expect perfection out of inanimate objects, but all living things have flaws. The church is a living thing, and its flaws are part of its beauty. Paul reminds us that in our weakness the strength of God is perfected (2 Corinthians 12:9). Large churches cannot accomplish community without small groups. In fact, some would say their small groups is where real church happens as real relationships can build. We can have community in our Sunday morning gathering, or any other gathering of Cornerstone. I think community has been one of our strengths from day one. Remember pre-COVID and back to our Saturday evening service. There were 40 people here 45 minutes after the service talking, snacking, praying, playing, etc… Jesus taught that great things come from something very small. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Sixty percent of churches in America have fewer than 75 people. Remember God used persecution to spread out the early believers, so they didn’t have one big church in Jerusalem. His plan is to reach every nook and cranny of the world with the Gospel, not to have Christians gathering together by the thousands. The early church was small and met in homes. The thriving churches in persecuted nations today are small and meet in homes. Small things must rely on the power of God, and when great things happen, they must give credit to God. Large and powerful things tend to forget their need for God, and they often fall into the trap of thinking they accomplished things with their resources or power.
With all of that laid out, I want to share what I believe to be a prophetic word. Hear it, test it, examine it. I am not 100% sure, but sure enough that I am going to deliver it.
The story God kept bringing to my mind was the story of Gideon and his army defeating the Midianites. If you remember, Gideon had an army of 32,000 men, and they were outnumbered by more than 4-1. God told Gideon he had too many men. That when he (God) defeated the Midianites, Israel would boast and take credit. So, 22,000 men left, and Gideon was down to 10,000 men. Do you remember what God said? Still too many men. God then whittled Gideon’s army down to 300 men. Then God was satisfied. 300 against more than 128000. No one could claim credit for God’s victory there.
We are in a battle too. Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Previously in Ephesians 3:10-11, Paul said this about the church “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is our function as salt and light.
Here is something amazing to me. Our average attendance (pre-COVID) was 61 people. Do you know that gives us almost exactly the same odds Gideon had as compared to the population of Westford.
I believe God has this message for us today: You are exactly the size I want you to be, and if I make you smaller, it will be for my glory. Small things are great in the Kingdom of God. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. Be the church. Love one another as I have loved you. Join me in my mission. Worship me truly and properly by offering your bodies as living sacrifices. The metrics don’t matter, the commitment does.
Benediction: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.””
To see our whole sermon series on Ministry Success, click here.
Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or just the sermon on YouTube.
My friend got hired at a retail company to work in their software department. This company does most of their retail online and they use a very specific software to sell their products. My friend has a lot of experience in software and about six months in he recognized that there was a serious problem with this company’s software. The software worked fine, but it had a fatal flaw that left its users personal data vulnerable to theft. The only problem was that the problem was so ingrained in the software that they would have to rebuild it from the ground up, costing the company millions of dollars.
When my friend approached management about this issue they agreed it was a problem, but when they took it to their company executives, they ignored the problem. Pretty soon he began to hear rumors that upper management was not pleased with him and his work. Pretty soon some of his coworkers began to give him the cold shoulder for fear of losing their own jobs. Some of his coworkers recognized the problem, and wanted to address it, but before he could do anything the executives fired him.
But the executives didn’t stop there. When my friend got to his next company, things seemed to go really well for him. The company really liked him. They even celebrated his expertise. But then the executives at his last company sent his new employers false reports; and the rumors started happening again. He got fired from this company too. He thought about suing his employers, but decided as a Christian, he didn’t want to do that. So now he’s out of a job, but for some reason it doesn’t bother him. Instead, he celebrates what he was able to accomplish at both jobs, and how he was able to help make some changes. He trusts God will take care of both situations.
What do you think? Was he a success? Or a failure? By most external factors, he was a failure. He got fired and chased out of multiple companies. His reputation was sunk. But he spoke the truth and tried to do what was right. If you haven’t guessed it by now, my friend is a loose allegory of the Apostle Paul. This is a creative re-telling of Acts 14 in the modern world. No, Paul wasn’t a software engineer, but he did speak the gospel truth and get cast out of town because of it.
At the beginning of Acts 14 Paul and Barnabas go into a city. They preach the gospel—the message of forgiveness and grace through Christ Jesus. They even performs signs and wonders. But the Gentile and Jewish leaders mistreat them, throw rocks at them, and they flee to the next city. But then those same people track Paul and Barnabas down in Lystra and convince the locals to stone Paul and drag him out of the city. Paul did the right thing. He preached the gospel message. And he nearly lost it all.
So my big question today is, “What is a successful mission?” By all outward factors, Paul seems like a bit of a failure here. He’s chased out of the cities where he’s supposed to be starting churches, and yet, at the end of the chapter Barnabas and Paul throw a party to celebrate what God has accomplished. They go back to Antioch where it all started in Acts 13:1-3 and it says this:
Acts 14:27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. (ESV)
I think if we can understand what makes their missionary effort a success, it will help us assess how we are doing as a church to reach our mission. Our mission is “to make, mature, and multiply followers of Jesus” and our vision is to “change lives” with the gospel in Westford. I don’t want to assume we’re successful or not successful. Rather, I want to better understand what can make our mission a success. We find that out by going back to see what happened in Paul and Barnabas’s first missionary journey. Here’s the big events:
Acts 13:4-12 | On Cyprus Paul confronts a magician, blinds him, and a local government leader believes.
Paul performs a miracle and someone in power comes to Christ. That seems like a success.
Acts 13:13-52 | Paul preaches to the Jews in Antioch in Pisidia, but after initial interest, even drawing a large crowd, the Jews reject him. The Gentiles believe and the word spreads. The leaders of the city drive them out. Paul and Barnabas shake off the dust on their feet as judgment against them as they leave.
This seems successful in some aspects and a failure in others. Some people come to Christ, but they’re driven out of the city. How about today’s text?
Acts 14:1-7 | They come to Iconium, they preach, and both Jews and Greeks believe. But unbelievers poison the majority against them. They persevere for a long time, but after an attempted stoning, they leave.
People come to Christ, but then they get chased out of the city. Success? Maybe not in man’s eyes, but in God’s judgment, it seems so.
Acts 14:8-18 | They go to Lystra, a small backwater city. Paul heals a cripple but the people think he and Barnabas are Zeus and Hermes so they start worshipping them. Paul and Barnabas tear their garments and insist they’re not the one true God. Creation testifies of God.
A miracle and healing is a supernatural sign of God’s power. Success, right? But then the people think they’re gods. I learned this this week:
Lystra had a temple to Zeus, its patron god. According to a local legend, these same gods, Zeus and Hermes, once descended to this region disguised as humans seeking lodging. Though they asked a thousand homes, none took them in. Finally, at a humble cottage of straw and reeds, an elderly couple, Philemon and Baucis, freely welcomed them with a banquet. In appreciation, the gods transformed the cottage into a temple and appointed Philemon and Baucis priests and priestess. Then they sent a flood to destroy the homes of the inhospitable people who had turned them away (Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.626 – 724). – NIV Zondervan Study Bible (Acts 14:12 note)
So Paul unintentionally attracts false worship to himself. Although outwardly having this huge celebration looks successful, in reality this was probably their least successful mission location. But Paul does take this chance to tell them that all of creation testifies of God. Right after this they get chased out again.
Acts 14:19-23 | Then opposition comes from the previous cities, Antioch and Iconium, persuade the crowds against them, and stone Paul. He survives and goes to Derbe where he preaches the gospel and makes disciples. Then they return to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the disciples, encouraging them, and appointing leaders.
They get chased out of town again but raise up disciples and leaders. When I worked for the fish-tank cleaning company, success was how many tanks you could clean in a day combined with not killing fish or flooding houses… I only killed about a dozen fish once, and I also flooded the waiting room of a medical center. Not my most successful day. They flood the region of Galatia with the gospel, and it’s a success.
Acts 14:24-28 | They return to Antioch, celebrating what God has done, and stay there for a long time.
Was this missions trip a success or failure? How do we as churches typically measure if we’re succeeding? The three B’s: budget, building, and bodies. If we have a healthy budget, a nice building, and lots of bodies filling the chairs, we look pretty successful. But would Paul and Barnabas meet any of those measures? No buildings, maybe a small budget, some bodies believe, and others want to kill them. I was reading an author recently who pointed out we shouldn’t judge the success or failure of something based on its immediate results. Rather, as believers, “its significance is only found in eternity.” (The Liturgy of Politics, p. 160). We’ll let God judge what is a success and what’s not.
However, does that means there’s nothing left to tell us if we’re heading in the right direction? No, we can still evaluate what we’re doing based on if it matches up with faithfully following the mission God has given us. So instead of asking, “What is a successful mission?” maybe we should ask, “What is a faithful mission?” I want to pull out five principles of a faithful mission from our passage today:
1. Bold sharing of the gospel message. Wherever Paul and Barnabas go, they share the gospel message. They share that Jesus came to save sinners like you and me. They share that he died and rose again to redeem us and to create a brand new people called the church. Christ pays for our lives and our lives are counted in his. We get his perfection and he renews us. As the church, we are being transformed into a different kind of people, a resurrection kind of people that believe God can raise the dead and change hearts. The primary way God applies that gospel message to people is by them hearing it, when we share, and their believing.
How are we doing this as a church? Are we being faithful because I try to include a gospel presentation in every single sermon I preach? Are we boldly sharing the gospel message just by doing church in Westford and live-streaming on Facebook? I don’t think so. When Paul and Barnabas went into a city, they went to the synagogue, which was a place for Jews to worship, read the Scripture, and debate. So while there are some similarities with a church, churches typically have many people who already believe in Jesus, Synagogues did not. Synagogues had people who were much more familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures, but who also rejected Jesus.
So to be faithful to our mission we need to be sharing the gospel with non-Christians on a regular basis. This is why I’m so excited about potentially doing the Christmas Eve service on the Westford Common. We’ll be outside our own walls, hopefully sharing Christ with our neighbors and the community. This is why I participated in the Westford Interfaith service at Thanksgiving, to boldly share the gospel with those who don’t yet believe. Please pray for which friend you could invite.
How about you? At Cornerstone we believe God places us each on a frontline, a place where we are called to share the gospel with our friends, neighbors, and family members. When might you boldly share the gospel with someone you already know and love? What else makes a faithful mission?
2. Enduring on mission despite opposition. Paul and Barnabas faced so much opposition—Elymas the magician, Jews and Gentiles who wanted to stone them, being chased out of cities. In Acts it even says some people poisoned other people’s minds.
Acts 14:2-3a But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord (ESV)
Have you ever had someone else poison other peoples’ minds about you? It didn’t make it a pleasant place to be, did it. And yet Paul and Barnabas endure because they care more about preaching the gospel. They keep doing what God has called them to do, no matter what. We too need to endure on the mission God has given us even when we face hardship, suffering, and trial.
Keller tells a [story] about two men who were both convicted of serious crimes and given long sentences. As they began their time in prison, one prisoner was told that his wife and son had died. The other knew that his wife and daughter were still alive. How do you think that affected their experience while they were in prison? The guy who heard the news that his wife and son had died, after about two years of wasting away, ultimately died in prison. The other prisoner, who knew that his wife and daughter were still alive, endured the harsh conditions of the prison and was freed ten years later to be reunited to his family (page 314). – Micah for You
What couldn’t you endure if you knew that the Savior of the humankind had risen from the grave and one day soon you would be united with him? Endure on mission despite opposition.
3. Humility in selves, but confidence in Spirit. Even though Paul and Barnabas get rejected, Acts 13:52 says they “were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” (ESV) They are so filled Paul performs miracles in many of the places they go; in Cyprus (Acts 13:11), in Iconium (Acts 14:3), and in Lystra (Acts 14:10). One of the commentaries I read by N.T. Wright talked about the highs and lows of Christian mission. Without the lows, we won’t experience the highs. Without the rejection, the opposition, the suffering, we’re never going to cry out so much to God that he gives us signs and wonders. We don’t see God work because it’s more comfortable to stay in that safe middle space where we don’t ask much of God and he doesn’t ask much of us. What if, like my mentor says, “I set no expectations for myself or others; but I set high expectations for God”?
One of the ways we show our confidence in the Spirit is by praying. I’m excited about this homeless ministry Christmas opportunity, but I also want to cover it in prayer. If you can’t be there for it, would you sign up to pray for it? It’s about two hours long. Maybe we can get four people to sign up for 30 minute time slots so we’re constantly covering it in prayer. The third mark of a faithful mission is humility in selves but confidence in the Spirit. The fourth is…
4. Seeking the kingdom, not the three B’s. What matters most is the kingdom of God, not bigger buildings, budgets, or more bodies. Paul and Barnabas plant churches then they move. They’re not interested in building their empires, but God’s kingdom.
I’ve been joining is some pastor group discussions lately where we talk about the greater need in our region. The Pew Research Center reports that about 9% of people in Massachusetts are Protestant Evangelicals. There are about 1,612,000 people living in Middlesex County (12/3/20). If only 9% of them have a saving relationship in Jesus, that’s 150,000 people. That means an estimated 1,500,000 people don’t know Jesus. A million and a half people need Jesus in our county. How can we make sure they have an opportunity to hear the gospel, at least once? It’s going to take working with other churches and ministries to make it happen.
If we narrow our focus to Westford, 9% of 22,000 is about 2,000 people. That means about 20,000 people need to hear about Jesus here. We could invite another twenty churches and ministries to come plant in Westford, and still have plenty of room to breathe. Let’s focus on building the kingdom of God.
5. Discipleship and leadership development. Before Paul and Barnabas head home on their missionary journey they risk seeing some of the churches they just planted one more time. They go back through the cities that rejected them, even the ones that tried to stone him. But it’s worth it because they want to do discipleship and raise up leaders.
Acts 14:21-23 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. (ESV)
This doesn’t mean it will be easy. They say how they’ve suffered during their mission, but then they rejoice. They raise up other disciples and God does amazing things. If we’re feeling nervous about our building, our budget, or our bodies, let’s put extra effort into our discipleship and leadership development. One pastor asked this question recently:
What’s our definition of a disciple? What’s our plan for making one of those? Is our plan working? How would we know?”
We made a discipleship pathway. Are we using it? Is it working? Are we making disciples? Really, discipleship and leadership development needs to be a part of everything we do in our church. The Elders need to be raising up the next generation of Elders. The Deacons need to be raising up the next generation of Deacons. Our worship team, youth team, and children’s teams need to be raising up the next generation of leaders within those ministries. I really want us to commit to praying about that and seeking out opportunities. Who might your team raise up? So what are the five principles of a faithful mission?
Bold sharing of the gospel message. Share Jesus on your frontline. Let’s preach Jesus on the common. Enduring on mission despite opposition. When things get hard, keep going. Humility in selves but confidence in Spirit. Let’s saturate it all in prayer. Seeking the kingdom, not the three B’s. Let’s have a greater vision for our town and county. Let’s not collect but commit to growing the kingdom. Discipleship and leadership development. What’s our definition of a disciple? What’s our plan for making one of those? Is our plan working? How would we know?
As we look at these principles, it redefines trying to be successful to trying to be faithful, and trusting God with the results. Let’s pray.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him all creatures here below Praise Him above ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references. You can also listen on Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What makes a ministry or our mission appear like a success or failure? How is appearance different than being faithful to the mission? What ways can you be faithful to where God has placed you? How does the gospel help us be faithful?
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To see our whole sermon series on Ministry Success, click here.
My friend got hired at a retail company to work in their software department. This company does most of their retail online and they use a very specific software to sell their products. My friend has a lot of experience in software and about six months in he recognized that there was a serious problem with this company’s software. The software worked fine, but it had a fatal flaw that left its users personal data vulnerable to theft. The only
Elijah loves Dora the Explorer. When he goes to bed, he almost always asks for a “Dora story.” So I sit down and I tell Elijah a story about Dora going on an adventure. There’s only one problem. Although I’ve been telling Dora stories for months, up until last Tuesday, I’d never actually watched an episode of Dora the Explorer. So everything I told Elijah was based on what I’d heard Monica tell him, what I’d seen here or there in snippets, or what I just made up. I didn’t understand Dora because I didn’t understand her story.
So in a typical Dora story (I know this because I just watched one), Dora has to travel to a far off destination, and has to go through a couple obstacles or landmarks to get there. Along with her best friend Boots the monkey (he wears red boots), she usually encounters old friends and new. She runs into Tico, the purple squirrel who speaks fluent Spanish. She talks to Benny the accident prone bull. And she talks to Isa, the green iguana who loves to garden. The antagonist is a fox named Swiper who loves to steal things and cause trouble. When Boots and Dora spot Swiper, they tell, “Swiper no swiping!” And there’s also this massive red chicken called Big Red Chicken.
The only problem is, I didn’t know most of this until recently. We got a Dora book from the library and that really helped fill out my Dora knowledge base. So when I’ve been telling Elijah Dora stories, I’ve told him anything I wanted. I told him about Dora’s mom and dad taking her on road trips with Boots the monkey. One time I left out boots and Elijah asked if Boots was there too. So I don’t leave Boots out, ever. Dora and Boots have gone to the grocery store and the car repair shop. Recently, and I was especially proud of this one. Dora and Boots built a spaceship out of card board boxes and flew to the moon in their imaginations. It was almost a Dora Daniel Tiger crossover. Sometimes when Monica is telling a Dora story and I’m walking by, a dragon flies up, but Elijah corrects me that dragons can’t fly. We have a lot of fun with Dora the Explorer, or at least the Dora we’ve created. This week Elijah and I actually watched an episode together. Dora went through the alligator pond and over the wall to the treehouse. I finally got the story.
Today I want to talk about another story, including your story. The Apostle Paul understood the story. He understood Israel’s story, the salvation story, and peoples’ own individual stories. So today I want to talk about the importance of knowing other peoples’ stories, of knowing the salvation story, knowing our own individual stories, and knowing how they all fit together. First, we need to know…
Their story (v13-25) We need to take the time to hear other peoples’ stories. We need to really know other people’s history, context, and experiences. As Christians, we have a great message to tell, but we also have something to gain from hearing what others have gone through. Paul models knowing others stories in Acts 13.
v13-15 “Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, ‘Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.’”
Paul and Barnabas set sail from the island of Cyprus and head 150 miles north to Perga in Pamphylia, modern day Murtina, Turkey. This is where John Mark leaves them, which will lead to Paul and Barnabas’s fight and them going separate ways in Acts 15:36-41. We don’t know why John leaves, but after he does they head 100 miles north to Pisidian Antioch, located in ancient Galatia. The Christians in Galatia are those to whom Paul writes the letter to the Galatians. This first missionary journey lasted from about AD 46-48 and he probably wrote Galatians not long after that. Once Paul gets to Antioch in Galatia, not the one in Syria where he started, he goes into the Synagogue and preaches to the Jews. The local leaders invite him to speak and he addresses Israel. As he preaches he shows he understands Israel’s story.
v16 “So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: ‘Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.’ He speaks to the Jews and the non-Jewish Gentiles who attended synagogue and worship but hadn’t converted.
v17 “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.” God lead the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt.
v18-19 “And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.” The Israelites disobeyed so a whole generation perished in the wilderness, but God gave the next generation the promised land.
v20-21 “All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.” Paul jumps a huge portion, going from the Israelites entering the promised land, skipping over the period of the Judges, and going right to the first king of Israel, Saul.
Would you guys think it was a little interesting if I was preaching and spent a little extra time talking about King David’s best friend Jonathan. Part of me wonders if Paul, whose Hebrew name is Saul, spends a little extra time talking about Saul since he is his namesake. Jonathan is a great Bible character by the way. Loyal, true, a warrior. You should read about Jonathan, the quiet hero of the Bible.
Saul wasn’t a great king, so God removed him and set up King David. v22 “And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’” Paul begins to paint the picture of the ideal king, a man after God’s own heart who does his will. But the Jews would have known of David’s moral failures. David slept with one of his elite soldiers’ wife, Bathsheba, and then had her husband killed (2 Sam 23:39). This means God’s plans must not end with king David. There must be another, better, one.
v23-25 “Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’” Paul finishes retelling Israel’s story, and it leads from Moses and the Israelites into captivity to the kingship with David, finally ending by identifying Jesus as the Savior. He is the one the people of Israel has been looking.
So what has Paul done? He is showing that he has heard and understands his audience’s story. He get’s who they are and how they see themselves. We need to understand other people’s stories too.
If you are a Christian, do you understand your context? Pastor and author Neil Hudson defines a disciple this way, “A disciple is someone learning to live the way of Jesus in their context at this moment.” Paul himself is only about 200 miles to the West of his homeland. They went from Barnabas’s home turf on Cyprus to Paul’s west of Tarsus. God has called you to share the love of Christ with those he places in your path. Are you taking time to listen and understand the people God has entrusted to you? Do you know your coworkers’ story? Do you know their hopes and dreams and can you spot what God might be doing in their lives? Do you know them well enough you know exactly where they need prayer? One pastor said, “If I had an hour on a flight with a non-Christian, I would spend 55 minutes asking them questions, and 5 minutes sharing the gospel.” How can you get to know your immediate context even better? Stopping to have a conversation? Asking how they’re doing? When was the last time you asked your coworker how you could pray for them? Have you ever? Might you try it? What about us as a church? Are we paying attention to our context, to the place God has called us to love and serve as a congregation? Do we love Westford? Are we getting to know our community? I recently joined a town committee. One of the things I appreciate about it is that it gives me an opportunity to get to know the people of Westford better. I recently counted up the number of vacancies on town committees, sub-committees, and task forces. There are currently 45 vacancies. Maybe God is calling you to join a town committee to get to know your context better. Maybe not. Maybe to a gym or to your school or coaching sports or some other way. We as a church need to know our context. We need to understand our town’s story to see how we fit in, and how God fits in.
Another pastor used to say, “There’s always a story.” So know the story. Once we begin to understand their story, we can point them towards an even greater story, the…
Salvation story (v26-37) If we want to be effective witnesses for Christ, we need to be able to connect their story to the salvation story. We need to be able to understand the salvation story and share it. This is what Paul does.
v26-29 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.” Paul shows how God carried out his plans and purposes despite the religious leaders condemning and killing Jesus. God actually used that to bring about salvation as Jesus paid the penalty for the peoples’ sins. But the gospel message doesn’t stop with Jesus’ death.
v30-33 “But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
“‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’
Here Paul quotes Psalm 2 and says that Psalm 2 is all about Christ Jesus. If there’s anything I learned from Terry, it’s that Psalm 2 is a royal Psalm about Israel’s Messianic King, the coming Messiah. Psalm 2 talks about how the kings of the earth will fight against the Lord’s “Anointed.” Messiah means “anointed one.” “Christ” is the Greek form of the word “Messiah.” Paul is saying Jesus is the Anointed one to whom God has given all the nations. The listeners would know that the Psalm says, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish…” (Psalm 2:12a) There’s an implied judgment here. God will save you. What from? His judgment, if you turn to Jesus. It continues…
v34-37 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,
“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
Therefore he says also in another psalm,
“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’
For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.”
Jesus is the Messiah, God’s king. It was always God’s plan for the king to die, but God would not let him see corruption. The Messiah would rise again. This message must have been completely mind blowing for Paul’s audience. “You mean the death of Jesus of Nazareth is the death of our Messiah? But God planned it this way to pay the penalty for our sins!” There would have been no category for what this meant. The salvation story is finally coming true, and it’s more mysterious and better than we ever imagined.
Have you ever listened to Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story? We used to love to listen to his radio broadcast in the afternoons. He’d start by saying, “And now, the rest of the story.” Then he’d tell a story that took a sudden and surprising twist at the end. I listened to one on YouTube this week where he talked about a Franciscan Mission in Texas that was built in a grove of cottonwood trees. So people started calling it the cottonwood. Eventually the Catholic church rented out the property and then sold it, and it became a liquor store. And that’s where you think the story ends. But then he adds that a historical society came in and bought the old Franciscan mission that had been turned into a liquor store because of a small band of Texan volunteers fought and died there. And then the big reveal. Cottonwood is the word “Alamo” in Spanish. Yes the mission that became a liquor store was actually The Alamo. Then Paul Harvey ends by saying, “And now you know… the rest of the story.” This is a picture of my visit there in October 2009 when I worked for the Farm Credit Administration.
Paul is doing a “rest of the story” to his audience. He’s saying the story ends with Jesus. And that’s what we need to do to as Christians. Once we understand someone’s story, we pray for an opportunity to show them how their story leads to Christ’s story. We get to know our context better so that we can have more opportunities to point our context to Christ as Savior. How well do you know the salvation story? Do you need to re-read the gospels this Advent? The more we know Jesus and his story the more natural it will be to share him. We want to point their story to the salvation story, which leads each one of us to ask how this impacts our own stories.
My story (v38-52) Once we understand the big story, our history and God’s plan, we’re challenged to respond. Which direction will our story take? Will we continue on our own way or head to the Savior? Paul challenges us to believe.
v38-39 “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” Jesus offers forgiveness for your sins. How will you respond? The Israelites couldn’t earn their salvation by obeying the law of Moses. They were never good enough to merit eternal life, and neither are we, even on our best days. We need Jesus to forgive us and give us eternal life with him. Paul warns:
v40-41 “Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:
“‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”
Paul warns them not to harden their hearts. That same warning goes out to us today. If you already believe, it’s a warning we need to share with those around us (which is so hard to do). Don’t harden your heart! Turn to Jesus. Receive salvation. Believe. And at first, the response is positive.
v42-52 “As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
Some hear and believe, the Gentiles. But the Jews reject the message. I don’t know why. This message is intended for them. But they turn their backs on Christ. Now God offers us all this message of grace.
If you’re not yet a believer, if you don’t identify as a Christian, you still need to know that your story is valuable. Who you are and where you come from have worth. And if you were to look back at your story, could you identify places where God was at work in your life? Directing events? Moving people? Changing hearts? Changing your heart? What if like the Israelites, God were leading you to your Savior? Maybe he has even shown you that you’re not the savior, so he can introduce you to the one who is the Savior, Jesus. How will your story end? With Jesus? I hope so. Will you repent and believe that Jesus died and rose again and receive eternal life? Don’t miss this opportunity to know God.
Here’s my big idea.
Know the story. Let’s hear other peoples’ stories. Take the time to listen. Know the big salvation story. Learn about Jesus, especially if you don’t know him yet. And finally, know your own story. See how your story connects to the greater story through Christ Jesus. Don’t just make up the story like it’s a Dora story. Really know it. At the end of the Dora story there was this sweet moment where all of Dora’s friends came together and thanked her. At the end of every Dora story there’s a celebration and they sing “We did it!” At the end of our story we will come together and sing, “He did it!”
It says at the end of this passage that when the Gentiles heard that salvation had come to them, they rejoiced and glorified God. They were happy! When we really get that we get to have eternal life in Christ Jesus, it changes everything! Know the story.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV) 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references. You can also listen on Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
How important are peoples’ stories? What are some good ways to learn other peoples’ stories? What’s the story of salvation? Who is the hero of that story? How will you respond to the story?
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For a video and manuscript of this week’s Advent, go to Advent Reading Week 1: Hope Candle.
Elijah loves Dora the Explorer. When he goes to bed, he almost always asks for a “Dora story.” So I sit down and I tell Elijah a story about Dora going on an adventure. There’s only one problem. Although I’ve been telling Dora stories for months, up until last Tuesday, I’d never actually watched an episode of Dora the Explorer. So everything I told Elijah was based on what I’d heard Monica tell him, what I’d seen here or there
I used to work the opening shift at Indian Village in Estes Park, Colorado. I’d get down to the store by 9am, unlock the front doors, turn on the lights, uncover the register and jewelry cabinets, and turn on the neon red and blue “open” sign. We used to just have a cardboard sign that we would flip from closed to open, but we upgraded to an LED sign. That sign stayed bright all day and it was one of the things that attracted people to our store in the evening. They could see we were open and would come in.
There were some great things about having an open sign. Customers, sales, money. The money I earned there helped me buy a car, pay for gas, and even buy a ring for Monica. Being open really helped. But there were a lot of negatives to being open as well. Being open created dirty floors, noisy customers, empty shelves, and messy t-shirts. Over the ten summers I worked there I estimate I folded at least 50,000 t-shirts, if not a lot more. I’ll have to ask the Lord when I get to heaven.
Being open is good, but it’s messy. You don’t know what will happen when you open yourself up. It’s much safer to close yourself off. So here’s my question for you today….
Do you have an open or closed heart to Jesus? Is your heart open to Jesus or closed to him? Is the door of your heart lit-up with a bright red and blue LED “open” sign? Or is a cardboard “closed” sign hanging in the window? I imagine most of us assume our hearts are open, but how do we really know? How can you tell? There’s no LED implant over our hearts that blinks “open,” at least not yet.
Paul and Barnabas have headed off on the early church’s first recorded missionary journey. They’ve left Antioch north of Jerusalem. They travel 15 miles to the coastal city of Seleucia, and then they sail another 75 miles to Salamis on the Island of Cyprus. Modern day Cyprus is gorgeous. I think if we said, “Hey, we’re doing a missions trip to Cyprus, everyone would sign up.”
Acts 13:4-6a (ESV) 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos…
As soon as Paul and Barnabas arrive in Salamis, they go to the Jewish synagogue. We’ll see this pattern throughout Acts. Although Paul was uniquely gifted to preach to the Gentiles, he believed the gospel was first for the Jew. Paul puts into practice what he preaches in Romans 9-11; Christ first for the Jews, and also the Gentiles.
Paul and Barnabas make their way across Cyprus. From tip to tip Cyprus is 140 miles long and at it’s greatest width it’s 60 miles wide. Here John Mark assists them in their travels. Maybe he carried food, scrolls, supplies, or took care of their animals. What we do know is John is going to leave them a short time later. Here the author of Acts, the good doctor Luke, is setting up the narrative. John is still with them.
Do you know which early Christian from the New Testament is from Cyprus? Barnabas is from Cyprus; “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas…” (Acts 4:36a). This is Barnabas’s home turf. So they probably stopped at friends’ and relatives’ houses all across the island. This goes to show that you don’t have to travel to the other side of the world to be a missionary. Sometime God calls you to the place you call home to be a missionary. Today’s question is also for you. If Jesus called you to your neighborhood to be a missionary, would you answer? I believe he already has. That doesn’t mean it will be easy. They face opposition:
Acts 13:6-8 (ESV) 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
Here in the story we find two people, one of which you even might identify with. We meet Sergius Paulus, a local government official called a proconsul. He represented the interests of the consul, typically a military leader, but only for a year term. He is called “a man of intelligence” and he wants to hear Barnabas and Paul (still being identified as “Saul” in the text) preach about Jesus from the Scriptures. So if you are someone who is open to hearing the word of God, you might be like Sergius Paulus.
On the other hand, you could also be like the magician Elymas, who was a Jewish false prophet also called “Bar-Jesus,” which means “Son of Jesus.” Bar-Jesus is not named after Jesus. Jesus was a common name at that time. Jesus is just the Greek form of Joshua. Elymas is not open to hearing about Jesus’ death and resurrection. It appears that he’s not merely closed to the message, but actually opposed to it as he tries to hinder Sergius Paulus from hearing the gospel.
Let’s take a closer look at both Sergius and Elymas. Even though we are sitting here or tuning in online, we don’t want to just assume we’re like Sergius and not Elymas. So what are the signs of being like Elymas? Elymas had a closed heart and sought power and control.
Closed Heart – Seeks power and control. Elymas is a false prophet and a magician, a sorcerer. That means he’s willing to say whatever he thinks, and call it God’s will. Not only that, he practices the dark arts. He is a shaman. He tries to use “incantations, rituals, and formulas” to channel supernatural powers for his purposes. People probably went to him when they wanted the spirits to bless them, or wanted to know what to do with their lives, or maybe even wanted to talk to the dead. Sergius kept a guy like him around to try and help divine major decisions or cast a spell to influence outcomes. Elymas saddles up to power and seeks to control as much as possible.
If any of you are caught up in any of the dark arts I just mentioned, even if you only have a crystal, or a dreamcatcher, or a ouija board, or regularly check your astrology forecast, please get rid of those things. Don’t swim in those waters anymore. Messing around with them is like going for a swim in the waters outside of a power plant after it melted down. The water’s not safe.
But maybe you don’t look for power or control in those areas. Maybe you look for power and control through how much money you earn, or through how much education you have (hey, I’m working on my doctorate), or whose elected to office, or simply with wanting everyone to do things your way. The more we seek power and control over life, the less room we leave for God. We close ourselves up and really, there’s not much left for him to do.
I just finished reading Francis Chan’s book, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, for a second time. It’s a terrible book. It really is. Chan writes about how we have to give up power and control if we really want to experience the Holy Spirit. I don’t recommend reading this book because it will be too painful, too convicting. Please stay away from this book, but let me read a small snippet, the story of two people who sought to let go of power and control to follow the Spirit. Francis Chan shares:
Jen works in our church office, and she’s one of the people I think of when I hear the term Spirit-filled. She doesn’t have a list of accomplishments to amaze you. It is more about who she is than what she’s done. I think you know the type—the person who convicts you just by how she lives her life and interacts with people.
I first met Thomas because he was a chef and co-owner of an extremely nice and expensive steak house in town. He sent a gift certificate to my wife and me so we could enjoy a meal that most pastors can’t afford. While we were there, Thomas shared with me how great the restaurant was doing. It had far exceeded expectations. In another three years he would receive back not only his initial investment but a huge bonus on top of that. The only problem was that God was calling him away from the restaurant then, not in three years.
Thomas surprised his partners by giving up the money in order to pursue the ministry God was calling him to. Thomas left the fancy restaurant and took a position at the local rescue mission. He now cooks for the homeless, recovering addicts, and others who are seeking to rebuild their lives. He uses his training in the culinary arts to teach the homeless how to cook. He then helps them find jobs as cooks at local restaurants.
Thomas and Jen are a young couple in our church body; they are a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led couple. They believe God will soon call them overseas, but until that day comes, they seek daily to follow as the Spirit leads. And they are doing it. – Forgotten God by Francis Chan.
If you’re interesting in reading this book, we have a copy in our church library downstairs. So what will you do? Will you close your heart and unintentionally (or maybe even intentionally) close yourself to God? Or will you open your heart to the Spirit and whatever he wants for you? Even if you have a closed heart, there’s still hope for you. The Holy Spirit can soften your heart, but it might get uncomfortable.
Acts 13:9-11 (ESV) 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.
Full of the Holy Spirit, Paul calls Elymas out for his rebellion against God. He calls him out for his closed and opposed heart to Jesus. This man has given his heart to the devil, and is nearly gone. But even here, there is an offer of grace. Do you see what Paul does? He calls down a curse on Elymas that blinds him. His loss of sight might actually be the one thing that helps him see.
Remember Paul’s conversion? Remember what happened to him? He was on the road to Damascus when Jesus appeared to him, blinding him for three days (Acts 9:8-9). During those three days of blindness Paul got right with the Lord. This is an opportunity for Elymas to get right with the Lord. To be blind, and recognize he doesn’t have any real power or control over his life or world.
Does God have to blind you for you to be able to see? What does God need to blind you to so that you can see? Is there something you’re too focused on or care about too much? A family member? A friend? A difficult issue or relationship? What if that thing is taking your eyes off of what God wants you to see? Ask God to open the eyes of your heart to see what he wants you to see. God can turn people like Elymas into people like Sergius, who have an open heart.
Open Heart – Wants to know Jesus and see his power. Sergius Paulus takes a posture of learning, of listening, of wanting to hear Barnabas and Paul’s preaching.
Acts 13:12 (ESV) Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Two things absolutely amaze Sergius: the miracle and the teaching. Who wouldn’t be amazed by a miracle where the most powerful man you know, a man you’ve seen do magic and supernatural deeds, is no match for the newcomers in town? If he wasn’t sitting straight up paying attention, he is now. But that’s not the only thing that get’s him in the end.
Remember how he asked to hear “the word of God?” (Acts 13:7) Remember how Elymas tried to keep him from “the faith?” Now he gets to hear them teach and preach. They tell him what the Scriptures say, and how the Old Testament is fulfilled in Christ Jesus. They teach him the same things I want you to know today.
I want you to know that Jesus lived an innocent life, died a terrible death on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins, but rose again from the grave in victory over sin and death, and is now seated on heaven’s throne ruling and reigning over the universe. If you confess your sins, and believe in him, which means trusting him with your whole life, he’ll forgive you, transform your life, and welcome you into an eternal church family.
Do you have an open heart? Do you want to know Jesus and see his power? Jesus wants to reveal himself to you through the pages of the Bible and the Holy Spirit opening up your heart. This whole transformation is only possible because the Holy Spirit sent them on this missions journey (Acts 13:4) and because Paul, full of the Holy Spirit, rebukes Elymas. Sometimes the Spirit moves us to say hard things, but those hard things can actually open up hearts to God’s Spirit. Here’s a hard thing. We are all broken by sin and going to hell unless God saves us by his grace. If you don’t yet have his grace, ask the Holy Spirit to fill your heart and give you faith in Christ Jesus.
But maybe you’re a longtime believer. Has your heart grown cold? Have you lost your passion for Jesus? Maybe you’ve got wrapped up in seeking power and control over your life. I know I do. Really, what we all need, is to know Jesus and witness his power. You can pray too, asking the Lord to open your heart again.
Where are we as a church body? Do you think we’re open or closed to the Spirit’s work and Jesus’ leading? If we’re closed, it’ll show by our trying to seek power and control over each other, and our community, just focusing on holding on and collecting more people instead of following Christ. If we have open hearts, God might reveal Jesus to us, and show us a little of his power. If we truly seek Jesus, if we ask him to lead this church, what might happen? If we pray, really pray and seek him, how might the Spirit surprise us?
The Holy Spirit can transform a closed heart into an open heart through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, he can raise your heart and my heart from the dead. He can take a stony heart and make it soft to the gospel. Is your heart open or closed? It feels safer to keep it closed; but in the end even though being open is more risky, it leads to Jesus and eternal life. Let’s pray.
2 Corinthians 13:14 (ESV) The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references. You can also listen on Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What is a closed heart? What is an open heart? What type of heart is yours? How can Jesus transform your heart?
Sources Arnold, Clinton E.. Acts (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary) (p. 118). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition. *Distances traveled and magician explained.
Chan, Francis; Sprinkle, Preston. The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply. David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.
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I used to work the opening shift at Indian Village in Estes Park, Colorado. I’d get down to the store by 9am, unlock the front doors, turn on the lights, uncover the register and jewelry cabinets, and turn on the neon red and blue “open” sign. We used to just have a cardboard sign that we would flip from closed to open, but we upgraded to an LED sign. That sign stayed bright all day and it was one of
Is God calling you to ministry? Do you ever sense God might want you to serve him in church ministry or in missions? I’m not talking about frontline ministry today—serving God at your normal everyday job. That’s really important; but today’s passage is about something else. Todays passage is the launch of a global missionary effort that changed the world. I’m wondering if God is calling you to be part of it. I was around twelve years old when my
Is God calling you to ministry? Do you ever sense God might want you to serve him in church ministry or in missions? I’m not talking about frontline ministry today—serving God at your normal everyday job. That’s really important; but today’s passage is about something else. Todays passage is the launch of a global missionary effort that changed the world. I’m wondering if God is calling you to be part of it.
I was around twelve years old when my friend walked into Sunday school and told us God told him he was going to become a pastor one day. Reflecting on it I was like, “Wow. That’s so cool, but I could never do that.” I used to sit in the pews imagining what it would be like to preach and be a pastor. If you’re thinking those thoughts, or something similar, God might be doing something in you.
When I was a little bit older I remember one of the first times I tried coming up with a sermon illustration. I was on a hike with my brother and dad. The trail was going up and down and winding up and down the hill. I told my brother I thought the Christian life was a bit like our trail, with ups and downs with our walk with God. He wasn’t impressed.
I tried to run away from Jesus in high school but like Jonah I ended up back where God wanted me. In college I began to promote my future self. One day I’ll help out with Sunday school, then I’ll serve as a Deacon, and finally an Elder. It wasn’t till my college pastor said, “Hey, you should go to seminary” that someone voiced what my heart wanted. My heart leapt at the idea. I wanted to do that. If someone told you, “Hey, you should go to seminary? or Bible school?” would your heart leap at the idea, or is that just something you’re not interested in. That’s okay if not. But if so, don’t ignore that feeling.
I wasn’t ready yet. I told myself I’d work in the workforce for 10 years, make lots of money, then pay for seminary that way. God had different plans. When I started working for the Farm Credit Administration as an Associate Bank Examiner right out of college, it killed me. Maybe it would have killed you too; but God used that year to call me to church ministry.
That year I began to pray that God would send me to seminary, but with little faith that he would. Be careful what you pray for because he might just answer your prayers no matter your level of faith. Finally, I flew home one weekend and asked my dad what he thought of me becoming a pastor. He said, “If there’s anything else you can do, you should do that…” There’s truth to that. If your heart wants to be an engineer or a teacher or lawyer, go and do that. We need people doing those things as unto the Lord. God calls people to those kinds of jobs. We need people on the frontline finding others for Jesus. But for 1-2 of you, God might be calling you to a different trail, one that is a winding, up and down, walk with God.
That weekend I was home in Colorado my pastor preached a sermon on Psalm 90. I swear his first words were something like, “If there’s something you’re supposed to do, go and do it.” I was like, “Well okay Lord!” That lead my to seminary at Gordon-Conwell, then Immanuel Church, then starting Cornerstone. Is God calling you to ministry? Do you sense him speaking, him nudging? Don’t ignore him.
The Holy Spirit might be calling you to ministry. I want to tell you about a church where the Holy Spirit called people and sent them out into the world to start a worldwide Christian movement that’s still growing and multiplying today.
Acts 13:1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. (ESV)
Here we find five all-stars the Holy Spirit calls. Here’s what it tells us:
The Holy Spirit can call anyone. Even you. Let’s look at each one of them. Maybe they’ll remind you of yourself, or who you’re becoming.
Barnabas – Known, trusted, experienced. We know Barnabas. We met him back in Acts 4 when he sold his property and gave it to the Apostles. His original name is “Joseph” but the Apostles renamed him to Barnabas because he was such an encourager. Barnabas was known and trusted in the Jerusalem church. He vouched for Saul in Acts 9 and the church in Jerusalem sent him to investigate the Gentiles coming to faith in Acts 11. Sometimes God sends an individual who is known, trusted, and experienced in the church out into full-time Christian ministry.
You might be someone who helped found Cornerstone in 2015. Maybe you helped found Immanuel Church in 1896. God might be calling you to full-time ministry or to become a missionary. I suspect Barnabas was an older man by this point. God might be calling you to a second career in ministry.
When I was at my D.Min program in October one of our professors mentioned how when retirement was first imagined it was imagined as a never-ending vacation. But that has rung a bit hollow, hasn’t it? Those in their sixties and seventies are some of the most capable people we have; with years and years of experience. Do we really want to spend all that experience and wisdom on a golf course? Just imagine what God might want to do through you. Maybe he wants to send you to the mountains of Afghanistan, the jungles of Brazil, or the plains of Mongolia to share the love of Christ.
I recently watched the sermon John Piper gave at the Passion OneDay 2000 missions conference in Shelby Farms, Tennessee. Piper talked about the death of two of their church’s missionaries: Ruby Eliason, an eighty year old missionary who gave her entire life to sharing Christ to “the unreached, the poor, and the sick” and Laura Edwards, “a widow, a medical doctor, pushing eighty years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon.” The brakes gave way in their car and they went off a cliff and died instantly. Piper said this is not a tragedy. It’s glorious how they gave their lives for Jesus. Then he added this.
I tell you what a tragedy is. I’ll read to you from Reader’s Digest what a tragedy is. “Bob and Penny . . . took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their thirty foot trawler, playing softball and collecting shells.”
That’s a tragedy.
Are you a seashell Christian? Barnabas wasn’t. God can use you to do mighty things, especially in retirement. Barnabas lead the church, discipled Paul, and went on the first missionary trip ever recorded. The Holy Spirit can call anyone, even you.
Simeon and Lucius – Cross-cultural missionaries. God also uses people who are different than the culture to reach the culture. Both Simeon and Lucius were culturally different than the Jews and Greeks. “Simeon who was called Niger”—niger means “black” in Latin. “Lucius of Cyrene”—Cyrene is in northern Africa in modern day Libya. In Antioch, north of Jerusalem in Turkey, both of these men were cross-cultural. They might have felt out of place. What could God do with me? I’m not even from here? But God wants to use them. He doesn’t use them on the same missionary journey he uses Paul and Barnabas, but he uses them where he calls them. God might want to use you in a cross-cultural setting, maybe in a foreign country, or in a cross-cultural community in this country.
Manaen – Ministry to the rich and powerful. Manaen was “a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch.” This isn’t the Herod from last week, Herod Agrippa I who executed James, one of the twelve disciples. Manaen was friends with his uncle, Herod Antipas, the one responsible for executing John the Baptist. God sovereignly raised Manaen among the rich and powerful, putting him in a unique position to minister to those who need Jesus as much as anyone else.
One of my other D.Min mentors mentioned that one of the things that made Dwight L. Moody so effective in founding Moody Bible Institute was that he wasn’t afraid to approach the wealthy of Chicago to show them how God could use their money to grow his kingdom. One of Moody’s famous investors, John V. Farwell, founded Marshall Field’s, which Macy’s acquired in 2005. God might be calling you to minister to the rich and powerful. I believe the Great Commission in Matthew 28 isn’t just a geographic commission, but Jesus calls us to go out and make disciples in every sphere of society, the rich and the poor, those like us, and those who are cross cultural. The Holy Spirit can call anyone.
Paul (Saul) – The budding all star. Barnabas just traveled up to Tarsus looking for Saul (Paul) to help him preach the gospel to the Jews and Gentiles in Antioch. Paul and Barnabas preached at the church in Antioch for a year but now God is sending them out. While Saul has known Christ for over a decade by this point, it’s still painful to lose him because he’s full of excitement and passion for what God can do, and he’s particularly gifted in preaching, teaching, and leading.
God might be calling us to give up our budding all stars for his greater kingdom. These are especially painful to lose because we want to keep them. We want God to use them to grow our ministries and churches; but God actually has a different calling for them. I believe as we give away God will actually grow our ministry. Are you gifted? God might be calling you to use your gifts to serve him.
Some of you may know Francis Chan as the super-passionate gifted and famous pastor and author he is today. But back when he was a teenager, back before Francis Chan became Francis Chan, one of the things the Lord used to convict him was his youth pastor asking him this question, “…what would your church (and the worldwide church) look like if everyone was as committed as you are?” If everyone served at the commitment level you serve, would the church sink or swim? What could God do through you if you were fully devoted to him? What could God do through a church that was fully devoted to him?
Is God calling you to ministry? To missions? How can you know?
The Holy Spirit calls through the congregation. The church came together and set aside a special time to worship the Lord, fast, and pray. That’s when the Holy Spirit spoke.
Acts 13:2 (ESV) While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
The Holy Spirit speaks to the congregation. We don’t know how exactly he did this. Maybe it was a general sense the whole congregation felt. Maybe the Holy Spirit audibly spoke. Whatever way he did it, he made his will known to the whole church. The Greek word “called” means “to summon” or “appoint.” The Holy Spirit gave a special appointment to Saul and Barnabas and the whole church recognized it. They probably saw it through their teachings, but then affirmed it here again.
Even though it’s the congregation that recognizes Barnabas and Saul’s calling, it’s clear that the Holy Spirit is working through the congregation. Verse 3 ends by saying the congregation “sent them off” and verse 4 begins by saying they were “sent out by the Holy Spirit…” Which one is it? Did the church send them? Or did the Holy Spirit send them? Yes! Both the church and the Spirit sent them. God likes to work through the church body to send his people out to do ministry and missions.
As part of my application process to seminary the church I grew up at in Colorado endorsed my going. Once I decided to go, I heard other people affirm it. I asked Monica if I could share her story. Did you know that her life plan was to go to law-school? She actually took the LSAT and scored pretty high. Then her youth pastor, Dana Smith and his wife, sat her down and said, “You seem to really enjoy volunteering with the youth group. Are you sure you want to go to law school? We think you should go to seminary instead.” Her church family recognized her gifting and calling and dared to suggest God might be doing something special in her life. The Holy Spirit calls through the church.
The Holy Spirit makes his will known through prayer and fasting. Acts 13:3 (ESV) Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
The congregation took the time to seek the Holy Spirit through prayer and fasting. Fasting gives you the space to hear from God, to not just be satisfied with food. Fasting can make you more susceptible to things like anger and frustration; but it can help you yearn for God’s face and direction.
In 2019 we spent 40 days praying and fasting as a church and I think it made a difference in the direction and movement of the church. That fall we moved to Sundays and added a Christian Education hour. That plan had stalled behind the scenes; but about two months after our time of prayer and fasting it accelerated fast.
To prepare us for those 40 days back in March 2019 I preached a sermon on prayer and fasting where I shared this story from Pastor John Piper’s book, A Hunger for God. The story originally belonged to Carl Lundquist, the President of Bethel College who founded a missions movement.
My own serious consideration of fasting as a spiritual discipline began as a result of visiting Dr. Joon Gon Kim in Seoul, Korea. “Is it true,” I asked him, “that you spent 40 days in fasting prior to the evangelism crusade in 1980?” “Yes,” he responded, “it is true.” Dr. Kim was chairman of the crusade expected to bring a million people to Yoido Plaza. But six months before the meeting the police informed him they were revoking their permission for the crusade. Korea at that time was in political turmoil and Seoul was under martial law. The officers decided they could not take the risk of having so many people together in one place. So Dr. Kim and some associates went to a prayer mountain and there spent 40 days before God in prayer and fasting for the crusade. Then they returned and made their way to the police station. “Oh,” said the officer when he saw Dr. Kim, “we have changed our mind and you can have your meeting!” (A Hunger for God – p. 65) (By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org)
If you’re wondering if God might be calling you into full-time ministry, ask a couple people to help discern the process with you. Ask them to pray and fast with you. If they can’t fast food, maybe they can fast screens or social media or something like that. Praying and fasting makes a difference.
Back when I worked for the Farm Credit Administration I made it a goal to pray every day at noontime for one of my coworkers. We had lots of great conversations but he didn’t come to Christ. But God did call me to seminary in those six months. I wonder if there’s a connection. Maybe more time in prayer helped me recognize the calling God put on my life. How can we pray for you? If you’re sensing God might be calling you to ministry or missions, can we pray with you? Can we discern with you? The Holy Spirit makes his will known through prayer and fasting.
Is God calling you to ministry? It’s a wonderful thing to be called to ministry or missions. We’re all called to ministry where we already are; but sometimes God calls us to full-time church ministry or missions, and that’s a special thing. But count the cost because it’s a costly calling.
The Holy Spirit calls you to the cruciform life. As we’ll see in Acts, Paul endures beatings, being stoned, shipwrecks, and ultimately, execution at the hand of the Roman authorities (2 Cor 11:25). Church tradition says Barnabas was also martyred.
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” – Jesus (Matthew 16:24b-25 ESV)
Will you deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Jesus? If you do, I guarantee two things—suffering, and yet, eternal life with Jesus. Lose your life with Jesus. Jesus gave up his life for you. He gave up his life to save you. Repent, believe, pick up your cross and follow him, wherever he will lead you. The Holy Spirit calls to the cruciform life. Come, pick up your cross, and die with Jesus.
Romans 10:14-15 (ESV) 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references. You can also listen on Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
Do you sense God might be calling you to ministry or missions? What makes you think that? How can we as a church body help pray for and discern the callings of our church members? Do you know anyone you think might be called to ministry? How can you encourage them? Will you pray for them? When are you next going to time praying and fasting for the Lord to send you or others into full-time ministry or missionary work? How does the gospel help us endure in the suffering we will encounter in ministry? How does the gospel encourage us and motivate us to go out on mission?
Sources Burke, Denny. Top Ten Memories of OneDay 2000. Published March 21, 2017. Accessed November 12, 2020. https://www.dennyburk.com/oneday-2000-been-there-done-that-got-the-t-shirt-literally/.
Chan, Francis; Sprinkle, Preston. The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply. David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.
Piper, John. “Don’t Waste Your Life”: Seven Minutes That Moved a Generation. DesiringGod. Published May 19, 2017. Accessed November 12, 2020. https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/boasting-only-in-the-cross/excerpts/dont-waste-your-life.
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When I was at my Doctorate of Ministry (D.Min) program in October, we talked about preaching. For one assignment we had to take one sermon we’d preached and preach it again in an entirely different form. Same message, different approach. Three of my classmates tried preaching first-person narratives. That’s where you pretend to be a person from the Bible story and preach it from their point-of-view. My cohort mentor challenged us to try new ways of preaching, so today, I’m
When I was at my Doctorate of Ministry (D.Min) program in October, we talked about preaching. For one assignment we had to take one sermon we’d preached and preach it again in an entirely different form. Same message, different approach. Three of my classmates tried preaching first-person narratives. That’s where you pretend to be a person from the Bible story and preach it from their point-of-view. My cohort mentor challenged us to try new ways of preaching, so today, I’m going to give first-person narrative a try. I’m going to say a prayer for our sermon, and when I finish my prayer, I’ll be back not as Jonathan, but as a character from the Bible. Are you ready? Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, you tell us your word is “living and active” (Heb 4:12) and how it can change not only our minds, but our hearts as well. Lord, I pray that you would make your word come alive for us today and that our time in this story would change both our minds and our hearts. Amen.
[Look at the microphone confused, tap it. Play with face mask. Look around at congregation…]
You are a strange culture… My name is Cephas in Aramaic, but you look more like Greek-speakers so you can call me Peter. I’m one of Rabbi Jesus’ twelve disciples. I don’t know how I got here. My friend Philip told me one time he shared the gospel with an Ethiopian eunuch and the Holy Spirit suddenly carried him away. So maybe this is like that. Maybe the Spirit brought me here to share my story. I have lots of stories to tell, but today I want to tell you the time an angel of the Lord freed me from prison and struck down the king. It taught me there’s…
No king but Jesus. Maybe that’s a lesson you could learn too. Sometimes earthly kings seem like the ones in charge. King Herod thought he was large and in charge. Ah, Herod Agrippa I. His grandpa was like that too. He was also a Herod, but called himself “Herod the Great,” King of Judea. Herod the Great was pretty awful. A few years after my Rabbi Jesus was born, he tried to kill infant Jesus and ended up murdering a whole bunch of little boys (Matt 2:16-18). He was a bad man. Herod the Great’s son, Herod Antipas (Herod Agrippa I’s uncle), beheaded John the Baptist, Rabbi Jesus’ cousin (Matt 14:1-12). I guess Herod Agrippa thought he had to live-up to the family name because one day he arrested my partner James and killed him.
I loved James. I owned a fishing partnership with the Zebedee boys, James and John. We loved the Sea of Galilee. It’s a beautiful green-ish blue water surrounded by lush green trees and dusty brown hills. Sometimes wind comes gusting down those hills and stirs up the lake. James, John, and I had so many adventures on Galilee. I wish he wasn’t gone, struck down to early, on fire for the Lord. Literally, I remember seeing fire floating over his head at Pentecost (Acts 2). He was going to do great things, but I guess Jesus had other plans. It doesn’t make sense if I didn’t believe God had a plan and could use it for good.
Have you ever had that happen? Something terrible happens, forces you can’t control, and you’re tempted to doubt God? You see the kings of this world do something and you’re afraid? You’re tempted to doubt Rabbi Jesus? I know I have. Like the time I tried to walk on water but doubted him and sank into the waves. So now I try not to doubt my Rabbi, even when earthly kings seem like they’re the ones in charge. They’re not. No king but Rabbi Jesus.
When Herod killed James, he saw that it made the Jewish authorities and religious leaders happy. Herod really cared about what they thought. He even became Jewish to win their favor. I thought he’d come for me. But really, what can Herod do? Crucify me? I would be honored to die like my Lord.
Well, turns out Herod threw me in jail. The week following Passover there’s this 7-day feast called the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Such a great feast. Lots of soft flat bread, fish, fruit, vegetables, but no leaven. Who really wants leaven? The stuff makes you bloated. I love this feast. The fish are fresh and the wine is flowing. Right during the middle of this feast I’m eating my flat bread and Herod sends his soldiers to snatch and grab me. The real crime was not finishing my dinner.
They throw me in prison and Herod assigns sixteen guards to watch over me in teams of four. It’s crazy! Me, little Peter, the fisherman from Galilee. It’s like I’m a national security threat. Of course, an angel did break me out of prison once before, so you know, he should be worried (Acts 5:19). But that wasn’t me. That was God. Sometimes earthly kings seem like the ones in charge, but not really. No matter how many soldiers or threats or powers they have, they don’t have any authority unless God gives it to them. No king but Jesus.
So Herod threw me in prison, but I had a secret weapon… prayer. I prayed. My people prayed. The church prayed. They prayed “earnestly.” They didn’t pray little prayer. Everyone got together and they prayed for me every minute, ever hour. Have you ever gotten your church together and just prayed for one person? Like if someone is really sick, you call a prayer meeting just to pray for them. You should try it sometime. They prayed continually for God to deliver me, which is a big request. No king but Jesus and…
No prayer too big. Herod planned to execute me the next day and I feel asleep in my cell, chained to two guards. You may be wondering how in the world I was able to sleep like that? I mean, the place smelled really bad. The stone we were sitting on was not comfortable, and my wrists are sore just thinking about those chains. I’ll tell you the secret of good sleep. Two ingredients: 1) gifting; and 2) faith.
Gifting—you probably have this in your own life, someone you know who is just gifted in sleeping. Whose head its the hay and their sun sets. I’m that guy. I remember this one time when Rabbi Jesus took James, John, and I up a mountain. Apparently Moses and Elijah appeared to Rabbi Jesus and spoke to him for a while. I’m not sure for how long because I was asleep (Luke 9:32). When I did wake up I saw them and kind of embarrassed myself, but that’s a different story. I also fell asleep the night Rabbi Jesus needed me the most, the night before he was crucified (Matt 26:40-45). I should have been awake. I should have been praying. I’m so grateful my people prayed for me when I needed it most.
Do you believe in prayer? Or do you sleep? Do you believe there’s no prayer too big for God to answer? It’s taken me time to learn there’s no prayer too big. There’s no prayer too big because there’s no king but Jesus.
I can sleep because I’m gifted in sleep, but also because of faith. Faith—when people ask me how I could be sleeping the night before my execution, I tell them, “It’s because I have faith in my Rabbi.” After Rabbi Jesus rose from the grave (which was amazing!) he appeared to me to forgive me for denying him three times. When I saw him he asked me to serve him and he told me how I was going to die. I can still hear Rabbi Jesus saying it like it was yesterday, “…when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18b) Key words, “When you are old…” I wasn’t old yet, so I wasn’t afraid. I had faith.
I have faith that I am in Jesus’ hands, not a king’s hands. Faith will help you sleep at night. I had peace. But even if my Rabbi hadn’t told me when I would die, I still would have had faith. There’s no king but Jesus. If he wanted me to die, I would. How do you feel about death? If you walked out of here and got trampled by a camel, would you go to be with Rabbi Jesus? Or would you go to Sheol, the land of the dead? “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Confess your sin and come to Rabbi Jesus. He will save you.
Back to the cell. So I’m sitting there between two guards asleep when an angel of the Lord shows up. He shined this bright light in my cell, but actually, that didn’t wake me up. It was kind of like how I slept through half of the Jesus, Moses, and Elijah party on a mountain top. So the angel nudged me in the side. It was a pretty hard nudge (rubs side). The angel told me to get up, get dressed, and put on my sandals. He was a very thoughtful angel. I think it shows God cares about our everyday needs.
I didn’t even realize what was happening at the time. I thought it was a vision. The angel opened my cell door. I thought for sure the creaking of the hinges would alert the first sentry outside the door, but it was like he couldn’t see me when I walked right in front of him. It was like I wasn’t there. The angel led me past the second guard and out into the cool night air. It was so good to see the stars. He opened this big heavy iron gate. It made so much noise I thought we were going to wake up the whole neighborhood. Then we walked out into the street, and the angel disappeared.
That’s when it hit me this wasn’t a vision. I said, “Now I get it. The Lord sent his angel to rescue me from the hand of Herod and what the Jewish people were trying to do.” And then I got out of there. I ran to Mary’s house, Mary the mother of John Mark (different John that Zebedee). I was so excited. No king but Jesus. No prayer too big.
There’s nothing God can’t do. He’d just sent his angel to deliver me from prison. I was so excited to tell the other followers of Rabbi Jesus. I knew they were inside praying at Mary’s house. We always gathered there to pray. It’s so important to pray as a church family. When I knocked, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. Precious Rhoda, she’s excitable. When she heard my voice, she didn’t open the gate. Instead, she ran and told everyone I was outside. Later they told me they were like, “What!? Are you out of your mind! It must be an angel.”
Now, if it was me, and I heard thought there was an angel outside, I would have run and seen that angel! So I kept on knocking and they finally opened the door. They were ecstatic! They could hardly believe the Lord had delivered me, which is funny because I thought that’s why they were praying. I think they were praying, but not really believing. Have you ever done that? Maybe you’ve prayed without faith but God answered anyways. Isn’t God good? There’s nothing God can’t do. That’s why we pray. No prayer too big.
I told my church family to hush because I didn’t want guards to come running. I told them to tell James, Jesus’ brother and a church leader, that an angel had broken me out, and to tell the other disciples too. Then I got out of there. I didn’t want to test God. He’d rescued me and I was grateful. I’d be back.
There’s nothing God can’t do. Do you believe that? What do you need God to do in your life? What do you need God to do for your church? Pray about it. But don’t just pray to get something out of God. Pray to know God for who he is. Pray to know Rabbi Jesus. Offer your needs before him. Maybe he wants to get you out of your prison; or, maybe he wants you to stay there to minister to share him with your guards. You may be surprised by what he wants you to do. There’s nothing God can’t do.
Remember Herod? My story doesn’t end here, well, because…
No king but Jesus. My story starts with Herod taking James’s life but ends with the Lord taking Herod’s life. Herod thought he was a big man, but Rabbi Jesus knocked him down—all the way down.
Herod tried to be Jewish but must have got tired of it because he left Jerusalem and moved to Caesarea, which is like the Greek Capital of Judea. It’s no surprise but he got in an argument with some northern cities. When he successfully strong-armed them by threatening their food supply, he celebrated with a dress-up party and a speech. He put on his royal robes, which were covered in what I can only describe as silver-feathers. When he came into the theater in the morning wearing his silver dress, he reflected that early morning sun and people thought he looked like a god. I thought he looked like a silver chicken.
The crowds shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Herod loved it. He lapped it up. People were finally telling him how big and important he was. So the Lord struck him down. A worm ate his insides and he died a horrible, painful, death. I wish he had repented when he had time. I hope you repent while you still have time.
You ever act like you’re a god? You act like the king of your life? Well, you’re not. No king but Jesus. If you keep acting that way, one day the Lord God will strike you down like he did Herod. Pretty scary, right? But here’s the thing. Rabbi Jesus is a really good king. You can trust him. He’ll take care of you. He took care of me. He gave me far more than I ever deserved, eternal life, knowing him.
After the Herod incident, myself and others kept preaching the gospel and people came to faith. Christianity spread and flourished. It was beautiful. No king but Jesus. No prayer too big. There’s nothing God can’t do.
So will you come to Jesus? Will you confess your sins and be forgiven? Maybe you’re like I was. You’re sitting in a spiritual cell chained to your addictions and sins. The execution is coming tomorrow and you need someone to deliver you. You need an angel to fill your cell with the blinding light of God’s mercy and grace. I know I did.
Do you know that when Herod Agrippa found out I had escaped, he executed my guards? I wish he hadn’t, but he did. That’s the rule for Roman soldiers. If you let a captive go, your life is forfeit. I don’t know why God allowed those men to die in my place so that I could go free. But it reminds me of how my Rabbi Jesus also died in my place so that I could go free.
My Rabbi, Rabbi Jesus, died on the cross to set me free from sin and death. He died a terrible death on a cross to forgive me for not being with him when he died. He died for me to forgive me for not praying when I should. He died to save my from my doubt. He died for my sin, all of it. He died to set me free from my prison cell so that I can walk out into the night sky and enjoy the stars for all eternity.
Rabbi Jesus didn’t stay dead. Three days later he rose from the grave and now anyone who turns from their sin and believes in Jesus can be set free too. Will you do that? Will you say yes to Jesus? It’s time to say yes to the king. No king but Jesus. No prayer too big, especially the prayer of salvation. Will you come to him?
It’s been wonderful, getting to meet you all, but it’s time for me to go now. I’m sure we’ll talk further when you die. I look forward to that day. May Rabbi Jesus bless you. Your pastor will pray for you now.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this first-person narrative sermon on Peter at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references. You can also listen on Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What did you think of the form of the first-person narrative sermon on Peter? Did it distract you or help you learn? What does “No king but Jesus” mean? How does it help us see our Government and kings through the lens of faith and hope? What does “No prayer too big” mean? What sorts of things do you prayer for? What are you inspired to pray for? Do you believe “There’s nothing God can’t do”? How would you like to see him work in your life? Will you say yes to Jesus? Will you repent of your sins and turn to him? If so, please find a local church and get connected.
Sources Arnold, Clinton E.. Acts (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary) (p. 115). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition. *Herod’s shiny silver robes.
I found Skip Heitzig’s sermon on Acts 12 to be very helpful, especially drawing out the interesting them of Peter’s odd ability to sleep. Check it out here: Acts 12 – Skip Heitzig – Jan 18, 2018.
What are the two happiest days in a boat-owner’s life? The day they buy the boat… and the day they sell the boat. Some say a boat owner is happiest the day they sell their boat and buy a bigger boat. I never want to own boat, but I would like to have friends who own boats. I also want a friend with a pool.
Boats require a lot of maintenance. From what I gather, the day you buy a boat is happy because it’s the fulfillment of a dream. Maybe you grew up on your family’s boat and it’s the day you get to return to start new memories. But those romanticized memories are confronted with the actual costs of boat ownership.
You have to figure out where to dock your boat, maybe at your house, or some sort of rented dock. Then you have to transport it there, so you have to buy a trailer. Once your boat is in the water you have to keep it maintained because there’s nothing like water to damage a boat. But if there’s a storm or the weather get’s cold, you got to take your boat out and figure out where to dock it and cover it with those big white tarps.
And maybe that’s why so many people are so happy the day they finally sell their boat. All that maintenance is finally gone! If you’re a boat owner, I’d love to enjoy the fruit of all your boat maintenance with you.
A church is a bit like a boat. We set sail on The Good Ship Cornerstone in 2015 into the deep blue sea of Westford. We had a lot of excitement and vision for church planting, for starting a new gospel-preaching church in Westford, but then maintenance mode slowly set in. We realized it’s a lot of work to run a weekly service and to maintain a building. It’s a lot of work just keeping going what we already have.
We switched from Saturdays to Sunday mornings last fall and added a Christian Education hour. I felt like we were gaining some momentum and then… Covid-19 hit. A global pandemic brought a lot of our ministries and ideas to a grinding halt. Let’s just keep the church afloat.
During this complex season we have set sail to new places. We ran a Westford food pantry fundraiser and we went from renting our boat to owning it when Immanuel Church sold us the building. We’ve been discussing diversity and racial reconciliation as part of our Race, Class, and the Kingdom of God study series. These are good changes and things we should celebrate.
But I think maybe even if we’re not willing to say it out-loud, we might be thinking, “When Covid-19 is over, that’s when we’ll start ministry back up again…” Some are estimating we won’t have a vaccine and herd immunity until the end of 2021 at the earliest, but even that’s just a guess. No one knows for sure. Are we really going to wait till the end of 2021 to get back on mission? We’ve lost the wind in our sails. We’ve begun to drift. Do you want to get back on mission? I want to ask us this key question:
How can we be on mission and not just in maintenance mode? Do we just want to keep things going, or do we want to pursue a new season of ministry that looks different and requires us to engage in new and creative ways? Today we’re going back to the book of Acts. When persecution struck, the early believers could have tried to keep things as close to normal as possible, or to trust the Holy Spirit and step out in faith. God, in his providence, pushed his people outward in faith.
The early church had just experienced its first tragedy with the martyrdom of Stephen, one of the church leaders. When you touch a flame, what do you do? You pull back. The flame burns you and you want to withdraw and isolate. But what if God wants to use the flame for good? What if God wants to use the flame of persecution to spread the gospel? That’s what he did in Acts. As I read the Scripture passage in Acts I have a map so you can see where the story is located.
Acts 11:19-21 (ESV) 19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
When Stephen was stoned to death, many believers scattered west towards Northern Africa or north towards modern-day Lebanon called Phoenicia back then. God is providentially fulfilling what Jesus promised when Jesus left his disciples and ascended into heaven. Jesus gave them a road-map for their mission.
Acts 1:8 (ESV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Jesus sent his disciples on mission to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. They’re finally starting to get to the Greek-speaking ends of the earth when they arrive in Antioch. When they get there, some of the Jewish believers only preach about Jesus’ death and resurrection to the Jews. They’re doing what they’re used to. They’re “on mission” but they’re also “maintaining the status quo.”
Another group comes along who sees that not only do the Jews need to hear about Jesus, but so do the non-Jewish Greek-people called Hellenists. The Hellenists spoke Greek and lived a completely culturally foreign lifestyle than the Jews. It was quite extraordinary for these Jews to preach about Jesus’ death and resurrection to them, but they did. They were not in maintenance-mode, but mission-mode for Jesus, and this happened:
Acts 11:20-21 (ESV) 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
When we get out of our comfort zone, and cross cultural and ethnic boundaries with the gospel, God rewards it. It is out of my comfort zone to go to the Living Waters Center of Hope next Saturday. It’s not just out of my comfort zone because of Covid, it’s out of my comfort zone because I can think of a bunch other things I’d rather do. But Scripture suggests that when we get out there and try something, God rewards it.
Let’s go back to our question. How can we be on mission and not just in maintenance mode? I see three things that move us from maintenance to mission:
1) Spirit We need the Holy Spirit to lead us out on mission. The Holy Spirit has been working through the entire church movement. He’s been showing up and doing miracles in ways people had never imagined and he’s not done yet. This time God uses a man “full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” to advance the mission.
Acts 11:22-24 (ESV) The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.
The church in Jerusalem hears about the Greek people coming to faith and they send Barnabas to check it out. When we were last in Acts in September, we saw how some of the Jewish Christians were pushing back against the Gentiles coming to faith. But God gave Peter a vision of unclean animals coming down from heaven, and he told him to take and eat, and then God called Peter to the home of Cornelius, a Gentile, to hear the gospel message. God showed Peter he had opened the way for the Gentiles to become a part of the Christian community through faith in Jesus Christ. But many still question if the Gentiles really belong.
Many trust Barnabas. Back in Acts 4 he sold some of his land and gave the money to the church leaders. He was such an encouragement they renamed him Barnabas, “which means son of encouragement” (Acts 4:32-37). Barnabas also vouched for the vigilante Saul when he saw Jesus in a blinding vision and had his dramatic conversion on the Road to Damascus. Barnabas is a trusted leader, and it’s not hard to see why. When he sees the Gentiles coming to faith, instead of fighting the change, instead of trying to go back to maintenance mode with ministry to the Jews, he recognizes God is at work. He rejoices and encourages them to keep going. Why? Because he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and faith. He listened to what the Holy Spirit was saying and he did it.
We need those in our church, especially the older generation or those who hold more authority, to recognize what the Holy Spirit is doing in up-and-coming leaders and movements and to encourage it. We see someone with authority and power and every right to entrench become this new ministry’s biggest advocate. Barnabas recognizes God is doing something special, but that he doesn’t have the gifting for it.
Acts 11:25 (ESV) So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,
Barnabas has so much humility to say, “I’m not gifted to lead what God is doing here, but I know who is, and he goes and get’s him.” He recognized this by being in-tune with the Holy Spirit. He spends time in prayer and that gives him the eyes to see the Lord’s calling on Paul’s life.
What powers a sail boat? The wind! I’ve never seen anyone take a whole bunch of fans out to their sail boat and try and blow their own sail. If we want to be on mission, we have to catch the wind. We got to pray. How might we begin to pray more as a church? I like the models of sailboats in glass bottles. I’m always wondering, “How did they get that boat in there?” It sure looks nice. It’s beautiful and intricate. Everything is pristine and organized, but this ship will never sail. A little boy playing with a stick in a river will have greater adventures than that ship in a bottle.
How have we as a church put ourselves in a glass bottle? We can have all the best structures and systems and nicest facilities in the world, but if we’ve lost our mission we’re like a ship in a bottle. I’d rather be a simple stick in the river than that. I’m not saying rigging isn’t important, but catching the waves and the wind is what it’s really all about. It’s messy and dangerous for a church to follow the Holy Spirit outside its glass walls, especially during Covid. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to fill our church’s sail and propels us to mission.
I’d also ask you to ask yourself if you’ve put yourself in a glass bottle. Have you forgotten your mission to your family members, coworkers, and friends? Are you in a bottle or sailing the waves of adventure with the Holy Spirit as you love those around you? The Spirit moves us from maintenance to mission. And second…
2) Discipleship Barnabas goes up to Tarsus to find Paul.
Acts 11:26 (ESV) …and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
We see both one-on-one discipleship and gathered church discipleship in this passage. Barnabas pours into Paul, and together they teach the entire church. People didn’t know what to do with this odd group of Jews and non-Jews talking about the death and resurrection of Jesus, so they called them Christians. The Greek word Christ means Messiah, which is God’s special chosen king, so it was like they were calling them “Messiah freaks!” (N.T. Wright). They were mocking them by calling them “Christians” and it stuck.
This community was on mission, doing discipleship and teaching, following the Spirit, and became marked by the name of Jesus. The Spirit and discipleship move us from maintenance to mission. And third…
3) Generosity You would think that in a time of persecution and suffering the believers would hunker down and stockpile, especially if they heard more trouble was coming, but that’s not what they do.
Acts 11:27-30 (ESV) Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
A prophet tells the church that they’re going to face a great famine. But instead of taking their boat to dry-dock, they send what they can to Jerusalem because they know the believers there will be worse off than them. They don’t ask, “How much do they need?” which is really asking, “How little can we give?” but rather, “How much can we give?” Their generosity drives the mission. When we start asking, “How much do I have to give to keep things afloat?” we’re sunk. Rather, let’s ask, “How can we give in such a way as to grow God’s kingdom?” The Spirit, discipleship, and generosity move us from maintenance to mission.
As I was preparing for this sermon I came across an article on Mission vs. Maintenance. It showed a chart of the difference between a maintenance church and a mission church. I’ve adapted it in our slides (see below).
A maintenance church is concerned with: attendance, programs, preserving tradition and what they are already doing, and getting the members involved in activities.
A mission church is concerned with equipping and sending believers out into the world, hope for the future, reaching the outside community, and cares about how God has called and gifted people.
Amaintenance church is anxious about change while a mission church embraces it.
The strategy of a maintenance church is centered on getting people into the church building while a mission church is focused on getting outside into the community.
Can you see how trusting the spirit moves us from focusing on attendance and programs to equipping and sending? When we’re more focused on the Spirit than duties, we take the time to listen to gifting and calling. If discipleship is the end-goal, to help people follow Jesus and his teachings, the forms don’t matter. God calls us to be generous. How can we be generous even during Covid?
This is really hard to do. It takes risk, and trust. But it helps to know that even if we step out and completely fail, God still loved us enough to send his son to rescue us. He died for us, and gave us eternal life. We don’t have anything to fear. And even if we do succeed, we can’t be prideful, for the same reason. But we can be glad, we can be glad that Jesus has forgiven us and is leading us out on mission to a lost and hurting world.
I hope today serves as a wake-up call for our church body, but also for us as individuals. If you’re just going through the motions with your frontline, your non-Christian relationships you’re around every day, I hope you’ll begin to pray for them anew and sense the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit, discipleship, and generosity move us from maintenance to mission. Did you know there were two boats that responded to the Titanic when it was sinking? One boat, the Californian, was about 20 miles away. They turned off their radio about ten minutes before the Titanic hit the ice-berg. They saw rockets and flares shoot off in the distance. They couldn’t figure out why another boat was shooting rockets and flares, but they didn’t turn on their radio, and they didn’t investigate. They saw the boat’s light turn off, but thought it was just turning its light off for the night. The crew of the Californian were so in maintenance-mode with what they were already doing, they couldn’t imagine the Titanic sinking. For the rest of their life the crew members of the Californian had to wrestle with why they didn’t go.
But there was another ship, the Carpathia. It was 58 miles away. But its radio was on, and when it got the call that the Titanic was sinking it powered up all its engines and headed straight for the titanic, navigating icebergs in the night. It ran full-power ahead for 3.5 hours, and when the crew showed up at the scene of the disaster, many had already perished, but they saved 705 lives from the life boats. The Carpathia was on mission. Which would we rather be? The Californian? Or the Carpathia? Maintenance or mission? A church just trying to get by? Or a church with wind in our sails and a sea of possibilities before us? Let’s pray.
Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV) 24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references. You can also listen on Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What’s the difference between maintenance mode and mission mode as a church? How can we seek the Spirit? What are some ideas for praying more as a church? What things keep you busy and from participating in discipleship? Who is discipling you? Who are you discipling? How can we be more generous as a church to other churches in need? How does the gospel shape us from maintenance-mode to mission?
Sources Hull, William E. Strategic Preaching: The Role of the Pulpit in Pastoral Leadership. January 2006. Chalice Press. p. 209-213. *This is where I read the Titanic, Californian, and Carpathia illustration.
Thomas, Derek. W.H.. Acts: Reformed Expository Commentary. March 2011. P&R Publishing Company. Phillipsburg, NJ. p. 325-326. *This is where I got the “How much can I give?” question.
Wright, N. T.. Paul (p. 93). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.
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What are the two happiest days in a boat-owner’s life? The day they buy the boat… and the day they sell the boat. Some say a boat owner is happiest the day they sell their boat and buy a bigger boat. I never want to own boat, but I would like to have friends who own boats. I also want a friend with a pool. Boats require a lot of maintenance. From what I gather, the day you buy a
Sam loved going to the hospital. There was just something about it. The floors were always clean. The care and attention was always lovely. And you could get room service at almost any time. So Sam devised a plan. He would move into the hospital. One day he showed up at the emergency room and said he had a lot of pain in his side. They wheeled him in for an exam and battery of tests, but they couldn’t find anything. He kept complaining of so much pain that they decided to keep him over night, at least to watch him.
The next day the doctors and nurses came back, and he complained of pain in his side, but also in his back. They ran more tests, but couldn’t find anything. He managed to watch a movie and eat a chicken sandwich between tests. It was a lovely day. Again, they kept him overnight. Day by day Sam complained of pain in this part or that part of the body and so they kept him in the hospital, day after day.
One day a U-Haul showed up at the hospital and movers began to unload his belongings in his room, a big-screen television, his family photos, and a nicer couch for comfort. He made himself quite at home, and all the while, kept saying how much pain he was experiencing. The doctors and nurses grew quite concerned about him, but couldn’t quite narrow down what was wrong. And so he stayed, until one day, he grew old, and passed away.
Why do we go to the hospital? To get better. We don’t go to the hospital so we can stay there forever, but so that we can grow healthy and strong and continue with our lives. A church is like a hospital. It’s a place where we welcome sick people, help them heal, and send them out to look for others. True, we keep welcoming them back for a weekly check-up, but with the goal of creating healthy flourishing human beings.
Today, we’re finishing our series on Church Accountability & Discipline. At its core, this series is about helping sick people get healthy again. If you’re sick with sin, we’re here to help you recover and help others. That’s what it means to be brothers and sisters in Christ walking a pilgrim journey together. We pick each other up when we fall. We take each other to the Great Physician, to Christ Jesus, when we’re sick.
But what if you’re not a part of this church? Or you don’t even consider yourself a Christian? Why listen? I’ll give you three reasons:
If you’ve ever had conflict in your life, or experienced a broken relationship, you need to know when it makes sense to put that relationship back together again. I think this sermon could help. We all need a restored relationship with God, whether you’re the most religious person in the world, or you don’t even own a Bible. I want to tell you about that as part of today’s message. To be a Christian means to be part of a church community. If you’re interested in becoming a Christian, you need to understand the church is more than a social club, it’s a hospital, and we want to see sick people made whole again. That’s our purpose.
The goal of accountability and discipline is restoration. The goal of accountability and church discipline is to restore those who have wandered off the path, those who are sick. Remember our foundation verse for this series?
Galatians 6:1-2 (ESV) Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
The Greek word for “restore” has a lot of depth to it. One of restore’s meanings is “to knit together.” Think of a fishing net with a rope line that has begun to fray and fall apart. The line’s unraveling weakens the entire net, making it less effective. To restore that net is to take that rope and knit-it back together and weave it into the body of nets (Matt 4:21). The other lines in that net no longer says, “That rope isn’t one of us” or “that line doesn’t really belong here.” No, the restored line is an important part of the whole.
That’s what it means for us to take someone who has fallen into sin and yet repented due to accountability. We restore them. We knit them back into the church body. We weave them throughout our congregation, fitting them back together like they had never frayed or fallen apart due to sin. This doesn’t mean we don’t take extra care with them. We weave them into the ministries and relationships where we believe they can succeed, trying not to put them in places they will fail. We carefully restore them to the church body.
Doesn’t this sound great? When can we get going? When do we know as a church when to restore someone to the church body who has fallen into sin? Whether this is the first time they’re hearing about their sin or they resisted so much we actually went to church discipline, restoration comes from repentance.
Repentance > ??? > Restoration Repentance leads to restoration. I’m going to tell you about another step before complete restoration, but repentance starts the process. Repentance means rejecting sin. Repentance means turning from sin to God.
Acts 3:19-20a (ESV) 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…
This is a posture. God, I don’t want to be in sin anymore. I want you to restore me! I need you to refresh me. I don’t want sin. I want you. Repentance is not simply saying, “I’m not going to sin anymore.” Like, if every time you got sick you could say, “I’m not going to be sick anymore” and you were cured, we wouldn’t need doctors. Like, you have a cold, and you simply utter the words, “Cold be gone!” and your sinuses clear up. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Much of the time with sickness, and all of the time with sin, we need a cure.
The cure is the forgiveness of God that comes through Jesus Christ, which we receive by coming to him and asking for forgiveness. Jesus is the Great Physician who will forgive us of all the ways we sin against God, whether it’s something small, or something big, something uncomfortable, or something ugly, God forgives it all when we repent of our sins and put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Repentance is different than never sinning. I just figured out this week that I’ve never actually read the classic tale, Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan (1678). My family used to play it all the time on cassette tapes, but that was just the dramatized version. I loved listening to it, the story of a pilgrim named Christian who was on his journey to the Celestial City. He encountered all sorts of trials and temptations and struggles to stay on the pathway. But each time he wanders off, God graciously pulls him back onto the pathway again, often using other Christians to do so. That’s like what our Christian walk is like. We’re on the way to the Celestial City, but sometimes we walk off the path so God sends fellow pilgrims to pull us back on again. That’s accountability and discipline. Each time pilgrim gets back on the path he is repenting of how he fell into sin and walking down the path again. That’s what repentance is.
Pilgrim does start his journey with an act of repentance when he comes to the foot of the cross, and there the sin and guilt he was carrying, pictured as a great burden on his back, looses, rolls down the hill, and falls into a sepulcher. His sins dies in Jesus’ tomb. If you haven’t had that first moment of forgiveness and grace, come to the sepulcher. Come to Jesus at the foot of the cross, where he gave his life for your sin, and lay your sin down. Then begin your journey of repentance and faith, looking to Jesus as we head to the Celestial city.
Core to being a Christian is being repentant of your sin. The whole reason we do accountability, and sometimes discipline, is when we see a lack of repentance. But, correction doesn’t stop with repentance because we live in a community. When we sin in community, our sins are against not only God, but each other. We need to repair the harm we cause others.
Repentance > Confession > Restoration Repentance leads to confession, which leads to restoration. It’s important to confess our sins to those we hurt with our sins. In our culture we’re so individualistic. We don’t see ourselves as part of a people. Maybe you see yourself as an American or a Boy Scout or Girl Scout or part of your favorite club. But the church is something far more important. The church is the body of Christ. It’s Christ’s body that we need to treat it with special care. That’s why when we repent of our sin, we need to confess our sin to those we’ve hurt, which might be a few key relationships in the church, or even the whole church body.
When this happens, those of us hurt by the sin don’t say, “Yeah! That’s right! You better confess!” Rather, we rejoice! It’s a party! The lost sheep has come home! The Bible says that angels rejoice when sinners repent (Luke 15:10)! How much more should we! We eat cake for baptisms. Let’s eat cake for restorations! Repentance leads to confession, which leads to restoration.
That’s it, right? Easy as one, two, three, correct? I used to clean fish-tanks once a week during seminary. I used to clean one long glass tank that was very scratched up. It was at a doctor’s office and one week I heard, “Code blue!” I knew something was happening because doctors and nurses went running to the downstairs atrium. A code blue typically means some sort of medical emergency where someone’s life is in danger, such as “cardiac arrest” or a “severe drop in blood pressure.” Sometimes, in the church, we have medical emergencies. We have code blues. We have complications that require medical intervention outside the normal steps of church accountability and discipline. I want to briefly touch on three complications.
Three Complications: Complication #1. Divisiveness/False Teaching The sin of divisiveness or false teaching is like a fast-growing malignant tumor that we need to swiftly address. We find this sense of urgency in several of Paul’s writings:
Titus 3:10-11 (NIV)10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. 11 You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.
The Greek word for “divisive” is the word “hairetikos.” Our modern word for “heretic”—someone who preaches false teaching, derives from this Greek word. However, in this verse, hairetikos means someone who is causing division. This is someone who is fostering distrust and disunity, perhaps by their teachings, but also by their behavior and actions (2 Thess 3:6).
Maybe they’re spreading a rumor in the church body about another family or couple, causing hurt and mistrust. Maybe they believe in Jesus, but not God the Father, and are recruiting others to what they believe. There are a whole slew of ways we can be divisive or teach the wrong things. It’s the Elders’ job to watch out for this kind of behavior (Acts 20:29-31). We correct them once, then twice, then have nothing to do with them. Unlike the sin we discussed in Matthew 18, the reason a divisive person would not be allowed to continue at church is because of the risk of causing more disunity or further spreading false teachings.
Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m so glad they caught it in time.” When they say this, they’re typically talking about some form of sickness or cancer that is fast-spreading but they treated it early enough to save the patient. That’s like what this sin is. We don’t mess around with divisiveness or false teaching. We still hope and pray for restoration, but we recognize we have to protect the whole church first.
Complication #2. Egregious Sin Egregious means “outstanding, bad, shocking.” This is the kind of sin that is both unusual and blatant. It is usually illegal and unethical. It’s not typically a one-time occurrence, but shows a longstanding pattern of un-repentance. Paul addresses one of these situations directly within the church at Corinth.
1 Corinthians 5:1-2 (ESV) 1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
So here’s a pretty bad situation. A man within the church body is engaged in egregious, outstanding, bad, shocking sin. In verse 2 it says the Corinthian church was “arrogant.” They were proud of the sin! Paul is saying, “Guys, this is super bad! Not even your non-Christian neighbors the Romans allow this sort of thing.” This individual and the whole church is confusing the culture with what it means to know Christ Jesus. Paul tells them to get rid of him. There’s no warning, no conversation, immediate expulsion. We still hope and pray for restoration, but recognize something needs to be done immediately.
This is like emergency surgery. No one wants to do it, but some sins are just that bad. Illegal sins. Double-life sins. Sins that show a long pattern of un-repentance. They deserve immediate church discipline. If the sin is illegal, please report it to the police along with the elders, and follow all our other policies we have, like the children’s or youth protection policies. Maybe that’s obvious, but I got to say it.
Complication #3. Elder Sin Paul tells Timothy how an Elder should be addressed when accused of sin. Like Matthew 18, if someone witnesses an Elder sinning, they should go to them directly and talk about it. And Paul adds this:
1 Timothy 5:19-21 (ESV) 19 Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. 21 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.
What’s different about this approach is that two or three witnesses need to affirm the charge brought against an Elder. It can’t just be one person’s opinion. This is here to protect Elders from faulty charges. Satan always wants to bring down church leaders by any means possible. We should never be flippantly throwing out accusations against our Elders. They have a special responsibility before God that deserves extra respect.
Paul goes out of his way to tell the Elders not to show favoritism, but to investigate and if necessary, correct. Because an Elder is a leader and a spiritual authority in a church, if they persist in the sin, they are to be publicly rebuked. That sounds really difficult, really hard, but it’s not meant to punish or embarrass, but to correct, restore, and serve as a warning to others.
If a doctor were sick, and wouldn’t admit it, you wouldn’t want him or her to work on you. You’d want them to take care of themselves before healing others. If you can’t get spiritually healthy yourself, you can’t lead others towards spiritual health. I ran across this real-life example as I was doing reading for my Doctorate of Ministry (D.Min) studies.
A church leader described to me a session he had led during which a congregation had received back a previous leader who had failed morally. After accepting discipline, receiving counseling, and seeking reconciliation (Matt. 18:15), he was accepted back by the community at a special service. The session leader said, “No other organization in the world deals with failures like the church does, when God gives second chances to sinners. Isn’t the church amazing when it works well?” 360-Degree Leadership by Michael J. Quicke
“No other organization in the world deals with failures like the church does, when God gives second chances to sinners.” Accountability and discipline is all about having a second chance, and sometimes third and fourth chances. Complication #1. Divisiveness/False Teaching; Complication #2. Egregious Sin; Complication #3. Elder Sin
In closing… Let’s create a place of healing and hope. We have some of the best hospitals in the world in Boston. We’re so grateful some in our church family have benefited from them. Newsweek ranked Mass General #3 in the world in 2020. They ranked Boston’s Brigham and Women’s #17. These hospitals have the best medical research and care on the planet. This undoubtedly comes down to their doctors, nurses, systems, employees, and people all working together to create the best hospitals. When people look at those hospitals they recognize these are places of healing.
We have an opportunity to build the kind of church where people in our community recognize us as a place of healing. Cornerstone is a hospital where sick people go to get well. It’s a place where people can meet the Great Physician, Jesus Christ, who came to bear our sins and make us whole again. To create that kind of place we have to work together as Elders and members and church people. Together with Jesus let’s make Cornerstone a place of healing and hope. Let’s pray.
Jude 24-25 (NIV) To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references. You can also listen on Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
Do you think the church is like a hospital? In what ways? Why do we do accountability and even discipline? Describe the process of “repentance > confession > restoration.” Would you add anything? What are the variations/complications in church accountability and discipline? How should they be addressed? How does the gospel of Jesus give us healing and hope?
Sources Code Blue, Code Red, Code Black: Definition of Hospital Color Codes. Published May 2, 2018. Accessed October 24, 2020. https://www.healthline.com/health/code-blue#takeaway
Quicke, Michael J.. 360-Degree Leadership (pp. 63-64). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Quote taken from Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus by Jonathan Leeman, © 2012, pp. 62-63. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
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Sam loved going to the hospital. There was just something about it. The floors were always clean. The care and attention was always lovely. And you could get room service at almost any time. So Sam devised a plan. He would move into the hospital. One day he showed up at the emergency room and said he had a lot of pain in his side. They wheeled him in for an exam and battery of tests, but they couldn’t find
Pastor Sam Kim of the Intercultural Mission Church in North Andover joined us for this morning’s sermon. Pastor Jonathan has appreciated Pastor Sam’s mentoring and discipleship in his life, and is excited to introduce him to the Cornerstone church family. The general idea of the Acts 6:1-7 sermon is this: By the Holy Spirit, the early church was able to change for those they loved, as the Son of God changed (fully God to fully God and fully human) to share His kingdom and kingdom work with those He loved. Please check out Pastor Sam Kim’s YouTube channel.
You can watch the full service on Facebook or the sermon only on YouTube.
Pastor Sam Kim of the Intercultural Mission Church in North Andover joined us for this morning’s sermon. Pastor Jonathan has appreciated Pastor Sam’s mentoring and discipleship in his life, and is excited to introduce him to the Cornerstone church family. The general idea of the Acts 6:1-7 sermon is this: By the Holy Spirit, the early church was able to change for those they loved, as the Son of God changed (fully God to fully God and fully human) to
What do you do when someone you love has a runny nose? You shove a Q-tip up their nose! But before-covid, what would you do? You’d hand them a tissue. That’s it. Maybe you’d say, “Your nose is running. Here’s a tissue.” But what if they don’t want to wipe their nose? What if they don’t realize they’re sick? You could forcefully wipe their nose with a tissue, like I do with my son, who by the way, is getting
What do you do when someone you love has a runny nose? You shove a Q-tip up their nose! But before-covid, what would you do? You’d hand them a tissue. That’s it. Maybe you’d say, “Your nose is running. Here’s a tissue.” But what if they don’t want to wipe their nose? What if they don’t realize they’re sick?
You could forcefully wipe their nose with a tissue, like I do with my son, who by the way, is getting better all the time at wiping his nose. You could pray for them, “Lord, would you help them see their need to wipe their nose?” You could encourage them to go see a doctor, “I think you should talk to a doctor. They might have something to tell you.” Or if it get’s really bad, you could setup a surprise medical intervention. “Hey, how’d we get to the doctor’s office? Might as well stop by and say hello!”
When someone you love has a drippy nose, you want to help them out. Church people get sick too, not just physically sick, but spiritually sick. We get spiritual runny noses. By that I mean… we get stuck in sin. Our hearts get sick and we need a brother or sister in Christ to offer us a tissue. We need them to turn our attention to Jesus, and the price he paid on the cross to forgive us of our sins, not so that we can continue sinning, but so that we can be forgiven and made new.
Today I want to talk about 5 steps the Bible gives us to offer our brother or sister in Christ a tissue. We want to restore them and see them healthy again. Two weeks ago we talked about the first step.
Step 1. Prayerful self-examination and discernment. We looked at Matthew 7:1-5 and James 4:1-3 and reviewed how important is to get real with yourself before you get real with someone else. We talked about four categories of sin we should address: the sin dishonors the name of Jesus, damages your relationship with them, is hurting others, or is hurting them.
Remember airplanes? Remember what it’s like to travel places pre-covid? Before the flight takes off, what do the flight attendants do? They run you through a pre-flight safety check. They tell you where the exits are, where the life vests are in case of water landing, and that the oxygen masks will fall down if needed. What do they always tell parents? Put your mask on first; before putting a mask on your child. They don’t want you to pass out before you can help your child. Take care of your own need; then help those you love.
Before we ever wipe someone else’s spiritual nose, we need to make sure we can breathe. We deal with our own sin before dealing with another’s. Once we’ve got our own mask on, and have a renewed and restored relationship with Jesus, by all means help a fellow believer out, but first let’s deal with our own sin. Step 1. Prayerful self examination and discernment.
Step 2. Private one-on-one conversation. Now we come to the Scripture where Jesus himself explains how to do accountability and church discipline.
Matthew 18:15 (ESV) “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
Accountability starts within relationship. Jesus calls a fellow believer here a “brother.” This isn’t a biological brother or sister, but a Christian one. The word brother suggests commitment and relational ties. Siblings care for each other. It takes time to develop relationship, not just with the purpose of correcting, but out of genuine love for one another.
Having a genuine relationship helps us be gentle when we correct one another. Our foundation verse says to restore those caught in sin “in a spirit of gentleness”(Gal 6:1 ESV). Jesus tells us in the great commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31 NIV). If we’re to take that same command and apply it to correction, we’re to correct others as we’d like ourselves to be corrected, graciously, gently.
Your nose is drippy. You have a cold. Your spouse, who is so attentive, notices and says, “Here, let me grab you a tissue.” You expect them to walk to the bathroom or bedroom to get the tissue, but then you hear them open the basement door. They go downstairs and a few minutes later reemerge. They hold out their hand and offer you a nice soft piece of… sandpaper! Grit 36! Super rough. You could strip a concrete floor with it! If they handed sandpaper to you, would you blow your nose with it? No! Would you be happy with what they gave you? No! You’d think, “Is this person crazy?” They want me to blow my nose with sandpaper? That’s why we have to be gentle when talking with others about their sin. I know I’ve tried to wipe people’s noses with sandpaper, and maybe you have too. Lets forgive each other; and offer tissue instead.
Not only should this conversation be relational and gentle, but it should be private. Jesus says to go to him “alone.” Go by yourself. Tell him or her their fault, and only him or her their fault.
Little Jimmy has a huge green booger sticking out of his nose and his sister Bethany is concerned for him. But instead of telling Jimmy, Bethany calls Rick and says, “You got to see this booger! It’s so big!” Then she texts her friend Glenda. “Do you have any tissue at your house? Jimmy has a giant green booger.” Finally, when she’s at school later that week she mentions to Cameron, “Jimmy has really been getting a lot of boogers lately. Would you pray for him?” …Bethany, tell Jimmy he has a booger! Talk with him directly. Otherwise, you’re the booger!
To not address the one who is sinning directly, is sinning itself. I can be tough to handle because we get frustrated with people when they sin, especially if their sin hurts us. Sometimes I feel like I’m solving the problem by telling others; but actually, I’m just spreading the flu. I’m making it worse. I need to speak to the one who has sinned against me, or is caught in sin, directly.
Monday morning I’m going to finally be sending out our ChurchAccountability & Discipline Policy. I hope you’ll take the time to read it. You might notice a section called “Clarifying Elder Involvement.” In this section, we’ve explained how if you have a problem with someone, please go and talk with them first before coming to the Elders. Until you’ve had that personal, private, gentle, one-on-one conversation, we’re not going to discuss the issue as a board.
One girl shared online how at her mom’s kindergarten there’s a small stool in the corner with a picture of Jodie Foster stuck to the wall. It looks like a shrine to her. This girl asked her mom what the picture was about and her mom told her that when the kids come to the leaders to tell them what another kid did, they send them to tattle to Jodie Foster. They call the picture “Miss Tattle.” Apparently it works pretty well. This was several years ago, but another preschool put up a picture of the President Obama, and told the kids when they had a problem with each other to “Go tell the President.”
When someone hurts us, we don’t have to settle for Jodie Foster or President Obama or even the Elders. We can go straight to Jesus and tell him our hurts and he listens. But then if our hearts are still hurt, he tells us in the Bible to go and talk with those who have sinned against us. Tattle creating a culture of mistrust and gossip, not grace and truth. Let’s do our best to talk with others directly and gently. But if you’ve talked with the person directly, actually talked with them (not text or email), and they won’t listen, then by all means talk with an Elder because that follows Jesus’ steps. Step 1. Prayerful self examination and discernment. Step 2. Private one-on-one conversation.
Step 3. Private conversation with 1-2 other witnesses. Matthew 18:16 (ESV) But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
So if the individual in sin won’t listen, is still unrepentant, you take one or two other witnesses. What does Jesus mean by witnesses. Do those witnesses have to see the sin happen (Deut 17:6)? Our Elders talked quite a bit about this; and this is what we agreed upon:
Witness – A witness is normally someone who has personally observed a sin or pattern of sin in someone’s life (Deut 19:15; Matt 18:15-16). A witness may also be a mature believer who can help establish a behavior or action as sinful based on Scripture, even if they have not necessarily observed the action itself.
So for example, imagine you talk with someone, but they don’t agree that what they’re doing is sin. They agree that they’re doing it, but they disagree that it’s sinful. Then go speak with a mature Christian believer, maybe one this person trusts, and ask them to come and speak to the situation. The three of you meet to talk it out again. Hopefully, that will lead the one who is spiritually sick to confession and repentance.
Obviously, this is all very difficult. Accountability done right is hard. It’s long and it takes time. It’s not easy. It costs time, effort, energy, and prayer. I’ve found that when I’m going to have a hard conversation, I need to take time to pray and read Scripture and sense the Lord’s presence. I need him to give me wisdom and peace before I’m ready to do anything. Generally, it’s a bad idea to try and correct out of anxiety or anger. It takes time to get our hearts right. We don’t rush in to try to fix a situation. Before bringing anyone else in, make sure you’ve spent that time with the Lord. You can tell him! Then attempt that one-on-one conversation.
But what if the individual still won’t repent of their sin? We’re still within the accountability process; it just get’s elevated. If someone in your family is sick; and they won’t listen to anyone else. They won’t see a doctor. What do you do? Get the sandpaper, right!? No! Get lots of tissue boxes and call a family meeting.
Step 4. Present this issue to the church members. Matthew 8:17a (ESV) If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church…
This is only the second time the word “church” (ekklēsia) is used in the gospels, the other being when Jesus tells Peter he’s the rock upon which he’ll build his church (Matt 16:18). By church here, we do mean the members of the church. We don’t want to just shout this person’s sin to everyone in a worship service, and since this other member has made a commitment to the membership, those would be the ones for whom we’d call a meeting. It would be up to the Elders if they would allow non-members.
So someone comes to the Elders and says, “I’ve talked with this person about a sin. They didn’t listen. I took a witness. They still didn’t listen. Now I’m coming to you. Is it time to take this to the church?” Our Elders would review the steps, talk with those involved, including the unrepentant individual, and then if necessary call a meeting. Obviously, as Elders and pastors, we hope it never get’s to this point. But if sin is lethal, shouldn’t we be willing to call a family intervention? A family intervention isn’t about ganging up, but about getting the one you care about the help they need.
But if talking about the situation with the church body doesn’t work, that’s when we finally get to church discipline… Step 1. Prayerful self examination and discernment. Step 2. Private one-on-one conversation. Step 3. Private conversation with 1-2 other witnesses. Step 4. Present this issue to the church members.
Step 5. Church members enact church discipline. Matthew 8:17b-18 (ESV) …And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Having a conversation is not church discipline. Taking witnesses is not church discipline. Calling a meeting is not church discipline. Church discipline happens only when the gathered church body together votes to bring someone “under church discipline” or to “enact church discipline.” That doesn’t have to happen right away. The Elders and members may try to give the individual caught in sin more time to repent, but at some point, if still unrepentant, the one caught in sin needs to be brought under discipline. Here’s what church discipline means at Cornerstone.
The members may enact church discipline by: A. Officially declaring that they do not recognize the confession of faith of the unrepentant sinner and identify them as a non-believer; B. Removing the non-believer from church membership; C. Refusing to serve the Lord’s Supper to the non-believer; and D. Calling the non-believer to repentance and faith.
Why do we do these? If the person is genuinely a Christian, we want to shock them back to reality. Like defibrillators applied to the chest, we hope being called a “non-Christian” by the church body and by being refused the Lord’s supper they’ll wake up (1 Cor 11:27). We’re not trying to call them a mean name, but to say, “Hey, we’re not really sure where your heart is at, but we don’t think you’re a Christian because Christians repent.” The point of accountability and church discipline is not to punish, but to restore. Jesus died to heal broken people.
On the other hand, if they’re not a genuine Christian, we hope the call to repentance will convict them and lead them to repentance and faith. Jesus said to treat the one under discipline like a “Gentile and a tax collector”? How did Jesus treat those kinds of people? While he did not spend much time with Gentiles, he ate and drank with tax collectors and spent time with them.
Matthew 11:19a (ESV) The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
Just like we’re supposed to spend time with people who don’t know Jesus yet, and call them to repentance, that’s what we do here. Church discipline is a lot like evangelism. Someone is not a Christian; then tell them about Jesus and the forgiveness he offers and invite them to church.
There may be situations where part of the church discipline is removing someone from attending the church for a period of time, for their safety or the safety of others. I’m going to talk a little bit more about that in our next sermon, the final week of our series. Our five steps are:
Step 1. Prayerful self examination and discernment.
Step 2. Private one-on-one conversation.
Step 3. Private conversation with 1-2 other witnesses.
Step 4. Present this issue to the church members.
Step 5. Church members enact church discipline.
Imagine Tom and Jane are having a rocky season in their marriage. It’s so rocky that Tom begins flirting with one of his coworkers, someone he feels gets him and appreciates him for who he is. Pretty soon he’s sneaking out to go see her. Jane already knew their relationship was off, but senses things are just getting worse. Tom is more distant than ever.
Over a drink after work one night Tom boasts to Ken about his new relationship with his coworker. Ken is shocked. He’s not only Tom’s coworker, but he goes to the same church. Ken knew Tom’s marriage was in a tough spot, and had been praying for him, but he didn’t realize it was that bad. That night he goes home and begins to pray and study his Bible. He searches his heart for the shortcomings in his own marriage and confesses to the Lord how hurt he was by his parent’s divorce. He doesn’t want to operate out of any sort of hurt or vindictiveness. Ken re-reads through Matthew 18 and prays for his next step.
That weekend Ken swings by Tom’s. He asks him questions; about his marriage, and when the relationship with the coworker started. Tom seems embarrassed, but when Ken pushes him on it, Tom isn’t ready to give up the relationship. “She just makes me feel so happy” he says. “Doesn’t God want me to be happy?”
Ken goes home feeling like he said what he was supposed to say, but also like Tom was stalling. Ken asks his wife to check in on Jane, but doesn’t give her the gritty details. He knows it’s best if Tom confesses directly to Jane. Together they pray for their marriage.
Ken, not sure what to do, but wanting to follow Jesus, goes to one of his church elders to talk the situation through, explaining how he has already had a personal conversation with Tom, but that it went nowhere. Together, they ask Tom to meet up with them to talk. Tom is reluctant, but agrees. Ken and the elder share their own marriage stories, the ups and downs, and also how the Bible only allows divorce in very specific instances, and this isn’t one of them.
Tom says he’ll stop seeing his coworker, and Ken and the elder pray with him and say they’ll check in on him. Everything goes well for a couple weeks. Ken doesn’t see Tom talking with the coworker anymore, but one day he walks by Tom’s office and they’re inside flirting. Ken pulls Tom outside and asks, “What’s going on?” Tom admits he hasn’t stopped talking with his coworker, and is probably going to get a divorce.
Ken is dumbfounded. He calls the elder that night; and they decide it’s time to meet to discuss. They meet; pray, and decide to reach out to both Jane and Tom. It’s gotten past the point of Tom being able to tell Jane.
Two of the Elders approach Tom and two approach Jane. Tom evades and is non-committal. Jane is saddened, but she is not shocked. She thought Tom might be doing something like this, but she didn’t know what to do. She wants to work on their marriage but she knows she’s made mistakes.
The Elders meet again to pray and process. They try to give Tom more time; but Jane calls to tell them he has moved out and filed for divorce. He’s no longer attending church or the men’s breakfast. The Elders call Tom to tell them that they and Ken are taking this to the church body for church discipline.
Tom yells at them, angry, saying that they can’t do that. The Elders remind him of his membership and covenant to the church body. They call a closed meeting for the church members. They invite Tom, but he doesn’t show. They explain the situation to the church membership. They’re all shocked and saddened. They decide not to enact church discipline quite yet but but to pray and reach out to Tom.
They give Tom another two weeks, but he doesn’t repent and keeps going. Finally, the Elders call another meeting to recommend bringing Tom under church discipline. This time Tom shows up. He sits silently in the back; arms folded. One by one the members of the church get up, tell Tom how much they love him and Jane and want to help their marriage. Janes is there too. She looks pensive, lost in thought.
Finally Jane get’s up and confesses that she knows she has hurt Tom and she is sorry. She also says how much his actions have hurt her and their kids. Finally, Tom’s hard exterior cracks and he breaks down weeping. He rushes out the doors and leaves. They were ready to enact church discipline, but it seems like the Holy Spirit might be getting through. They decide to give Tom more time. That weekend Tom calls Ken and says he is sorry, and he’s going to give his marriage another shot.
The Elders and Ken set up an accountability structure. Tom finds another job to not see the coworker he was interested in and begins to go to marriage counseling with Jane. The Elders discretely update the congregation that they are seeing improvement but ask for continued prayer and support for the family. Ken is grateful because God worked. It was hard and painful but Tom and Jane’s marriage is still intact and they’ve returned to church.
Over time Tom becomes an outspoken advocate for accountability and even church discipline. He tells his coworkers and extended family members how much his church loves him, and that they told him the hard yet gentle truth when others just told him to do what made him happy. Over time Tom and Jane start mentoring and discipling other marriages in trouble. They see God save other relationships. Their kids are so happy their parents made it through. Ken continues to pray for Tom and Jane, and is amazed by God’s grace in all their lives. That’s accountability and church discipline. It’s only possible by God’s grace. Let’s pray.
Jude 24-25 (NIV) To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What are the five steps of accountability and discipline? Which of the five steps do you think is the most difficult for you? What role does prayer and personal reflection play in the process? How does the gospel impact how we do accountability and discipline?
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Do you ever just want to say “thank you”? Or as my son likes to say, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Today I want us to direct our hearts to the heavens and say, “Thank you! Thank you Father for what you have done for us! Thank you for what you have done for us and our families and our church!”
On a Monday morning in late May 2012, Monica and I walked into a class at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and sat down, not knowing that God was going to change our lives. That class was called Church Planting and Growth. We’d signed up because we’d heard the Discipleship & Evangelism class was terrible, and we’d heard this one was much better. God was just moving us where he wanted us. All that week we learned what it meant to start a new church.
We created pretend proposals in class. Our little group brainstormed what it would be like to plant a church in Salem. One of our outreach ideas was to host outdoor yoga sessions to readings of the Psalms. Nothing like a psalm of lament to stretch your thighs. Another group came up with a church called “Nurch Church” which was supposed to be really loving and caring. You’re nurtured at Nurch Church!
Our big assignment was to study a real community, with real needs, and create a church-plant proposal. We had no intention of planting a new church, but if we were going to do the research, we wanted it to make a difference. So we asked Monica’s mentor, Pastor Dana Smith, if he might have a suggestion of a community we should study. He was pastor in Chelmsford, but lived in Westford, and asked us to study Westford.
Later that summer we drove around Westford looking at yards and houses and businesses. We drove right down Graniteville Rd., but missed this church building. We had to turn around to see it. We interviewed local Westford residents and at the end of the summer we wrote our church-plant proposals. We presented our findings to the Immanuel elders at their summer retreat. Then we got married and went back to school.
And that was it… Except God was working in other places. A mom who lived right down the street was praying for this church when they drove by, asking God to revitalize it. That’s Karyn Tang. Another woman was attending a Bible study at this church, Westford Bible Church. She didn’t know it but God was preparing her to help start the church again. That’s Mary Ethier.
Across the country in Minnesota the Conference Minister of a small denomination called the CCCC, the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, was praying for one of their smallest churches, a church with around five people left in it called Westford Bible Church. Ron Hamilton was praying God would use this church to rebirth a new church in a suburban New England community that needs Jesus.
Monica and I attended a church planting conference that next spring and met Ron. When I told him we’d just studied Westford, he said, “Interesting. Interesting.” God was on the move. That summer Immanuel Church, where Pastor Dana Smith served, called me to be their Associate Pastor, and six months later Westford Bible Church approached Immanuel about taking the building to replant a new church in Westford.
Isn’t God amazing? Today I want to take time to remember what God has done, and say thank you.
Thank you Father. Our Scriptures gives us Psalms to help us thank our Heavenly Father. Psalm 100 is for a whole community of people to give thanks. It’s not like a tiny thank you card I write and send off. It’s like one of those big thank you cards everyone signs. Everyone says thank you.
Psalm 100 is a Psalm of thanksgiving. The Hebrew literally says a “sacrifice of thanksgiving.” It’s my prayer that this sermon and our worship service would be a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. That we’d give back to him something out of all he has given to us.
What are you thankful for? Maybe it’s something personal. The Lord gave you a new job, or a special relationship, or a new family member. Maybe it’s church-related. You’re thankful for your church family, for being able to worship outside, for being together. What are you thankful for? Would you thank God for it? I’m thankful for Cornerstone. I’m thankful for five-years as a church plant and that I get to be a part of it.
Today I want to lead us in thanking God for four things. I want to thank God for renewing us, reclaiming us, redeeming us, and resending us.
Thank you Father for: 1. Renewing us (v1-2) Thank you Father for re-energizing us, for restoring our hope in you. God re-energizes us by reminding us who he is. He’s the Lord of all the earth.
Psalm 100:1-2 (ESV) 1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
Psalm 100 is found in a series of Psalms celebrating God’s kingship over all things. Psalm 99 declares “The Lord reigns”! and Psalm 101 sings of the Lord’s love and justice. When we get a bigger picture of who God is, how he’s king over everything, it renews our spirits. When we remember our Lord, Yahweh, the one true God, is king of the universe, it recharges and re-energizes us.
We can’t help but shout out, “Praise you Father! Praise your name!” The Psalm tells us to “make a joyful noise” to literally cry out, to get loud! To come into his presence with singing, loud singing, to say “Amen!” If you’re like me, loudness probably makes you a little uncomfortable, or a lot uncomfortable. When I sing I’m more like a church mouse than a songbird. But God calls us to sing big because singing engages the heart. We are renewed when we sing about our God.
God is good. He is king. Only a king could have made this church plant happen. Very few churches start with a pastor, a team, and a building, but God gave us all of them. Eleven months after Westford Bible Church approached Immanuel about taking their building we had our first team-training session. The CCCC came in to help us think through who we are as a church and the ways God has gifted us. Out of that training came the Church Plant Ministry Team (CPMT), our leadership, that lead us for the next 2.5 years. We started training and planning and that following October on the 3rd 2015 we launched our weekly worship service, five years ago yesterday. And we’re still here, still worshipping God, and still trying new ways to share Christ with Westford.
Only a king could have done this! Doesn’t it make you want to shout out, “Amen!” To praise him?! Thank you Father for renewing us. And thank you father for…
2. Reclaiming us (v3-4) God is reclaiming Westford, he’s reclaiming our church community, he’s reclaiming you. Five years into this and there’s nothing you and I need to know more than that we have a Father in Heaven who loves and accepts us and will have us no matter what.
Psalm 100:3 (ESV) 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
You need to know God at a really personal level. This Hebrew word for “know” “yada” is a personal kind of word. It’s like the word “smooch.” Smooch isn’t a word we just casually throw out. “Would you like a smooch?” You smooch your wife, or you smooch your kids, or you smooch your dogs, or you get smooched, and you like it. When you’re smooching… you know someone. You’re face to face with them. That’s what it means to come into God’s presence (v2)—to come face to face with him, to really know him.
That’s the kind of way God wants to know you. He wants to know you and for you to know him. …God wants to smooch you! To get face to face with you, to hear your heart, to whisper his love. We’re so busy and our hearts get distracted. He wants to reclaim your heart. Will you let him?
God wants us. He wants his people back. The word “his people” is right at the center of this Psalm. It’s like the Psalm itself is telling us God’s people are what matters most to him. God loves us, he’s reclaiming us.
One of my biggest struggles through this church plant has been prioritizing my relationship with God. It’s been challenging to simply abide in my Heavenly Father’s love for me. It’s been so easy to get wrapped up with all the things we have to do—the preaching, the emails, the decisions. But at the end of the day, God just wants me, and he just wants you too. God doesn’t want your busyness, he wants you. Today, God wants to reclaim you. He wants to reclaim your heart. Will you let him?
God is inviting you into his presence. We don’t have to go to the temple like the Israelites anymore. We can enter into his presence right here, right now.
Psalm 100:4 (ESV) 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
God is inviting you home, but he knows no matter where you live or where you go there’s only one true home, that’s with him. Will you come home? Will you let your Father reclaim you? Thank you Father for renewing us, reclaiming us, and…
3. Redeeming us (v2, 5) Just like God rescued the Israelites over and over again from their captivity and sin, he has rescued us.
Psalm 100:5 (ESV) For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
The Lord, Yahweh, is not only good, his “hesed,” his steadfast love, his covenant love, his unbreakable love, endures forever. God loves us and will never let us go. Why? Because verse 3 tells us we are his sheep. The good shepherd doesn’t leave his sheep to fend for themselves. Our good shepherd guards and keeps his flock. That’s what Jesus did for us. Jesus identifies himself as our good shepherd.
John 10:11 (ESV) I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Jesus came to renew, and reclaim, and redeem lost sheep. Are you one of those lost sheep? I was. I was born sinful and broken and in need of a savior shepherd. I was like a smelly sheep all covered in mud. But one day my good shepherd came along, washed me off, bound up my wounds, and carried me home. He redeemed me; and at the highest of costs. He laid down his life to purchase mine.
Thank you Jesus for giving your life up for mine, so that I might know the Father and be redeemed! Jesus is the reason we started Cornerstone, so we can tell others about him, about his perfectly good life. Do you know Jesus? He’s the good shepherd who became a spotless sheep, and allowed himself to be led to the slaughter. Jesus is the lamb who was slain to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29).
We’ve talked about a lot of things at Cornerstone, but each week we try to make sure we talk about one person in particular, and that’s Jesus. Jesus is why we started Cornerstone and Jesus is who we’re trying to tell others about because he can change your life. He not only changes your life when he saves you, but then he begins to take you to new places you never imagined when he leads you through life.
I never imagined my good shepherd would uproot me from Colorado, then to Virginia, and then take me to Massachusetts to go to seminary, get married, and start a church. I know many of you never imagined you would help plant a church. But we have a good shepherd who is redeeming us, reclaiming us, and renewing us day by day. We have a good shepherd.
Thank you Father for renewing us, for reclaiming us, for redeeming us, and for…
Resending us (v2) I want to go back to verses one and two. This is a Psalm for the people of Israel, but also for “all the earth” (v1). Israel was God’s special chosen people, but now this Psalm says anyone can be in relationship with him. Now through Jesus Christ any can have a relationship with God, any can be reclaimed by God. Once God has reclaimed us, we want to give back out of what he has given us. That’s why in verse 2 we get to “Serve the Lord with gladness!”
God is going to do amazing things through us to serve him. Today is not about coming up with new ways to serve him, but thanking him for the ways we’ve been able to serve him, are serving him right now, and will serve him in the future. I’m so grateful the Lord let me help start this church, get to know you, and reach out to the community of Westford. How about you? What do you want to thank him for? Our thankfulness starts with thanking him for being him, but also for the ways he’s working through us in our world.
Getting to be a part of this church plant, and watching God move, has been one of the greatest achievements of my life. God is still writing the story of Cornerstone. There’s so much hope in that. Never give up because God is on the move! Our Heavenly Father is still at work. Send us again, Father. Here we are! Send us!
Thank you Father for renewing us, reclaiming us, redeeming us, resending us. We’ve been here five years and God has done some amazing things. We’ve celebrated eight different baptisms, including one in a river. We’ve reached out and served Westford through Trunk or Treats, road cleanups, Christmas caroling, game nights, movie nights, a parent’s night out, a Habitat for Humanity build, a prayer table at the farmer’s market, the youth packaging relief for Syrian refugees, the Westford Food Pantry fundraiser, and more. We’ve grown in our faith through studying the Bible and prayer. We’ve learned about reaching out with the love of Christ to those people God puts in our path every day, our frontlines. We’ve sang for five years, worshipped for five years, I’ve preached for five years, and God has been changing our hearts for five years.
What’s he going to do in the next five years? We’re just getting started! Today our Heavenly Father is renewing us, reclaiming us, redeeming us, and resending us, and there’s nothing he can’t do through us. I have so much hope for our future. Today, let’s celebrate, and look forward to what God is going to do next.
We are singing the doxology in response to communion.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What are you thankful for at Cornerstone? What has your Heavenly Father done to renew you in the past? Why does it matter that your Heavenly Father wants to reclaim you? What does it mean to be redeemed by Jesus’s death and resurrection? How might God be resending us as a church to serve him?
Sources NIV Zondervan Study Bible Psalm 100:3 note. Page 1116. For “his people” coming right at the center of the Psalm.
Do you ever just want to say “thank you”? Or as my son likes to say, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Today I want us to direct our hearts to the heavens and say, “Thank you! Thank you Father for what you have done for us! Thank you for what you have done for us and our families and our church!” On a Monday morning in late May 2012, Monica and I walked into a class at Gordon-Conwell Theological
Hurricane Sally just hit the southeast—Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. It toppled trees, flooded streets, and damaged houses. One news station reports, “More than 500,000 people have lost power.” Another estimates it will cause $2-$3 billion in damage.
But did you know that termites do approximately $5 billion in damage to U.S. homes each year. Stephen Mansfield says, “Statistically termites do more damage in America than massive storms.” He adds, “Storms get the media. Termites quietly work away.” Apparently, “Termites damage approximately 600,000 homes in the U.S. each year.”
It’s easy to see the damage a storm does. It’s much harder to identify the work of termites. It’s much easier to see someone else’s sin. It’s much harder to see my own. Their actions are like a storm. So obvious. So damaging. My actions are like termites, hard to see, invisible, but potentially much more destructive. Before we deal with the hurricane out there, we got to deal with the termites in here.
I need to get real with myself before I can get real with others. I tried to become a Marine Corps officer when I was in college. During the vetting process I hid that I was getting allergy shots. They wouldn’t have looked at me if I’d told them so I lied. It got to the point where I went down and took my medical tests, and when I finally went in to see the last doctor and sign all my paperwork, I confessed. I’d come to a point where I realized that if I couldn’t lead myself, I couldn’t lead others. The same is true for accountability and discipline. If we can’t get real with ourselves first, we can’t get real with others at all (Resolving Everyday Conflict). Jesus said it like this.
Matthew 7:3-5 (ESV) 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Before we can ever help someone else with their sin, we need to recognize our own. It’s not that I can’t help them see their sin. I just need to see my own sin first. If I don’t, it’s like trying to give directions blindfolded. “Check yourself before you wreck yourself!” Back in the 1970s Nationwide had a break-check slogan encouraging their people to get their car’s breaks checked out. Their sign said, “Check it before you wreck it.” Jesus said it first.
Matthew 7:1-2 (ESV) “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
In other words, judge yourself, before making a mess out of judging others. Elsewhere in the New Testament we’re told to use discernment, hold others accountable, and even as a church body to judge others (Matt 18:15-20). Good and fair judgment is what church accountability and discipline are all about.
That’s different than the kind of self-righteous judgment this passage is describing. We cannot be unfair hypocritical judges who call out the sin of others while not recognizing our own failings. We need to first confess our own sin, get right with the Lord, and then we can prepare to talk with another about their sin. Take your blinders off before you try and take someone else’s off. King David prayed this Psalm as a way of asking God to deal with his heart.
Psalm 139:23-24 (ESV) 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
If you’re thinking about gently correcting someone else for their sins, I’d spend some time praying this Psalm and asking, “Lord, please open my eyes so I can see how I have contributed to this problem.” (Resolving Everyday Conflict p. 57). I see two ways I might contribute to the problem.
1) I might be too easily offended. Maybe I was overly sensitive and easily offended. Have you ever heard this passage before? When’s the most common time we hear it read?
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (NIV) 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
We usually hear the “love passage” read at weddings but this is actually a text about church life. Church people are supposed to love each other patiently and we’re not supposed to be easily offended or hold onto past sins. Proverbs 19:11 says it’s our “glory to overlook an offense.” That doesn’t mean we should sweep dirt under the rug. There will be things we need to address. But sometimes what others do is not really a sin, just different than how I would have done it. I might be too easily offended or…
2) I might be at fault. I might need as much correction as the one caught in sin, especially if their sin is somehow connected to me and my relationship with them. When you point one finger at others, you point three at yourself.
James 4:1-3 (ESV) What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
This passage tells us that our passions cause problems. When my heart desires something, and I can’t have it, I get angry and try to take it by force. Maybe it’s not that obvious, but that’s why it’s so dangerous. We can disguise selfishness behind a veil of Christian virtue.
For example, when my son acts out, when he won’t listen when I ask him to put his toys away or get’s upset when I take away his favorite TV show, it’s easy to get mad. Why won’t he obey me?! Doesn’t he know better?! But then I remember… he’s two years old. And chances are other factors have contributed to the way he’s acting. I might have kept him out too long, or not given him the nap he needed. Instead of parenting I might have handed him the iPad. The more I think about my role, the easier it is to see how I’ve contributed to his acting out. That doesn’t excuse his actions, but it does help me examine my part, and helps me determine if he really needs correction, or if we together need a reset.
Or how about when I come home and there is laundry everywhere, the kitchen floor is dirty, and there are dishes piled in the sink. It’s easy to feel frustrated with my wife. “Doesn’t she know how important a clean house is? It’s so hard to come home to things being a mess. Why couldn’t she have picked up a little bit more today?” But then it helps to take a step back and ask, “Why do I need that? Cleanliness is not next to godliness. What does my frustration tell me about my need for control?” Pretty soon I realize that because I can’t control the world “out there” I want to come home and control the world “in here.” It’s not that clean floors aren’t helpful; but our heart motivations might not be quite right.
I need to get real with myself before I can get real with others because I might be too easily offended or I might be at fault. But sometimes, after I’ve gone through this process of getting my heart right, and I still see someone else is caught in sin, I’m going to need to talk with them about it. But before we talk about what type of sin to correct, I really need to say this.
Getting real with others requires real relationship. If you’re going to talk with someone about their sin, you need to make sure that you have a relationship with them first. We can be totally right about someone’s actions, but if they don’t know we love them, then there’s no way the correction is going to work (Prov 27:9). Correction, apart from relationship, falls short. Getting real about repentance requires real relationship. Getting real with others requires real relationship.
There will be times we need to get real with others. The point of this sermon is not that we should never confront or correct someone we care about caught in sin, but that we should take the time to prayerfully examine our own hearts and discern what steps to take. We don’t want to avoid confrontation when it’s needed. I preached a lot of this in our Conflict & Peacemaking series, but it’s worth reviewing. We can know we need to address a sin if it falls into any of these four categories, which comes from Ken Sande’s books, The Peace Makerand Resolving Everyday Conflict:
1) Their sin dishonors the name of Jesus. Do the actions of a brother or sister in Christ, who publicly profess to be Christians, misrepresent Jesus? Do we identify as Christians to our friends and family, but then don’t match that with our actions?
When a Christian dad starts a fight with his kids referee in front of everyone because of a bad call. When a Christian mom argues with a store clerk over merchandise just to get a better deal. When a Christian business owner unfairly takes advantage of the tax system or their employees. When a Christian student talks about going to church then get’s drunk or high with their roommates.
If the sin dishonor’s Christ’s reputation, it’s probably worth going to them and saying, “You’re a Christian. Do you see how this might confuse the non-Christians around you? You say you’re saved from sin, but then you’re still choosing sin.” (Romans 6:15)
I want to be real careful here because I’m not talking about when a fellow Christian complains about another Christian’s behavior. That can easily turn into self-righteousness, and the one complaining needs to be challenged for not talking directly with the one they were judging. However, if a Christian is doing something that is obviously at odds with their identity in Christ, and it’s not just a difference of preference, then we should talk with them about it. 1. We get real with them when their sin dishonors the name of Jesus.
2) Their sin damages your relationship with them. I’ve had people come to me and say, “You did this thing, and I’m having a hard time letting it go. Did you know you hurt me?” I so appreciate! I don’t want the root of bitterness ruining our relationship. The root of bitterness is when we don’t deal with sin or conflict and become resentful.
Hebrews 12:15 (ESV) 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
The root of bitterness is like termites. It can destroy homes and churches. 2. We get real with them when their sin has damaged our relationship with them.
3) Their sin is hurting others. If you see their sin is hurting or has hurt others, and no one is saying anything, go and talk with them about it. How about the sin of rebellion and leading others to do the same?
Proverbs 10:17 (ESV) Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.
If someone is constantly rejecting correction, either by their boss, or parents, or a spiritual authority in their life, go talk with them about it. Or how about the sin of divisiveness? That can really hurt people.
Titus 3:10 (ESV) As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,
Or how about other sins that hurt family members or friends? A mom that drinks too much? A dad that has fits of rage? A teenager that dates and dumps without any thought of others’ feelings? #3 Sometimes we have to get real with others if their sin is hurting those around them.
4) Their sin is hurting them. This is perhaps the one we think about the least because we live in a culture where we believe, “If it doesn’t hurt anyone (but me), why does it matter?” or “It’s my body, I can do whatever I want with it.” Well, we’re made in the image of God, our personhood, our bodies, and we can’t do whatever we want (Gen 1:26-27). If their sin is hurting them, or their relationship with God, then we should talk with them about it (The Peace Maker p. 152). This is hard but rewarding.
James 5:19-20 (ESV) 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
When I’ve tried this, I can’t say it has generally gone very well, usually because the person being negatively effected by their own sin doesn’t see it that way. When that happens, there’s not a whole lot we can do. We can pray, pray real hard. And we can continue down the path of accountability and church discipline, which I’ll talk about next week. We should get real with others about their sin when:
Their sin dishonors the name of Jesus. Their sin damages your relationship with them. Their sin is hurting others. Their sin is hurting them.
I actually think it takes a great deal of love to do this. This isn’t about proving I’m right and they’re wrong. That’s not loving or humble. But it is the kind of love that cares about a brother or sister in Christ being right with God, even at risk to their relationship. We risk ourselves when we gently tell others about their sin. That’s like what Jesus did for us. He risked himself to rescue us.
Jesus got real with us to rescue us. The Son of Man took on human flesh and came and had relationships among us. He humbled himself before the Father, who crushed him, so that you and I could not be crushed but forgiven and accepted. If you know Jesus, you don’t need to be afraid to look inside yourself. Yes, you’ll find ugly termites, sin that needs forgiveness, but as you turn to Jesus you’ll find there’s no condemnation, only love.
If we know Jesus, we don’t need to be judgmental. If we deserve to die for our sins, and God spares us, then what can we possibly have against anyone else? Likewise, knowing that we’re loved gives us the courage and strength to have those hard conversations. This isn’t easy. It takes a lifetime to learn. But repentance and grace are possible because of what Jesus did for us.
Jesus got real with us. And now, it’s our turn to get real with him. Tell him your sins. Let him gently correct you. He forgives you. He gives you eternal life. He rose from the grave and so will you. Jesus got real with us to rescue us. Let’s pray.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV) 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What does it mean to get real with yourself? On a scale of 1-5 (1 low/5 high), how easily do you take offense? Explain your number. How can our heart betray us? How can we address it? When should we get real with others and talk with them about their sins? What dishonors Jesus and what is petty criticism of another’s behavior? Have you ever had the root of bitterness spring up in you? What did you do? Share a story of a time someone corrected you. How did it go? How does the gospel give us courage to address sin in ourselves and others?
Hurricane Sally just hit the southeast—Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. It toppled trees, flooded streets, and damaged houses. One news station reports, “More than 500,000 people have lost power.” Another estimates it will cause $2-$3 billion in damage. But did you know that termites do approximately $5 billion in damage to U.S. homes each year. Stephen Mansfield says, “Statistically termites do more damage in America than massive storms.” He adds, “Storms get the media. Termites quietly work away.” Apparently,
Last week I introduced our new sermon series, Accountability & Discipline, and talked about why we hold each other accountable, even up to the point of church discipline. Sin is real. God is holy. And we need to take that seriously. Today I want to talk about another, very serious, part of church discipline—and that’s the church body. To kick this very important discussion off I thought we should all stand up and participate in theologically rich song. Go ahead
Last week I introduced our new sermon series, Accountability & Discipline, and talked about why we hold each other accountable, even up to the point of church discipline. Sin is real. God is holy. And we need to take that seriously. Today I want to talk about another, very serious, part of church discipline—and that’s the church body. To kick this very important discussion off I thought we should all stand up and participate in theologically rich song. Go ahead and hit play. Play Head Shoulders Knees & Toes (Speeding Up) by Super Simple Songs – Kids Songs (1:53).
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes And eyes and ears and mouth and nose Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
Thanks for singing along! The Bible calls the church, a local church like us, a body. That’s right. A living breathing body. So what part of the body are you?
Are you a head? Are you good at thinking critically, planning, offering words of wisdom? Are you shoulders? Are you a work-horse? Just point me in the right direction and I’ll do it? Are you knees? You’re a prayer warrior. You fight the spiritual battle. Will you pray for us? Are you toes? Your feet take the gospel message wherever Jesus wants it to go. Are you toes?
Maybe you’re something I didn’t mention? You are hands? Or the church belly-button? Instead of being the church sexton you’re the church belly button! I want that job. To provide smelly lint wherever you go! Where do you fit into the church body? Do you feel like you’re an important member of the body? You need to know that…
You matter to the church body. If you know Jesus, and you come regularly, you are an important member of Christ’s body.
1 Corinthians 12:21-27 (ESV) 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
Whether you function in an obviously important role, you’re the eyes of the body, or a less obviously important role, you’re the finger nails of the church, you matter. We all have something to give.
23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,
We care about everyone in our church. It doesn’t matter if you’re the pastor, the preacher, the worship team leader, the treasurer, or a greeter. There is honor in what God calls us to.
25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
When we see ourselves as one cohesive church body, it brings unity to our church and ministry. We show our unity by caring for each other, even when it’s difficult. We show our unity by suffering together. When one experiences loss, a parent dies, a miscarriage, we all suffer. And when one is honored, when one does well at work, or get’s recognition for their service, we all rejoice.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
We are the church body. We are a family. Do you know you matter? Do you know how important you are to this church? You don’t need to be the preacher or on the worship team to matter.
This illustration is one of my favorites. Did you know that Redwood trees are some of the oldest and tallest trees on earth? Some of them were here when Jesus was born, 2,000 years old. They grow 200 to 240 feet tall and 10-15 feet wide, with the tallest of them all, Hyperion, coming in at 379.7 feet tall. The Statue of Liberty is only 305 feet tall. Did you know “their roots grow horizontally instead of vertically and intertwine with one another”? A 300 foot tree will only have roots that only go down 6-12 feet but go outward several hundred feet wrapping around other roots and other redwoods. “Even if a tree has been logged or fallen, its root system is still alive and it will keep supporting the other trees.”
That’s what the church body is like. We’re like trees that hold each other up. We’re interconnected. It’s what allows us to grow and mature in the Lord and hold each other up, even when the winds blow. It lets us live a lot longer, eternally long. Each tree matters in a Redwood forrest. Just like one part of the body supplies oxygen and life to other parts of the body, the heart to the fingers, so we help give life to each other. Each of you matter to the church body. You are an important part of our church community.
But are you living like a Redwood? Are you identifying with the church body? There are at least…
Three ways we identify with the church body: When we identify with something, we align our lives, actions, beliefs with it. We say I belong to it and it belongs to me. So what’s the first way we identify with the church body?
Recognize Jesus as your head.
In Paul’s writings he talks about how Christ is the head of the church.
Ephesians 5:23b (ESV) …Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
Jesus is providing leadership and authority to every church and every believer on this globe. It’s not any other person that actually fills the role of head in the church, not your pastor or favorite teacher—only Christ. He saves us and leads our churches. Do you believe that? Is he your Savior, your leader, the head of your life, of our church?
To try and be religious or spiritual or know God without first knowing Christ just doesn’t work. It’s like you become the headless horseman, riding around knocking into people because you can’t see where you’re going. When we don’t seek Christ’s leadership in the church through prayer, and just do what seems best to us, that’s the same thing. The first way we identify with the church body is to recognize Jesus as our head.
Commit to the church body.
To become a member of a church means to intentionally commit yourself to the leadership of the church Elders and to be accountable to your brothers and sisters in Christ. This commitment typically comes in the form of making a covenant, a promise. At Cornerstone we call it a membership covenant.
Part of me really doesn’t even like that we have to have a thing like formal church membership. If you believe in Jesus, have been baptized, are coming faithfully, serving, giving of your finances, taking communion, aren’t you a member of the body? Yes, I think you are. But… you can also walk away at any time. In formal church membership we make an intentional commitment to not walk away, but to work it out, to be accountable and hold each other accountable, to keep going forward.
Part of being a church member is intentionally submitting to the authority God has placed in the church. So if you truly believe God has called your pastor and elders to be your pastor and leaders, one of the ways you can demonstrate your submission to them, and through them to Christ, is to become a member. We are asking every regular attender to become a member. Will you let us lead you in this way?
Maybe you’re not there yet. You need time to process. The Elders and I recently read the book I Am a Church Member by Thom S. Rainer. It’s not a theological argument for why you should become a member. Rather, it simply describes how to be a good member. We’re asking everyone to take home this book and read it. It’s only 79 pages! We’re adding it to our membership class going forward, so if you’ve already been through the class, please read it (copies in foyer). The first two ways we identify with the church body is by recognizing Jesus as our head and by committing to the church body. Third…
Love the church.
Revelation describes the church, our broken and insufficient group of people, as the bride of Christ. Once again, Paul in Ephesians describes the church as a beautiful bride.
Ephesians 5:25-27 (ESV) 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
The image we get is of Jesus washing and sanctifying his church with the word of God, cleansing us and making us whole again, repairing our lives, restoring us to right relationship with him. Then there’s a wedding celebration where we are presented in splendor, white gown flowing, perfectly beautiful. Revelation, the last book in the Bible shows us a beautiful photograph of the church on her wedding day.
Revelation 19:7-8 (ESV) 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
If the church is the bride of Christ, we’re to embrace her, love her, dedicate our lives to serving and caring for her. But that get’s messy real quick because the church isn’t a single person, but a whole bunch of people, all of us, and we have very messy lives. We hurt each other, and it’s tempting to run away. But we can’t walk away from the church and do Christianity on our own. How easy is it to stay best friends with a guy once you’ve told him his bride is ugly and you don’t like her?
Your friendship wouldn’t last long. But we do something similar when we stop attending church and just do Christianity on our own. We reject the bride, and try to have a relationship with the groom, but that’s just not how it works. That’s why it’s so important to be a part of a church community, love it, serve it, get to know the people, suffer with it, rejoice with it, be a shoulder, knees, or toes. We identify with the church body by: 1) recognizing Jesus as our head; 2) committing to the church body; and 3) loving the church.
You matter to to the church body. But maybe you’re wondering, “How does this tie into accountability and discipline?” We’ve already heard some of it. Accountability and church discipline is primarily for the members and by the members. It doesn’t mean if you sin and aren’t a member you’re off the hook; it’s just here we have a clear, Biblical and legal way to gently correct sin among our church body.
When the body gets sick, we need each other and we need Christ. I said something very similar last week. We need help for our Christian walk. Sometimes I get caught in sin, which makes me spiritually sick. If I continue in unrepentant sin, I become so spiritually sick it could lead to my spiritual death. We need someone to help us.
That’s why God gives us a church family to help us along the way. The Christian journey is like a long hard hike, like walking the Appalachian trail. We need hiking buddies for the journey. A gym buddy told me they were hiking a stretch of the Appalachian trail and they met two hikers, a man and a woman, who were vegan, and hadn’t packed enough food. About 50% of their diet was coming from foraging mushrooms and berries along the trail. They were thin as a rail. When they got to the AMC hut, they’d missed its closing by half an hour. They were devastated. I guess they were going to buy food there but couldn’t.
Sometimes we don’t prepare well for the Christian journey. We don’t pack enough spiritual sustenance. And then we get ourselves in a bind and because of one decision leading to another we are foraging for the spiritual scraps in the bushes and underbrush. We’re off the trail, we’re starving, and we just need some help. I think the Lord graciously sent my friend and her friends to those two hikers as they had vegan food in their backpacks and were able to help them. They didn’t starve to death, at least not yet. We need each other. That’s why Jesus gave us the church. That’s why he gave us accountability and discipline. And that’s why we have a thing called membership.
And here we are, starving in our sin and brokenness, and Jesus comes to rescue us. He didn’t come to save “the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17b ESV). Jesus “forgives all your inequity” and “heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3 ESV). “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,” Jesus says, “and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28 ESV). Jesus can heal all of our church body because he laid down his holy body willingly on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, not just my sins, our sins. Then God raised him up so whosoever repents and believes in him receives eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus laid down his head, shoulders, knees, and toes, so that we can be a part of the church body. You matter to the church body.
Ephesians 6:24 (ESV) 24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What is the church body? What does it mean to be part of the body? How can you identify more with your church? What is church membership? What do you think of it? Why did you become a member already or what has prevented you from becoming a member in the past? Is anything changing? How can our church body help us when we’re spiritually sick? Why can Jesus heal us from our sins?
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This summer my son started doing something that’s really cute. We’ll ask him to pick up his toys, or take a few more bites, or get his shoes on, and before he does any of those things he’ll ask us a question. Do you know what it is? “But… why?!” He throws his arms open wide and with the deepest look of sincerity a two-year old can muster he asks, “But… why?!”
That’s probably the first question we are asking when we start talking about today’s topic. Today’s topic, which I will be teaching on for the next couple weeks, giving us a break from Acts, is a sensitive issue. It can be inflammatory, provoking, uncomfortable. The topic is accountability and church discipline.
Here’s a simple definition of accountability and church discipline. Accountability is the process where one Christian gently corrects a brother or sister in Christ who is sinning, and if they don’t listen, brings another Christian, and then if they still don’t listen, brings it to the whole church body. Accountability can lead to church discipline but is not the same thing. The act of church discipline is when the church body formally rejects the confession of faith of the one continuing in sin. The church no longer affirms their Christian faith, no longer offers them communion but continues to call them to repentance. I’ll unpack and explain more on accountability and discipline as we go along, but hopefully this helps define it for now.
Do you feel something when I talk about church discipline? What wells up inside you? Feelings of confusion, “What is that?!” Feelings of dread, “I’d rather not talk about that!” Or maybe mixed feelings, “I understand the need for it, but I hope we never have to do it.” It’s okay to feel uncomfortable when talking about church discipline. It’s not a fun conversation, but it is a necessary one.
I don’t remember the first time I heard about church discipline. Growing up as a pastor’s kid I’d sometimes hear about how this person or that person was asked to leave the church, but I didn’t know why. It wasn’t till I started working at the church that started Cornerstone, Immanuel, that I heard about church discipline regularly or saw anything that resembled it. So I don’t have much hands on experience on this topic. What I know comes from my time in seminary, my time at Immanuel, reading and studying, and from talking it over with other pastors and our Elders.
So why are we having this conversation? Back when we were planting Cornerstone our leadership team recognized that we needed to have some guidelines for church discipline. Instead of writing out the guidelines then and there we kicked the proverbial tin can down the road. We listed a few bible verses in our By-Laws and codified that the Board of Elders would create a policy for how to do it. That was 2015 Jonathan. A tin can just came flying out of the sky and hit 2020 Jonathan in the head.
Immanuel Church, our parent church, knew our intention to eventually write a church discipline policy. Earlier this year when we approached their leadership about purchasing the building, they said they’d love to have the conversation, but would like us to finish our church discipline policy first. Having done church discipline themselves, they knew how helpful these guidelines would be.
At first I can say that I didn’t have a good heart-attitude about it, but on this side of things I’m really grateful Immanuel asked us to do it. It made us get it done, and not take forever on it as sometimes policy writing can really drag out. What I think we created is not only faithful to Scripture, but is pastoral and kind. I’m actually kind of excited to share it with you. This sermon series is meant to introduce what’s in much of the policy before we actually share it, to explain it from the Bible first.
To get us started I want to answer my son’s question, “But… why?!” Why do accountability? Why do church discipline? This actually provokes a bigger question than we might expect. “But why?’ actually gets to the core of Christianity…
What does it mean to be a Christian? We find our answer to “why” when we look at what it means to be a Christian. Is Christianity simply pray a prayer and you’re good to go? Or is there more to it? I think Christianity, at its most basic form is 1) recognition of sin, and 2) repentance leading to life.
1) Recognition of sin We need to realize what sin is and that we’ve got it. Sin is “missing the mark.” It comes from the Old Testament idea of missing when slinging your stone at what you were aiming at (Judges 20:16). Sin is like going to the bowling alley and throwing a gutter-ball every time. Have you seen that video of the kid drawing the perfect circle in geometry class and the students go wild? Sin is like trying to do that, but never quite getting it right. Sin is like playing a game of darts and never hitting the bullseye. But you got to ask, “Okay, so if sin is missing the mark, what are we missing?” We’re missing the bullseye of God’s holiness. We’re not measuring up to God’s perfect goodness.
God told his people all the way back in Leviticus to be holy like he is holy. The disciple Peter, writing in the New Testament, affirms this.
1 Peter 1:15-16 (ESV) 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
There is no hint of evil or wickedness in God. All he does is good. He is completely holy. Yes he’s loving, but he’s also pure, and won’t allow unholiness in his presence for long. Sin is not only when we offend God, but when we introduce brokenness into the good things he has created. Anytime we act contrary to God’s laws and character (1 John 3:4), we’re introducing more unholiness more sin, into what he created, his world. Not only is that bad for the world. It’s bad for us. Our sin actually leads to death.
James 1:14-15 (ESV) 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
James tells us there’s something inside us that lures us away from God’s goodness and into our own sins. Other parts of the Bible call this our “flesh”(Rom 8:16; Gal 5:16). Our flesh tempts us. It draws us away from a life-giving relationship with God. It tells us life is better without God, but it leads to death.
I was playing over at the playground in Chelmsford the other day and I saw an ice-cream truck. Maybe you can hear the ice-cream truck jingle in your head right now. Is your heart beginning to pound? Do you want that ice-cream. What if you went up to that ice-cream truck and the man inside said, “You can have any ice-cream you want for free.”
You’re like, “That sounds amazing! …But what’s the catch?”
He’d say, “You can have any ice cream flavor for free. I’m just going to top it off with Batrachotoxin.” (pronounced ba-tracho-toxin)
You’d be like, “What!? What’s Batrachotoxin?
He’d say, “Nothing to worry yourself about. It’s the sweat of some colorful jungle frogs.”
“You want to put frog juice on my ice cream?”
“Yes, but only a little bit. You won’t even taste it.”
“I don’t know…”
“We got chocolate chip cookie dough, butter pecan, cookies and cream, rock road, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry… We got Ben & Jerry’s…”
And then you’d start to think, that sounds so good… frog juice doesn’t sound so bad…
What you need right now is a friend who knows Batrachotoxin is one of the top five deadliest poisons in the world. You need a friend, maybe a biologist or chemist, to tell you not to mess with colorful jungle dart frogs because just two micrograms of Batrachotoxin can kill you. That’s the size of two grains of salt. You don’t want frog juice on your ice cream! You need a friend to warn you, and then call the cops!
Sometimes it’s hard to recognize sin for what it is, sin. Sin likes to come pre-packaged in a very enticing waffle cone. It feels good to sin, to not live up to God’s standards. It’s much easier to create our own standards and live up to them. But here’s the problem. Sin leads to death. Poison leads to cardiac arrest.
Romans 6:23 (ESV) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The final affect of our sin is not cookie dough ice-cream, but frog poison—death. The first part of what it means to be a Christian is recognizing we’re born sinners. I am someone who constantly misses the target of God’s holiness. And although it feels like, “No big deal” in this life; it really is a big deal in this life, and in the life to come. One day we’ll all face God’s judgement; and if we leave our sin un-dealt with, it will lead to eternal spiritual death. The reason we don’t believe in accountability and church discipline is because we don’t really believe sin can kill us. We don’t really understand God’s holiness. We think sin is no big deal, not realizing God will put us to death for it.
Maybe you’re thinking, “Okay Jonathan, I won’t eat the frog juice.” The bad news is we’ve all already eaten it, we just haven’t hit the floor yet (Rom 3:23). That means there’s still time to call the doctor, call a savior, and get well. First, being a Christian means recognizing your sin; and second it requires…
2) Repentance leading to life Let’s go back to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. At the beginning of Mark we find Jesus preaching the gospel, which means “good news.” Jesus’ good news is that the “kingdom of God” is coming.
Mark 1:14-15 (ESV) 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The kingdom of God means Jesus has come to do nothing less than turn our world as we know it upside-down. A world and people broken by sin are going to be made new again. They’ll be given a new mission, a new ethic, a new way of life. To get on board with this kingdom Jesus calls all people to repent and believe. Repentance is the first step we can take to personally welcome this new kingdom into existence. It’s not the only step, just the first, so what is repentance? Repentance means turning from sin to God. Repentance is recognizing frog juice for death juice, and not eating the ice-cream.
Acts 3:19-20a (ESV) 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…
Before we recognize our sin, we’re ignorant, we don’t know. But when we do see our sin, repentance means to turn away from what your doing and try to follow the ways of Jesus. Repentance is not the same thing as perfect obedience. There’s only one person who ever obeyed perfectly, Jesus, and we’re not him. But we can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, begin to live life God’s way instead of our own. Repentance starts with that initial prayer, but then it never stops. We keep repenting and turning to Jesus our whole lives. But… why? Because it leads to eternal life with Christ. Maybe you’ve heard this verse before.
John 3:16 (ESV) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God gave his Son to us so that whoever repents and believes in him will receive eternal life. Jesus bore the poison of our sin on the cross so we don’t have to. Jesus died, and rose again, so that we might live. Because of what Jesus did, God doesn’t put us to death for our sins, but actually welcomes us into his family as children of God. There’s no other way to gain eternal life but through him.
The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, from whom we get the name “China,” wanted to gain eternal life, so he drank mercury, and as you might imagine, it had the exact opposite effect. In 212BC he started calling himself, “The Immortal” and he died two years later. That’s what we’re doing if we ignore our sins. Sipping on mercury, hoping to live forever. Come to Jesus. He drank the poison and won eternal life for us all.
First, being a Christian means recognizing your sin; and second it requires repentance leading to life. Maybe you’re wondering, “What does this have to do with church discipline?”
Christians need help. To be a Christian means to repent of your sin and believe in Jesus. We repent continually. It’s an ongoing process. Over time we turn our whole lives over to him, every little part. That can be really tough to do because our hearts are deceptive.
Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
You and I have a tough time seeing our own sin, the way we behave, the attitude we have (Matt 7:5). We’ll do anything to justify our own sins if we enjoy them. We need a brother or sister in Christ to tell us not to eat the cookie dough ice-cream, even if there are only two grains of frog juice.
I know it’s adultery, but it makes me happy… frog juice! If it doesn’t hurt anyone, why does it matter?… frog juice. Nobody saw. Only I know… frog juice. They are the enemy. I hate them… frog juice. I just wish everyone would shut-up and listen to me… frog juice. Did you hear what he did?… frog juice. If I can just buy one more thing, I’ll be happy…frog juice.
I bet that emperor Qin would have lived a lot longer if a friend had told him it was a bad idea to drink mercury. To be a Christian is to be saved, not to be sinless. That’s why the Bible tells us over and over again we need help, we need people to help hold us accountable, to stay on the path
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (ESV) 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
Christians lift each other up when we stumble into sin. We help each other confess, receive forgiveness, and move forward. Here it says it in the New Testament, in a passage most known for church discipline.
Matthew 18:15 (ESV) 15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
If someone’s sin is against you, if it’s personal, go to them. Talk it out. Confess your own sins. Work it out.
Galatians 6:1-2 (ESV) Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
If we see another brother or sister in Christ caught in sin, we’re to “restore” them. We do so gently, with compassion. God calls us to “bear one another’s burdens.” We’re to help each other through, and boy, do we need it. That’s what God intended us for, to help hold each other accountable.
Going and talking with a brother or sister in Christ caught in sin is called accountability. We hope that that first step works all of the time, but when others reject our help, that’s when we start to move towards church discipline. Church discipline is for when help is b completely rejected. Our policy is not a “Church Discipline Policy” but a “Church Accountability and Discipline Policy.” It starts with accountability, and rarely should rise to the level of discipline.
In closing, here’s the question I want you to answer, “How far would you go to stop a friend from eating Batrachotoxin, frog juice (ba-tracho-toxin?” Would you be willing to privately tell them it’s lethal? Would you put your friendship on the line? Would you bring a friend to try and help you convince them not to eat it? Would you be willing to publicly tell your friend its dangers? Would you be willing to recruit a whole chorus of voices to shout, “Don’t eat the frog juice!”? If they ate it and kept eating it would you be willing to tell them they’re dying but there’s still time? How far would you go to save your friend’s life?
Jude 24-25 (NIV) 24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What is sin? Why does it matter? What is repentance? Do you need to be perfect to repent? What does it mean that Jesus offers eternal life? What is accountability and why do we need it? What is church discipline? How does the gospel offer grace for sinners?
Sources Wikipedia contributors. (2020, September 6). Qin Shi Huang. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:42, September 9, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Qin_Shi_Huang&oldid=976979546
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This summer my son started doing something that’s really cute. We’ll ask him to pick up his toys, or take a few more bites, or get his shoes on, and before he does any of those things he’ll ask us a question. Do you know what it is? “But… why?!” He throws his arms open wide and with the deepest look of sincerity a two-year old can muster he asks, “But… why?!” That’s probably the first question we are asking
Today I want to start with a Scripture passage that promises how things are going to be one day. This promise comes from the book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible. It shows us what the final day will look like when Jesus returns. It shows us a great multitude of different kinds of people from all over the earth singing and praising God.
Revelation 7:9-10 (ESV) 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Have you ever imagined what this will be like? Like, will there be different pockets and sections of people singing together. Like, in one section the baptists will be singing hymns wearing suits and ties, their hands in their pockets but smiles on their faces? Right next to them I imagine a church from Africa, the women dressed in colorful African dresses. They’re dancing and singing and the kids are jumping up and down. Maybe there’s a section of monks from the middle ages who will be chanting, and a Portland section where everyone is wearing skinny jeans, brimmed hats, and are swaying in the wind. I’ll be in the pastor section in the far back with my tambourine missing the beat.
We’ll probably be all mixed together, arms around each other’s shoulders, all dressed in white, singing songs from different countries from different times and places. You’ll finally get to try that ancient Gregorian chant you’ve always wanted to sing. John paints a picture of a beautiful multi-ethnic mega-church. We are all gathered around the bloody Lamb who laid down his life for us, Christ Jesus, at the center accepting all our praise from all these people from all around the world.
Why does John gives us this picture? Why did God show it to him and to us? So we could say, “That’s nice! Can’t wait to get there!” or to inspire us? I think John gives us a glimpse of what the church will look like then to influence what it looks like now. It’s meant to inspire us to work towards it, to help create it, to experience a little bit of heaven’s diversity in the here and now.
We’re going to spend this week and the next couple weeks going through Peter’s vision of eating the unclean animals and I hope and pray that it will inspire us to work towards becoming a more diverse multi-ethnic church that looks just a little bit more like that final church in Revelation chapter 7.
I’ve been working through a class called Race, Class, and the Kingdom of God to see if it’s something I’d like to lead us through this fall in our Christian Education hour. In the third session the speaker, Elena Aronson, puts up a picture of her church. It’s a beautiful picture of white and black families, young and old, all together. In this picture, she says, there are both homeless and millionaire, people from all social and economic places. But she also says the diversity of their church body didn’t happen without hard work.
At their church they have something called the 75% rule—“If you’re comfortable more than 75% of the time, then we’re doing something wrong.” In other words, “If you’re comfortable more than 75% of the time, that means your cultural preferences are winning over everybody else’s.” So if the kind of prayers that are prayed, worship songs that are sung, and sermons that are preached make you feel comfortable more than 75% of the time, then your likes are setting the agenda. That’s convicting. That tells me my cultural preferences almost always win out—starting with the preaching.
If the goal is a multi-ethnic culturally diverse church, which we see in Revelation and in Acts, then we need to re-consider some of our cultural preferences. I believe God wants to begin to peel back our cultural preferences so that we can experience his kingdom and his promises. To do this we need three things: openness, humility, and the Holy Spirit.
1) Openness. Acts 10:1-8 (ESV) At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
The first thing we need to peel back our cultural preferences for the sake of Christ’s diverse kingdom is… openness. If the type of person God chooses Peter to meet doesn’t surprise us, then we’re missing something. I know there are several Centurions in the Bible, and so we kind of think of them as quality guys, but first and foremost they were Roman soldiers. They were trained killers whose job it was to use their 100 men to do whatever the emperor wanted, including crush foreign invasions and eradicate rebellions, even Jewish rebellions. Herod likely sent a Centurion and his men to Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus to kill all the boys who were two-years old and under (Matt 2:16). To be a Roman was also to worship the emperor. Leaders in the military often functioned like “pagan priests”, leading their soldiers in worship (Fight: A Christian Case for Non-Violence).
The Bible does tell us Cornelius was devout (religious), feared God, gave to the poor, and prayed. This tells us that he may have been something known as a “God-fearer,” which is someone who worshipped and prayed to the one true God of Israel but refused to become Jewish through circumcision. So at the end of the day, it’s hard to know exactly what was in Cornelius’ heart. But we can trust that God sees what’s on the inside and chooses him to be the first of many Gentiles coming to Jesus.
I want you to imagine someone who is completely different than you. They’re the opposite gender. They’re a different age than you. They don’t have the same money as you. They’re from a different country than you. Their skin color, and hair style, and the way they talk, even the language they speak, are all different from you. Maybe they’re from Africa or India or Mongolia or Arabia or Canada… Maybe they’re just from Lowell. I just got Covid tested at the Cambodian center in Lowell. Maybe they’re a recent immigrant from Cambodia. Wouldn’t it be amazing to worship Jesus next to them? Wouldn’t it be amazing to share a pot-luck meal with them? It would be really cool to try some Cambodian food. How amazing would it be to have international musicians and instruments on our worship team? I loved the time Thierry preached in French. It would be great to have someone preach in Haitian or another language. When I worked as an intern at a Church in Lynn it was definitely the most diverse multi-ethnic church I’d attended. I remember a white population, a black population, and a Vietnamese population. At the time I didn’t appreciate how special that is. In the race class the teacher says, “Intentionality is not the same thing as good intentions.” We can create a cross-cultural church family, but we have to take intentional steps to make it happen. Living in Westford it’s going to be harder for us than someplace like Lynn, but with Lowell right around the corner, and Westford itself having a lot of different people from different ethnicities, there’s plenty of opportunity. A good first step is openness. A second is…
2) Humility Acts 10:9-16 (ESV) 9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
God takes what Peter thought he knew and flips it upside-down. Peter thought he understood the law and how he wasn’t supposed to eat unclean animals. Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” Well, for much of Jewish history the people of Israel practiced strict dietary laws. Even today, kosher food is a huge industry. Kosher food meets Old Testament and traditional Jewish dietary restrictions. I learned this week that dairy and meat can’t touch so no cheeseburgers. There are also one set of drawers and cooking utensils for dairy and a second set for meat. Just like kosher food signifies people as Jewish today, it signified them as Jewish in the past. God gave the Israelites specific dietary laws of what was clean (edible) and unclean (inedible) to set them apart as his special people.
Monica and I are doing the Whole30 right now. It’s kind of like the paleo diet. When you do something like this, or any type of diet, it kind of sets you apart. It changes what you eat, and if you go over to someone’s home, they try and make adjustments for you. Last week I ate a burger at a friend’s home, but I wrapped my burger in lettuce. Weird, right! If you’re apart of a gym that does the Whole30 together, you have a community that does it too. Together, you kind of embrace the weird of the diet, the differentness. God gave the Israelites differentness in their diet to set them apart as his own. Check out what it was like.
Leviticus 11:2-3 (NIV) 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: 3 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.
The rest of Leviticus 11 goes through various scenarios spelling out what kind of animals the Israelites can and cannot eat. For example, camels are unclean because even thought they chew the cud they don’t have a divided hoof—they’re more like “two large toes” (Lev 11:4). When I was in Minneapolis several years ago at a CCCC church-planting conference, I tried a camel burger in an international food court. It was tough and gamey and not kosher. There’s also rules for seafood.
Leviticus 11:9 (NIV) “‘Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams you may eat any that have fins and scales.
So sorry, if you were Jewish, you weren’t supposed to eat shell-food. No New England clam chowder for you! I’ve created a picture sampling the different kinds of clean and unclean animals.
Clean = Cows, chickens, sheep, salmon, locust, and deer. Unclean = Pigs, horses, camels, eels, lobster, vultures, bats, moths, and puppies.
Sorry, if you’re kosher, you can’t eat puppies! But, you can eat certain kinds of bugs with jointed legs, like grasshoppers and locusts (Lev 11:20-23). Now while not eating some of these animals may have had health benefits, the Bible doesn’t explicitly say that but that God gave these rules to show their holiness.
Leviticus 11:44 (NIV) 44 I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.
The Jews had followed these dietary restrictions for over a thousand years. But now Peter is seeing this vision where Jesus tells him to take and eat a puppy! That’s so confusing. Verse 17 says Peter was “perplexed” by what he saw. He was “at a loss.”
Speaking of animals in sheets. I once saw an episode of that TV show Chris Angel Mindfreak. You remember that show where he did magic for people on the street? Like he’d levitate and people would freak out! Well, in one episode he made an entire elephant disappear behind a giant sheet in a circle of people. I was like, “How did he do that?” I’ve come to the conclusion that they must have all been in on it… even the elephant. I was perplexed.
Peter was perplexed, but I don’t think that was a bad thing. I think that’s another way of saying Peter was humbled, because he didn’t get it, and that’s okay. If we start to have conversations about becoming a more cultural diverse community, even if we don’t get it right right away, that’s still a start. In Race, Class, and the Kingdom of God (I know today is starting to sound like a promo for them—and maybe it is…), they lay out “Rules of Engagement”—how to discuss race in the church.
No experts in here. — We are all learning together. That takes humility. Expect someone to say something stupid or racist. — Been there, done that. We have a Mercy Umbrella in here. — We can have humility, without fear, because of grace.
Yesterday at our Elder’s retreat we decided to offer this class this fall as part of our adult Christian Education program via Zoom. I hope you’ll be a part of this. It’s an opportunity for openness, humility, and…
3) The Holy Spirit Acts 10:17-23 17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate 18 and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. 19 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” 21 And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?” 22 And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” 23 So he invited them in to be his guests.
I don’t want you to miss it, but did you catch what the Holy Spirit did? He spoke! He had a conversation with Peter. He told him what to do and how to do it! “Go with these men, immediately!” This should be really encouraging guys. Remember, Peter is the one who rejected Jesus three times. And then it just happened again. He told God no three time in his vision. He’s probably thinking, “Not again!” But God’s not done with him yet. God is shaping him and leading him and at just the right time the Holy Spirit tells him what to do and he does it. He takes one small step of obedience. He, an observant Jew who isn’t supposed to eat with Gentiles, invites Cornelius’s men in for dinner (one soldier and two servants, all probably Gentiles). He shows hospitality to those who are different than him.
What one small step of obedience is Jesus calling you to personally? Maybe it’s an act of hospitality, sharing an outdoors socially distant meal with people who are ethnically different than you and just asking them questions about their experience right now. Maybe it’s speaking up for a coworker at work who sometimes gets overlooked because they come from such a different cultural perspective. Maybe it’s making sure your kids know they can date and marry someone with a different ethnic heritage.
What’s one small step of obedience Jesus is calling us to as a church? I believe the Bible leads us to work towards having a more diverse multi-ethnic church. But in order to make this happen, we have to be willing to give up some of our cultural preferences. This means intentionally elevating into leadership people from other cultural ethnicities, community-group leaders, worship team members, Elders, Deacons, staff. Laying down our cultural preferences takes openness, humility, and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus, laid down the glories of heaven, all of his cultural preferences, being surrounded by angels in worship, and was born in a stable, laid in a manger, the humblest way to begin (Phil 2:5-11). But that wasn’t far enough. Day by day, every day, he put his Heavenly Father’s will above his own, laying down his cultural preferences for thirty-three years till the cross, where he laid down it all. Jesus gave up his life to win salvation for every tribe, tongue, and nation, even you and me. To know him means laying down ours too, laying down our pride and ego and clinging to him. It means repenting of the way we idolize ourselves and intentionally seeking those who are different than us so we can elevate them. Building a diverse multi-ethnic church body takes openness, humility, and the Holy Spirit.
The gospel tells us that we’re forgiven for the ways we haven’t prioritized others of other ethnicities. As we make changes, the gospel guards us from pride, thinking we’ve achieved it. Jesus died to save us from the ways we alienate others. There’s no room for pride here. And when we stumble and fall, when we say something stupid or racist, we have a Mercy Umbrella in here. Jesus forgives. It’s because of the gospel that we can practice openness, humility, and follow the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV) 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What are some of your cultural preferences? What are some examples of cultural preferences that make you uncomfortable? What type of church do you see when you read Revelation 7:9-10? Why was it so difficult for Peter to understand the vision in Acts 10? What does it mean to approach cultural differences with openness and humility? How might we apply the 75% rule to the way we do things as a church? What one step might the Holy Spirit be leading you to take to love someone of a different ethnicity? What’s one small step we can take as a church body to become more diverse and multi-cultural? How does Jesus’ model of humility in Philippians 2:5-11 help us humble ourselves? How does the gospel give us the courage to make changes without fearing failure or risking pride?
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Today I want to start with a Scripture passage that promises how things are going to be one day. This promise comes from the book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible. It shows us what the final day will look like when Jesus returns. It shows us a great multitude of different kinds of people from all over the earth singing and praising God. Revelation 7:9-10 (ESV) 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no
Do you all remember January 1st? It had so much promise, didn’t it? A brand new year. A brand new decade! We had New Year’s Resolutions! We had hopes and dreams for our families, our careers, and our church. And then what happened? Covid-19 happened! Covid happened and everything stopped. Life was completely disrupted. Most of the time when we think about disruption, it’s a bad thing, like the DOW dropping a thousand points or wildfires destroying half of Australia. But sometimes disruption can be good.
When I was growing up we had these big brown book sets where you could go and look up any subject. Want to know about iguanas, airplanes, or the planet Venus? Just open up one of these big brown books. First you had to find the book with the right letter, “I” for iguana. That could take time. Once you found the right book with the right letter you had to navigate to the right page. Sometimes the article included a picture. Do any of you know what we called these big brown books?… Encyclopedias!
What disrupted the encyclopedia? What came along and completely destroyed this old method of storing knowledge? Wikipedia! When I was in college we were not allowed to cite Wikipedia. It was not a scholarly resource, and I still think that’s true. But this website came along, offered a free worldwide crowd-sourced encyclopedia full of information about iguanas, and airplanes, and the planet Venus, and it completely disrupted the old way of doing things. Bye-bye $1,000 encyclopedia set! “Still, Encyclopedia Britannica published its final volumes in 2012, after 244 years of circulation.”
Disruption is not always bad. It can be good. Just ask Wikipedia. It’s okay to disrupt bad things, but we’d prefer not to have good things disrupted, like being able to walk. A man named Aeneas was born able to run and jump and play. But one day something happened. Maybe he fell sick or had an accident. He became paralyzed and bedridden. Aeneas’s life was completely disrupted. Maybe he wondered if he would regain feeling in his legs, but days turned into weeks, months into years, and eight years later he was still bedridden, still not able to stretch his legs, kick his feet, or wiggle his toes. Over time the disruption turned into the new normal.
Did you know that when God created the heavens and the earth everything was good. It was like January 1st. Creation was full of hope and promise. But sin disrupted that. The serpent tempted humankind and humankind chose ego and self and messed everything up. Eternal life disrupted. Do you feel the echo of that disruption in your own life? If you’ve ever felt sick or sad or angry, if you’ve ever been cheated or lied to or lied yourself, if you’ve ever known regret or shame or guilt, you’ve known that first disruption. Days turn into weeks, months into years, centuries into millenniums, and disruption turns into the new normal. Death and sickness are natural, right? That’s just how life is, right?
What if God told us that’s not how it has to be or is going to be? What if God told us that he has a plan to disrupt the disruption? That life disrupted would one day turn into life restored? What if God told us that he is forming little communities of disruption and sending them out into the world to restore little pockets of humanity to what we are supposed to be?
The mission of the church is to disrupt life as we know it. From the very beginning of the church in Acts we find the church disrupting the statue-quo. At the festival of Pentecost the Holy Spirit comes down on the gathered church, appearing like tongues of fire that rest over each one of them. They start speaking in foreign languages and it bewilders the crowd because they hear them preaching in their own language (Acts 2:4, 6). That first God-given disruption never stops.
In a narrow-minded world, Peter preaches and thousands come to Christ (Acts 2:41). In a world of selfishness and greed these believers form a church that practices selflessness and grace (Acts 2:42-47). In a world of brokenness and sickness, Peter and John, empowered by the Holy Spirit, go out and heal a man lame from birth (Acts 3:1-2). In a world that values the status-quo, the believers are so revolutionary they are put on trial (Acts 4) and some are martyred (Acts 7-9). In a world of walls and tribalism, the believers take the gospel cross-culturally from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria and beyond (Acts 1:8).
The church is on a God-given mission to disrupt a broken world with God’s power and grace and Peter is about to do it again. Leaving Jerusalem, Peter travels to Lydda, about “twenty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem.” That’s about from Westford to Haverhill. Here he encounters Aeneas, paralyzed, bedridden.
Acts 9:32-35 (ESV) 32 Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed.
How in the world can Peter disrupt this man’s world? The laws of nature won’t allow change.
34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose.
Peter didn’t say, “I heal you!” He didn’t say, “I’ve got the power!” He said, “Jesus Christ heals you…” Have you ever seen the Pixar movie, Ratatouille? It’s about a rat named Remy that controls a human “by pulling on his hair, similar to a marionette.” The human knows he doesn’t have the gift of cooking, but the rat does, and so he lets the rat lead him and guide him to make amazing dishes. Peter recognizes the power doesn’t belong to himself. He’s not a marionette; rather, Jesus is at work through him.
Jesus has already proven he can heal people like Aeneas when he healed the crippled man let down through the roof (Luke 5:24-25) and the woman who’d been bleeding for 12 years (Luke 8:43-48). Peter wasn’t invoking his own power to heal Aeneas, but Christ’s power. He wasn’t using it for his own gain but to propel the church forward, disrupting the brokenness of the world in Christ’s name. It works.
35 And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
The mission of the church is to disrupt life as we know it. I’ve been reading through Jesus’ sermon on the mount recently. As I’ve been meditating on Matthew 5 I’ve been so struck by how different God’s people are supposed to be in the world, how we’re supposed to disrupt everything, but not with chaos but grace.
Matthew 5:3, 7, 9 (ESV) 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
That’s not normal. The church is supposed to disrupt what feels normal. We have a different life ethic. We’re supposed to be like salt in a tasteless world. We’re supposed to bring the flavor of God’s goodness where life is tasteless and dry (Matt 5:13). We’re supposed to be the light in the darkness.
Matthew 5:14 (ESV) “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
This is it. This is what we as a church are supposed to be doing. We’re supposed to disrupt the normal way of doing things, life as we know it. We’re supposed to contradict and counter a world that rejects God by creating something different. But this doesn’t mean we as the church are supposed to run away from the world and live isolated and on our own. We’re not M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village! We don’t cut-off ourselves from the modern world to live like Little House on the Prairie (but with scary forrest monsters). Instead, as the church we’re to create something beautiful and attractive in the midst of the world and culture, where we know and are in relationship with those around us. The mission of the church is to disrupt life as we know it. We disrupt the brokenness we see in the world four ways:
- We disrupt by proclaiming Christ. Do you remember what Jesus said before ascending into heaven at the beginning of Acts?
Acts 1:8 (ESV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
All Peter is doing is being a witness in Judea. He’s proclaiming Christ. If you want to have your broken world disrupted, Jesus is the answer. He can forgive you of your sins and make you a part of this new counter-cultural supernatural community called the church.
In our house we have these Nest Smoke alarms that don’t beep when they detect smoke, but talk to you, “There’s smoke in the hallway!” When we’re baking pizza and cheese falls off the crust and starts to smoke, this alarm can be really jarring. But I’d rather have an alarm that wakes us up, and is a bit jarring, then one that doesn’t work. We as the church have a message that’s jarring, but it’s also a message of life in a smoke-filled world. The wages of sin is death but Jesus offers forgiveness and eternal life to all who know him. “There’s life in Jesus!” 1. We disrupt by proclaiming Christ.
- We disrupt by praying for healing. Christ’s power heals us of our sins but it can also heal those broken by sickness and disease. Just because we see Peter do something doesn’t mean we can do it. Description doesn’t equal prescription, right? Unless the Bible tells us we can do it elsewhere…
James 5:14-15 (ESV) 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
As your church leaders God calls us to pray for you if you’re sick, anoint you with oil, and ask the Lord to heal you. We get to disrupt the sickness in our fallen world. In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul says the Holy Spirit gives the church gifts of healing and miracles (1 Cor 12:9-10).
Sometimes Christ will choose to supernaturally heal, but other times he might bring healing by slower means as Christians love and care for those in need. Maybe he’d rather use your pot of chicken-noodle soup to help someone get through sickness than to instantly heal them. Maybe he’d rather you accompany your friend to their chemo treatments or doctors appointments. The mission of the church is to disrupt life as we know it. 1. We disrupt by proclaiming Christ. 2. We disrupt by praying for healing. And…
- We disrupt by serving and caring for others. While Peter is still in Lydda he’s called to Joppa where a woman named Tabitha has died (Dorcas). Tabitha is the kind of woman who got what it meant to be a disrupter of this world.
Acts 9:36-39 (ESV) 36 Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.
Like Acts 6:3 said the church deacons like Stephen were “full of the Spirit and of wisdom” it says Tabitha was “full of good works and acts of charity.” She was a disciple who went out of her way to care for others.
37 In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” 39 So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.
Peter arrives to a group of women mourning Tabitha and showing Peter all the things she did for them. She’s the kind of woman who made the prayer shawl or the baby blanket or made the meal or bought the groceries or cleaned the house to help those in need.
Our life was recently disrupted by the birth of a child, but at the same time, we felt the presence of God’s kingdom disrupt our stress and exhaustion with meals and cards and gifts we didn’t expect. Thank you church family for disrupting our life with God’s love.
Let’s ask ourselves two questions: 1) Who can I disrupt this week? Whose life can I change with the love of Christ? 2) How has God called us as a church body to be a means of disruption in our world? How can we do things differently than the culture? Who can we serve? There’s no quick answer, but let’s keep asking that question trusting that God will help us figure it out. 3. We disrupt by serving and caring for others.
- We disrupt with the resurrection. Acts 9:40-43 (ESV) 40 But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. 41 And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43 And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.
Peter knelt down and prayed for the impossible. “Oh Lord, would you raise this woman from the dead? Would you show your resurrection power?” Peter calls her by her name, “Tabitha, arise.” He wasn’t drawing on his own power but asking for Jesus who in his ministry spoke to a dead girl, “‘Talitha cumi,’ which means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.’” Like Elijah and Elisha raised the dead Peter is not depending on his own strength but God’s (1 Kings 17:23-24, 2 Kings 4:32-37).
Should we expect to be able to do the same? Can we raise the dead? No, we cannot, but Christ can, and sometimes Jesus may choose to do it through us. One commentary said Christians still raise the dead:
I met a missionary working with a tribal group in India who told me that among this group in the past few years, there have been seven cases of bringing dead people back to life. When someone among them dies, the believers pray for about three-and-one-half hours after his or her death. After that, if the person has not come back to life, the elders give the signal to prepare the corpse for burial. (NIV Application Commentary: Acts)
I’ve also heard of others who have tried to raise the dead but Christ has not allowed it. When Christ gives something like a miraculous healing or resurrection, it’s for spreading the kingdom of God. Like an earthquake, it’s a disruptive tremor in our broken world, the in-breaking of God’s world. Tabitha’s friends sent for Peter even though they knew she was dead. They had resurrection hope.
While God will probably not use most of us to raise someone from the dead, God may use us to help a friend kick their drug addiction, or to save a marriage, or to heal a broken relationship. Resurrection! Resurrection! Resurrection! God might use us to bring someone who is dead in their trespasses and sins alive in Christ by sharing Jesus with them and they coming to faith in him (Eph 2:1, 5).
Maybe you don’t believe in the resurrection. Jesus died and rose again to show that there is a hope beyond death, not something vague and sentimental, but tangible and real. If you put your whole life on Jesus, he puts his whole life on you, and that means you will one day rise again by his command.
4. We disrupt with the resurrection. 3. We disrupt by serving and caring for others. 2. We disrupt by praying for healing. 1. We disrupt by proclaiming Christ. The mission of the church is to disrupt life as we know it. So what’s my key takeaway? Simply this…
Disrupt the disruption. Who can you disrupt for Christ today? How will you do it? Our friends, our friends, family, the sick and broken, they need their lives disrupted with grace. How can our church disrupt Westford? They don’t know who they’re missing. Life as we know it is so fallen and broken. There’s a better life that Jesus has made possible. Disrupt the disruption.
Matthew 5:14 (ESV) “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
How does sin disrupt our personal lives and lives in our communities? Why is it a good thing the church is supposed to disrupt the status-quo? In what ways can the church disrupt the world? How does our mission give us a greater vision for our church? Who can you disrupt for Christ today and how will you do it?
Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
Do you all remember January 1st? It had so much promise, didn’t it? A brand new year. A brand new decade! We had New Year’s Resolutions! We had hopes and dreams for our families, our careers, and our church. And then what happened? Covid-19 happened! Covid happened and everything stopped. Life was completely disrupted. Most of the time when we think about disruption, it’s a bad thing, like the DOW dropping a thousand points or wildfires destroying half of Australia.
Gordon Chinamasa Gordon Chinamasa’s biography: I was born and raised in Zimbabwe and accepted God’s free gift of salvation in my early teens. Married to Bronwyn for 14 years and we have two daughters, Charis (10 years) and Channa (6 years). I hold a Bachelor of Theology degree from Cape Town Baptist Seminary and was ordained as a Baptist Minister in 2007. I have also received graduate seminary training at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. Emphasis in my seminary studies was around becoming rich in my knowledge of God’s Word, thus I focused my studies in Biblical Languages, Biblical Backgrounds, and Old and New Testament studies. I also hold a Masters degree in Social Work from Baylor University and I’m currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Social Work at Simmons University. Over the span of my christian journey, I have served the Lord in the ministry of the local church body wherever I have found myself including Children’s Ministry Director, Youth Pastor, Sunday School Teacher, Preacher, Short-term Missionary and other ministries. Currently, I serve at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford, MA as an Elder.
Gordon Chinamasa’s biography: I was born and raised in Zimbabwe and accepted God’s free gift of salvation in my early teens. Married to Bronwyn for 14 years and we have two daughters, Charis (10 years) and Channa (6 years). I hold a Bachelor of Theology degree from Cape Town Baptist Seminary and was ordained as a Baptist Minister in 2007. I have also received graduate seminary training at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX.
For me one of the most exciting things in life is to see someone new come to faith in Christ, or someone who has been kind of surface-level about Jesus, really commit and dive deep. I love the passion, the excitement, the willingness to share about Christ. It’s a special time.
If you’re a new Christian, this sermon is for you. How can we keep a good thing going? I want to talk about how we can plug you in and keep you growing in your walk with Jesus.
If you’re a longtime Christian, this sermon is also for you. How can we help new believers flourish and in the process be renewed and reenergized ourselves? How can we help disciple new believers?
Where are you in your walk with God? Which category are you in? New believer, longtime follower, in need of renewal? I want to look at the new-convert Saul. He’s a brand new Christian. He’s energized. He’s excited. And things go poorly for him. I see three life-lessons we can take from this time of his life.
Life-Lesson #1: Share the excitement for Jesus. (v19b-22) As a new believer, one of the best things you can do is share Christ (Rom 10:9-15). The great part is, right now, at this stage, maybe it feels natural. You’re like, “I’m a Christian! Why isn’t everyone a Christian!” I think Saul was a little like this. After Jesus appears to Saul on the road to Damascus, he tells everyone.
Acts 9:19b-22 (ESV) For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
The Jews in Damascus are so confused. “Isn’t this the guy who came here to persecute the believers? To drag them away and throw them in prison? Now he’s teaching that Jesus is the Son of God and Messiah!” For Saul to identify Jesus as the “Son of God” and the “Christ” (Hebrew “Messiah”) is especially significant (Psalm 2:7). God promised David, the most famous king of Israel, that one day one of his descendants would rule as God’s specially chosen king, which is what “Messiah” means (anointed king). See how God identifies one of king David’s descendants as “son” and also “king?”
2 Samuel 7:12-14a (ESV) 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son…
It doesn’t just matter what Saul is saying about Jesus. It also matters where he’s saying it, in the synagogue, the place where the Jewish people studied the law, the prophets, and yearned for the Messiah to come. It would be like walking into a Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home, and telling everyone, “Guys, Elvis is alive!” And then proceeding to make a logical and reasonable case Elvis is alive. The people wouldn’t know what to do with you. That’s how the Jews respond to Saul. They’re baffled and confused.
Have you ever seen someone come to Christ who starts posting all about Jesus on Facebook or telling everyone how great their church is? Sometimes it really weirds other people out. You know what, I think that’s okay. Let’s embrace the weird. When I really got serious about Jesus in my teen years, I viewed it as my mission to tell others about him. At the time I would write devotionals and email them out. If I got your email, I’d add you to the list (without asking!). Some people liked it and others told me to take them off my list. Spamming for Jesus! Now I don’t think I was super effective. I could have used a mentor guiding me. But I also think that new-convert enthusiasm is something to be celebrated. Sure there will be mistakes, but nothing we can’t work through (John 8:32, 1 Pet 3:15).
If you’re a new Christian, be all in. Tell everyone! For longtime believers, let’s encourage that enthusiasm. It can be incredibly refreshing to hear how excited someone is about their newfound faith in Christ Jesus, like a shot of adrenaline. Life lesson #1 is: share the excitement for Jesus.
Life-Lesson #2: God works in failure. (v23-25, 29-31) It’s okay to fail because God is still using that to build his kingdom.
Acts 9:23-24 (ESV) 23 When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, 25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
Saul is so hard core and preaching Christ so much that the Jewish authorities in Damascus plot to kill him. Looking back later in life Saul describes his weakness but God’s strength.
2 Corinthians 11:30-33 (ESV) 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
Saul was in such danger that he had to step into a basket and be lowered on a rope out the window to escape. Here Paul is, freshly commissioned by Ananias, filled with the Holy Spirit, and preaching the gospel, but his preaching is so inflammatory that he get’s chased out of the city. And it happens not once, but twice. After Saul goes down to Jerusalem, the Greek-speaking Jews try to kill him just like they killed Steven. But this time his fellow believers actually send him away.
Acts 9:29-31 (ESV) 29 And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. 30 And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
And you know what happens once Saul goes home to Tarsus? Things actually get better for the believers in Jerusalem, not exactly a glowing reflection on Saul.
31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
You know when you’re at a family gathering and that one family member who always causes problems finally leaves? You let out a sigh of relief, “Whew! I’m so glad they’re gone.” That’s kind of how the early Christians seemed to feel about Saul.
But here’s the thing. God was still at work in Saul. Remember what God told Ananias when he went to heal Saul and bring him into Damascus?
Acts 9:15-16 (ESV) 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
God’s mission was never really for Saul to just preach to the Jews. Already God was preparing Saul for a lifetime of ministry to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. Although he looks kind of like a failure here he would go on to become the greatest missionary of all time.
It sure seemed like failure when Jim Elliott and four friends were martyred in Ecuador trying to reach an unreached tribe with Jesus. But the Lord has used that story to inspire millions and reach the tribe that killed them with the gospel message. More recently it sure seems like failure when Joyce Lin, a fellow Gordon-Conwell alumni, worked through years of training and education so she could join Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and fly to support missionary efforts, crashed her plane and died “transporting rapid test kits and school supplies to a village in Papua” Indonesia, just two years after graduating seminary (M.Div. ’17). But in God’s kingdom her moment of greatest loss was actually her greatest victory as she gave her life for her king. Now maybe you’re not going to be a global missionary, but we’ve all failed.
Where have you failed for Jesus? Where have you blown it? Maybe in your exuberance for Christ you’ve alienated family members and friends. Well, God can still use you. Maybe he’ll give you another chance with them or maybe you won’t alienate the next. God knows and we can trust him.
For several years when I was a teenager my friends and I just kind of did whatever we wanted. We’d stay up late watching movies and drinking and then I’d get up and go to church the next day. I was not a very consistent Christian, and neither were they. There came a point when I decided to confess and start over. It was really nice for me, a clean start, but it also really alienated them. You know, “Jonathan got to clean up his act but look how bad it makes us look.” And yet, despite the failure of my alienation, God used that time to help me grow deep in my faith, and really know Christ. It was when I felt absolutely broken that Jesus seemed so good. That change helped me commit to following Christ. That’s when I started spamming everyone! Since then God has graciously given me small moments of restoration with each of those friends. It will never be like it was, but I know God is still working on them too.
Maybe as a new believer your failure has nothing to do with sharing the gospel. Maybe you’ve fallen back into sin or are finding it difficult to break some engrained habits. Or maybe you’re really wrestling with doubt and are afraid of falling back into unbelief. Maybe you’re experiencing problems in your workplace or family, in your marriage. You’re on a journey. Invite Christ to walk it with you, not just to give you success, but to work in your brokenness. Life-Lesson #2: God works in failure.
Maybe you’re a mature Christian who should have helped a new Christian grow in their faith, but you didn’t, and they walked away from Jesus. God can still use you. Look around, who might that next new believer or young believer be?
As I transition to the third life lesson I want to briefly mention that it’s around this time that Saul takes a trip to Arabia. Galatians 1:17-18 tell us that Saul was based in Damascus for three years (after only planning to go there to round up the Christians). During this time he made a trip to Arabia, but we don’t know why or for how long. Some think it’s because he had to rework his theology and understanding of Scripture. When he was sent off to Tarsus, he stayed there for about ten years. We really don’t know much about Saul’s three years in Damascus/Arabia or ten years in Tarsus. That was a long time, 13 years. Saul didn’t conquer Rome in a day. It was a long slow start before he even went on his three missionary journeys or wrote most of the New Testament. Maybe failure isn’t really failure but preparation.
Life-Lesson #3: Find a friend for the journey. (v26-28) After Saul leaves Damascus and Arabia, he travels back down south to Jerusalem before heading to Tarsus, his hometown. But when he get’s back the believers there are still afraid of him. He must have been really bad for them to worry so much.
Acts 9:26-28 (ESV) 26 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.
Saul needs a friend. He needs someone who loves and supports him. But not everyone has what he needs, but Barnabas is uniquely gifted and called by God to be an encourager. Back in Acts 4 he sold a field and gave it to the church; and the apostles were so encouraged they gave him the nickname, “Barnabas (which means son of encouragement”). Barnabas had such a good reputation in the church he could advocate for Saul and people would believe him, and that’s what he did. He told them Saul really did believe in Christ and put his life on the line to tell others.
Paul and Barnabas form a friendship. The next time we hear of Saul is when Barnabas goes to Tarsus to look for Saul in Acts 11:25. Barnabas has a special gifting to see what others don’t. He sees it in Saul, and later when he and Saul (then called Paul) get in an argument over Mark, Barnabas sticks with Mark even though he doesn’t seem to deserve it.
How can you be a Christian friend to someone in our church? If you’re a new Christian, could you find someone like Barnabas who can encourage you, affirm you, disciple you? Or for us longtime followers of Jesus, could you act like Barnabas and be a friend, find someone to encourage? Maybe it will only last for a season like it did for Saul and Barnabas or maybe for a lifetime. Who do you think the Lord might have for you, both to help you on your way or who you can help? Life Lesson #3: Find a friend for the journey.
What makes this possible is that Jesus calls us his friends. Jesus tells his disciples in John 15 that he isn’t going to call them “servants” but “friends.” The greatest joy of Christianity, the greatest discovery, is that Jesus has found us for the journey. He calls us friend. He picks us up when we stumble. He forgives us when we sin. He shares our enthusiasm for what God is doing in our lives. But he’s not just any type of friend. He’s the type of friend who lays down his life for you.
John 15:13 (ESV) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus loves us. His love and friendship makes friendship with God possible (Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23). So what are the three life-lessons for new believers?
Life-Lesson #1: Share your excitement for Jesus. Life-Lesson #2: God works in failure. Life-Lesson #3: Find a friend for the journey.
Let’s pray.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message to Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
Where are you in your walk with God? Do you believe? If so, for how long? How do you feel about Jesus? Why do you think you feel that way? How have you failed in your Christian walk? What makes a good friend? What difference might a friendship strengthened by Christian brotherhood or sisterhood make? How can you be a Christian friend to someone in your church? How is Jesus our friend? What type of friendship does he offer us?
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For me one of the most exciting things in life is to see someone new come to faith in Christ, or someone who has been kind of surface-level about Jesus, really commit and dive deep. I love the passion, the excitement, the willingness to share about Christ. It’s a special time. If you’re a new Christian, this sermon is for you. How can we keep a good thing going? I want to talk about how we can plug you in
Who is the least likely person you know who would ever become a Christian? Take a moment and think of them. Is it a family member, a friend, a coworker? Is it because they’re apathetic to Christianity? Or is it because they’re totally against Christianity? Maybe they identify as an atheist, or Buddhist, Muslim, or even Jewish. All you know, is they’ll never follow Jesus…
Nabeel fit the description of someone who would never follow Jesus. His parents were from Pakistan and they were devout Muslim believers. They moved to the U.S. and Nabeel grew up obedient to Islam. By the age of five he was saying the five daily prayers and had memorized the entire Koran in Arabic. He knew what he believed and practiced it rigorously.
His family blamed American Christianity for the moral compromises they saw all around them, for the immorality of culture. These people claim to be Christians but they promote all this stuff. The Christians Nabeel encountered as a child and teen didn’t know their faith beyond a surface level. He would question them and they didn’t have the answers. This only confirmed that Islam was true and that he was on the right path. Nabeel is the kind of person who if we were friends with him, we would assume he would never come to Jesus. Nabeel is a little like Saul. Saul was a devout Jew who practiced his beliefs rigorously.
Saul was the least likely of disciples. Saul identified himself as “zealous” for his faith (Acts 22:3; Gal 1:14). To understand what this means we need to understand Judaism at that time. I’ve been reading Paul, A Biography by N.T. Wright. In it Wright talks about Saul’s teacher, a man named Gamaliel. Gamaliel was a part of a school of thought called “Hillel” that generally allowed for disagreement and debate within Judaism. In Acts 5 when the Sanhedrin put Peter and John on trial for preaching the gospel, Gamaliel argued that they should let these men go and see what happens. If their mission has human origins they will fail. If not, Gamaliel doesn’t want to fight against God (Acts 5:38-39). Gamaliel is from Hillel and took a “live and let live” policy.
But there was another school called Shammai who were a little more fiery, who believed in prayer, but with a sword strapped to your side. Saul likely identified more with Shammai than Hillel. Those like Saul who were especially zealous would have identified strongly with the Old Testament hero, Phinehas. After Egypt, when Israel wondered in the wilderness, the men of their camp became interested in foreign Moabite women. These women took the Israelites away from the one true God and they began to worship Baal. God sent a plague on the people in judgment and ordered the Israelites to kill any who committed this act.
Numbers 25:6-8 (NIV) 6 Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;
Phinehas is so zealous for God’s law and holiness that he took a spear and rammed it through the Israelite man and Moabite woman. The Psalms actually say this was reckoned to Phinehas as “righteousness.”
Psalm 106:30-31 (NIV) 30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked. 31 This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.
So Saul must have been thinking, “If I am zealous for God’s law, and put to death those who are spreading false teachings, this too will be credited to me as righteousness.” Christianity was a threat to Judaism. You have to eat the body and blood of a dead guy they claimed rose again from the grave? How is this not pagan? To not act would bring down God’s wrath on Israel. That’s why Saul helped kill Stephen and now is dragging believers from their homes. He thinks he’s like Phinehas, protecting Israel from judgment.
Acts 9:1-2 (NIV) Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
So as Saul is going to Damascus to capture more believers, you can see he would have been completely confident in his position. “I am like Phinehas who put the idolaters to death. I am like Elijah who put the prophets of Baal to death. I am zealous. I am doing the Lord’s will!”
Who do you know who is zealously anti-Christian, who could never come to faith? Zero possibility? Do they remind you of Saul? Do they remind you of Nabeel? Saul and Nabeel are the least likely of disciples. Neither one seems like they could ever come to faith. I can think of a bunch of people like this in my own life. Most people I know seem like they’ll never come to Jesus. Why have I given up on them?
Jesus loves to save the least likely of disciples. Saul is nearing Damascus when suddenly a light brighter than the sun shines all around him (Acts 22; 26).
Acts 9:3-4 (NIV) As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Instantly, Saul knew this was the Lord. He knew the throne room vision in Isaiah 6. He knew the vision of chariots in Ezekiel 1. He knew the vision of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7. Here at last God was rewarding him and his righteousness for his zealous crusade for God! But falling to the ground he hears the words he least expects, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” In this moment his whole worldview shifts. His understanding of God and Scripture is flipped upside-down. In fear and trembling he asks.
Acts 9:5 (NIV) 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.
“This changes everything! This means the martyr Stephen was innocent! This means the man named Jesus who died on a cross was more than a rebel or a heretic. He was the Messiah, God’s special king. This means I was right about some things. The God of the Old Testament, Yahweh, is the one true God. But I was wrong about Jesus. Jesus is the Son of Man. Jesus is God in the flesh!”
Do you ever wonder why Jesus chose Saul? Why choose him? Saul later writes:
1 Timothy 1:15-16 (NIV) 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
Jesus loves to save sinners, bad sinners, the worst sinners. If Jesus can save Saul, he can save Nabeel, he can save David, he can save your friend or family member, whatever their name may be. Let’s pray they too would ask, “Who are you, Lord?” Maybe we can challenge them to ask Jesus that. Lord willing, Jesus will graciously reveal himself, “I am Jesus…”
When Nabeel got to college he finally met a Christian who understood what they believe and why they believed it. He finally met someone who could answer his questions and arguments, who was genuinely following Christ like he was following Allah, and who could explain the gospel to him. This man’s name was David. David became a friend to Nabeel. He spent time with him. He cared about him. David was willing to walk through what it meant to truly follow Jesus—that it isn’t just a quick prayer but a laying down of your entire life for Jesus.
As Nabeel tried to disprove the death, deity, and resurrection of Jesus, three things Muslims deny, he found the evidence for those things to be compelling. This took years. Finally he began to make Islam take the same truth-tests he required of Christianity and he found Islam was far weaker than he expected. So that’s when he asked Jesus to reveal himself to him in a dream or vision. 50-70% of Muslims that come to Jesus come because Jesus appeared to them in a dream or vision. Jesus answered his prayer.
In Nabeel’s dream he was standing outside a very narrow doorway. It was just tall enough and wide enough for him to fit through. On the other side of this doorway there was this really nice feast where everyone was seated, waiting for the owner or speaker to arrive. He knew this was a vision of heaven. Nabeel saw his friend David in the room but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get in. He asked his friend, “David. I thought we were going to eat together.” He said, “You haven’t responded.” That’s when he knew he needed to respond. When he woke up he told his friend David the dream and he pointed him to Luke 13 where Jesus says this:
Luke 13:24-25 (NIV) 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
This vision led to Nabeel counting the cost, the deep price he would have to pay converting from a Muslim family to Christianity. He finally took that step of faith to come to Jesus. Jesus loves to save the least likely of disciples. Whose your Saul? Whose your Nabeel? How do you know Jesus won’t save them? Have you ever talked with them about Jesus? Maybe it’s time to prayerfully try again.
Jesus loves to save the least likely of disciples through us. Jesus tells Saul to get up and go to Damascus. Saul get’s up but he’s blind. He’s led to Damascus where he spends the next several days thinking and praying and repenting and reexamining his life. Now God has done all the hard work. God has moved in Saul, but he still wants to use a fellow believer in Saul’s story.
Acts 9:10-14 (NIV) 10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
God could have just showed up and told Paul everything he needed to know. But God had something in this event for Ananias as well. God wanted to give him the opportunity to see him moving. Maybe God wants to give you the opportunity to see him move in an incredible way.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
God is including Ananias but Ananias doesn’t see it that way. Ananias sees all the reasons why Saul will never come to Christ. He’s persecuting us! He came here to kill us! That’s not the kind of guy you expect to come to Christ. Think of the person in your life who you think could never come to Christ. How many excuses have we used to not tell them about Jesus? Sometimes the Holy Spirit calls on us to wait, but how many times have we ignored him when he said it’s time? Jesus came to die to forgive them of this sin.
Acts 9:15-19a (NIV) 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.
Not only is Saul a Christian now. God intends to use him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. It’s amazing how God is going to work through Ananias to bring Saul into Christianity, but then God is going to use Saul to bring others into Christianity. We can’t lose hope for our friends not only for their sake, but for the sake of those God might want them to share Christ with. After Nabeel Qureshi became a Christian and later joined Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), an apologetics ministry (aka. good reasons to believe). He wrote the book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity. He’s told lots of others about the faith he discovered in Christ. God might work through you to save the one on your heart, and then work through them to save a bunch more. But it won’t be easy.
16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
The quickest way to get people to sign up for Christianity is to tell them Jesus will make their life easy. But it’s also the wrong way. In some ways Christianity is easier (Matt 11:30). We’re forgiven. But in other ways it’s harder. Jesus tells us to pick up our cross daily and follow him (Luke 9:23). In 2016 Nabeel was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He died in 2017 at the age of 34. Jesus doesn’t promise us an easy rode once we join him, but he does promise he’ll walk that road with us, no matter where he takes us. Till the very end Nabeel prayed for healing but believed God is good no matter what.
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
God’s Holy Spirit anoints Saul a special way for ministry. Ananias gets to be part of it. He gets to lay his hands on him and call him “Brother Saul.” God used Ananias, another believer, to help make it happen. God used David, a friend in Nabeel’s college years, to bring him to faith in Christ. God can use you and me to bring those around us to Jesus. Jesus loves to save the least likely of disciples through us.
Who might God be using you to bring to a relationship with him? Nabeel made the point in an interview if becoming a Christian really is picking up your cross and following Jesus, we really need to support and encourage people in that commitment. We need to have real relationships with them. Who might you need to encourage? Whose questions do you need to answer? Who do you need to make time for, over Zoom, over the phone, over a social distancing campfire, over a picnic in the park. Let’s pray and walk in line with our prayers. God is already at work in their lives, preparing them. We get to be like Ananias who shows up and helps them along their journey. Jesus loves to save the least likely of disciples through us.
Romans 10:13-15 (NIV) 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
Who is the least likely person you know who would ever become a Christian? Why do you think that? How should you begin praying for that person? When might the Lord provide an opportunity for you to share Christ with them? What about Saul/Paul’s story is encouraging? What about Ananias’s story is convicting? What about Nabeel’s story is motivating? What are you going to do next?
Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube. In the Facebook video, we say goodbye to a very special family, Terry and Sarah Iles and their children.
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Who is the least likely person you know who would ever become a Christian? Take a moment and think of them. Is it a family member, a friend, a coworker? Is it because they’re apathetic to Christianity? Or is it because they’re totally against Christianity? Maybe they identify as an atheist, or Buddhist, Muslim, or even Jewish. All you know, is they’ll never follow Jesus… Nabeel fit the description of someone who would never follow Jesus. His parents were from
Have you ever tried to buy something that’s not for sale? When I was a teenager, I worked at a tourist shop in the mountains of Colorado called Indian Village. Occasionally tourists would try to buy the big brass pots we had in the back of the store, but they were a decoration. Not for sale. Occasionally tourists would try and buy this big beautiful Navajo rug we had hanging on our wall. But that rug also was not for
Have you ever tried to buy something that’s not for sale? When I was a teenager, I worked at a tourist shop in the mountains of Colorado called Indian Village. Occasionally tourists would try to buy the big brass pots we had in the back of the store, but they were a decoration. Not for sale. Occasionally tourists would try and buy this big beautiful Navajo rug we had hanging on our wall. But that rug also was not for sale. Sometimes tourists tried to buy the little old lady, Charlotte, who had fallen asleep behind the counter, my boss. The legend goes that one time she was so still that someone thought she was a life-sized doll. She was not for sale. In today’s text one man has to learn the hard way…
The Holy Spirit is not for sale. My hope and prayer is today’s sermon will make us more aware of the Holy Spirit’s power and how we sometimes attempt to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not something we can purchase or buy, not with money or good deeds. The Holy Spirit is not like the big brass pots or Navajo rug. He’s not a thing. The Holy Spirit is a person, more like Charlotte.
Maybe you’re wondering, “Who would ever try to buy the Holy Spirit?” Well, I’m glad you asked because a Sorcerer named Simon would. This man lived in the town of Samaria, north of Jerusalem. Samaria is a land where the people are Jewish but not Jewish. They share some beliefs and background with their Jewish neighbors, but this has only caused religious and ethnic division. They know enough to get themselves in trouble, which is perhaps why Simon is someone who has so much power.
Acts 8:9-11 (NIV) 8 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.
Simon’s sorcery is no The Magician’s Apprentice. Micky Mouse isn’t dancing around wearing a big blue pointy hat with stars on it and waving his fingers at a broom. It’s no fantasy. It’s real. It’s demonic. It’s witchcraft. He’s arrogant, prideful, and claims to be someone great. The people of Samaria think he has divine powers— “the Great Power of God,” like a mini Hercules or Perseus, sons of Zeus. Here is the root of all idolatry—thinking we can handle God, that we can control him with our religious deeds, our prayers, our words. The Holy Spirit won’t be bought. He is far too powerful to be controlled by us.
The Holy Spirit is unstoppable. When Philip, one of the leaders of the early church tasked with caring for the Greek-speaking widows, and other early believers are chased out of Jerusalem by persecution, he goes north to Samaria where he begins to preach the gospel—the good news about Jesus Christ. He does so with power and authority, full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:3).
Acts 8:12-13 (NIV) 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
Simon sees that the Holy Spirit is unstoppable. The Holy Spirit, through Philip, brings people to faith and repentance. Through the Spirit Philip performs great signs and miracles. If we as a church could experience even a taste of the Spirit’s power like Philip did, it could change everything.
Francis Chan wrote a children’s book called, “The Big Red Tractor and the Little Village.” There’s a little village where the people live off what they farm each year. Each year they pull out their big red tractor and use it to plow their field. They attach ropes to it. They get a group together. Some pull and others push and every day of plowing season they move the tractor a little further across the field. On a good day, they move that tractor ten feet. They feel blessed to have such a great tractor. They work hard all plowing season and they manage to get the whole field plowed just in time to plant before the rains come. The rains come and the harvest grows and the little village has just enough food to make it through till the following year. If only they had a way to plow that field more quickly. If only it was within their power to be more fruitful. But this is how things have always been done. They manage. It works.
In our story, Simon recognizes there is an unstoppable power and he wants it, with wrong motives. He wants the Spirit’s power for himself, not for the church, or to know God himself. That’s not how the Spirit relates.
The Holy Spirit comes freely by God’s will. Acts 8:14-17 (NIV) 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Maybe you’re wondering, “How could they believe in God without the Holy Spirit? Isn’t it the Holy Spirit that convicts us of our sins and gives us the faith necessary to believe in Jesus?” I believe all those things are true, but…God had a certain, intentional, official, empowering way he wanted to give Samaria the Holy Spirit. Let me take you to some other New Testament passages.
In Matthew 16, Jesus asks his disciple Peter a question, “Who do you say I am?” (Matt 16:16) To which Peter replies, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” (Matt 16:17) Jesus blesses Peter and rewards him in a special way.
Matthew 16:18-19 (NIV) 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
The book of Acts is about the building of God’s church. Peter is going to have a special role to play.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Now many within Catholicism believe this passage makes Peter the first Pope, but I think the answer is much simpler and found in the text of Acts. Remember what Jesus said after his resurrection right before he ascended into heaven?
Acts 1:8 (NIV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus willed to build his church through Peter bringing the presence of the Holy Spirit to the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea, the Samaritans in Samaria, and the Gentiles from the ends of the earth. In Acts 2, Peter preached at Pentecost after the Holy Spirit came as tongues of fire over the Jewish believers. Many Jews come to repentance and faith at Peter’s invitation.
Acts 2:38 (NIV) Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Peter and John lead a prayer meeting in Acts 4, still with the Jews in Jerusalem, which is in the region of Judea. Again, the Holy Spirit shows up.
Acts 4:31 (NIV) After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Then we read today’s text in Samaria in Acts 8 where Peter appears once again.
Acts 8:14, 17 (NIV) 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria… (they pray they’ll receive the Holy Spirit) 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Peter is the key that unlocks the Spirit to the Jews, Samaritans and the Gentiles (non-Jews) too in Acts 10. His arrival establishes that the Gentiles are formally members of the church.
Acts 10:44-45 (NIV) 44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles.
It was always God’s plan to freely give the Holy Spirit to the believers in Samaria, and those in Jerusalem and among the Gentiles. I believe Acts 8 shows us how God through Peter officially poured out his Spirit on the believers at Samaria, signifying them as genuine, authentic, and empowered Christian believers. The Holy Spirit comes freely by God’s will. God always intended for his church to run on the Holy Spirit.
That winter one of the farmers in the little village is clearing out his attic when he discovers the owner’s manual for the big red tractor. It explains how to own and operate the tractor. He is completely surprised to discover that if you put fuel in the tractor, it will run itself. It will run freely without anyone needing to push or pull the tractor. The tractor can actually plow an entire field in a single day. The owner is so amazed the next day he tells the town but none of the townspeople believe him. “The tractor can’t do that!” they say. “We know how to operate a tractor. You need ropes and to push really hard!” None of the villagers believe.
Do we believe in the Holy Spirit’s power? Do we as a church want to see the Holy Spirit move freely among us? Or do we feel we have to earn his presence at Cornerstone? We have to pull the tractor for things to happen. The Holy Spirit comes freely by God’s will.
Trying to use the Holy Spirit as a tool leads to death. We already saw how Ananias and Sapphira’s sin against the Holy Spirit lead to death in Acts 5. Well, it’s no different here
Acts 8:18-24 (NIV) 18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
Simon seems to think the Holy Spirit is a force or ability to be manipulated.
20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
Peter curses Simon, “Damn you and your money to hell!” That’s what happens when we think we can please God with our money. Like, if I just give enough money to charity God will accept me. That leads to damnation. Or on the reverse end. If I give up a life of money so that I can do good works, so that God will let me into heaven. That also leads to damnation. Simon was just more obvious about it. But even in the curse, there’s an offer of grace. Peter says:
22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”
A heart full of bitterness is not right before God. A bitter heart is captive to sin and prevents us from fully embracing the Spirit. Instead of dealing with the bitterness in his heart, he tries to buy a solution. This is why we need to deal with any bitterness in our hearts. It not only “captivates us,” our attention, our mind, our focus, but it prevents us from fully experiencing the Holy Spirit’s power. This is convicting because I have a hard time letting go. Maybe you do too. I don’t want bitterness to control my heart and I bet you don’t want that either. We start to deal with bitterness through repentance.
Peter gives Simon a chance to repent, to turn from his sin and self-idolization and worship the one true God. Verse 13 tells us Simon believed and was baptized. We don’t know if Simon’s faith is genuine, but we do know Peter’s offer of forgiveness is.
24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
Early church figures claim Simon went on to oppose Christianity and teach false beliefs—that he was the first heretic. We don’t know for sure. But what we do know is that Simon’s life serves as a cautionary tale. As believers, we must never try to purchase or use the Holy Spirit as a tool to achieve success or fame or wealth. We can always ask the Holy Spirit for help, but approaching him humbly as God himself.
As Christians today there are still Simon-type people and movements out in our world today—those who use the Holy Spirit as a tool. The “prosperity gospel” (or “word of faith“) movement teaches that if we truly believe something will happen, and speak it in faith, God will make it happen. If we need a new job, if we believe hard enough and speak it, God will give us a better job. Or if we are sick, all we need to believe and have enough faith, and God will heal us. Or if we want to fall in love and get married, believe and have faith and God will give us that special someone. If for some reason God doesn’t give us what we want, it’s our fault because we didn’t have enough faith. Followers are encouraged to “sow a seed of faith,” typically something like a thousand dollars with the promise that God will make them rich. If any of this sounds familiar, please watch this documentary, American Gospel: Christ Alone. If you watch it and have questions, or know someone who believes it, please come talk to me. The prosperity gospel is Simon’s way of doing business, not God’s. Trying to use the Holy Spirit as a tool leads to death.
Freely receiving the Holy Spirit leads to life. Acts 8:25 (NIV) After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
While we only hear about Simon in these verses, for the one Simon there were hundreds if not thousands of Samaritans who came to Jesus, repented of their sins, and believed in him. I don’t want to miss this opportunity either. I don’t want try to purchase God with my good works or my money because he already offers himself to me freely, through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. All we need to do to receive this gift is to humble ourselves, repent, and believe in Jesus. Let’s freely receive the Holy Spirit.
There’s also a challenge for us as a church in this passage. Will we try to earn the Holy Spirit by our right beliefs or good deeds or will we freely receive the Holy Spirit and ask him to empower us to do his will?
The farmer begins to work on fixing the big red tractor. He replaces those parts that are broken and rusted. He cleans the filters. He fills it with oil and fuel. Finally, right at the beginning of plowing season, late at night when he’s done working on the tractor, he turns it on and it roars to life. He’s so excited he plows the whole field that night. The next day the villagers wake up and can’t believe their eyes. The entire field is plowed! They find the farmer sleeping on the tractor. “He was right!” The tractor really can do it all.
That year the villagers plow more fields and farm more food than they’ve ever farmed before. They bring in such a harvest they can feed other towns and villages. When they discover the big red tractor had a power all its own, it changes everything. Francis Chan explains that in his illustration the big red tractor is the church empowered by the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is freely leading and guiding and energizing the church, there’s no field we can’t plow, even in Westford. Why can’t the Holy Spirit still perform great signs and miracles? Why can’t thousands come to faith as they did in Acts? Maybe we’re trying to purchase the Spirit’s power by our good works or our hard labor. Maybe the Spirit would come if we needed him, if we took the time to ask him to lead us. God is willing to pour out his Holy Spirit on us as a gift. Freely receiving the Holy Spirit leads to life.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What is the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? What can the Holy Spirit do? How is the Holy Spirit given? Can we purchase or earn the Spirit’s presence? How are Peter and the Spirit connected? What can we do if we realize we are treating the Holy Spirit as a tool? What is the prosperity gospel or word of faith movement? Has it influenced you? What does repentance and faith in Christ mean?
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Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
“Not For Sale” hhoto by secretlondon123 via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).
During this pandemic, more than any other time in my life, we have depended on technology to remain connected, employed, and on the go. You may be experiencing or are currently experiencing “Zoom fatigue.” Zoom fatigue is when you get done with a day of work and you’re completely drained from all those online meetings and interactions. This happens because it takes more energy to have a meeting over Zoom. You have to focus or you might get lost in the conversation. Typically, the screen is right in front of you, which means you’re chatting with one or even a room full of people, right in front of your face. There’s nowhere to hide and it can leave you feeling tired and anxious. Welcome to all the church people watching us on Facebook Live! I hope we don’t wear you out!
While many of us feel grateful for how technology has kept us connected, it has come at a cost, hasn’t it? Zoom isn’t the only place we feel the cost. Technology is everywhere, not just digital technology, but this lectern, our church carpet and chairs, the clothing we are wearing. Kevin Vanhoozer defines technology, “Technology includes all tools, machines, utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and use them.” We all use technology whether we’re using Zoom or a toothbrush and it all comes at a cost. Today I want us to count the cost. I’m not trying to tell us to throw out our iPhones, but hopefully, to think a little more critically about our use of technology. I love technology, but that means I need to question it all the more.
The Bible does not specifically address our use of smart phones or computers but it can help us understand our use of technology better. Today I want to give us a Biblical overview of what the Bible has to say about technology. We don’t have the time to examine this topic through a microscope. Our journey will be more like a satellite image. Let’s start at beginning of the Bible, Genesis.
God made us to be creative beings. In the first chapter of the Bible we find God fashioning and creating the earth and heavens. As he gets to the end of this creation God makes man and woman in his image, which means they’re also creative like him. He then calls them to rule over all of creation.
Genesis 1:27-28 (NIV) 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
God makes men and women in his image, which gives them value and authority, and then he calls them together to “rule over” all of creation (Gen 1:26-27). The Hebrew root of the word “subdue” (kabash), means to subjugate something, which means to bring it under our dominion or control. We’re to to steward creation. The root of subdue is the same for “footstool” (kebesh) or “kiln” (kibshan). There’s the inherent idea that to subdue (steward) well will require tools and technology.
1. We can use technology to express creativity and beauty. If we were to leap forward in the story of the Bible to the Israelites as they come out of Egypt, it is clear that during their 400 years of captivity they picked up skills and the use of tools. Just like “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22) it seems like some of their laborers were too.
Exodus 31:1-5 (NIV) Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.
Here we find Bezalel using tools to create the tabernacle and all its beautiful vessels. God made him to be a creative person, and technology helps him use the gifts God has given him. Their skills please God and he uses them to build a place to worship him. We can use technology to express creativity and beauty.
Great Big Story profiled a 77-year old Japanese artist who wanted to start painting in retirement. Instead of using the type of technology we might think of, paint and paint brushes, he turned on Microsoft Excel. He has made incredible works of art and even won awards, all in Excel. Maybe you’re not going paint with excel but you could sit down and write an encouraging letter to a friend with pen and paper or make a dress out of duct tape for prom or make a meal with cookware in an oven, all technology. We can use technology to express creativity and beauty.
2. We can use technology to do good work. When God called us to be fruitful, multiply and subdue the earth, he was calling us to make good work. Work is a pre-fall mandate, which means work is inherently good, not a result of sin (John 5:17). The disciples are fisherman who used the technology of fishing boats, oars, and nets (John 21:6). Jesus was a carpenter, which is like the car-mechanic of the ancient world (Mark 6:3). God himself gave us us his word through the technology of written communication in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. We can actually use technology to glorify God if we use it with well and with a humble heart (Prov 22:29).
1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV) So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
We can use technology to do good work. My brother bought me a LifeStraw personal water filter as a gift. If you’re not familiar with LifeStraw, neither was I, but it’s a tube like filter that you can place directly into a river or water source and you can drink through it. It kills something like 99.999999% of bacteria (E. coli, etc.) and 99.999% of protozoa (Giardia, etc.). They say, “For every Lifestraw filter you purchase, a child around the world will be provided with safe drinking water for an entire school year.” Lifestraw has given over three million students access to safe water. We can use technology to do good work.
As Christians, we understand that our creativity and use of technology reflects a God who is himself creative. The cost of technology doesn’t sound so bad, right? But we also need to look at some risks of technology.
Technology can be used for good or for evil. The story doesn’t end in Genesis chapter one. Adam and Eve disobey God and God drives them out of the garden. But what does he do before he drives them out?
Genesis 3:21 (NIV) The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
God is the first inventor of technology when he makes “garments of skin.” We know God’s use is only good. Some think that God’s sacrifice of an animal to clothe Adam and Eve foreshadows the coming sacrificial system in the Old Testament and God’s own sacrifice of his Son to clothe us with forgiveness and grace. God uses technology for good and so we too can use it for good, but often we don’t.
After Adam and Eve’s son Cain kills his brother Abel, God drives him out. He has children and grandchildren. One of his descendants is an evil man named Lamech. He is so bad he marries multiple women and boasts about killing a young man, declaring he’ll be worse than Cain (Gen 4:23-24). Well, Lamech had two sons who invented the farming, the arts, and sciences.
Genesis 4:19-22 (NIV) 19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.
This hints that technology, even instruments and tools, might be problematic. At the Ockenga fellows program, our leaders challenged us with the idea that “Technology is not neutral.” By its very use, it will have either a good or bad consequence, or even both in different ways. There is always a cost to technology, even if it benefits us one way, there may be a downside as well.
1. Technology often has unintended consequences. For example, bronze is used in the Old Testament to make vessels for the tabernacle (Exod 27:19). It’s also used to make a bronze serpent to miraculously cure anyone who looks at it when they’re bitten by snakes in the wilderness (Num 21:9). However, the people eventually turn this bronze serpent into an idol of worship (2 Kings 18:4). That’s what happens with technology, at first it’s helpful and great, but then we spend more and more time with it, bowing our heads to our screens in worship.
As part of our Ockenga retreat we read the book Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman. He is someone who wrote about its dangers back in 1993 before it was cool. One of our cohort leaders said he would write his books critiquing technology entirely on pen and paper. He writes about the origin of the clock, a piece of technology we probably all take for granted, and how the clock was invented for one purpose but had unintended consequences.
The clock had its origin in the Benedictine monasteries of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The impetus behind the invention was to provide a more or less precise regularity to the routines of the monasteries, which required, among other things, seven periods of devotion during the course of the day. The bells of the monastery were to be rung to signal the canonical hours; the mechanical clock was the technology that could provide precision to these rituals of devotion. And indeed it did. But what the monks did not foresee was that the clock is a means not merely of keeping track of the hours but also of synchronizing and controlling the actions of men. And thus, by the middle of the fourteenth century, the clock had moved outside the walls of the monastery, and brought a new and precise regularity to the life of the workman and the merchant. “The mechanical clock,” as Lewis Mumford wrote, “made possible the idea of regular production, regular working hours and a standardized product.” In short, without the clock, capitalism would have been quite impossible. The paradox, the surprise, and the wonder are that the clock was invented by men who wanted to devote themselves more rigorously to God; it ended as the technology of greatest use to men who wished to devote themselves to the accumulation of money.
Postman writes technology produces “ecological” change. It changes our environment, how we work and act in our homes and workplaces. Technology doesn’t just change how we do things, it changes our world, how we live and breathe and operate. Technology often has unintended consequences.
2. Technology can cause us to rely on ourselves instead of God. The Tower of Babel is a story of people using technology to disobey God. God originally called people to “fill the earth” but instead they congregate together to build a city and tower to become like God. Notice how brick–technology helps them rely on themselves instead of God.
Genesis 11:3-4 (NIV) 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
They use their technology, bricks and tar, although not wrong in themselves, to commit idolatry, to worship themselves instead of God. Babel is actually the first “Babylon” which is the ancient city that opposes God. Babylon appears all throughout the Bible, using whatever it can to make its name great. The Apostle John has a vision of “Babylon the Great” as an adulterous woman (Rev 17:5).
Revelation 17:4 (NIV) The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
Babylon uses technology, a cup. She is the original archetype of all who stand against God. We live in Babylon today, the kingdom of the world ruled by man. As Christians we need to be careful not to be seduced by the power and attraction of technology. Technology can be used for good, sure, but it’s also one of the ways our culture (our Babylon) teaches us to rely on ourselves instead of God. This leads to a break in our relationship with God, the highest cost.
3. How we use technology is an overflow of our hearts. Proverbs tells us that the way we use technology shows what’s really in our heart.
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
If I use technology to try and satisfy my greed or my lust or my need for other’s approval, technology has revealed what is inside me, cultivating the insecurities and doubts. As we see pictures of others excelling at life we question our own. Before we can have the right perspective on technology, we need God to come and deal with our hearts. God cares about us and our world enough to rescue us.
John 3:16 (NIV) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God loves the world! That means he loves the things we create and do and most of all loves us enough to send his Son to rescue us. Jesus did this by paying the ultimate price. He was nailed to a cross and placed in a tomb, the technology of death, so that you and I might live. But he defeated sin and death when he rose to life three days later. Now as we repent and believe in him he gives us eternal life, taking our sins and giving us resurrection in its place. God can redeem you, no matter how broken or addicted we are to technology, no matter how strong our heart craves it. Jesus can change our hearts.
God will ultimately redeem technology. The Bible begins in a garden and ends in a city. Our story begins in a place with no-technology and ends in a place filled with technology. Revelation hints that the nations will bring the very best of their art, sciences, and culture into the eternal city called the New Jerusalem.
Revelation 21:24 (NIV) The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
We will bring our “splendor” into the New Jerusalem. We will bring the best of what we have created into the New Jerusalem. I think that will somehow include technology. No longer will we use technology and creativity for greed or to amass power, but for the good of our neighbor and the glory of God.
So this time tomorrow when you turn on your Zoom conference call and you’re feeling that “Zoom fatigue,” take a moment and ask the Lord to use this technology, in some small way, to further his kingdom. Maybe that means asking someone how their day is going or cutting the meeting short so that others can have a break. Maybe it means Zooming a family member or friend to check in on them. No I’m not being paid to promote Zoom, but I do believe God can redeem technology for his purposes.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (NIV)
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
How do you use technology in your home? Where is it? What are some of unintended costs of technologies in your home? Where do you see technology benefit or help others? Where do you see technology hurt or disadvantage others? How might you use the technology you have for good? What surprised you about what the Bible has to say about technology? How does technology help us see our need for a Savior?
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During this pandemic, more than any other time in my life, we have depended on technology to remain connected, employed, and on the go. You may be experiencing or are currently experiencing “Zoom fatigue.” Zoom fatigue is when you get done with a day of work and you’re completely drained from all those online meetings and interactions. This happens because it takes more energy to have a meeting over Zoom. You have to focus or you might get lost in
Listen to Mark Pender preach on Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch from Acts 8:26-40. You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
Listen to Mark Pender preach on Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch from Acts 8:26-40. You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
A God Who Weeps (Isaiah 15–16) Introduction Remembering Dating: Three Questions Staying with Sara’s parents—daily driving between their house and my old house. Place and memory—remembering dating days. Dating is about getting to know someone and growing a relationship with them. Process: learning what they lovelearning to love what they lovejoining them in that thing Example: I love the AstrosSara came to love the AstrosSara brought me to see the Astros together I hope that you’re listening this morning because
A God Who Weeps (Isaiah 15–16)
Introduction
Remembering Dating: Three Questions
Staying with Sara’s parents—daily driving between their house and my old house. Place and memory—remembering dating days. Dating is about getting to know someone and growing a relationship with them. Process: learning what they lovelearning to love what they lovejoining them in that thing Example: I love the AstrosSara came to love the AstrosSara brought me to see the Astros together I hope that you’re listening this morning because you want to know God, be in relationship with him, love him or want to love him. Three framing questions:
What does God love? Do you love what God loves? Will you join God in what he loves?
Unexplored terrain: The Nations Collections
My guess is that you’ve never heard a sermon preached from Isaiah 15–16 before. ProphetsCollections of Prophecies addressed to foreign nations. For Isaiah, this is chapters 13–23. It is good to revisit familiar places—but sometimes it can be more exhilarating to venture away from the familiar to get a fresh view. I hope that you gain a fresh vision for God and his plans for the world this morning.
Background on Moab and Its Demise
Location: Modern Jordan (Maps 1 and 2 [not a big deal about city names]) Moabite beginnings: Descendants of Lot and his daughter Resistance to Moses and Israel; Balaam Not allowed into the temple: Deuteronomy 23 Judges and Kings: Perpetual enemies of Israel and Judah Economy: Sheep and wine; religion: Chemosh (human sacrifice) Isaiah 15–16 proclaims coming doom for Moab. Fulfilled in either Assyrian or Babylonian conquest (northern to southern movement in passage), after which Moab ceases to exist (later settled by Arabian tribes).
Order: Structure and Message of Isaiah 15–16
The Structure of Isaiah 15–16 (text at bottom)
A-B-C v. A-B-A
We usually think and write in a linear fashion: point A to point B. Ancient Hebrew literature: follows a more symmetrical pattern. A-B-C v. A-B-A Example: Creation-Fall-New Creation
A Simple Outline: A-B-A (Destruction-Hope-Destruction)
A. Destruction (15:1–9) B. Hope (16:1–5) C. Destruction (16:6–12) Simple Outline Slide
A//A’: The Futility of Moabite Worship (15:2–3; 16:12)
Going up to weep—sites of worship on the tops of mountains and hills as the abode of the gods. Verse 3 ends with the Moabites going down weeping—going up and going down=they accomplish nothing. Reflected in 16:12—read.
B//B’: Destruction and Lament (15:4–9; 16:6–11)
Read 15:4–9. Focus is on destruction and the weeping Moabites. Read 16:6–11. Focus is on destruction and God’s weeping over Moab, a theme to which we will return.
C//C’: The Son of David as Refuge (16:1, 4b–5)
Read 16:1. Ram is tribute. Read 16:4b–5. The enemy will pass away and a new king will reign.
X: Command: Shelter Moabite Refugees (16:2–4a)—Read w/ brief explanation
Message of Isaiah 15–16
Transition: More than Moab (the OAN and list-making—farm animals [horses, cows, chickens, pigs, sheep, alpacas], Green Eggs and Ham [on a boat, with a goat, in the rain, on a train, in the dark, in a tree, in a box, with a fox, in a house, with a mouse]). Rhetorical technique of saying something general by means of a list of particulars (compliment one’s wife). This is part of the reason that every book in the prophets has a collection of prophecies about foreign nations (references). By collecting prophecies about foreign peoples that would have been familiar to ancient Israel, God is able to saying something about his feelings and plans for all nations more vividly and comprehensively. Moab is not just Moab—God is saying something about his heart for all nations. While you might not know any Moabites, God still has a word for you from Isaiah 15–16.
The folly of false worship exposed.
We see the folly of false worship at the beginning and end of our passage in describing how Moab’s appeals to its gods are fruitfulness (16:12). Additionally, the disaster shows the worthlessness of Moab’s wealth (15:7) and the folly of its pride (16:6). All made sense in prosperity, but are shown to be foolish in disaster. Principle: sometimes unexpected events can bring about rapid changes of perspective and shifts in how we value things (coronavirus—lowly and maligned toilet paper became a precious possession). Even more so is this the case with the fire of God’s judgment. Moab’s destruction presages a still greater judgment to befall all nations: The Day of the LORD. The Day of the LORD in Isaiah 2: condemns these three (destruction of wealth, peoples abandon their idols to the wild animals—refrain: The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day (2:11) What do you worship?
Religious pluralism
You might not think the idolatry note applies. Moabites would have believed in the existence of many gods, one of whom was YHWH. Today’s temptation: affirmation of the validity of multiple, contradictory religious and moral claims. Religious Pluralism. You risk being labelled a bigot if you reject this—but you risk being shown a fool on the last day if you succumb.
Materialism—what happens in your heart when the stock market plummets? Is your account your security? Pride—would you seek humility today? Live like you will die and face God someday. The folly of false worship revealed Repent of religious pluralism, materialism, and pride.
The complex heart of God revealed.
Dizzying juxtaposition. God as Moab’s judge—Moab is guilty. Yet—God is portrayed as weeping over Moab (ex. 15:5; 16:9, 11). God executes criminals . . . but takes no pleasure in it. Amazing comparison—Sumerian City Laments. Destruction of the Ur III dynasty at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Lament the destruction of cities (esp. Ur). Prominent feature is the patron deity of the city weeping over its destruction. Here YHWH weeps over . . . Moab! ESV and NIV in v. 4a refer to “the fugitives of Moab” (following ancient Greek and Syriac manuscripts)—but the traditional Hebrew text reads “my fugitives—Moab” (followed by CSB) This is not unique to this passage (Isa 19:24–25): In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.” God is not a tribal deity, nor even a national deity. He is a global, universal God. All peoples are his; and he loves them. Remember that the Moabites are not a neutral party as far as Israel is concerned—they are racial and national enemies. This passage challenges Israelite nationalism—and we should allow it to challenge American nationalism. We should allow it to challenge our racial biases. Return to three questions:
What does God love? Do you love what God loves? Pray to share God’s affections for our world.
A just king promised.
Contrasting Kingdoms. Fulfillment in Jesus. “seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness”
Biblical Justice: both retributive and restorative (care for vulnerable—establishment of just society) Examples: Jer 22:3 Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. Prov 31:8–9 Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Messianic King is not just for Israel—he is for all peoples! He is the hope of Moabite refugees! This is such good news for us. Isaiah 2 (all nations flow to Zion—God teaches them); Isaiah 11—Messiah establishes kingdom of peace (v. 10—“the nations will seek Him, and His resting place will be glorious”). A Just King Promised Set your hope on Jesus and his kingdom.
A response of mercy commanded.
Center of the passage. Particular=granting of asylum to refugees; general=care for the vulnerable Vision of the future drives action (What does God love? Do you love what God loves? Will you join God in what he loves?)—eschatology drives our ethics. Different angle of application: race, nationality, refugees. A note on refugees:
I recognize that there are complex issues at stake with balancing national security and mercy in the form of granting asylum to refugees (even those from nations like Syria) Not the current hot button—but it isn’t going away and it’s important. Why is our impulse to view the issue of refugee care first as a national and political issue? Should we not first view it as those whose citizenship is in heaven? Seek how you can serve and love refugees no matter what either major party or third party has to say—and there are many refugees who are already here and need you. And who are overseas but you can still help. Lowell is an area with many, many refugees and immigrants—I don’t know of any evangelical ministries in the greater Boston area focusing on refugee care, but I wonder if God would place it on your heart to seek this out or start an exciting work. Worldwide—Baptist Global Response (gobgr.org)
On application:
I usually like to provide concrete steps for application. As I’ve been thinking through the right application of the command to welcome Moabite refugees this week, I’ve come up empty. And I think that might be a good thing. Starting point—everyday this week, I’d like you to pray to ask God how you can join him in extending mercy to his world. Faith that God will reveal this to you—and this will go in many directions that I could never imagine. This is a particular strength of Jonathan’s—follow his leadership. A Response of Mercy Commanded Ask God how you can join him in extending mercy to his world.
Conclusion: Return to Three Questions
Review of points:
The folly of false worship exposed Repent of religious pluralism, materialism, and pride.
The Complex Heart of God Revealed Pray to share God’s affections for our world.
A Just King Promised Set your hope on Jesus and his kingdom.
A Response of Mercy Commanded Ask God how you can join him in extending mercy to his world.
Three Question:
What does God love? Do you love what God loves? Will you join God in what he loves?
The Weeping God—pray that he would give you his heart for his (and your) world.
Please listen to Terry Iles preach on Isaiah 15-16 – A God Who Weeps.
Sermon John 13:12-17 | Philosophy of Missions
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
The unit of thought starts at verse 2.
Subject: Are we greater than Jesus?
Compliment: If Jesus wasn’t above serving others, certainly we are not above serving others.
Homiletical Idea:
We should humble ourselves and serve like Jesus.
Introduction
On a Sunday in 2007, I was sitting in the usual pew at Immanuel when Becca Kulah (then Taylor) got up to announce a trip to Haiti. I listened to the announcement, and I had this overwhelming feeling I was supposed to go on that trip. I had never been on a missions trip before. Even though I grew up in the church, my parents never let me go, and by the time I went to college, I hadn’t really thought much about it again. After church, I told Keri I thought I was supposed to go on that trip in April 2008 to Haiti. She said, “okay, then go”, or something like that. So, that April, six of us headed to Haiti for 10 days. I was outside my comfort zone for sure. I had never travelled outside the US, Canada, or Europe at that point. I didn’t know what God had for me or why I was there. But, I felt strongly I was supposed to be there. I think I know well now why I was there, and why I continue to go, but it was not obvious to me at first.
The team was 5 women and me. And, although we were a team, I was left to my own devices frequently. The women had a bedroom and bathroom on the second floor; I was relegated to the first floor by myself. And, the first night in Haiti, there I am lying in the pitch-black bedroom, which is probably about 90 degrees, when something crawled across my body. At that point I decided having the sheet wrapped around me was not optional no matter the heat. Then an hour or two later, a huge ruckus started in the storage room attached to my bedroom by an adjoining door. So, I did what every courageous man does their first night in a new place when strange loud sounds happen; I pulled the sheet, which had become by security blanket, over my head and hoped morning would come quickly. Well, in the morning, I was questioned. “I must have heard it; why didn’t I do something.” Apparently, goats had gotten into the storage room and ransacked the whole place. I now had zero credibility with the women who worked at the guest house having just met them for the first time.
The women on the trip with me did medical work the first half of the trip while I did construction projects and surveying around the mission. I would be apart from the group, working with people I never met before and with a major language barrier. Well, the first workday morning I was picked up in an ATV by a man named Destin. I climbed in, looked at him, and in my first Creole words ever spoken to a Haitian man, I said, “Komman ou ye?”. He said, “I’m fine man, how are you?” I said, “Wow, your English is really good”. He said, “It should be, I’m from Chicago”. So, as you can see, my trip was off to a great start.
Skipping ahead to the second half of the trip where we went as a team into several remote villages to visit with people, play with the kids, and share the gospel. We arrive in a village, and a lot of people are gathering around a large tree in the center of the village. The leader from the mission tells me that I am going to share a bible story with the people. Mind you, this is the first I am hearing of this plan. While I am scrambling to come up with something, I hear her tell the translator, “If you don’t understand what he says, just make something up”. To this day, I have no idea if what I said made sense in English or in Creole.
I’ll get back to that trip, and others, later on.
Missions: what is it, why do we do it, and how do we do it. I think that is what a philosophy of missions tries to answer. I have had the privilege in my time on the church plant ministry team, the elder board, and now the missions team, to have a role in crafting Cornerstone’s philosophy of missions. After that first trip to Haiti, I started reading a lot of books about missions work, I enrolled in a seminary program in cross-cultural studies, I travelled back to Haiti more times than I can count at this point, and I have engaged in a variety of cross-cultural relationships in my family, professional life, and missions work. I am not an expert in missions, but I have learned a lot in the last 12-13 years. That knowledge went into crafting the philosophy of missions, and it is what I hope to share with you this morning. I thought about reading through the written philosophy of missions, but decided instead to preach through the topics or themes and leave you to read it on your own. We will email it out for all who are interested.
Let’s briefly look as the definition of the word mission. Mission: a specific task with which a person or a group is charged (Meriam Webster)
Missions then I would define as our work in carrying out those tasks with which we as followers of Jesus / children of God have been charged. I have six short points to help us define what we have been charged with:
- Go and make disciples.
a. First, and perhaps most simply, Jesus commanded his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). In verse 20 he tells us to teach them to obey everything he has commanded us.
b. Who are you discipling right now? I mean intentionally discipling. If you are discipling someone, great. If not, are there names that come to mind of people behind you in your spiritual walk that you could encourage, teach, and advise?
c. Who is discipling you right now? If you don’t have someone ahead of you on your spiritual journey mentoring you, are there people you would like to learn from? Are you willing to put in the time? Why not ask them if they are available and willing?
- Tell people about Jesus.
a. If no one tells lost people about Jesus, they cannot know and believe. The Apostle Paul explains this systematically in Romans 10:9-15 as he asks “how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard”.
b. When was the last time you told someone about Jesus? Has it been a while? When was the last time you thought about telling someone about Jesus but chickened out? Maybe that hasn’t happened to you, but it has happened to me. What if they reject me, what if they laugh at me?
c. In Mathew 10:33 Jesus tells us that if we deny him before our friends he will deny us before his father. Thankfully we see in Scripture that this is not a one and done rule as Peter denies Jesus three times and becomes one of the leaders of the early church. But, certainly we should think about the implications of not telling people about Jesus both for them and for us.
- Pursue others like God pursues us.
a. We serve a missionary God. God has been pursuing his people since the fall. Genesis 3:15 foreshadows the gospel promise and throughout the Old Testament one sees a God who pursues the sinful, fallen, and lost people he created. We should also pursue sinful, fallen, and lost people created by God.
b. Jesus drives this point home with the trilogy of parables, the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the lost son.
c. Too often in life we write people off; we are not good at following up or pursuing people. We are busy. Or, perhaps we don’t care enough. The world has so many problems, and so many people come across out paths, we often get overwhelmed and end up not caring about any of them. If I ask you to think of a lost sheep in your life who comes to mind? Do you have time to pursue that one person?
- Help those in need.
a. Christians are exhorted throughout Scripture to love and help everyone, especially those who are less fortunate or forgotten. Proverbs 14:31 tells us, “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”
b. Jesus drives this point home with the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 and the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46. The parable of the sheep and the goats is a particularly troubling passage for many as the goats claim to have prophesied in his name and cast out demons in his name while Jesus claims he never knew them because they did not take care of the “least of these”, the people around them with who needed food, drink, clothing, visitation, etc.
c. Just like the previous point, the needs of the world are overwhelming. We can’t figure out how to solve world hunger, provide clean water for everyone, reform the justice or prison system, end racial injustice, parent all of the orphans and foster children around the world, cure diseases, etc. But, what broken part of this world grieves you? If I ask you to think of one thing you would like to help fix, what would it be? Could you help one person? Could you support one organization? Could volunteer one place?
- Do good.
a. Whether it is in word or in deed, Scripture is clear that God’s people must not avoid their obligation to do good. “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:17).
b. Often, we think doing good is just the deeds, but introducing someone to Jesus Christ is good. In fact, there is no greater thing that can be done for someone.
c. The are no spectators in God’s Kingdom. We are all called to be on mission for him.
- Praise God.
a. Finally, human beings were created to glorify God and to declare his praises. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). The very reason God has given these four special names is that his people would be his witnesses and missionaries to the world.
b. Do you give God the praise and glory he deserves? It could be the sunrise or sunset, the flowers, the breath in your lungs, or perhaps God has done great things in your life. Certainly, he has as life itself is a miracle. Whatever it is, this is your witness. You have seen firsthand what God has done in your life. Be a witness to others on behalf of God, his existence, his love, his power, his majesty, etc.
c. Are you ready to share your testimony, your witness, with others?
These six points about what we are to do can be summarized generally in two categories. Missions must be a mixture of meeting physical needs and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Christians are commanded both to help those in need and to make disciples. The foremost need for some is physical help while others live in opulence while remaining in desperate need of a savior. “The needs of the poor – and the rich – go beyond the physical and the psychological. They are spiritual as well. The most effective development plans meet the needs of the whole person.” God wants the love of his children to be attractive to the unbeliever, it is the love, care, and concern for others that is intended to draw others to Christ and open the door for verbalizing the gospel message. Exclaiming love and concern for someone, and telling them that God loves them, will seem very hollow to those who are hungry if the words are not accompanied by food. Likewise, providing for one’s physical needs without sharing the gospel does not demonstrate real love as their most significant need remains neglected. Faith and works are not opposing ideas but two manifestations of the same idea. As James said, “show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds” (James 2:18).
If it wasn’t clear in the unpacking of the six points, all of us who claim to be followers of Jesus, Christians, Children of God; we are supposed to be on mission for him. As I said before, there are no spectators in God’s Kingdom. This is why we partner with the Vere Institute and talk about our frontlines. We are all called to have an impact for God in our family, neighborhood, work place, school, sports team, etc.
We need now to expand on the how portion of the philosophy of missions. To paraphrase John Stott, whether sharing Jesus with people in words or in deeds, it must be done in humility. When God spoke to us in Scripture he used human language, and when he spoke to us in Christ he assumed human flesh. In order to reveal himself, he both emptied and humbled himself. That is the model of evangelism which the Bible supplies. There is self-emptying and self-humbling in all authentic evangelism; without it we contradict the gospel and misrepresent the Christ we proclaim.
God stepped out of heaven, took on flesh, and came to meet us in our mess. This is the beauty of God’s mission that we called to share in. Jesus humbled himself, suffered, and endured a brutal death. But more than just that, in order to reach us, he became like us. He associated with sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, and others of ill repute. Jesus didn’t stop there. He made friends with these people; he loved these people. And, this isn’t speculation, this is Scripture. And, this is why I chose the Scripture reading where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. Jesus went one step further and served his disciples and friends. He served them in a way that clearly let them know he did not consider himself to be better than them. And, he told them this was an example for them to follow. When Jesus says, “no servant is greater than their master”, he is speaking directly to the disciples, and us today, saying, if I can humble myself as I did, surely you can. If I, Jesus, who has every right to declare I am better than you, above you, did not do so, but in fact considered others more important than myself, surely you can do that too.
So, when we want to help someone or share with someone, let’s approach with humility and emptiness. Let’s try to meet them where they are and join them in their mess. People do not need to clean themselves up before they come to God, but sometimes we make them feel that way. Instead, God wants us to do what Jesus did and make friends with people, love those people, and then serve those people. People need friends, they need love, and they need help. All people.
Conclusion:
So, that first trip to Haiti didn’t go too well from the perspective of my pride. But, I made friends on that trip that I have to this day. People like Destin that I try to seek out each time I am in Haiti. People I have grown to love. And, people I have had the opportunity to serve. Becca went off to Mercy Ships after that 2008 trip and she told me God told her I would lead the next trip. I wasn’t sure then Becca was right, but it turns out she was. I lead a trip in 2009, and I haven’t stopped yet. In 2013, Keri and I took the whole family to Haiti, which at the time included five kids. This trip the Mission of Hope took us to Emmanuel Orphanage in Titanyen, and I met Yvon and the kids in the orphanage for the first time. Yvon told me God had brought us there to help the orphanage, not just that week, but in an ongoing relationship. I wasn’t sure at the time that Yvon was right, but it turns out he was. The relationship with Emmanuel Orphanage grew each year and allowed us to host Chabenta for her heart surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital last fall. We thought the trip in 2013 was a one-week thing; God had long-term plans. We thought the heart surgery hosting was a six-week thing; God has had other plans.
Over the years, I have learned a lot, adjusted the ways we do things, and still have a lot to learn. People question why we go to Haiti. Wouldn’t it be better to send $10,000 dollars then have 10 people spend a week in Haiti? I think the answer is that sending money is good but visiting is important too. Yvon, his family, the workers, and the kids need money, but they also need friends, they need love, they need to see people who have more in a worldly or material sense, put that aside, meet them where they are, join them in their situation, and demonstrate that they are willing not only to call them friends and love them, but to serve them.
No matter who you are, you are not better than the person around you in need of physical or spiritual help. I don’t care what they have done, or what you have done. And, I would go so far as to say you cannot truly carryout the mission of God until you are able to humble yourself and empty yourself. To paraphrase John Stott again, there is self-emptying and self-humbling in all authentic evangelism; without it we contradict the gospel and misrepresent the Christ we proclaim.
We should humble ourselves and serve like Jesus.
Cornerstone seeks to have a well-rounded missions program that is diverse geographically, focuses on both spiritual and physical needs, and is true to the nature of our missionary God. We want the people of Cornerstone to be on mission for God in a well-rounded way too as you work to be on mission in each of the six ways outlined today, and perhaps others you see in Scripture. As Henry Blackaby is famous for saying, “watch to see where God is working and join him.” Although you can certainly be creative, you do not need to invent ways to help people. There are many great local, regional, national, and global organizations with whom you can partner. But, let me remind you of simple things you can do right in your frontline:
- Disciple someone or be discipled
- Tell someone about Jesus
- Pursue relationship with someone
- Help someone in need
- Do good
- Praise God
Sermon John 13:12-17 | Philosophy of Missions 12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that
Today I want to talk about the power of the gospel—what the gospel is and what the gospel does. I want to talk about the gospel because I think it speaks to the cultural friction and racial brokenness we are experiencing today. The gospel not only identifies the problem, but provides a solution. Here’s my thesis: The gospel actively crosses all racial and ethnic barriers to bring healing in Christ. The gospel actively crosses all racial and ethnic barriers to
Today I want to talk about the power of the gospel—what the gospel is and what the gospel does. I want to talk about the gospel because I think it speaks to the cultural friction and racial brokenness we are experiencing today. The gospel not only identifies the problem, but provides a solution. Here’s my thesis:
The gospel actively crosses all racial and ethnic barriers to bring healing in Christ. The gospel actively crosses all racial and ethnic barriers to bring healing in Christ. There are so many barriers right now. In the news we’ve seen lines of protestors and law enforcement, literal barriers. We hear of social, economic, and racial barriers, more barriers. We’ve see the split on social media among friends of different viewpoints, more barriers. What can cross these impenetrable barriers? The gospel can.
The gospel is the good news of restored relationship. This word “gospel” means good news. But to use this word back in ancient Israel had a different meaning as it was typically used of military victories. Author Preston Sprinkle explains:
[The Roman emperors] were believed to have brought unprecedented peace to the world, which they referred to in Latin as the Pax Romana, or “peace of Rome.” Rome was known for securing such peace and justice through warfare. And whenever Roman leaders returned home from another military victory, heralds were sent throughout the empire to announce the gospel—the good news—that Rome had been victorious. Fight: A Christian Case for Non-Violence
The gospel of Rome is that the emperor has won. The gospel of Christianity is that the king has died. The gospel of Rome is that the empire is strong. The gospel of Christianity is that God is most glorified in our weakness. The gospel of Rome is that we can save ourselves. The gospel of Christianity is that nothing but the blood of Jesus can save us. The gospel is the good news that we can once more be in right relationship with God and each other through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel can not only heal our relationship with God, but with each other too.
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (NIV) 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
God wants to reconcile “the world” to himself— people from all races and ethnicities. As we reconcile to God it makes it possible to become reconciled to each other. We are ambassadors of reconciliation to God and to those around us (Matt 18:21-35). The gospel has the power to cross any broken relationship, God to man, rich to poor, white and black. The gospel is the good news of restored relationship.
Let’s think about the wooden cross for a moment. Typically, when we see the cross we think of the vertical relationship. I’m made right with God through the death of Jesus Christ. But the cross has two beams, one vertical, but also one horizontal where Jesus’ arms were outstretched. The vertical beam can remind us of our restored relationship with God but let’s use the horizontal one to remind us that God also came to restore relationships among us. The cross points both directions—up and down, God and us, but also side to side, us and our neighbors. The gospel is the good news of restored relationship (with God and others). To do this the gospel has to be resilient.
The gospel is surprisingly resilient. This gospel is not furthered through violence done to others like Rome, but through self-sacrifice and suffering. The Jewish Supreme Court called the Sanhedrin has just executed the first Christian, the first martyr, a man named Stephen. Here’s what happens next:
Acts 8:1b-3 (NIV) …On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Stephen’s death was the spark that lit the flame of persecution. With the state’s full approval a violent man named Saul went from house to house hunting men and women who professed to follow Christ. This wasn’t any old persecution. Verse 1 says it was a “great persecution” (megas diogmos). He hunted them down and threw them in prison. In Galatians Paul says he violently tried to destroy the church (Gal 1:13). But he couldn’t, because the gospel is surprisingly resilient.
I finished re-reading The Art of Pastoringby David Hansen this week. He talks about walking through a forest and praying. As he is walking he hears the pine trees swaying in the wind. He writes:
The trees crack and creak-loudly-as they bend in the strong wind. Imagine a large man rocking in a one-hundred-year-old year-old maple rocker on a one-hundred-year-old oak floor, and multiply the sound by a hundred trees. In forty-five years of walking in the coniferous forests of the west I’ve never heard anything like it. These trees are not thriving. The wood must be compromised with long fractures. Yet they are amazingly resilient against the wind. The cracks in the trunks have undoubtedly been caused by the wind, but, ironically, they also allow the trees to survive the wind.
Our cross has cracks in it too. When we suffer, we break and stress fractures form on our souls, but if we let them, they will form us and give us the endurance we need to keep going, to keep swaying in the wind and storms. Does your cross have cracks in it? Have you suffered for Jesus? It’s painful and it hurts but those cracks can help us endure. The gospel is surprisingly resilient.
The gospel actively crosses barriers The gospel is active two ways:
The gospel is active according to God’s plan.
Remember what Jesus told the disciples right before he ascended into heaven at the beginning of Acts?
Acts 1:8 (NIV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus always intended for the gospel to go beyond Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria. Now because of the persecution verse 1 tells us the believers “were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” God’s plan is unfolding. God always intended for the gospel to be a cross-cultural/racial/ethnic message (Gen 12:2-3). The gospel is active according to God’s plan.
The gospel is actively shared by those who believe.
Acts 8:4 (NIV) Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
These believers didn’t waste their persecution. Instead, the Holy Spirit worked through their suffering to drive them out and share the gospel message with those who didn’t yet know Christ. The gospel actively crosses barriers according to God’s plan and as it is actively shared by those who believe.
What happens when you’re not active? You gain the covid-15. That’s 15 extra pounds from sitting around all day at home and having so much access to the fridge. Food is meant to give us the energy we need to do something, but if we don’t do anything, we just store it up. The gospel is similar. God designed the gospel to actively drive us out across barriers to share him with others. I ask myself, “Am I a lean Christian? Am I an active witness? Or do I have a little extra fuel to burn off?”I’ve gained the gospel-15. I have fuel to burn. The gospel actively crosses barriers. What type of barriers?
The gospel crosses racial and ethnic barriers in Christ’s name. The story picks up with Philip, one of the seven the apostles appointed to take care of the Greek speaking widows back in Jerusalem (Acts 6:5). Turns out God had other plans for Philip.
Acts 8:5-6 (NIV) 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.
The Samaritans are different than the Jews but not really Gentiles (non-Jews). When the northern kingdom of Israel was defeated by the Assyrians in 722 BC, the Assyrians relocated foreigners to live in and around that region, mixing in with the Israelites not taken into captivity. The Jews thought of them as “half breeds.” These culturally different people refused to worship at the temple in Jerusalem and built a separate temple. They only followed the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Pentateuch. Even Jesus’ disciples hated the Samaritans. When a Samaritan village didn’t welcome him, James and John asked Jesus if he wanted them to call down fire from heaven and consume them, but Jesus rebuked them (Luke 9:52-56).
Much of Acts and Paul’s letters deal with racial tensions in the early church between Jew and Gentile. The Bible speaks over and over to the gospel uniting believers across racial and ethnic barriers. We’re all the human race, so the idea of “race” is kind of unhelpful (One Blood). But what I mean by race is black, white, Asian, Latino, Indian, etc. Ethnicity is more specific. I’m German Irish but not Italian. A black person may identify as African American or Haitian or Nigerian. If you’re Asian, you may think of yourself more as Chinese, Korean, or some other Asian ethnicity. What’s the one thing that can unite us all so that we appreciate and encourage each other’s cultural differences? Jesus.
Despite the cultural and religious differences, Philip still finds a way to share Jesus. The Samaritans believed in a coming figure called the “ta’eb” or “restorer.” The Jews called him the Messiah. Moses prophesied:
Deuteronomy 18:15 (NIV) The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.
Even when Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman at the well, she spoke of the restorer, the Messiah.
John 4:25-26, 39a (NIV) 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony…
When Philip went to Samaria what did he do? He “proclaimed the Messiah.” He talked about the restorer. Then he performed miracles to verify that Jesus was him. The gospel crosses racial and ethnic barriers in Christ’s name. Why does it cross these barriers?
The gospel brings healing. Acts 8:7-8 (NIV) 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
The gospel brings spiritual, physical, and emotional healing. The gospel brings whole-life healing. The gospel not only brings reconciliation with God (2 Cor 5:17-21), the gospel brings reconciliation between Jew and Samaritan, long hated enemies made one in Christ. The gospel impacts the city as the city is filled with joy. When we share the gospel message as we work to bring healing, it will bless our communities with joy. I believe we as the church can help bring healing where our world sees only barriers.
I have a pastor friend who is both the chaplain of our state troopers and is deeply broken-hearted for the black community. The gospel doesn’t pit one against the other but can unite us in Christ. The gospel can reach across social and economic barriers. I don’t remember where I read it but one author imagined a janitor discipling the CEO of a corporation. The gospel can do it. The gospel can reconcile those with different points of view on Social Media. Before I try to take the speck out of my brother or sister’s eye, I first confess the tree trunk in my own (Matt 7:5).
The gospel brings healing. My thesis is this:
The gospel actively crosses all racial and ethnic barriers to bring healing in Christ. I entitled this sermon the Samaritan Gospel because the gospel isn’t just for Jews, and it’s not just for Gentiles, the gospel is for Samaritans, the culturally alienated. God wants to heal all peoples. I believe God uses us to cross racial and ethnic barriers to share the gospel and bring healing. How can we help?
We believe the gospel is for healing.
We start by simply believing in Jesus. He is the one who crossed all racial and ethnic barriers as he left the glories of heaven to step into a human body, becoming a baby boy in Bethlehem. He did this so he could bring us healing, so that he could forgive us of our sins and bind up our wounds.
We pray for and put ourselves in cross-cultural situations.
Maybe you’re seeing all the unrest in our culture and wondering what you can do about it. We can pray. We pray for opportunities to cross racial and ethnic barriers to share the love of Christ with others. In my own life, I’m convicted that I don’t have many friends that look or speak differently than me. The ones I do have I don’t see very often. The Lord is calling me to be more intentional about forming relationships that are racially and ethnically different than me. The Lord is encouraging me to listen more than I talk in these cross-cultural relationships, to ask good questions. We pray for opportunities to be around people that look, think, and speak differently than us. Then when God puts us there, we see how the gospel can heal.
We expect God to work.
Just like God moved the gospel message out of Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, we expect God will keep breaking down barriers and moving the gospel forward. God is going to do it. We read about it in the last book of the Bible.
Revelation 7:9-10 (NIV) 9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
The gospel actively crosses all racial and ethnic barriers to bring healing in Christ.
Romans 15:13 (NIV) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What is the gospel? How is the gospel of Christianity different than the world’s “good news”? Is the gospel active or passive? How so? What does it mean for the gospel to cross racial and ethnic barriers? How does Jesus carry cross-culturally? What type of healing does the gospel bring? How can you be more intentional about cross-cultural relationships?
Church Service You can find the full church service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
Today we are finishing the story of Stephen. I had written my sermon for today’s service a couple weeks ago, but when I read it this week, it just didn’t feel right. I sensed the Lord had a different sermon for me. Today, I’m sharing what the Lord is teaching me through the lens of Stephen’s story about the issue of racial justice. I’ve felt really drained this week. I’ve felt anger and grief, sadness, despair, as I know many of you have as well. I think the Lord is trying to tell me something. I don’t have the answers but I’m trying to open myself up to new possibilities. I’m trying to take a posture of listening.
I want to take a posture of listening. If the Sanhedrin had really listened to Stephen, maybe things would have turned out differently. Stephen is put on trial for crimes he didn’t commit. Those who are against him level two charges: 1) that he wants to change Moses’ law; and 2) that he wants to destroy the temple (Acts 6:8-15). In response, Stephen preaches a sermon that retells a slew of embarrassing events in the history of Israel. He reminds them of how they’ve rejected God and his leaders again and again, ultimately rejecting Jesus. He reminds them God doesn’t live in a temple and suggests their temple has become idolatrous (Acts 7:1-53). He tries to tell them these things so they’ll repent, but they don’t want to hear it. I want to take a posture of listening.
I don’t want to miss what some of my African American brothers and sister in Christ are telling me. They’re telling me they don’t feel safe, free, or like they really have a fair shot like I do. In this story I’d much rather compare myself to Stephen. He’s the hero. He’s the martyr. He’s the one talking. But I’m not Stephen. I’m one of the Sanhedrin, deciding if I’m going to listen or not. I sense the Lord telling me to take a posture of listening because many in the black community have something I need to hear. They’re calling me to repent. They’re telling me my silence has enabled sin and injustice. My heart is grieved. I want to hear.
In his sermon Stephen reminded the Israelites of their low-points to help bring them to repentance. My black brothers and sisters in Christ have recounted my history too.
They have reminded me of 250 years of American slavery from 1619 to 1865. They have reminded me of 89 years of segregation till 1954 and all the Jim Crow laws that disadvantaged them and their descendants. They have reminded me of redlining in the 1930s that prevented their grandparents from buying homes and transferring wealth to children and grandchildren, even in and around Boston. They have reminded me of Eric Garner’s last words in 2014, “I can’t breathe.” They have reminded me of twelve-year-old Tamir Rice who was shot in a park gazebo where he was sitting all alone. He had an orange-tipped BB gun. I used to play with a BB gun when I was his age. They have reminded me of Ahmaud Arbery who was jogging and Breonna Taylor who was sleeping and now George Floyd who made a mistake, and how I’ve jogged, slept and made mistakes, but I’m still here. They have reminded me that they are sick and dying from Covid-19 at higher rates than other Americans due to poverty and frontline work.
I believe my black brothers and sisters in Christ are reminding me of these things because they love me and so I’ll repent. It’s hard for me to hear a prophet’s voice. I don’t think I would have heard Stephen if I were sitting in the Sanhedrin that day.
Acts 7:51-53 (NIV) 51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
I see Stephen pointing the finger at me, “You’re stiff-necked Jonathan. You haven’t helped because you fear man more than you fear God.” God called the Israelites “stiff-necked” in the wilderness (Exod 32:9; 33:3; 34:9). It wasn’t a compliment. He called them stiff-necked because they’d rather worship a golden calf than him. They would rather keep doing the old things they felt comfortable doing in Egypt than do the new thing God was doing through Moses, and now through Jesus and Stephen.
I’m comfortable. I don’t want to risk anything. I’m tired of being tired. Comfort is my golden calf. I’d rather sacrifice them than do anything that makes me feel at risk. God loved the Israelites enough to send prophets like Moses, Miriam, Deborah, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Stephen. He loves me enough to send me Kenneth and Manny, two black pastors asking for help. I want to hear them. I want to take a posture of listening.
When I don’t listen, it dehumanizes (them and me). When Stephen charges the Sanhedrin with stiff-necks, killing the prophets, and killing the Righteous One—the Messiah, they refuse to listen, and it dehumanizes them.
Acts 7:54 (NIV) When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.”
They gnash their teeth at Stephen! They become a pack of fanged salivating wolves circling a wounded deer. They become their true selves. I wonder if that’s what’s hiding inside me, my worst self just waiting to make an appearance. I know that when I don’t listen to others, a part of me comes out that I don’t want others to see. They rush at Stephen and drag him out of the city like a dog, dehumanizing him.
I’ve noticed in my own heart that when I’m upset with someone and I stay away from them, the worse they become. But if I go and talk with them, my anger tends to subside. I begin to see their point of view, their side of the story. I’m really good at coming up with reasons why I don’t have to listen, but all that does is push me away from them. When I don’t listen, it dehumanizes (them and me).
If any of you want to discuss with me about where I’m at, come and talk with me. I want to hear your heart. Maybe you’re black or work in law-enforcement or know someone whose been hurt in the protests. I want to hear you. You’re precious and valuable too. Maybe I’ll see something I haven’t seen before. I hope I’ll see Jesus a little more clearly. Stephen looks up into heaven and has an amazing vision of Jesus.
I want to listen because I want to see Jesus. Acts 7:55-56 (NIV) But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Stephen’s vision is like Daniel’s vision when he looked up into heaven and saw a figure called the “Son of Man.”
Daniel 7:13-14 (NIV) 13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Stephen sees Jesus is standing next to the throne where God has given him all authority, glory, and sovereign power, where all nations and peoples of every language worship him. My brothers and sisters in Christ of color have an amazing vision of Jesus too, one that I can’t see as clearly.
They see how Jesus’ sovereign rule gives all nations and peoples value and worth, black, Asian, white, you name it—we are valuable. They see how God has given Christ and all Christians a ministry of reconciliation, not just spiritual reconciliation, but social and systemic reconciliation too (2 Cor 5:17-21). Jesus rights all wrongs. They see how Jesus is the “Son of Man”—God, man, and Messiah, someone who cares deeply for the things of God and the things of man. Who hurts when we hurt.
I want to listen because I want to see Jesus. The Sanhedrin miss seeing Jesus. I want to look up.
Acts 7:57-58a (NIV) 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him…
They drag Stephen out of the city like a lynching mob. They dehumanize him. They drown his voice with other things. I don’t want that to be me. I want them to know I value them.
I’m trying to listen because I want others to know their worth. One of the ways I’m trying to listen is by hearing black speakers and authors tell their story directly. I don’t want to hear what people say they say. I want to hear their voices directly so I tried Pass The Mic: A Witness Podcast this week. It opened with a clip from a sermon where the pastor said:
People in power have historically diminished the image of God in people of African descent. Based on someone’s skin color they were deemed less human, less worthy of dignity. But the doctrine of the image of God teaches us that pigment does not determine personhood.
Right now my brothers and sisters of color are telling me they feel dehumanized. No human being, no matter what they’ve done, should ever feel this way because of the “Imago Dei”—the image of God.
Genesis 1:27 (NIV) So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
If I am made in the image of God, I’m made for special relationship with him. My son looks like me. He’s made for special relationship with me. I want to show I know black people they’re made in God’s image by simply listening to them and hopefully showing their worth. I listened to two panels this week:
Let’s Talk: Racial Justice and the Church with Sam Kim, Kenneth Youth, and Bobby Warrenburg
This one had so much great stuff in it. It really helped to see some other white pastors struggling with what to do but expressing that this is right. Now is the time. There were two white pastors, one black pastor, and one Korean pastor.
Racism & The Church with Manny Daphnis, Marc Lavarin, and Tim Bresnahan.
I spent two years with Manny and Tim in the Ockenga Fellows Program. They were helpful too. These are ways I’m trying to take a posture of listening. On Friday night Monica and I watched the movie Just Mercy, which is free for the month of June. It’s based on Bryan Stevenson’s memoir about his founding of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and his fight for justice for death row inmates. I read the book a couple years ago and it shook me. It started me down this path of hearing people of color’s hurt.
I just watched the first episode of a video study called The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby. He talks about how the American church has actually reinforced racism and inequality by our silent complicity and what we can do about it. I’d love to have someone to watch and discuss these 20-minute videos with me. We could process together.
As the Elders and I are processing we sent out a sermon on “The Gospel and Social Justice” (0:43) by Pastor Tom Sparling. I sensed the Holy Spirit speaking to me in that sermon. He recommends three books: 1) The Myth of Equality by Ken Wytsma, One Blood by John M. Perkins, or Woke Church by Eric Mason. I’ve read One Blood and would love to have a reading partner or two to read and discuss the others.
I ran across one initiative called Justice in June inviting people to become an active ally to the black community by spending 10, 25, or 45 minutes a day learning about the cause. I’m trying to spend a little time a couple days a week listening. I found a second Anti-racism resource for white people and parents. I’ve included links to both in my sermon manuscript if it could help anyone else listen (this is not an endorsement of their content or political movements; please review thoughtfully and Biblically).
On Wednesday I attended the Westford for Black Lives Matter rally on the Westford Common. Over 300 people attended. A lot of them had signs, and the speakers were really touching. One young black women talked about how she had been called the “n-word” on her school bus and by her classmates. She said she appreciated how the teachers had responded so well. She talked about how grateful she was for the Westford police department and how a Westford officer had actually invited her to the rally. Another woman talked about how she was afraid the momentum would stop but she was hopeful. As I was standing there I’ll confess I felt uncomfortable. It wasn’t normal to me to attend an event like that, but I’m glad I went and I believe Jesus wants me to go again. I want to take a posture of listening.
I want to be better at talking to my African American friends and friends of other ethnicities. I want to ask questions like, “How are you doing?” “Have you ever experienced racism?” Or “What is it like being black or asian and living here?” So far, even when I’ve stumbled around, those I’m asking have appreciated the questions. I’m trying to listen because I want others to know their worth.
I’m hopeful that listening will help me see my sin and repent. As I was thinking about Stephen’s sermon and how the Sanhedrin responded I was reminded of a different sermon. When Peter preached to the crowd at Pentecost, like Stephen he told them that Jesus is Messiah and Lord, God himself.
Acts 2:36 (NIV) “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
But they responded completely differently.
Acts 2:37 (NIV) When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?
The crowds listen, and it leads to life. They hear, they recognize their sins, and they confess, which is a little confusing because at least some of them probably weren’t there when Jesus died. Maybe some of them were in the crowd and shouted “crucify him!” but many of them were probably absent, yet still they’re convicted of their sin and guilt. The Jewish people understood corporate guilt. I think of individual sin way more than shared sin. But one of the panelists reminded me that I also share Adam’s sin. That means I’m guilty of all Adam’s sins. Whether or not I am guilty of racist acts, I am guilty of racist sin before God because I was born in Adam (Rom 5:19). As I’m listening and growing in my understanding of systemic racism, I’m beginning to realize my own sins. I’m hopeful that listening will help me see my sin and repent. It’s through repentance that I pass from death to life, from the old Adam to the new. I’m forgiven in the new Adam, Christ Jesus.
I’m forgiven in Christ. Here’s how Stephen goes to his cross.
Acts 7:58b-8:1a (NIV) …Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. 8:1 And Saul approved of their killing him.
As Stephen is crushed to death under the weight of rocks, Stephen prays, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” just like Jesus prays on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” I wonder if my black brothers and sisters in Christ have been praying this for me, “Father, forgive him. He doesn’t know what he is doing.”
Saul was there, approving of the killing. Jesus appeared to Saul and he repented of his sins and believed in Jesus (Acts 8:3; 26:15-18). He became Paul, the great evangelist for the grace of God—that whoever repents of their sins and believes in Jesus will be saved. Paul was transferred from the old Adam to the new, no longer guilty of racist sin, forgiven.
In Acts 22:20 Paul specifically recalls the blood of Stephen. I wonder if Paul heard Stephen praying and God used that to soften his heart. My prayer is that George Floyd’s blood would soften my heart. That his death would lead to a greater awareness of my own sin and dependency on Jesus for grace and forgiveness. Jesus was there with Stephen. He is there with all who suffer.
I want to take a posture of listening. I want to hear the Stephens of my day. I want to ask good questions. I want to amplify their voices. I want to be their ally. I can take a posture of listening, even if I hear things that hurt me or make me feel uncomfortable, because Jesus loved me enough to die for my sins. His love and kindness towards me gives me the strength to look at myself honestly. I don’t need to be defensive because my Heavenly Father calls me his child (John 1:12). But he’s also helping me recognize his other children are hurting, my black brothers and sisters in Christ. I want to hear them. I want to take a posture of listening.
Romans 15:13 (NIV) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
How do you feel about everything going on in our culture right now? Who is hurting you? What do you sense Jesus is telling you? How can you love and care for others? How can we pray for you?
*This sermon updated November 11th, 2020 to clarify sharing some links does not constitute an endorsement.
Church Service You can watch the full church service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
Today we are finishing the story of Stephen. I had written my sermon for today’s service a couple weeks ago, but when I read it this week, it just didn’t feel right. I sensed the Lord had a different sermon for me. Today, I’m sharing what the Lord is teaching me through the lens of Stephen’s story about the issue of racial justice. I’ve felt really drained this week. I’ve felt anger and grief, sadness, despair, as I know many
What do you think it would be like to have a biopic made of your life? A biopic is a movie made about someone’s life story. I recently watched Ford v Ferrari, which is a biopic of Carroll Shelby, a car designer, and Ken Miles, a British race car driver, building the Ford GT40 to beat the Ferrari racing team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a long and difficult endurance race in France. Shelby is played by Matt Damon and Miles is played by Christian Bale.
You must really have to know a person’s life to make a movie like this. You can’t include everything, as that would turn into reality TV, nor do you want to just happy moments as that wouldn’t be very interesting. A director has to make specific choices about what to include and what not to include. If a director were to come along and say, “I want to make a biopic of your life” what events do you think they would choose? It would depend on the director. A movie of your life directed by Steven Spielberg would look very different than a movie directed by Wes Anderson. What actor would you want to play you? Obviously, I’d either be played by Denzel Washington or Michael Caine. Doctor Fauci joked that he wanted Brad Pitt to play him on SNL and Brad Pitt did. It’s that easy. So Denzel, you’re the perfect fit.
Today’s passage is a lot like a biopic of Israel. It’s the story of their people, emphasizing a few key moments that tell a story. The director of Israel’s biopic is an early church leader named Stephen. Here’s what we know about Stephen. He’s a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian who helped take care of the Greek speaking widows. He’s like a Deacon. He’s servant-hearted and the entire community respected him. He was known to be full of faith, full of the holy Spirit, full of God’s grace, and full of God’s power (Acts 6:5, 8). He “performed great wonders and signs among the people” and was sharing about Jesus Christ with great wisdom (Acts 6:10). He was so on fire for God that the religious leaders in Israel had him arrested and put on trial before the Sanhedrin, which was like the Jewish supreme court. Those who oppose him don’t fight fair. They use false witnesses to accuse him of wanting to destroy the temple and the law.
Acts 6:13 (NIV) They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.
Acts 7:1 (NIV) Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”
When questioned, what does Stephen do? He doesn’t cower in fear. He is full of the Holy Spirit. Instead, he stands up and begins to tell Israel’s story. Much like a director chooses certain moments in a person’s life to highlight, Stephen begins to tell a biopic that tells us about Israel as a people. As Stephen chooses these moments he begins to make points that don’t make his opponents or the Sanhedrin look good. It’s like if someone made a biopic of your life and they chose all your most embarrassing moments—that time you lied, that time you stole, that time you got arrested or cheated.
That sounds pretty miserable, and it was, but it was for a good reason. Stephen was showing them that their life was headed a certain direction, and they needed repent and turn to Jesus. Today I want us to reflect on our own lives and the direction we’re headed. Where is your biopic headed, towards God or away from him? Do you need to repent and return to Jesus?
Movies, even biopics, typically have three acts, a beginning, a middle, and an end. The first act introduces us to the characters and what is going on in the story. The story opens with Abraham and Joseph:
Act I – God is good to his people and present with them. (Acts 7:2-16) Stephen directs our attention to Israel’s forefather, the father of all the Hebrew people, Abraham.
2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’
God chose to be with Abraham by his grace. God is going to lead him where he wants him to go. Genesis 12 tells us God promises to make Abraham into a great nation and through Abraham’s descendants bless all people on earth (Gen 12:2-3).
4 “So he left the land of the Chaldeans (that’s the land of Babylon) and settled in Harran (modern day Turkey). After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land (the promised land), even though at that time Abraham had no child.
God is promising to give Abraham the land of Israel. God is good to his people and present with them, even in hardship. If you know Jesus, you can trust that God is good to you and present with you, no matter what.
6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’ 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
Despite being taken to a foreign land, God is promising to maintain relationship with the descendants of Abraham. They will “worship me” (v.7). Like a film director puts details in a movie to set up what comes next, Stephen mentions Jacob who is the father of twelve brothers, including Joseph.
9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
At the culmination of this biopic Stephen is going to critique the Jewish leader’s love of their temple and their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. Here he is highlighting an embarrassing story. It’s like the family story of the crazy uncle you don’t want anyone to know about. The twelve brothers who launched the twelve tribes of Israel sold their youngest brother Joseph into slavery even though God had chosen Joseph to save them. Their rejected God’s chosen one and they’ve done it again by rejecting Jesus.
11 “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.
Despite all their sins, God is stillgood and God is stillpresentwithhispeople. Let’s take a moment and think about our own lives, our own biopics. Where has God been good to you? Where is God sticking with you despite your sins? Have their been times when you rejected God but he didn’t reject you? Let’s thank God and worship him and ask him to change us.
At the start of Ford v Ferrari the British race car driver Ken Miles is prideful and arrogant. It’s all about him. He always does things his way, which messes everything up, but Carroll Shelby stays with him. Shelby fights for him when no one else believes in him, even when they Miles punches Shelby in the face, Shelby doesn’t leave him. Shelby sticks with Miles and that changes him.
At the end of the biopic Miles is racing so well he is going to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans by miles. But the leadership at Ford decides since this is a team sport, and it’s all about advertising to them, they want Miles to slow down for the other two Ford drivers so all three of them can cross the finish line at the same time. Miles and Shelby are heartbroken. How could you do this to Miles. He has worked so hard. That old self begins to rise up in Miles and since he still has hours to go he sets a couple track records. But as he heads towards the end something changes in his heart, he slows down, he lets his team mates catch up, and they cross the finish line together. It cost Miles the win as the judges declared one of teammates the winner. In the biopic, Shelby stuck with Miles and it changed him so that Miles wanted to stick with Shelby. God sticks with us and that changes us so that we want to stick with him.
Maybe you don’t believe in Jesus or any of this stuff but you sense God hasn’t given up on you. You’re right. God hasn’t given up on you. God sticks with us not because we deserve it but because he loves us. Act I – God is good to his people and present with them. That’s the beginning of the biopic. What’s next?
Act II – God’s people reject him over and over again. (Acts 7:17-50) Act two of Israel’s biopic opens with a wide-angle shot of Israel in Egypt for four-hundred years.
17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. 18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
The peoples’ very lives are at stake but God raises up another leader, Moses.
20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
The Egyptians educating Moses doesn’t appear in the OT, but comes from Jewish tradition. The point Stephen is making is that God raised up an unexpected leader and savior, just like Jesus. Maybe this is your story too. Maybe Jesus is going to be your unexpected savior. Israel rejected God two ways:
- God’s people rejected him by rejecting his chosen leader. 23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’
27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
Instead of receiving God’s chosen leader, this Israelite says, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?” God did, but they don’t see it that way. How many times have we responded to God like this? “Who made you ruler? I didn’t agree to this!” And yet, God mercifully extends his hand again and again. The only reason we can reject God time and time again is because he offers himself to us time and time again.
30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. (God is still with Moses and his people!)
33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’
35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.
Once again Stephen is emphasizing that God choses Moses as ruler and judge, and the people rejected him. Moses, Jesus, and now Stephen all performed wonders and signs but the people rejected them (Acts 2:22; 6:8). Maybe you’re someone who thinks if God would give you a miracle, you’d believe in him. I doubt it. We’re too skeptical to believe even if we saw it with our own eyes. We need someone to come and change our hearts. Moses promised God would send a prophet like him (Deut 18:15).
37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.
Stephen is saying, “Jesus is the prophet Moses promised. You were supposed to listen to him.” God’s people rejected him by rejecting his chosen leader. Have we ever done that? Turn away from those God has given us to lead and care for us spiritually? What do we miss out on when we do so?
- God’s people rejected him by worshipping idols. 39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. 42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? 43 You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.
The golden calf-incident is a huge blemish on Israel’s history, and things didn’t get better in the wilderness. Verses 42-43 tell us the people were still worshipping false gods (Molek and Rephan) and idols while they wandered in the wilderness. Those who opposed Stephen were idolizing the past. They had manufactured it into something it wasn’t. We do this when we idolize periods and events in the past. As Christians, I think we can be especially susceptible for wishing that we could recapture some of the “glory days” of Christianity in our culture. If we were to look closely at those glory days, we’d see there was an awful lot of idolatry, an awful lot of worshipping the false god of money or self instead of loving others. We’d discover people were just as sinful and broken back then as they are today.
We can idolize the past in our own lives too, a particular time or period when we felt especially close to God, and obedient. Are you idealizing a part of your own life? Chances are we weren’t as obedient as we thought we were, and we might be closer to God now more than ever. We reject God where we least expect it. I knew I was close to God when I was reading my Bible or serving or obeying my parents or praying or at church, which are all good things, but can also be done out of a sense of self-righteousness. The Israelites also reject God where they least expect it, in the place they held most dear, the temple.
44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
The tabernacle, which was a tent in the wilderness, and then the permanent temple structure is Israel’s greatest victory. It’s the place of one true worship. It’s the place where God’s glory dwells. Or is it?
48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
49 “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? 50 Has not my hand made all these things?’
God’s presence doesn’t dwell in a building. Their charges against him are kinda right. He could care less about the temple structure, because God dwells within his Son, Christ Jesus. Jesus is the temple where God’s glory dwells in all its fullness and they rejected him (John 1:14). They’ve committed idolatry, caring more for a building than loving God.
When a good thing becomes an ultimate thing in our lives, we’ve committed idolatry too. We reject God by loving our family members more than him. It’s never wrong to love our family. It’s simply wrong to love them more than God. At the end of Act II Stephen’s biopic builds to a crescendo.
Act I – God is good to his people and present with them. Act II – God’s people reject him over and over again. For Stephen’s third act his directing style changes from a film you might see on the history channel to something directed by Martin Scorsese. It’s a massacre.
Act III – You resist God and killed the Righteous One! (Acts 7:17-43) 51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.” (NIV)
In Exodus God over and over again called the Israelites a “stiff-necked people” (Exod 32:9; 33:3; 34:9). Stephen’s accusation must have cut them like a knife—that they are no better than their forefathers who worshipped a golden calf. But it get’s worse. You killed the Righteous One, the Messiah, God in the flesh! God told Israel to circumcise their hearts but he knew they couldn’t (Deut 10:16). We have the same problem as the Israelites. We can’t circumcise our own hearts. We need God to change our hearts.
Have you rejected God? Have you rejected his leadership in your life? What are you worshipping? What matters more to you than knowing Christ Jesus? Do you stand with Stephen, marveling at the face of Jesus? Or do you stand with his accusers condemning the Righteous One? How will your biopic end?
At the end of our lives we will have to give account. When your biopic rolls on heaven’s screens what will God say? Will he say, “Wow! You were a good person! Come into heaven?” For him to say that you have to live a life as good as his Son Jesus, who never lied, never sinned, always obeyed his Heavenly Father, and died on a cross. If you can do that, you’re all set. Have you always obeyed God? I know I haven’t.
But what if a different biopic could play on judgment day? What if at the moment you are standing before the throne of God he reviewed a different life instead of yours? What if instead of your life playing out before God for his review the biopic of Jesus played out? What if instead of watching all your sins and rebellion you could watch the biopic of Jesus with all his self-sacrifice, self-giving goodness and holiness?
That’s kind of like what happens if you repent of your sins and believe in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation and give your life to him. Instead of God judging your life for salvation he will judge Christ’s, and Christ’s biopic is perfectly good, the best of biopics. If you want Jesus, pray with me.
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV)
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message on Facebook Live during the 2020 COVID-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown in Massachusetts. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
Who would you want to play you in a movie? What film or television would you want to direct a movie about your life? Why? How can God’s presence change our lives over time? Have you ever rejected God’s leadership in your own life? Why? Where do you see things you love more than God in your own life? The Bible calls this idolatry. Are there places in your life where you have resisted God? How can God change you? Would you like to have Jesus’ biopic play instead of your own? Whether you or a longtime Christian or believing for the first time, repent of your sins and believe in Jesus.
Church Service You can watch the full church service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
Photo adapted from Wolfgang Sauber – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57840324
What do you think it would be like to have a biopic made of your life? A biopic is a movie made about someone’s life story. I recently watched Ford v Ferrari, which is a biopic of Carroll Shelby, a car designer, and Ken Miles, a British race car driver, building the Ford GT40 to beat the Ferrari racing team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a long and difficult endurance race in France. Shelby is played by Matt
What does it mean to follow Jesus? The early Christians in the book of Acts identifies themselves as “the way” (Acts 9:2). It sounds kind of mystical—“the way…” They were following “the way” of Jesus, who identified himself as the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Jesus tells us what his way is like: Luke 9:23 (NIV) Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily
What does it mean to follow Jesus? The early Christians in the book of Acts identifies themselves as “the way” (Acts 9:2). It sounds kind of mystical—“the way…” They were following “the way” of Jesus, who identified himself as the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Jesus tells us what his way is like:
Luke 9:23 (NIV) Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
The way of Jesus requires us to deny our flesh, passions, and desires, pick up our crosses each day, and follow him (Gal 5:24). To follow him means to trust and obey him no matter what. A man named Stephen is a member of “the way.” He’s one of its leaders tasked with taking care of the Greek-speaking widows. He is daily walking the way of Jesus and it costs him everything.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day, which is a day we honor the soldiers who have died serving in our military. It’s a solemn day to remember those who gave up their lives on our behalf. Today is a bit of a Memorial Day for our church as we remember the first Christian Soldier to give up his life on our behalf, Stephen. He died unarmed and defenseless but waging a battle between heaven and earth by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Stephen denied himself, picked up his cross, and followed Jesus.
Following Jesus means giving our everything to him. Stephen becomes the first martyr in the Bible. The word martyr actually comes from the Greek word for “witness” (“martys”). Remember when Jesus told his disciples the plan he had for them?
Acts 1:8 (NIV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses (my “martys”) in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
It’s here in Stephen’s story that the “witness” begins to turn violent, not by the Christians, never by the Christians, but by the ones who persecute them.
Acts 6:8-9 (NIV) Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen.
God’s grace enables Stephen to persevere when fellow Jews from all over the ancient world begin to oppose him. Can you imagine what that must have felt like? Being opposed and ostracized by your community? Here is performing signs and wonders, doing miracles, and instead of believing they argue with him. Stephen pays a high price to follow Jesus.
1) He sacrifices his social support to follow Jesus. When he heard the gospel, believed, and began to tell others about Christ, he lost his Jewish community. He lost the entire support system. As a Hellenist, a Greek-speaking Jew, he probably depended on people like the “Synagogue of the Freedmen” for social and economic help. The Synagogue of the Freedmen was made up of Jews who had been taken into captivity and slavery, likely in Rome, managed to get free, and then came back to Jerusalem. They probably spoke Greek like Stephen. The first cost he paid was social.
Back when I worked in DC one of my coworkers who was around my age was a Jewish man. We were talking about our beliefs over lunch and I mentioned that Messianic Jews are Jewish people who believe in Jesus. How he responded has really influenced my understanding of what it means for someone who is Jewish to become Christian. He said something like, “You can’t be a Jew and Christian. You’re not a Jew.” There was simply no room for the concept. As a white American descended from German roots, I don’t understand the social cost many people pay to follow Christ. If they’re born Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or a part of another religious community with strong ties to family, it’s incredibly costly to come to Christ. Your family may ostracize or disown you. You may lose your whole community.
Maybe you’re thinking about believing in Jesus but you’re afraid of your family. That’s why we need to experience grace. Stephen experienced the grace of Jesus and it transformed him. He was forgiven and you can be too. Where we lose our family Jesus will give us a new community, your church family that loves you. God’s grace can give you the courage you need to pay the social cost. But it costs even more.
2) He experiences great injustice as he follows Jesus. Stephen experienced injustice as he was wrongly and unfairly accused.
Acts 6:11-14 (NIV) Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
What are all the injustices we see Stephen experiencing?
v11. Stephen is falsely accused of blasphemy – denying the one true God. v12. Stephen is wrongly dragged before the Sanhedrin – the Supreme Court of Jerusalem. v13. Stephen is wrongly accused by false witnesses. v.13-14. Stephen is wrongly accused of wanting to destroy the temple and Moses’ law.
Can you imagine how easy it would have been to feel angry over the “unfairness” of the situation? Stephen is about to be treated not just unfairly, but cruelly. He’ll be stoned to death without a fair trial. I think Stephen’s story can give us a greater capacity to empathize with the unjust suffering of others, no matter their situation. As we think of Memorial Day and those who have died in war or as prisoners of war, Stephen’s death can give us a greater empathy for the horrible suffering they and so many have experienced in wartime. Stephen’s unjust suffering can also give us greater empathy for the injustice in our society, for the families of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, an unarmed black man shot dead while jogging and an unarmed black woman shot dead while sleeping in her own home. How about all wrongdoing and suffering Jewish people face? We remember the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018. You cannot be anti-semitic and pro Jesus. As Christians we especially remember how Stephen has gone before all the martyrs who were persecuted and unjustly killed to share the name of Jesus. Stephen experienced great injustice to follow Jesus.
Following Jesus means giving our everything to him. Jesus may ask us to give up our social support to him, or to even be treated unjustly, but we will never have to give up Jesus.
3) Stephen gives up everything but Jesus. Have you ever heard that phrase, “W.W.J.D. What would Jesus do?” When I was growing up it was popular to have W.W.J.D. bracelets, so that if you get into a situation that was morally ambiguous you just have to look down at your wrist and you’d know what to do. Should I speed on the way to church? Should I eat another cookie? Should I ask that girl to prom? What would Jesus do? It’s kind of a silly question, isn’t it? Well, Stephen literally did what Jesus did.
Matt 26:59 – Jesus was dragged before the Sanhedrin for an unfair trial. So is Stephen. Matt 26:60 – Jesus was accused by false witnesses. So is Stephen. Matt 26:61 – Jesus was falsely accused of wanting to destroy the temple. So is Stephen. Matt 26:65 – Jesus was was charged with blasphemy. So is Stephen.
Stephen really did what Jesus did. Look at how closely Stephen imitates Jesus.
Acts 7:59-60 (NIV) While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen commits his spirit to the Lord and asks the Lord to not hold their sin against them before dying. Now look at Jesus as he hung on the cross.
Luke 23:34a, 46 (NIV) Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” … 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Stephen gives up everything but Jesus. Jesus calls us to the same thing. Maybe your family treats you poorly because you love Jesus. You too can cry out, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Following Jesus might not look exactly like Stephen today. But how can we really follow Jesus so that when people look at us they take Jesus seriously? When people look at us and the way we live our lives and the way we talk about Jesus, wouldn’t it be amazing if they thought, “It’s not just a religious game. They really take following Jesus seriously. They really love God. They really love the poor and needy.” That doesn’t mean we are somber or sad. Stephen wasn’t. He was powerful and full of the Holy Spirit. Let’s pick up our crosses and follow Jesus like him.
But this is far too big a task in our own power. In our own power we’ll get caught up in a performance, in looking good to impress others. They’ll sniff it out and we’ll know it’s not true. We need it to be real.
The Holy Spirit makes following Jesus possible. Do you remember why the people chose Stephen to be a leader in the early church? Because he was full of faith and the Holy Spirit.
Acts 6:5 (NIV) This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit;
Verse 8 says he was full of grace and the Spirit’s power.
Acts 6:8 (NIV) Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.
This tells us Stephen wasn’t just a good or noble man. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, he believed in Christ Jesus, and he was a man marked by grace. All these things enabled him to walk the path of Jesus.
I recently read a picture of the Holy Spirit I think is worth sharing. In The Art of Pastoring, David Hansen talks of his time pastoring in Montana. From his kitchen window he could see birds flying. He saw how geese fly differently than birds of prey like eagles and hawks. Geese have to flap their wings to fly but birds of prey find a current of hot air and let it carry them up. The hot air lifts them to new heights where they can hunt and soar. That’s why he spends fifteen minutes in prayer every morning. He wants to catch the hot air. He wants to sore upward with the power of the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit to carry us upward. This is why we pray. The Holy Spirit makes following Jesus possible.
Following Jesus will change you. Following Jesus changes Stephen.
Acts 6:15 (NIV) All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Stephen experiences God in such a way that it changes how others see him. His face lit up in a way that had only been recorded twice before in the entire Bible. The first time was when Moses was on Mount Sinai talking with God after leading the people out of captivity in Egypt (Exod 34:6-7).
Exodus 34:29 (NIV) When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.
Following God changed Moses. God’s relationship with Moses so transformed Moses that he had to cover his face with a veil. The only other person to have a face like Moses and Stephen is Jesus.
Luke 9:29 (NIV) As [Jesus] was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.
I’m not saying that if you follow Jesus your face will change, but something will change. You might begin to reflect the glory of God and to have an inner peace that others can see. I can tell you one day our faces will light up forever when we come into the presence of Christ. Here’s our guarantee:
Jesus gives himself to any who follow him. I’d like you to answer this question, “What does it mean for you to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Jesus?” The WWII martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Jesus asks us to follow him with everything we have. How can he ask this of us? Because he bears the true burden. We carry a cross because he carried a cross first. He bore it to Golgotha, the place of the skull. There he bore the full weight of God’s wrath so that you and I can be forgiven and renewed. He gave up everything for you. He asks you to repent, believe, and pick up your cross and follow him. The Holy Spirit will help you. You’re not alone. We’re in this together. Let’s just follow Jesus one day at a time.
Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV) 24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message on Facebook Live during the 2020 COVID-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown in Massachusetts. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
What does it mean for you to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Jesus? What social costs might you have to pay for following Jesus? What injustices might you experience for following Christ? What type of wrongs did Stephen and Jesus experience? How does the Holy Spirit empower us to follow Jesus? What does it mean to be full of the Holy Spirit? How can we seek more of the Holy Spirit? How can you deepen your prayer life? How might Jesus change you as you follow him? Will you follow Jesus?
Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or the sermon only on YouTube.
Monica and I have a saying in our home, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” This isn’t a saying we created, but it’s something we like to say. So like when Monica is cooking dinner and I am playing with Elijah we’ll say, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Or when I’m doing dishes and Monica is getting Elijah ready for bed, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Or when Monica is scrubbing the floor and I’m playing video games, “Teamwork makes the
Monica and I have a saying in our home, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” This isn’t a saying we created, but it’s something we like to say. So like when Monica is cooking dinner and I am playing with Elijah we’ll say, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Or when I’m doing dishes and Monica is getting Elijah ready for bed, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Or when Monica is scrubbing the floor and I’m playing video games, “Teamwork makes the dream work…”
I like this catch-phrase, “teamwork makes the dream work,” because it’s short, catchy, and has a good message. When we work together, good things happen. If the twelve Apostles had a catchphrase for our passage today, I’d like to think they could appreciate, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” At the start of the church, the Apostles face a challenge. The Greek-speaking believing widows are being overlooked.
Acts 6:1 (NIV) In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
At that time like today Jewish people lived in Jerusalem and Judah, but also in other parts of the world. But when it came time to retire, many Greek-speaking Jewish couples would migrate to Jerusalem so they could be buried there. They would migrate, the husband typically would die first, and then there were all these widows left in Jerusalem. The Hellenistic Jews spoke Greek and likely embraced Greek culture while Hebraic Jews spoke semitic languages, like Hebrew or Arabic, and embraced Jewish culture. So there are cultural and linguistic barriers. When the Christians were making the rounds to care for some of these women, they were not taking them the food they need, potentially because of favoritism. This is the beginning signs of the ethnic tension that would threaten the early church between the Jews and Gentiles (Acts 15). So the question is, “How are the Apostles going to make it work?”
As a church today we also face challenges. There are a lot of responsibilities and duties that go into running a church. Whose in charge of the church? Who runs youth ministry, children’s ministry, and community groups? Who counts the money? What do we do with the money? What do we do when someone needs something in our church? How about when we see needs in our town? What about discipleship and evangelism? Aren’t we all supposed to do that? Who takes care of what? It can all become overwhelming and lead to burnout as we do too much or the wrong things. Right now our whole normal way of doing church is on pause. Many people are stepping up to fill gaps we never knew we had, but it can still be stressful. How can we handle all God is calling us to? Teamwork makes the dream work. God gifts each of us with a way we can help build up the church body, not just run the church, but really take care of each other and love each other during this time.
Today, I first want to talk about teamwork. What type of team does the early church give us as an example? Second, I want to talk about the dream. What are we hoping will happen? So first…
1) Teamwork – Based on gifting and calling. The Apostles, the twelve disciples, solve the problem of the Greek-speaking widows need through teamwork based on gifting and calling. The leaders of the church are specifically gifted by God (that means God gave them certain talents, abilities, and passions) and called by God (that means God has set them aside for a special task) to share God’s word, pray, and empower the team.
Acts 6:2-4 (NIV) So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
While we don’t have Apostles in our church, Elders fill a similar role at Cornerstone.
a. Elders preach, pray, and commission. The twelve disciples say, “We can’t neglect teaching God’s word to wait on tables.” It’s not that helping the widows is a bad thing. It’s a really good thing, but it’s just not their job to do it. Instead, God is calling them to give their “attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” This ties into the big-picture mission Jesus gave the twelve disciples before he ascended into heaven.
Acts 1:8 (NIV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus wants his disciples to take the good news about his death and resurrection to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and all the way to the ends of the earth. In order to do that, they can’t be the ones to fill that role, as important as serving meals is. It’s as the disciples fulfill this mission to be Christ’s witnesses and teach others about him that we see the church grow.
Acts 2:42, 47b (NIV) They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. …And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
There were other things this community did, like living in fellowship, and loving each other, but it begins with knowing and growing in God’s word. But the twelve weren’t just spending all their time inside a room talking to the same people. They got out into the temple courtyards and shared with people who did not yet believe in Jesus. They were sharing the gospel with not-yet believers. They were evangelizing grace.
Acts 5:42 (NIV) Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
This is why we as Elders need a team, so we can all focus on the ways God has gifted and called each of us. In fact, that’s why you need a team too, so you can focus on the ways God has gifted and called you. He’s gifted and called myself and the Elders to teaching, preaching, and evangelizing and that takes time to do (not every Elder preaches but every Elder teaches). Thank you for the ways you are supporting us, by living out your gifting. One of our Deacons smashed a giant hole in the wall downstairs in our church building to build a doorway. Do you know how long it would take me to do that? Probably about a year. I’ve heard of several others who have made masks. Do you know how long it would take me to make a mask and how poorly those masks would work? Others have cooked each other meals. I can make a mean scrambled eggs, but that’s about it. God gifts and calls us in different ways. Elders preach, pray, and commission. Teamwork makes the dream work.
We don’t typically think of prayer as hard work, but it is. To pray for the needs of our church body takes time and energy. It takes focus and dedication. God moves when we pray. There have been times at Cornerstone when I felt like we were blocked somehow from going forward to what God was calling us to. At first I tried to figure it out—try this or try that to get it right—and when I finally went through all the options and none of them worked, I prayed and God opened the way forward. Maybe you’ve experienced that not just in ministry, but in a relationship, situation or in your job. You prayed for reconciliation and it happened or you prayed for a new job to open up and God opened it up. Sometimes God says no or wait but all the time prayer has power. Our church leaders need time to pray. I believe we’re all called to pray but the Elders are especially called. Maybe you’ve heard the catchphrase, “Couples that pray together stay together.” How about, “Churches that pray together stay together.” Teamwork makes the dream work! Elders preach, pray, and commission. I want to talk about “commission” as I talk about Deacons.
b. Deacons care for the needs of the church body. The apostles call their congregation together to choose seven people who can take care of the widows:
Acts 6:3, 5-6 (NIV) Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them…
The twelve don’t just choose people who are able to meed they need, they choose people who are gifted and called by God to the task. They choose people who are full of the Holy Spirit, who follow his nudging. These are the kind of people the twelve commission. To “commission” means to give authority to and send out. The apostles give their authority to the seven and send them to work.
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
When we commission a team to go to France, or Haiti, or when we commission you for your workplace, typically the Elders and myself lay hands on you, pray for you, and send you out with the blessing of Cornerstone. That’s what the twelve are doing here. They’re saying they’re God’s people for the job.
All of these names are Greek. The twelve choose people who can speak Greek and relate to the Greek-speaking widows. These seven are gifted by God for their special task. God has been preparing them their whole lives. Now God clearly calls them through the laying on of hands. Maybe you’re wondering if you’re called to ministry. One of the ways we know is when other people in the church recognize God’s gifting and calling on our lives. How might he have shaped you for ministry? The only way the church can recognize your gifting and potential calling is if you give things a try. If you try it and we recognize your gifting, great! Keep doing it. If not, great! Try something else.
Our Deacons at Cornerstone fill a similar type of role as Stephen and the others. Our Deacons take care of the physical and tangible needs of the church body (people care, finances, buildings and grounds), so that our Elders can prioritize teaching, praying, and discipleship. But if you’re not an Elder or Deacon, where do you fit in? Where can you be a part of the church body? Elders preach, pray, and commission. Deacons care for the needs of the church body. But what about the rest of the team?
c. Every member of the church body is gifted and called. You don’t have to be an Elder or Deacon to serve. God gives each of us a gift or gifts to serve the church body. The soon to be apostle, Paul, speaks of the ways God gifts and calls us.
1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 12 (NIV) 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
…12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
The Bible uses the illustration of a body, with its many different types of parts, fitting together to make one person. That’s kind of like the church. God made us each unique and distinct with different gifts and abilities and he puts us in the same place, the church, to figure out how to work together. I wanted to find an illustration of teamwork for today’s message and I found one of Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Computers, which illustrates this really well.
In 1986 Steve Jobs purchased Pixar, which went on to create films like Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and Cars. The article I found writes:
In 2000, he relocated the company to an abandoned Del Monte canning factory. The original plan called for three buildings, with separate offices for computer scientists, animators, and the Pixar executives. Jobs immediately scrapped it. Instead of three buildings, there was going to be a single vast space, with an atrium at its centre.
“The philosophy behind this design is that it’s good to put the most important function at the heart of the building. Well, what’s our most important function? It’s the interaction of our employees. That’s why Steve put a big empty space there. He wanted to create an open area for people to always be talking to each other.” – Ed Catmull, the president of Pixar.
But for Jobs, it was not just about creating a space: he needed to make people go there. The primary challenge for Pixar, as he saw it, was getting its different cultures to work together and collaborate.
Jobs saw separated offices as a design problem. He began with shifting the mailboxes to the atrium. He then moved the meeting rooms, the cafeteria, the coffee bar, and the gift shop to the centre of the building.
Brad Bird, the director of “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille,” said, “The atrium initially might seem like a waste of space. But Steve realized that when people run into each other when they make eye contact, things happen.”
I like this story because it illustrates how people of different skills—computer scientists, animators, and executives—when put in the same space, can work together to create something amazing. God puts a whole congregation full of people with different gifts and abilities together every week to make something amazing. We worship him and we create works of art as we make music, teach, evangelize, serve the needy, and love one another. Everyone matters. Every member of the church body is gifted and called. Teamwork makes the dream work (or in this case, “Teamwork makes the Pixar work…”).
Maybe you’re called to preaching, praying, and commissioning, or maybe you’re called to take care of the needs of the people. Maybe you’re called to something else entirely. There are five different places in the Scripture that talk about gifting, and each list is different (Rom 12:6-8; 1 Cor 12:8-10, 28-30; Eph 4:11; 1 Pet 4:11). There are lots of ways God may have gifted you. Maybe he’s gifted you with being really friendly, great! We’d love to have you call people in the church directory to check in on people and you can greet them when we finally get back to church. Maybe he’s gifted you with making good meals. Great! You can make a meal for a homebound family. Maybe he’s gifted you with the ability to cut hair. I know a lot of people who will desperately need you soon! I know of someone writing encouragement cards to the entire church. Great! If you don’t know where to begin, reach out. We can help you fit in the church body.
During covid-19, we might be finding new ways we’re gifted and called. Let’s be open to whatever God is doing. Caring for each other before covid-19 might look different than it does after covid-19. There will certainly be less handshaking, which might be hard for some of us who have perfected the lingering handshake. When we’re all functioning as God intends, with our gifts and callings, he does something amazing. What does teamwork do? Teamwork makes the dream work. First I wanted to talk about the team. Now I wanted talk about the dream.
2) The Dream – The vision God has given us to fulfill Christ’s mission Our dream as a church is the vision God has given us to help fulfill the mission Jesus gave us—for the gospel to go out to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. What better way to accomplish that mission than through teamwork. When we work together, and we each function in our gifting and calling, God does something amazing. Look what happens in Acts.
Acts 6:7 (NIV) So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
I read a book on prayer (Old Paths, New Power) that really highlights the priests coming to faith.
These Jewish priests were hard-liners, tough opponents of the gospel. The network of religious rivals who conspired to crucify Christ was now losing a significant number of its own ranks to a transformation found in the life of the resurrected Jesus. It would be like a modern-day salvation wave that engulfs some of the most notable atheists and critics of the faith in our day. Truly amazing. Truly God. Truly the way the Gospel ought to be.
If we want to see the gospel grow in Westford and in our lives, the solution isn’t difficult. Teamwork makes the dream work. If our Elders are preaching, praying, and commissioning and our Deacons are caring for the needs of the church body, and you are using your gifting and listening to God’s calling on your life and I do the same thing, Lord willing, we will see people come to faith, even the priests of our day.
Teamwork makes the dream work. The dream of the twelve and our dream at Cornerstone is that everyone would know the love of Christ Jesus. That everyone would get a chance to hear and respond to the one who dreamed of us. Before time began, God dreamed of you.
Ephesians 1:4a (NIV) For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
Before time began, God has a plan to make you holy through Jesus. God dreamed of our repentance and faith in Jesus. Part of that means learning who you are in Jesus, learning that you can use your gifts because God loves you enough to send his Son to pay the penalty for your sin. That means you don’t have to be afraid of trying out your gifts. If God loves you, it doesn’t matter if you fail. You’re forgiven and holy. If you succeed, you can’t have any self-righteous pride, because God is the one who called you in the first place. God called you before the creation of the world to be a part of his church body. It’s really God working through us, it’s his teamwork that makes his dream work. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Romans 15:13 (NIV) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions
How are you gifted by God? If you don’t know, what do others have to say? How are you called by God? Calling ties into gifting. Has your church affirmed your calling? Have you giving your church the opportunity to see your gifting in action? Why is preaching and praying so important? When was the last time you were commissioned? How did it make you feel? Is there something you would like to be specially commissioned for? “Teamwork makes the dream work.” What’s one way you can be a part of our team in a way that matches your gifting and God-given calling?
Sources
Picture by Jason Pratt – Flickr: Pixar Animation Studios Atrium, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16628200 Arnold, Clinton E.. Acts (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary) (p. 46). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition. NIV Zondervan Study Bible. Acts 6:5 footnote. Page 2227. Merily Leis. 7 Stories That Prove The Importance of Teamwork. Accessed 5/17/20. https://www.scoro.com/blog/teamwork-stories-importance-of-teamwork/ Henderson, Daniel. Old Paths, New Power: Awakening Your Church through Prayer and the Ministry of the Word (pp. 15-16). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
The ballet Giselle is a love story between a young frail maiden and a nobleman. Giselle lives in a small village with her mother where the villagers are preparing to celebrate the Wine Festival. The local huntsman Hilarion secretly loves her but so does another, Count Albrecht. The Count disguises himself as a peasant and shows her affection and care to win her love. The huntsman Hilarion will have none of it. He interrupts their dance and his suspicion grows that this peasant is more than he seems.
When the villagers return from harvesting grapes, they all begin to dance, but Giselle’s mother warns her of her frailty. If she dies of a broken heart, in death she will be transformed into a wilis, a restless and vengeful spirit that haunts men caught in the forest late at night.
When a prince and his daughter join the party, Count Albrecht slips away so as not to be discovered. When the princess discovers both she and Giselle are engaged, she gifts Giselle with a beautiful necklace. The celebration is soon ruined when Hilarion, having discovered Albrecht’s secret, exposes him for an imposter. He is not a peasant but a Count, and it turns out, is engaged to the prince’s daughter.
Giselle is crushed. She loved the man she thought was a peasant but turns out to be a deceitful nobleman. Her mind escapes her and she dies, her heart in pieces. Act I of the ballet Giselle ends in brokenness, despair, and death. The dance has come to an end and it has not ended in joy.
The Bible’s story also begins as a love story, one not so different from Giselle. It too starts with a dance, a cosmic dance as the Spirit of God soars over the waters (Gen. 1:1). God beckons the world and beauty into being. He places the very best of humankind, Adam and Eve, in a garden to keep it. God was the lover and we the beloved, but we broke the dance. We danced with the devil instead of our Creator. Like a leaping dancer who tears a tendon, we fell.
The question then, is what will happen in Act II? Will we, like Giselle and Albrecht, dance again? Does God invite us to the dance anew? Though we fell, our God never stopped dancing. He invites us to come and dance the dance of redemption with him.
Our redeemer invites us to come and dance. Our Creator invites us, yes beckons us, to come and enter into relationship with him. Our relationship with God is like a dance. Will we let him lead us or will we dance to our own tune? The Song of Songs is a poetic dance, a love song between a bride and groom, a husband and wife. Together they discover the rhythm and beauty of love and marriage. The groom comes for his bride leaping like a dance.
Song of Songs 2:8-9a, 10 (ESV) The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag…
My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away,
In the Old Testament God describes his relationship with Israel as one of marriage. Though Israel resists and dances with other partners, her husband extends his hand again and again (Jer. 31:32-33). In the New Testament we find human marriage is but a dance rehearsal of a much greater performance, Christ’s love for the gathering of believers he calls church and bride (Eph. 5:25). We also resist. My heart grows cold. Despite having the best dance partner in the universe we still want to lead at cost to our own beauty.
Classical ballet is a distinct yet precise, light yet graceful, form of dance. They call ballet, “poetry in motion.” A ballerina can perform great feats alone. She is elegant and beautiful. But a man and a woman can perform even greater feats together. The marriage author Gary Thomas writes of ballet dancing in his book Cherish:
Famed Russian-born ballet choreographer George Balanchine once said, “Ballet is woman.” The best male dancers recognize that their role is all about showcasing the female dancer’s beauty, particularly during pas de deux—couples’ dancing. People generally go to the ballet to see the beautiful form, grace, balance, coordination, and strength of the female lead, but all of those qualities are even better showcased when the ballerina has a male dancer who can set her up, catch her, and support her.
As a former male dancer and later choreographer, Balanchine said his job was to “make the beautiful more beautiful.”
Couples’ dance is like our relationship with God. Apart from him we can create beauty, but when we accept his invitation to dance, our lives become an eternal work of art. Our redeemer invites us to come and dance. Will you accept the invitation? Will you take his hand? He wants to redeem you. That means he wants to set your relationship with God right. Will you let him dance the dance of redemption with you?
Maybe you’re not ready. You’re asking, “What type of dance is this? Will this dance be happy or sad, easy or hard? Are we dancing the tango, swing, hip-hop, blues, or ballet?” We’re all asking the same questions, “What is relationship with God like? How will the story go?” If we look at the greater-dance, the story of redemption throughout the Bible, we find God’s relationship with us is three things. The dance of redemption is tragic yet joyful, humbles yet exalts, and wounds yet redeems.
I. The dance of redemption is tragic yet joyful. Our relationship with God is bitter yet sweet. In the Old Testament the women would dance for the men as they came home from victory in battle (Judg. 11:31, 34; Song 6:13; Jer. 31:4). I imagine that even as they danced some were weeping. The dance God dances with us often starts with sorrow before turning to joy. Ecclesiastes tells us there is a time for sadness and a time for happiness and dance.
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 (ESV) For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Dance in the Old Testament is often the cure for sadness. The psalmist David, the best King of Israel, wrote a song of celebration for the dedication of the temple, a bitter-sweet event he never saw in his lifetime. David envisioned it to be an incredibly joyful event full of dancing even though he would not be there.
Psalm 30:11 (ESV) You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
Dance is a way to express joy. Dancing is both a result of joy and can produce joy. It’s a way we can thank God for turning our sorrow into something valuable. When we dance this way, we’re echoing that greater dance of our Creator come to rescue us, the dance of redemption.
When God led Israel out of captivity in Egypt the people celebrated the first Passover, a meal meant to remind them of their deliverance from bondage. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible says “the Hebrew verb pāsaḥ… ‘to perform a limping dance,’ is the root of ‘Pesach’ or Passover.” When Israel left captivity in Egypt, there must have been dancing, but dancing with a limp. Joy is born out of hurt. We limp when God takes those we love but our hearts dance because we know they are with him. We limp when hard things happen and God offers no answer but we dance because God is still good. We limp today but we will dance tomorrow because Jesus loves us forever. “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing.”
After Passover, God rescued his people from the hand of Pharaoh at the crossing of the Red Sea. When Pharaoh’s armies were about to destroy them, God brought the waves crashing down upon them. As the people stood on the far shore, Moses’ sister Miriam broke into a dance of praise (Psa. 150:4).
Exodus 15:20-21 (ESV) Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
We praise God when our dance with him is easy and when it is hard, when life makes sense and when it stings. Ballets like Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet express emotions both happy and sad in ways our words fail. It is no wonder that so many Bible stories are told in ballets: Jean Börlin’s La Creation du Monde, George Balanchine’s Noah and the Flood and The Prodigal Son, Vaslav Nijinsky’s The Legend of Joseph, Ninette de Valois’s Job, Martha Graham’s Hérodiade, and Kenneth MacMillan’s The Judas Tree. All the Bible’s stories with their great leaps and deep falls are telling a greater story, one of redemption. Our redeemer invites us to come and dance the dance of redemption, which is tragic yet joyful.
II. The dance of redemption humbles yet exalts. God dips us low before lifting us up. He has done it time and time again to those who love him. When David was king over Israel he decided to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. The ark was a golden chest where God’s presence resided. As David was leading the processional into the city of Jerusalem he danced with everything he had.
2 Samuel 6:14a (ESV) And David danced before the Lord with all his might…
The picture must have been a wild scene because not everyone was impressed, including his wife.
2 Samuel 6:16 (ESV) As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.
When Michal confronts David about the impropriety of his dancing, he declares:
2 Samuel 6:21b-22a (ESV) …I will celebrate before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes.”
There is something deeply humbling about dance. There is a loss of dignity for the sake of beauty. The professional ballerina Corina Gill says, “Vulnerability and suffering goes into art.” It is that vulnerability and suffering that creates beauty. David puts all he has into his offering of worship before the Lord. He makes much of God by making little of himself. We too enter into the dance of redemption by humbling ourselves, worshipping him at cost to our own pride. We lay our whole life before him and when he so desires, he will lift us up. He will lift us up higher than we can ever imagine.
Ezekiel 28 tells us the garden of Eden was on a mountaintop (Gen. 2:10; Ezek. 28:13-14). Isaiah 2 tells us one day God is going to once again establish his eternal city on a mountaintop where heaven and earth meet (Isa. 2:1-4; Rev. 21:1-4). All throughout Scripture we find brief glimpses of what that eternal mountaintop relationship will be like. In the Song of Songs 2:8 the beloved “comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.” (c.f., Song 8:14) In the face of intense hardships and despair, the prophet Habakkuk says of his relationship with God:
Habakkuk 3:19 (ESV) God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.
If you are in a valley with your walk with God, God seems distant and far, he will not always leave you there. If you are on a mountaintop with your walk with God, enjoy the view, maybe dance a little because God has put you there, at least for a season. One day God will lift all who trust him up to the highest peaks to dance like a deer on the high places forever and ever. Our redeemer invites us to come and dance. The dance of redemption is tragic yet joyful, humbles yet exalts, and…
III. The dance of redemption wounds yet redeems. If we try to dance through this life without God, we will find we always fall short of his glory (Rom 3:23). We try to be good and kind, and much of the time we are, but we can find that like someone with two left feet we trip over ourselves and those we love. We sin and it hurts us badly. We need a someone to lead us.
The ballerina Corina Gill says she has seen a tiny dancer fill the stage just standing there. We too have a master dancer, God himself, who has stepped out onto the stage and into the spotlight. Our redeemer has come in the silhouette of God’s one and only Son, the greatest glory in a frail human body.
As the spotlight shines on the Son it finds him spotless in every way. His pose is regal, his head held high. He truly fills the stage. All eyes are on him as he dances. He leaps and soars, strong and sure. His life is sinless, perfect. Another figure enters the stage. This one is all dressed in black, one seen in the world’s brokenness yet unseen in the world’s eyes. The devil rages and roars. Jesus dances on, never missing a beat, always holy, always good.
His dance takes him to the cross where he puts all his vulnerability and suffering into his art. He sacrifices himself unto death so that we might join him in life. By his wounds we are healed (Isa. 53:5).
John 3:16 (ESV) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
He redeems our darkness, our scars, our sins, so that we might step into the spotlight spotless. The devil has nothing on us now. The curtain of death closes on the principal dancer but for a moment, three days. When the tomb opens again he is somehow even more glorious than before. He shines with the brightest love, the strongest strength, the oldest power.
Will you recognize him for who he is? So many have missed him (Matt. 11:17). Will you dance? Will you accept Christ’s hand? If your heart is wounded with your sin, come and dance with Jesus. Come and enter into relationship with him. He is our principal dancer, our hero, our king. He can forgive you and remake you. The dance of redemption is tragic yet joyful, humbles yet exalts, wounds yet redeems.
Our redeemer invites us to come and dance. Will you take his hand? In Act II of the ballet, Giselle is dead. The huntsman Hilarion comes to her tombstone late at night, grief-stricken and guilty. Out of the woods the wilis come, the spirits of wronged maidens who died with unfulfilled love beating in their hearts. For his sins the queen of the wilis sentences Hilarion to dance until he dies. Exhausted, he perishes.
Next comes Count Albrecht to Giselle’s tombstone, dismayed and sorrowful. His love led to her death. Out of the grave Giselle’s spirit rises as a wilis, but so too the queen of the wilis comes with her vengeful spirits. The queen captures Albrecht. Although Giselle begs for mercy, stretching wide her arms to protect him, the queen condemns him to dance until he dies; but Albrecht does not dance alone.
Giselle dances with him. Giselle, the frail of heart, rescues Albrecht by dancing with him through the night. When he collapses and cannot dance any longer, when death is near, she raises him up, higher together than he ever could have danced alone. Together they dance until the morning rises, breaking the queen’s curse. Giselle descends back into her grave and Albrecht, for a moment lays his hands on her tombstone, the shape of the cross. Giselle is the Christ figure. Our redeemer invites us to come and dance. Will you take his hand?
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV)
Quote taken from Cherish: The One Word That Change Everything for Your Marriage by Gary Thomas Copyright ©2017 by Gary Thomas. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message on Facebook Live during the 2020 COVID-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown in Massachusetts. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions You and your family or friends can use these group discussion questions to talk through today’s sermon and Bible passage. Please use whatever questions you find helpful.
What was the last ballet you saw, if any? What do you think of it? How do you feel about dance and why do you feel that way? Do you love it, hate it, or are somewhere in-between? What is your favorite style of dance? Contemporary? Ballet? Hip-hop? Ballroom? Swing? Blues? Salsa? Some other kind? Why do you like that type of dance most? How does the allegory of dance teach us about our relationship with God? How does dance help us understand our relationship with God’s one and only Son, Christ Jesus? Why is dance such a joyful event? How can dance be a way to worship God? Does dance have to be overtly religious, such as liturgical dance, for it to be an act of praise? Why can dancing feel so embarrassing? Why is it hard for some people to dance and not for others? What can this teach us about the way we worship? What does dancing on the mountaintops have to teach us about our relationship with God? What is significant about this place in the Bible? Keep in mind the Bible speaks of Eden being on a mountaintop (Ezek. 28:13-14) but also warns of “the high places” (2 Kgs. 18:3-4). Do you believe Jesus is the principal dancer of all of creation and the hero of your life’s story? Why or why not? Are you willing to accept the redeemer’s invitation to come and dance? Do you want to go to the ballet or watch one at home? Might I suggest Giselle?
End your discussion by praying for what you learned and that the Holy Spirit would help you apply it to your life. Pray that Jesus would use it to further his rescue in our world.
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The ballet Giselle is a love story between a young frail maiden and a nobleman. Giselle lives in a small village with her mother where the villagers are preparing to celebrate the Wine Festival. The local huntsman Hilarion secretly loves her but so does another, Count Albrecht. The Count disguises himself as a peasant and shows her affection and care to win her love. The huntsman Hilarion will have none of it. He interrupts their dance and his suspicion grows
How can we have joy in adversity? How can we experience happiness when we’re also experiencing setbacks or even suffering? I want to read you the last words in our passage.
Acts 5:40b (NIV) …They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
The apostles, who are the twelve disciples including Peter and John and all the rest, are arrested by those in power in Jerusalem. They tell the apostles not to talk about Jesus anymore, flog them, which means they whipped them with strips of cowhide as many as 40 times. How would you respond? I’d run away.
Acts 5:41 (NIV) The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
They walk away with their chin up, rejoicing, happy for what they suffered for Christ’s name. Chances are, most of us aren’t going to be thrown in prison for Jesus, but you still face adversity and hardship and it’s tempting to give up on Jesus when that happens. It’s tempting to abandon faith in Jesus when things don’t go our way, when we lose a job, when a loved one dies of covid or cancer, when we lose our retirement. It’s when we’re at our lowest that we need Jesus the most.
Our passage first teaches us about finding joy in suffering for Jesus, as we’re sharing the gospel, but I also think it teaches us about finding joy in whatever we’re suffering as we’re simply living for Christ. So it gives us encouragement for what we might call “persecution” but also for what we call “hardship.” Jesus can give us joy in any type of adversity, and especially when we experience adversity for him.
Our passage today gives us hints and clues about how the disciples are able to walk away from suffering rejoicing instead of complaining. Listening to today’s sermon probably won’t give you instantaneous long-lasting joy, but hopefully it will encourage you along your way. Developing joy in adversity is a journey. It takes time. In our passage today we find five things we need to experience joy in adversity:
- New life in Christ. (v. 20) The disciples and Peter have experienced a new way of life that makes them willing to suffer for Jesus. They are experiencing success in their mission (Acts 1:8). People are coming to Christ and the high priest and his associates are filled with jealousy. They can’t stand it that someone might take their power. They’re probably worried that this Jewish sect might bring God’s wrath down upon them for wandering away from the Old Testament laws. So they arrest them and throw them in jail, but then an angel shows up.
Acts 5:19-20 (NIV) 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”
When you get pregnant, people want to know three things. When’s the due date? What’s the baby’s gender? And what are you going to name him or her? People keep asking us what we’re going to name our little girl, and that’s fine, we welcome it, but we’re not telling. A name somehow tells us about a person. N.T. Wright was going to name his daughter “Emily” but when she arrived they named her “Rosamund.” She just didn’t look like an Emily. I tried to name Elijah “Lancelot” but he just didn’t look like a Lancelot.
What do people name this early movement of believers? They become known as “the way” before they become known as “Christians” (Acts 9:2; 11:26). Even before that the angel calls them by a different name right here—“this life—tell the people all about ‘this life’.” What they’re experiencing is so different the angel has to describe it as a new way of life. This new way and life comes from Jesus.
John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If we want to experience joy, we need to have the same “life” the disciples had. We can only have this new life through Jesus Christ, who is “the way and the truth and the life.” To have joy we need to have Jesus. If you struggle with melancholy, this can be hard. We shouldn’t assume that if we somehow don’t have joy that we don’t know Jesus. Scripture tells us knowing Jesus is the foundation for real joy and lasting contentment but learning to experience this joy can take time; it’s a journey of faith (Rom 5:3-5; Phil 4:11; James 1:2-4). To experience joy in adversity we need new life in Christ.
The disciples have this life and so they go into the temple courts, likely expecting to suffer, and begin to tell others about the life they have in Christ. Their experience of Christ’s life leads to their sharing his life with others. The Sanhedrin, the ruling religious body, sends for the disciples but they’re not in the jail. The angel broke them out. Instead, they find them in the temple courts teaching and they go and get them. They don’t use force because they’re afraid of the people. The people sense they have something special, life. They’re brought in, questioned, and told not to teach anyone about the life Jesus offers anymore.
Acts 5:28 (NIV) “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
But here’s the thing. If you had the antidote to COVID-19, to the Coronavirus, would you want to tell others about it? If you and your company had developed the immunization, wouldn’t you want the whole world to know, even if your government told you not to tell? The disciples, have something even better, the antidote to sin and death, eternal life, and they’re going to tell everyone. To experience joy in adversity we need 1) new life in Christ and we need…
- Allegiance to God. (v. 29) We need to be committed to God above everyone else. The disciples are.
Acts 5:29 (NIV) Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!
Peter and the apostles are risking it all. They are defying the Chief Priest and therefore the very institution of the temple in Jerusalem. The temple was the social, economic, and political center of Israel. To defy the temple was like defying both your nation and your religion. The Chief Priest and his associates were doing nothing less than demanding the apostles patriotic and religious allegiance and they refuse (Acts 4:19).
They know that they answer to a higher nation, a higher religion, a higher power—God himself. They have a divine mandate to tell others about Jesus and so do we. Their allegiance and loyalty is to none-other than God. In reality, their opposition is not pushing back against them but against God. God can bear the weight. He is sturdy. It’s like Jesus is a strong man heaving a heavy boulder (Matt 12:29). Our job is to trust that he can do it. We obey and leave the results up to him.
Where does your loyalty lie? Where is your allegiance? How we answer that question, whether nation, or family, or church, or Christ, will impact our joy. If we have a firm commitment to Christ, even when our government lets us down, or our family is a mess, or our church has problems, they won’t hit us as hard because we have Christ and he has us (John 10:28-29). To experience joy in adversity we need 1) new life in Christ 2) allegiance to God and…
- Belief in the gospel. (v. 30-31) Peter says that they are going to obey God, not man, and then he explains why:
Acts 5:30-31 (NIV) 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.
Did you know the word “gospel” means “good news?” It’s joyful news. This joyful news is born out of suffering. That’s right! Suffering. God sent his son into this world to rescue us and instead we denied him by nailing him to a tree, where he hung suffering till he died. We have a Son of God who has experienced our pain, our hurt, our suffering, our adversity. He willingly bore it on himself and died. But three days later Jesus rose from the dead in complete victory. He is alive and well, ruling and reigning over all of creation. Now he offers the joy of eternal life to any who will repent and believe in his name, Jesus.
The gospel gives us hope. It tells us God cares about our hurts and pains and yet has a greater purpose. He wants to work through our sufferings to further his goodness in our world. Jesus can wrap his arms around you. He has been there. He has experienced the worst of suffering and can give you hope. If he can rise again, if you trust him, you will too. To experience joy in adversity we need 1) new life in Christ 2) allegiance to God 3) belief in the gospel and…
- The Holy Spirit’s power. (v. 32, 38-39) The apostles don’t claim that they have what it takes; instead they attribute their strength to the Holy Spirit.
Acts 5:32 (NIV) We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
They have a greater power within them, the Holy Spirit, God himself. It’s through the Holy Spirit working in our hearts that we come to believe in Jesus Christ. Not only are Peter and the apostles witnesses, so is the Holy Spirit who affirms the truth of the resurrection on our hearts. That means God gives us the faith to believe. So if you doubt you’re saved, ask for more faith to believe. The Spirit gives us faith. Even the Sanhedrin considers that there might be something out-of-this-world about the apostles.
When Peter shares the gospel, the Sanhedrin, the full assembly of religious powers in Jerusalem, want to tear him apart. They want to kill him right there (v. 33). But one of the best teachers of their day, a Timothy Keller type person, get’s up and explains why they shouldn’t kill them. He tells them of two revolutions that died out when their leaders were killed. Then he says this.
Acts 5:38-39 (NIV) Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
If they have the Holy Spirit’s power, they will be unstoppable. I looked up how long it takes a train to stop. I found, “The average freight train is about 1 to 1¼ miles in length (90 to 120 rail cars). When it’s moving at 55 miles an hour, it can take a mile or more to stop after the locomotive engineer fully applies the emergency brake. An 8-car passenger train moving at 80 miles an hour needs about a mile to stop.” If you’re on that train, it takes a mile for you to stop. It’s not because you are powerful but because the train is powerful. When you’re with Christ through the Holy Spirit, it’s not because you are so powerful that nothing can stop you but because God is so powerful nothing can stop him.
That’s what we see happen throughout the book of Acts. Despite hardship and trial and suffering the gospel keeps going forward because the apostles are empowered by the Holy Spirit. To experience joy in adversity we need 1) new life in Christ 2) allegiance to God 3) belief in the gospel 4) the Holy Spirit’s power and…
- Shared suffering. (v. 41) This takes us back to how we started the sermon.
Acts 5:41 (NIV) The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
If we want to have joy, we need someone to share our suffering with, especially for the name of Jesus. The disciples don’t go through pain alone but together. My friend Joe, who preached for us a couple weeks back, served in the Marines and said there is nothing like the heat of battle to bind you together with those who go through it with you. I have personally not experienced this, but I have experienced how going on a long hike or a winter camping trip brings friends closer. This is why we need partners in ministry and life. We need shared suffering to discover joy.
Even though we need our church family to walk through suffering with us, we actually don’t need them to take away the pain. For my Doctorate of Ministry (D.Min) program we studied how opportunities to suffer help us gain pain tolerance. When one family-member is experiencing pain and hurt, it’s so tempting to rush in and rescue them, but that actually removes opportunity for growth and an increase in pain tolerance. We need to experience suffering so that suffering won’t bother us. Edwin Friedman, in Generation to Generation, writes (p. 48):
Where members of a family are too quick to spare another pain, the resulting dependency tends to make the other’s threshold fall. In addition, he or she will become addicted to having pain relieved through someone else’s functioning. Conversely, where family members can begin to increase their threshold for another’s pain, the other person’s threshold is likely to rise, even though he or she may at first go through “withdrawal” symptoms when the “addiction” is taken away. Those who focus only on comfort, on relieving pain, or filling another’s need, tend to forget that another’s need may be not to have their needs fulfilled. (emphasis added)
When we steal another’s suffering by making everything better, we’re actually stealing their joy too. This is why we need brothers and sisters in Christ who don’t have all the answers, who can’t make it better, who will simply “be” with us in our pain. In that way, we need “shared suffering.”
To experience joy in adversity we need 1) new life in Christ 2) allegiance to God 3) belief in the gospel 4) the Holy Spirit’s power and 5) shared suffering. When God gives us opportunities to suffer, he’s building up our pain tolerance so we can know and experience joy no matter our circumstances. We can’t bypass hardship and go directly to joy. We might experience momentary happiness, but lasting joy takes time and persecution or hardship.
I struggle with feelings of melancholy and anxiety. I know many of us do. It’s especially prevalent right now being stuck at home not being able to spend time with friends. What if Jesus has something for us in this suffering and adversity? What if Jesus wants to teach us joy? What if this time is an opportunity to learn joy? Let’s pray and ask God to give us joy in adversity. To experience joy in adversity we need 1) new life in Christ 2) allegiance to God 3) belief in the gospel 4) the Holy Spirit’s power and 5) shared suffering.
Romans 15:13 (NIV) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions You and your family or friends can use these group discussion questions to talk through today’s sermon and Bible passage. Please use whatever questions you find helpful.
How does Jesus’ suffering encourage us in our suffering? What sort of adversities are you facing and how might God be teaching you joy in them? Why do you think Jesus identified himself as “the way, the truth, and the life?” Why do you think the angel identifies “this life’ with the believers and their witness? To whom or what do you feel loyalty? What does it mean to be loyal to God? How does obedience demonstrate allegiance and loyalty? How does the Holy Spirit help us persevere in hardship? How has the Holy Spirit helped you personally? Have you ever seen God produce joy through trial? Have you experienced it yourself or have you seen it in a friend or family member? Who might the Lord be calling you to encourage as they go through suffering? How can you walk through the suffering with them instead of trying to take it away from them?
End your discussion by praying for what you learned and that the Holy Spirit would help you apply it to your life. Pray that Jesus would use it to further his kingdom and bring our neighbors, friends, and family to him.
Church Service: You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
How can we have joy in adversity? How can we experience happiness when we’re also experiencing setbacks or even suffering? I want to read you the last words in our passage. Acts 5:40b (NIV) …They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles, who are the twelve disciples including Peter and John and all the rest, are arrested by those in power
Today we’re going back to our series in Acts. I actually wrote this sermon before the Coronavirus landed. Today I want us to start to get back into a rhythm. So today I’m preaching the story of Ananias and Sapphira and how their story tells us about the holiness of God. When you think of holiness, what do you think of? Maybe you think of a big beautiful cathedral. There’s something sacred and awe-inspiring about a beautiful church or cathedral.
Today we’re going back to our series in Acts. I actually wrote this sermon before the Coronavirus landed. Today I want us to start to get back into a rhythm. So today I’m preaching the story of Ananias and Sapphira and how their story tells us about the holiness of God.
When you think of holiness, what do you think of? Maybe you think of a big beautiful cathedral. There’s something sacred and awe-inspiring about a beautiful church or cathedral. When you think of holiness, maybe you think of a cemetery. There’s a sign outside the cemetery by our house that prohibits running. There’s something sacred about the life of a person—that we treat with reverence. When you think of holiness, maybe you think of a monument, something that celebrates our history.
I agree that all these things are special and worth remembering, but the Bible presents us with a different understanding of holiness. Holiness looks more like this sign, “[Out of state visitors] are urged to self-quarantine for 14 days.” I saw a sign just like this hanging over Route 3. Governor Baker is urging anyone coming from another state to not go out shopping or near anyone for two weeks. He doesn’t want someone who is sick to start spreading the disease. This is a picture of what it means to be holy.
To be holy means to be set apart, to be distinct, separate. In the Old Testament, we see holiness vividly demonstrated in some of the laws where women and men would have to physically separate themselves from the camp for things like skin disease to become clean again (Lev 13). To be holy was to be pure and untainted by the world’s sickness or sin.
It’s like there is a massive sign hanging over the highway to heaven that reads, “Perfect spiritual health required. All others self-quarantine for all eternity.” That’s right. To get into heaven you have to be perfectly holy. You can’t have any spiritual sickness or disease. You can’t have sin on your record.
If you were to encounter God in all his holiness right now, it would dismay and overwhelm you. The prophet Isaiah saw God in all his holiness. He had a vision where he saw God set apart on a throne over the temple (Isa 6:1). God is surrounded by Seraphim, a type of angel. Even though these angels are pure beings, much better than us, they cover their faces so they don’t see God’s holiness and their feet, possibly representing a place typical of unholiness and dirt (Exod 3:5; Isa 6:2; John 13:10). They call out:
Isaiah 6:3b-5 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
Do you remember when I preached Acts 4:23-31? When the believers in the early church pray, the place where they are meeting shakes and they are filled with the Holy Spirit. In Isaiah’s vision he sees the temple shake. God’s temple is a holy place set apart for him, and in the New Testament, God’s people become his temple. We become holy through the Holy Spirit. But see how Isaiah reacts to God’s holiness…
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (NIV)
How does God’s holiness affect you? Do you feel like you’re good enough? You’re a good person. You’ve self-quarantined and donated money to the Red Cross. God will let you pass into heaven. You’re wrong, but there’s hope for you. Or maybe you’re on the other end. You know God could never accept you. You’re too dirty, too filthy for God to love you. You’re also wrong and there’s hope for you too. Ananias and Sapphira help us understand God’s holiness the right way.
We underestimate God’s holiness. (Acts 5:1-6) Ananias and Sapphira don’t take God’s holiness seriously. We are supposed to worship him with reverence, awe and respect, because he is holy and set apart and on a throne. That’s the exact opposite of what Ananias and Sapphira do. In their worship they lie and test God. They underestimate God’s holiness and God judges them worthy of death.
Their punishment doesn’t seem to match the crime unless we remember the context of Acts so far:
Acts 1 – Jesus ascends into heaven to rule over the church and its mission. (Eph 1:20) Acts 2 – Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to fill and empower the church. Acts 3-4 – We see evidences of the Spirits’ power in Peter, John, and the church.
See, now Jesus is ruling and reigning through his people, the church. God’s Holy Spirit has filled the church. This means God himself has filled the body of believers. Remember how the building shook in Acts 4 like the temple in Isaiah 6? God is there! Sometimes when the heat kicks on at Cornerstone you heart the ventilation shaking. The ventilation shakes because there’s something else there. The temple and building where the believers gathered shook because God was there.
Right at the end of chapter four, right before today’s text, people are selling their possessions for each other and taking care of the needy among them (Acts 4:32-35). One person in particular, a man the apostles call Barnabas is being especially encouraging.
Acts 4:36-37 (NIV) 36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
Barnabas had a heart changed by God so that he loved others like Christ did. For his act of generosity he received some recognition, a nickname that means “son of encouragement.” But where are Ananias and Sapphira in all of this? They’re watching and they’re growing jealous.
Acts 5:1-2 (NIV) 1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
They hatch a plan. We’ll sell some property and give a portion of the money to the apostles, those in charge of the church. They’ll look great and have money left over. It’s like they are donating one of those really extra-large checks to charity. Is it really about the charity or the donor?
Acts 5:3-4 (NIV) 3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
It wasn’t wrong for Ananias to keep some of the money. It was wrong for him to lie about giving it all. This a symptom of a deeper problem. Ananias is a part of the church community where God’s holiness is supposed to reside, but Peter says Satan has instead filled his heart. Do you know what this means? It means Ananias has brought the presence of Satan into the temple of God. It’s like he has intentionally brought covid into a nursing home, but God won’t have any of it. God will protect his people, his temple.
The people of the church are the new temple of God. That’s what happened in Acts 2 at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended and came to rest on the believers as tongues of fire (Acts 2:1-4). In Ephesians Paul describes the church body as the temple of the living God.
Ephesians 2:20-22 (NIV) 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Ananias was unwittingly acting as an agent of the enemy of God. Have you ever seen a spy movie? Ananias is like that double agent who gets found out at the end. It’s not clear to me whether or not Ananias and Sapphira were true Christians who lost their way. Some commentators think they were because they were a part of the church community.
If they were true Christians, it should give us to pause. Just because I believe in Jesus doesn’t mean Satan can’t use me to do his bidding. That’s why we pray God would fill us with his Holy Spirit and direct our paths. I often see our neighbor walking his dog. Can you imagine if he was out walking a dog and a stranger came up to his dog and put a second leash on him and tried to walk him? Two leashes on one dog? That dog would be very confused. But that’s what happens to believers when we allow sin to direct us instead of the Holy Spirit. Sin leads us in a different direction than God intends for us to go.
Ananias’ sin isn’t just a little white lie. He lies to God. One of the ways we know the Holy Spirit is God is found right here in Acts 5. To lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God. This sin threatens to introduce systemic sin like pride and mistrust into the whole church body. What does God do?
Acts 5:5-6 (NIV) 5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
If we think God’s judgment is too harsh, then we underestimate the holiness of God. Where are you underestimating God’s holiness in your life? In the words you speak? In the things you look at? In the things you do? In how you worship? How many of us, if we were honest with ourselves, would need a really long quarantine to get right with God? And even if we quarantined for a million years, we still wouldn’t be good enough. We underestimate God’s holiness and…
We overestimate our goodness. (Acts 5:7-10) We overestimate our own spiritual immune system. We go through life coughing and sneezing and not washing our hands or wearing a face mask. We think we’re spirituallyhealthier than we are but really we’re sick and spreading the disease. Sapphira overestimated her own goodness.
Acts 5:7-10 (NIV) 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
Peter tells Ananias “You lied to God” but to Sapphira he says “You tested God.” We test God when we think we’re better than God; when we think we know what’s best and he doesn’t. The Bible tells us not to test God by making him prove himself (Deut 6:16). That’s what they’re doing, isn’t it? They’re testing the Holy Spirit to see if this new community of believers really is the temple of God where God’s holy presence dwells. They are testing God to see if he’s watching and listening, to see if they can get away with sin.
The town I grew up in had a pool and there was a walkway you could swim under separating the deep end from the shallow section. By swimming underneath we “tested” the life guards to see if they would notice. But by doing this we risked our own. When we test God, we risk our own lives. There are other times in the Bible when people tested God like Ananias and Sapphira, and it didn’t go well:
Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-5): When Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu offered “unauthorized fire” before the Lord at the tabernacle, he consumed them with fire.
God was doing a new thing in the life of his people. He’d just given the tabernacle with all the regulations for how to worship. Nadab and Abihu do it their way and not God’s way, underestimating God’s holiness and overestimating their goodness, and they die for it. Moses instructs two young men to carry their bodies out of the camp just like Peter does with Ananias and Sapphira (v4-5). How about…?
Uzzah and the Ark (2 Sam 6:1-7): When King David brings the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem on a cart led by oxen they stumble and Uzzah reaches out his hand to steady the ark and God strikes him dead.
The ark of the covenant was a golden chest, with two angelic beings called cherubim on the top. It was holy because God resided there. R.C. Sproul said, “Uzzah presumed his hands were cleaner than the dirt. God said no.” Mud doesn’t sin. People do. He overestimated his goodness.
For my Birthday my grandmother-in-law gave me The Amazing Book of Useless Information as a joke gift. Jokes on her because I’m using it for a sermon illustration. Apparently there’s a whole Useless Information Society if you want to join. Did you know?
Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon (a perfect example) of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not.
In her entire lifetime, Queen Isabella of Spain bathed twice. (p. 78)
How about this virus, Covid-19, the Coronavirus? If you catch it, it usually takes about five days before symptoms appear. You can be sick and not even know it. Isn’t that an illustration for sin? We’ve all caught it but most of us don’t even realize it. The symptoms are there! Selfishness, greed, lust, jealousy, pride, but we just ignore them. Sin is much more deadly than any virus.
Romans 6:23 (NIV) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is why we need a savior. We need Jesus Christ to come and pay the penalty for our sins on the cross. We need him to live a holy life and then offer his life as payment for our own. And praise be to God that’s exactly what Jesus did. Jesus is the originalBarnabas. He sold everything he had, his prestige in heaven his very life, and he laid it all down at the cross before his Heavenly Father. He held nothing back and did it all for our good and it was enough. He knows we can be just as bad as Ananias and Sapphira; and yet he gave it all for us. We underestimate God’s holiness. We overestimate our goodness. And…
So we worship and ask for grace. (Acts 5:7-10) Look at the response of the entire church body to these events.
Acts 5:11 (NIV) Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
When we really understand who God is, it should put fear in our hearts. If you’ve gone through life thinking you’re good enough and that God will accept you because you’re kind and caring, this passage helps us realize it’s not enough. God isn’t impressed with good deeds, especially ones done to impress others. Or if you’ve gone through life condemning yourself for the things you’ve done wrong, this passage helps us realize that what God first wants our hearts. God wants our hearts so that he can turn Ananias and Sapphira kind of people into Barnabas kind of people. This story is supposed to move us to ask God for grace. We’re suppose to walk away asking God to change our hearts and keep us from a similar fate.
When Isaiah saw the Lord seated on his throne he screamed “Woe to me!… For I am a man of unclean lips.” He confesses his unholiness. He repents. He lays his heart bare. And you know what God does?
Isaiah 6:6-7 (NIV) Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
God shows mercy. An angels takes a coal from the altar and touches Isaiah’s mouth with it, cleansing him of sin (Isa 6:6-7). The altar is a place of sacrifice. The altar points forward to Christ’s coming sacrifice; By Christ’s blood on the altar of the cross Isaiah’s sin and our sin is atoned for. If you want Christ’s sacrifice to cover you, worship and ask for grace.
We underestimate God’s holiness; we overestimate our goodness; and so we worship and ask for grace. Jesus’ blood makes possible our entrance into a relationship with a holy God. We become set apart, holy, through Jesus, the one who set apart his life for us. We underestimated God’s holiness; we overestimate our goodness; and so we worship and ask for grace. Let’s pray.
Lord, would you so fill us with your HolySpirit that we never do what Ananias and Sapphira did… so that we don’t lie to you, or test you, or act one way to get others’praise. Lord, when we fail, would you forgiveus? Would the blood of Jesus and his perfectlife cover all our sins? Would you make us to be more like Barnabas, someone whose heart was changed by God? Would you give us eternallife with Jesus? Would you remind us of your holiness and give us a healthyfear of you? We love and respect you Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions:
Why does holiness matter? Why does it matter that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit? What or who is the Holy Spirit? Does the answer to that question help explain the consequences? Read Ephesians 2:20-22 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. What does it mean for Jesus and believers to be the temple of God? If the people of the church are the temple of God, how does that shape our understanding of Ananias and Sapphira’s sin? What was the nature of Ananias’ sin and Sapphira’s? Was it wrong for them to keep some of the money from the sale of their property? What ways do you underestimate God’s holiness in your own life? If you had a clear understanding of God’s holiness, how do you think it would change your everyday interactions? How do we overestimate our own goodness? How does the answer to this question give us humility? How do the stories of Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1-5) and Uzzah and the ark (2 Samuel 6:1-7) give us an Old Testament context for what happens with Ananias and Sapphira? How about the story of Achan in Joshua 7? Do we ever underestimate the presence of sin in our own lives? What are the wages of sin? See Romans 6:23. What is the gospel’s answer to the problem of sin? When Ananias and Sapphira died, it caused fear in the church. Is that a bad thing? What type of fear did they experience? How does it shape the way we approach God through worship? What sin do you need to confess in order to approach God in his holiness in forgiveness and grace? If nothing comes to mind, how can you humble yourself as you worship God? What else resonated with you from the story of Ananias and Sapphira?
Take time to pray and ask God for his grace to not commit the same sin. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill your church in a special way to truly worship and follow Christ in all things.
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Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
Listen or watch this guest sermon on 1 Kings 17:8-24 from Joe Yu entitled “Resurrection vs. Resuscitation.” Joe Yu is a missionary with Ripe for Harvest World Outreach. He has served in different parts of the world including Southeast Asia, India, Europe, and the United States. His main work has been in helping to develop ministry visions for indigenous ministries. By God’s grace he has been able to help develop a Bible College in Myanmar and also to develop a satellite campus in tribal regions involved in orphan care. He has also traveled to remote villages to teach and preach. In some locations, he was the first foreigner ever to visit. Through this work God has allowed him to make connections with different ministry leaders from around the world.
Discussion Questions:
What feels normal and safe to you and how might God be calling you forward? What change or transformation is God bringing to our lives as a church body? As you reflect on yourself, do you see any places God is already transforming? What fears of transformation do you have that keeps you from embracing God’s will? How can you stir your imagination for the greater hope that God wants to give? How did God transform the widow’s faith through tragedy and crisis? When the widow was eating the miracle bread and oil she likely returned to a sense of normalcy and routine. Why do you think God gave her the extra trial of the death of her son? What transformation was he working in her life? God told Elijah that the widow was going to feed him, but God didn’t tell the widow anything. She probably didn’t even know the God of Israel. What does this tell us about God’s ability and character? We all want to go back to normal. We want to get back to life after COVID-19. But what if God has something greater in store? How does this change how we live today? If Jesus can resurrect himself and all who trust in him from the dead, what else can he do? God allowed the widow’s son to die and rise again to bring her to a saving faith in him. God allowed his own Son to die and rise again, Christ Jesus, to bring us to a saving faith in him as well. This is the gospel, the good news. What does this stir in your heart? How does it make you feel and think about God? Are you hungry for what God can do? Do you want to see his greater power? How might you carry on this conversation with God and your church family?
Thanks for discussing these questions. Take a moment to pray and ask the Lord to apply this sermon to your life our church’s life going forward.
Listen or watch this guest sermon on 1 Kings 17:8-24 from Joe Yu entitled “Resurrection vs. Resuscitation.” Joe Yu is a missionary with Ripe for Harvest World Outreach. He has served in different parts of the world including Southeast Asia, India, Europe, and the United States. His main work has been in helping to develop ministry visions for indigenous ministries. By God’s grace he has been able to help develop a Bible College in Myanmar and also to develop a satellite
Easter is a happy day. It’s the happiest day in the church calendar. But it didn’t start the way. That first Easter morning Jesus’ followers were grieving and heartbroken because the one they loved died. Our story today starts with a grieving woman, Mary Magdalene, as she stands outside Jesus’ tomb crying. She is mourning his death and that someone has stolen his body. In the gospels this word for “weep” is a bitter, loud, wailing (Matt 26:75; Mark 6:38). I’ve only heard ‘this type’ of weeping once in my life, and it was when a loved one died. Easter is a happy day but the first Easter didn’t start that way.
That’s where we are today. Right now we are going through a global crisis, a pandemic, the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Thousands of people are dying ever week. We’ve reached over 500,000 cases and 20,000 deaths in the US. Statistics are turning into names as people we know and care about are getting sick. Everyone will know someone hurt by this virus. So how can our Easter, celebrated in the midst of sadness, be a happy one?
It’s the same question we ask of the first Easter. What could possibly transform the first Easter—a day marked by sadness and grief—into one billions of people celebrate around the world? What could possibly transform Mary Magdalene’s despair into complete joy?It’s the same thing that can transform our day today. Easter transforms us. Today, I want to talk you four ways Easter transforms us:
1) Easter offers us hope. Easter takes us in our sadness and offers us hope.
John 20:11-13a (NIV) 11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
When she goes to the tomb on Sunday morning instead of finding Jesus’ body she finds the stone rolled away and two angels sitting on the slab where his body should have been. They should have been dressed in black for mourning, but instead they’re dressed in white. They’re not despairing. They know Jesus is alive. They ask her, “Woman, why are you crying?” They’re offering her hope in her despair.
Mary Magdalene really needs hope. If you read Mary’s history in Mark and Luke’s gospel accounts you’ll see that when Mary met Jesus she was at a really bad place. When Jesus first met her she was possessed by seven demons (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2). From what we know of demon possession in the rest of the Bible it wasn’t pretty. One demon possessed man lived naked in the tombs and cut himself. (Mark 5:1-20). People possessed by demons often had incredibly strength or could be thrown around by the demons possessing them (Matt 17:14-20; Luke 4:31-37). Demons could cause people to be mute and deaf, so they couldn’t speak or hear (Matt 9:32-33; 12:22). They acted insane. I wonder if Mary is afraid and wondering if she’ll go back to her old ways with Jesus gone, if the spirits will come back. She desperately needs hope.
When the angels ask Mary, “Woman, why are you crying?” they’re comforting her; and gently calling her to remember all that Jesus has done for her. They’re reminder her that she was once almost dead, but Jesus saved her. If Jesus can save her, what makes her think he’s dead now? Easter offers us hope.
Jesus asks us the same question, “Why are you crying? Why are you upset? Why does COVID-19 bother you? Aren’t I alive? Haven’t I risen from the dead? Haven’t I saved you?” All we can say is, “Yes Lord. Help my unbelief. Resurrect hope in me.” 1) Easter transforms us by offering us hope.
2) Easter surprises us with joy. You ever been having a really bad day when someone you love or a friend surprises you? You’re so mad because the traffic was bad on your commute from your bedroom to your upstairs office, and to cheer you up your husband or wife makes you a really nice breakfast? Bacon, eggs, pancakes, with all the fixins—and it just transforms your day? Or maybe it’s at the end of the day and a neighbor or friend drops off a meal or your child drew you a picture to give you? Suddenly, a day that was dead feels alive again? Mary is about to have that happen to her. Someone she knows and loves is about to surprise her with joy.
John 20:13b-14 (NIV) “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
When they were dating, my sister-in-law threw a surprise Birthday party for my brother Nathanael. I was tasked with getting him to the party. When I walked in ahead of Nathanael, I saw heads pop around counters ready to jump out and yell “Surprise!” Then they saw it was me and ducked back behind the counter. That’s what’s happening to us right now as we read. We can see it! Jesus is alive, Mary! Jesus is alive and he’s literally standing right behind you! What a surprise! Don’t you see him?! The angels see him! He’s right there! You don’t need to be sad anymore. Jesus is alive.
But isn’t that true for us?! Isn’t Jesus alive? Isn’t he standing right beside us, but we can’t see him? God promises us, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Heb 13:5). He’s not here physically, but is here spiritually through the Holy Spirit (Matt 18:20). But she doesn’t see him because she thinks he’s a gardener. Maybe she didn’t recognize him because she has tears in her eyes or because when he rose from death Jesus had the same body, only better, a glorified body (1 Cor 15:35). But just because she couldn’t recognize him doesn’t mean he wasn’t there. Just because we can’t see Jesus doesn’t mean he’s not here. Jesus is here. Jesus is alive. Jesus loves us. This gives us joy. 1) Easter transforms us by offering us hope and 2) by surprising us with joy.
3) Easter changes our perspective. John 20:15 (NIV) 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Mary Magdalene doesn’t get it. She doesn’t recognize the angels and she mistakes Jesus for the gardener. She’s so wrapped up in her world she can’t see what God’s world must be like. We get so wrapped up in our world, in our pandemic, in our numbers and busyness and anxieties that we also can’t see how God is working through it. What’s it going to take for us to see God and this world from his perspective? It’s going to take Jesus rising from the dead and calling us by name.
John 20:16a (NIV) Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
There was once a little girl who wanted to see a hippopotamus. She knew that they were at the river so she went down to the river to look for them. She got up on a big rock and began to look and look; but she could not find any hippopotami. But then the rock began to move and all at once she realized she was standing on a hippopotamus. When Jesus said, “Mary!” he whole world must have shook. The ground beneath her feat must have swayed as she realized that Jesus was alive and calling her by name.
What can take a terrible, no good, rotten pandemic day and make it new? A change in perspective. The good news that Jesus is alive and one day will call you by your name. One day, when Christ returns, he’ll speak your name and it will all be worth it (Rev 2:17). Even now, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is calling you by name. The Lord of the universe knows you. Doesn’t that change the way you see life and reality?
If you don’t know Jesus, he wants to give you a whole new perspective. He wants you to trust him. He’s telling you that he really has risen from the grave and that changes everything. Jesus is inviting you to know him, to let him speak your name. Come to him. Tell him your brokenness and receive him.
If you do know Jesus, he’s calling you again. He’s calling to to keep trusting him, to keep walking with him, to keep believing him, to keep inviting him to change the way you see life. You are standing on Christ, right now. He’s not just beside you. He’s carrying you. He is baring the weight of your suffering, of your COVID, of your dark valley. It’s not just Easter that changes our perspective. It’s Jesus.
1) Easter transforms us by offering us hope, 2) by surprising us with joy, 3) by changing our perspective…
4) Easter gives us resurrection life. Mary was dead when she arrived at the tomb. She was emotionally dead. She had no hope. Jesus was lost. But suddenly, Jesus is alive and his resurrection gives her resurrection life.
John 20:16 (NIV) 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
This is the moment when she realizes he’s alive and calls him by the name she’s been calling him, “Rabboni! Teacher!” Rabboni is a more personal way of saying rabbi. Not just “teacher” but “my teacher!” She recognizes Jesus. Her eyes open and she realizes just like Jesus had the power to cast out her demons he has the power to defeat death. She realizes that Jesus is alive! It’s this moment that transforms a day of sadness and mourning into a day of life and joy. Her day has turned from death to life.
She must have fallen to his feet and clung to him because Jesus stops her. He tells her she has to go and tell others about his resurrection—that he has risen from the tomb.
John 20:17-18 (NIV) 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Notice Jesus doesn’t just say, “I’m going to my Father” but “I’m going to my Father and your Father.” To be a child of God is to have life. To have God as your Father is to have resurrection life (John 17:3). She was a woman who was once haunted by seven demons and is now a child of God the Father. That’s the same thing Jesus is offering you and me today—resurrection life through a relationship with the Father. She has this new life and goes to tell others.
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
She doesn’t just say, “I’ve seen Jesus” or “I’ve seen the Rabbi” but “I have seen the Lord!” In other words, “I’ve seen God! I’ve seen the one who conquers sin and death and can give us all eternal life!” Easter (Jesus) gives us resurrection life.
In Steven Spielberg’s famous movie, Jaws, the second victim the great white shark kills is a young boy named Alex Kintner, played by Jeffrey Voorhees. On a warm summer day, he is plucked from the waters of a busy beach. When the crowd realizes what has happened, there’s a panic, and everyone in the water goes running back to the safety of the beach. Mrs. Kintner, Alex’s mother, stumbles around in the shallows calling for Alex, but he doesn’t return.
Later in the movie Mrs. Kintner dresses herself in black widows garb, approaches the chief of police (the hero of the movie), and slaps him in the face for not closing the beaches. She says, “I just found out that a girl got killed here last week, and you knew it. You knew there was a shark out there. You knew it was dangerous, but you let people go swimming anyways. You knew all those things, but still my boy is dead now, and there’s nothing you can do about it. My boy is dead.”
Imdb.com, a film and television, website, picks up the story many years later.
Several decades after the release of Jaws (1975), Lee Fierro, who played Mrs. Kintner, walked into a seafood restaurant and noticed that the menu had an “Alex Kintner Sandwich.” She commented that she had played his mother so many years ago; the owner of the restaurant ran out to meet her, and he was none other than Jeffrey Voorhees, who had played her son. They had not seen each other since the original movie shoot.
When the jaws of death clamped over Jesus, it must have felt like all was lost; for Jesus and all of his followers, including Mary Magdalene. When Jesus rose again; it was like that great evil had never been; and suddenly the world was restored. If you believe in Jesus, one day you will be reunited with your loved ones who know him too as you too will rise from the grave.
Easter transforms us four ways: 1) by offering us hope, 2) by surprising us with joy, 3) by changing our perspective, and 4) by giving us resurrection life. At the end of the day Easter transforms us because…
Easter gives us Jesus. Jesus defeats the jaws of death on the cross. Jesus is alive and he is calling you by name. He is offering you hope and joy, a change of perspective, and eternal life. Most of all he is offering you himself. Easter transforms us because Easter gives us Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message on Facebook Live during the 2020 COVID-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown in Massachusetts. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions You and your family or friends can use these group discussion questions to talk through today’s sermon and Bible passage. Please use whatever questions you find helpful.
How does Easter give you hope? How have you felt this week leading up to Easter with everything going on in our world? What are some of the things Jesus has done for you? How is your story similar or different than Mary Magdalene’s? How do you keep holding onto faith in Christ when you can’t see him? What kind of things can God do? Would you ever imagine him bringing someone back from the dead? What does it mean, “Jesus is calling you by name”? What does that say about his knowledge of you? What would it take for you to call him by his name in a similar way? Do you believe Jesus is alive? How does your belief or disbelief impact how you live? How does the promise of one day rising again with Jesus change how you live today? How does Jesus defeating the jaws of death give you hope for what we’re going through right now? What do you think of today? How do you feel about Easter 2020 in light of Jesus’ resurrection?
End your discussion by praying for Jesus to work through the COVID-19 pandemic. Ask him to save lives, both physically and for all eternity. Pray that Jesus would use this time to further his kingdom and bring our neighbors, friends, and family to him.
Easter is a happy day. It’s the happiest day in the church calendar. But it didn’t start the way. That first Easter morning Jesus’ followers were grieving and heartbroken because the one they loved died. Our story today starts with a grieving woman, Mary Magdalene, as she stands outside Jesus’ tomb crying. She is mourning his death and that someone has stolen his body. In the gospels this word for “weep” is a bitter, loud, wailing (Matt 26:75; Mark 6:38).
When Monica and I are on vacation we spot a contemporary art museum and I always say, “Hey, we should go check that out!” And then when we do go, I always hate it. I’m like, “What is this?!” So I’m preaching on art and beauty today… Let’s pray.
I was sitting in one of my classes in seminary when a student raised his hand. I didn’t know this student very well. He was hipster; he wore a beanie to class; and I found out later he played the guitar. He was an artist. He raised his hand and when the teacher called on him he asked, “Is ugliness a result of the fall?” I have to confess I rolled my eyes and thought that was the stupidest question I had ever heard. But now… I’m not so sure. I think that was actually a pretty good question. Has the sin of Adam and Eve and all humankind distorted our vision—whether we see something as beautiful or ugly?
I hope to answer this question today as we talk about art and beauty. Today’s sermon is a break from pure COVID-19 to focus our minds on things that are good and pleasing.
Art and beauty can calm our fears and lift our spirits. In the book of Philippians, when teaching the believers how to deal with anxiety, Paul said:
Philippians 4:6a, 8b Do not be anxious about anything… (jumping down to verse 8) …whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (NIV)
It says if we’re anxious, we should think on “whatever is lovely”. In the Greek, “think about such things” is an imperative—it’s a command. We’re supposed to intentionally cultivate a habit of thinking about good things, of setting our mind on things that are true, noble, and lovely. Can’t this include art?
David Hockney is a British artist. He paints, draws, takes pictures, creates stage design, and is famous for his pop art. In 2018 he designed a stained-glass window at Westminster Abbey for the queen. He “once turned down the chance to paint The Queen because he was too busy.” He’s stuck at home like the rest of us but to encourage others he has released original paintings. One of daffodils is called “Do Remember They Can’t Cancel the Spring.” It looks simple but it’s rather quite beautiful. He drew this on his iPad.
If you’re an artist, or you love art, I hope this will encourage you to share your art or music, whatever you love with others. We could share pictures of our art in our church’s Facebook Group to encourage each other. I know we have resident artists… Finley. We’d love to see more of your work.
This should also cause us to pause and think about what we’re focusing on as we’re stuck at home. Right now everything is about, “What are you binge watching? Or “Did you catch the news?” The things we see shape how we’re feeling. Art and beauty can calm our fears and lift our spirits.
Why is that? Why do art and beauty move us in ways that medicine can’t? Because we are tapping into something transcendent, something beyond. When we create we are reflecting our Master Creator. God is the ultimate artist. All beauty and goodness reflect his goodness and beauty (Zech 9:17; James 1:17).
God is the Master Artist. I read an article about the theology of art this week that sent me back to the very first chapter of the Bible.
Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (NIV)
God is hovering over a massive watery canvas. Onto this canvas he begins to paint time and space, the universe, the stars, the planets, the heavens and the earth. He soars like a bird across the universe splashing galaxies and star clusters like paint.
God paints “the Tarantula Nebula,” a giant mass of “ionized hydrogen gas” that spits out stars. God paints “the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation” made of “gas clouds” and “dark cosmic dust.” God paints “the Sombrero galaxy, Messier 104” with its “brilliant white” and in perfect view. God paints the planet Saturn with its beautiful rings and places it only 800 million miles away. God paints the milky way and places us in it on planet earth so we can enjoy the night sky.
God has been “creating” art and beauty since the beginning. God is the Master Artist.
Art and beauty have inherent worth. Genesis one tells the story of God creating the universe, the world, and everything in it. As we go through the creation story, God creates something and then seven times it says “God saw that it was good.” The Hebrew word for good is “tov” and can mean “goodness” or “beauty.” When God creates land and vegetation and “God saw that it was good” (v10, 12) it doesn’t just mean that the creation was morally good, but that it was inherently beautiful. Creation was gorgeous, a work of art.
That tells us that there is inherent value in art and beauty even if there is no one there to see it. In the Genesis narrative humankind doesn’t arrive in creation till verse 26. In the first 25 verses of Genesis one says “God saw that it was good” six times. That means God saw that it was good before Adam or Eve or you or I arrived. Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder. I don’t mean little “b” beholder but big “B” Beholder—God himself. When God sees something and says, “that’s good”—God makes it good.
That means if you create a work of art, whether a painting, or short story, or novel, or song, or sculpture, or dance, or musical piece, or poetry, and no one sees it but you and God—that is enough. In our world we typically define how good something is by how much we can sell it for. Remember the guy who painted the daffodils on his iPad, David Hockney? One of his paintings sold for $90 million dollars. He’s not even dead yet! Defining value by how many dollars we can get for it is a very “utilitarian” way of viewing art; like art is a product. The Bible tells us God values creation and beauty in and of itself.
As Christians, we can sometimes fall prey to treating art the same way; a very utilitarian way that doesn’t really value art and beauty in and of itself. Like, it has to “say something Christian” in order for it to be good—like for us to enjoy music it has to be Christian music or for us to enjoy a movie it has to be a Christian movie. But God created a whole bunch of things (stars, land, vegetation, animals) that could not audibly speak of him. Only through their nature and beauty could they speak of God and God saw them as good (Psalm 19; Romans 1:20). Art and beauty have inherent worth.
You may have noticed this beautiful painting I have on my wall. It’s by a Russian artist named Alexander Volkov. He’s a self-taught painter who paints realistic landscapes. This painting is called The First Snowfall. It shows the changing of the seasons down along a country road. The yellow leaves haven’t fallen to the ground yet but already there’s snow. There is nothing overtly religious in this painting and yet to me it declare’s God’s beauty and the beauty of creation, which is Christian to its core. It tells me about heaven and that it’s just around the bend. This painting speaks to my soul because there is something inherently good in it. Maybe you look at this painting and it does nothing for you but you have one in your home that you bought or a family member painted or your child drew that is just beautiful. I have several of Elijah’s originals hanging in my office and they’re not for sale.
In the opening of his book Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life, Makoto Fujimura tells a story of valuing art and beauty.
As a newlywed couple, my wife and I began our journey with very little. After Judy and I got married in the summer of 1983, after college, we moved to Connecticut for Judy to pursue her master’s degree in marriage counseling. I taught at a special education school and painted at home. We had a tight budget and often had to ration our food (lots of tuna cans!) just to get through the week.
One evening I was sitting alone, waiting for Judy to come home to our small apartment, worried about how we were going to afford the rent and pay for necessities over the weekend. Our refrigerator was empty and I had no cash left.
Then Judy walked in, and she had brought home a bouquet of flowers. I got really upset.
“How could you think of buying flowers if we can’t even eat!” I remember saying, frustrated.
Judy’s reply has been etched in my heart for over thirty years now. “We need to feed our souls, too.”
Art and beauty have inherent worth. Does this mean that all art is inherently good? No it doesn’t; but it changes the way we see art.
We need to see art and beauty through God’s eyes. Genesis 1 doesn’t just say God created and “it was good” but that God created and “God saw that it was good.” In A Redemptive Theology of Artby David Covington he explains that God is the “first Beholder”. So we shouldn’t judge art by just our own preferences but by what God might see in the art. Typically, when we’re thinking about media, we ask WWJW, “What would Jesus watch?” I bet Jesus might surprise us. He ate and drank with prostitutes and tax-collectors, the social outcasts (Mark 2:15). Instead, we should ask, “How does God see this?” To help us see what God sees Covington suggests we stop asking if something is “Christian” and start asking:
“What of God’s glory remains in this? What in this does God affirm? What can I affirm with him? What does he challenge? What does he call me to challenge, in myself by repentance or in another person or in the culture broadly? How can I love God and my neighbor right here? What message does it intend as truth? What power does it practice or honor? What ethics are in view here? What must be true about God for this message to work? Where does this work borrow from God’s glory? How can a redeemed eye see this redemptively? What does God intend here?”
Another framework Covington gives is to look at art through the lens of the big story of the Bible, which is a story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. How does the piece speak to each theme? I want us to try and look at two pieces of Art through how God might want us to see them. The first piece is a little easier and the second is a little harder.
The first art piece is one of my favorites. It’s called Among the Sierra Nevada, California by Albert Bierstadt (1868). Bierstadt painted this piece to advertise the great frontier. It really is a marketing piece because this scene doesn’t exist in real life. Rather, it is a ideal blending of all very the best elements of the Sierra Nevada mountains and wildlife. In the background are snowy peaks that melt down into flowing rivers and waterfalls, cascading into a crystal clear lake where a herd of deer water and graze. As I look at this painting it reminds me of that final part of the Biblical story—restoration. God promises that one day he is going to remove all sin and brokenness and create a new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:1-4). Maybe this is just a taste of what eternity with Jesus will look like.
But what about paintings that are a little harder to understand or see their beauty? I’m going to show you another one that I asked the artist’s studio if I could include in this sermon and they gave me the go-ahead.
A year ago at my first Doctorate of Ministry classes we talked about this painting, The Hinterland, 2006 by British artist Glenn Brown. If you’re like me when you saw this painting for the first time, you probably thought it was kind of jarring. Like, what is it? Is it a person or the blob? Is it a fish? I see arms and an eye and lips and flowers. What could it possibly be? Maybe instead, we should ask, “How does God see this? How does this tell us something about his story?”
This is not a religious piece, but I think it tells us about creation, fall, redemption and restoration. If you look closely at this painting, you can see it’s very floral. There are greens, browns, yellows, blues, and reds, all colors we find in creation. There are flowers and other plants. They’re all congealed but they’re there. In this painting we see the beauty of Eden and creation but also the tragedy of the fall. We find goodness, but things are not as they were meant to be.
This painting helps us understand our own culture—which is a congealed amalgamation of beliefs and ideas. It’s like he painted pluralism—that everything is good and everything is true, but with that idea comes a loss of distinction and identity. What does this provoke in each of us? If this painting is a picture of our culture and its beliefs, do we recoil in horror or reach out in compassion like Jesus did to us?
What does this art piece tell us about restoration? As I look at it I see flowers and roses and a bright-white light near the elbow. There’s the possibility here of something more, a future hope. As Christians, this reminds us that one day God is going to come and take us and this world that’s so messy and so in need and re-create us into something gorgeous and new.
If we can retrain how we see things like art—and see them how God might see them—it might train us to see other things differently too. Maybe we’ll be able to see our relationships and friendships and needs and church differently, through God’s eyes. Maybe we’ll be able to see COVID-19 differently.
Whether the piece clearly speaks to our sensibilities or we have to look a little bit harder we try and see art and beauty through God’s eyes. Why do we do this? Because God sees us this way.
God created us to be his beautiful masterpiece. After God makes man and woman in his image it says (v27):
Genesis 1:31a God saw all that he had made, and it was very good… (NIV)
Men and women are the centerpiece of God’s creation. We are made in his image and we are his most beautiful works of art. To be made in his image means we are made to create. We find God inviting people to create works of beauty and art in the Bible. When he sets apart the people of Israel he calls Moses to build a tabernacle. The tabernacle is the tent where God’s presence would dwell. Hear this description of the master craftsmen charged with creating the tabernacle:
Exodus 31:2-5 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. (NIV)
Bezalel (BEZ-uh-lel) was a master artisan, someone who was skilled in their trade and can make something beautiful. God honored this man’s artistry and this man was able to use it serve the Lord. God invites Bezalel to participate in his art exhibition and invites us too.
The tabernacle is gone but God still has a temple. We’ve been learning about the new temple in our series in Acts. The temple is the people of God, the church, not the building but all the people who know Jesus and have the Holy Spirit inside (Acts 2:1-4; 1 Cor 6:19). We are not God but God resides in us through the Holy Spirit. We beautify God’s temple by how we live. I just read Francis Schaeffer’s Art and the Bible. Schaeffer describes our lives as a work of art.
No work of art is more important than the Christian’s own life, and every Christian is called upon to be an artist in this sense. He may have no gift of writing, no gift of composing or singing, but each man has the gift of creativity in terms of the way he lives his life. In this sense, the Christian’s life is to be an art work. The Christian’s life is to be a thing of truth and also a thing of beauty in the midst of a lost and despairing world.
God created us to be his beautiful masterpiece. But if you know anything of humankind you know that we fall short (Rom 3:23). We introduced ugliness into our world when we rejected the one who is perfectly good. That’s why we need someone from the land of beauty and God’s goodness to come and rescue us. We need someone who is perfectly made in God’s image but isn’t broken like us. We need a master craftsman, an artist, a carpenter. We need a creator to come and make us new—to make us into a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). This is how the Scriptures describe the one who came.
Colossians 1:15-17 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (NIV)
What artist is this passage talking about? Who is the one who created all things, on earth and heaven? Jesus.
Jesus, our Master Craftsman, came to make us beautiful. God himself stepped into the canvas of creation. Through Jesus God himself became a part of the painting to rescue his work of art, to restore us and make us new. Jesus offers you not just rescue from your sins if you’ll trust in him, but restoration to a brand new future and eternal life with him. God promises that he will transform us into the new heaven and the new earth. He will take us to those Sierra Nevada Mountains. Jesus, our Master Craftsman, came to make us beautiful.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message on Facebook Live during the 2020 COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic in Massachusetts. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions You and your family or friends can use these group discussion questions to talk through today’s sermon. Please use whatever questions you find helpful.
What is your favorite piece of art and why? How would you answer, “Is ugliness a result of the fall?” What do you typically use to calm your fears and anxieties? Work? Entertainment? Other people? What of these things are like those characteristics found in Philippians 4:8 and what are distractions? Do you like art? What do you like creating? How do you feel about sharing it with others? Would you ever share it with your church family? Where in creation do you recognize God to be the Master Artist? In other words, what part of creation strikes you as especially beautiful? How does God beholding creation as good before he created humankind change how we value art and beauty? How does this encourage us to create for the one who beholds all things (i.e., the Beholder)? In your own personal life, do you value and appreciate artists that are Christian, non-Christian, or a mixture of the two? Do they have to be “Christian” in order for you to feel comfortable appreciating them? If yes, why is that? Have you ever purchased art? What do you think of others when they spend money on art? Do you question them for not giving it to someone in need? Do you encourage them to feed their souls? Or do you feel some other way? How have you typically evaluated art and beauty? Do you ask, “What would Jesus watch?” or “How does God see this?” What are some other questions we can ask? How does looking through art through the big story of the Bible, creation, fall, redemption, and restoration, change the way we see art? What did you think of Among the Sierra Nevada, California in contrast with The Hinterland, 2006? How did you respond to each? Why do you think you feel and think that way? Why do you think God sees his creation of humankind as “very good” in Genesis 1? What about us gives us eternal significance and worth? Does that change how we live our lives? Why would the Master Artist dare to enter his canvas? Imagine the Son of God stepping into the canvas of creation and being born as the baby Jesus. What does that tell us about the Artist’s love for his creation? How does the story unfold? How do you feel about art and beauty now that you’ve heard this sermon and discussed these questions? Do you want to go and look at more art? Create your own? Talk about more important subjects? Why do you think you are responding this way?
End your discussion by praying for what you learned and that the Holy Spirit would help you apply it to your lives. Pray that Jesus would use it to further his beauty in our world.
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Click here to view The Hinterland, 2006 by Glenn Brown.
When Monica and I are on vacation we spot a contemporary art museum and I always say, “Hey, we should go check that out!” And then when we do go, I always hate it. I’m like, “What is this?!” So I’m preaching on art and beauty today… Let’s pray. I was sitting in one of my classes in seminary when a student raised his hand. I didn’t know this student very well. He was hipster; he wore a beanie to
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) put out a graph that’s been going around the internet. It’s called “flattening the curve” and it shows two trajectories. The first trajectory shows what will happen when people don’t take protective measures seriously—when we don’t practice social distancing and hand washing and self-quarantine. It shows a high number of cases overloading our healthcare system, which can lead to high loss of life. This curve is steep and sharp. It looks like a looming
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) put out a graph that’s been going around the internet. It’s called “flattening the curve” and it shows two trajectories. The first trajectory shows what will happen when people don’t take protective measures seriously—when we don’t practice social distancing and hand washing and self-quarantine. It shows a high number of cases overloading our healthcare system, which can lead to high loss of life. This curve is steep and sharp. It looks like a looming mountain.
The second trajectory on the CDC graph shows what will happen if we are successful in our protective measures. There will still be cases, but not as many, and hopefully our healthcare system will be able to keep up with the demand. The goal is to get to that second curve.
I am no medical expert but the CDC is reporting a rapid increase in cases. Whether the increase in cases ends up looking like first curve, the second curve, or somewhere in-between I do not know. Maybe you’re thinking, “Jonathan, I didn’t tune in today to hear more bad news. If I want that I’ll turn on the news.” Next week I’m going to preach on Art and Beauty to give us a break from all things Coronavirus. But this week I still think we need to hear how Jesus calls us to live in our current cultural moment.
Right now we are living in the shadow of a pandemic and it is scary. It’s easy to live in fear. This week as I was working I started feeling sick and I put my hand up to my forehead and it feels warm. Uh oh… I must have the Coronavirus! So I take my temperature and it’s actually less than the normal body temperature. I did that twice this week. We feel like we’re in the shadow and maybe you do too.
Jesus can sympathize with us. He understands what we’re experiencing. Yet Jesus wants us to know there is grace and goodness in the shadow because he is with us. I believe Jesus has something for us here. First I want to talk about the shadow. Second. I want to talk about the goodness and grace we find in the shadow. And third I want to talk about Jesus walking with us in the shadow. So first, what is…?
The shadow Today I’m going back to our series in Acts. The book of Acts is the history of the first church. If you look in the New Testament, in comes after the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, then Acts). In the first third of the book we hear about two disciples, Peter and John, and how they told others about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. They have the power to heal people and many are putting their faith and trust in Jesus (5,000). Still, it’s not easy. They get arrested, thrown in prison, questioned, and released. There is a looming shadow, a growing threat of persecution and suffering.
Acts 5:12-16 (NIV) The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.
The apostles are those men who knew Jesus, Peter and John and others. They are performing miracles of healing and casting out demons and the people are amazed. You would think everyone would be rushing to join them, but they’re not. Why not? Perhaps they are afraid of Peter’s power, which he just displayed in the story of Ananias and Sapphira who lied to God and died because of it (a scary story!). We are going to come back to that story soon but I think there was another reason the people were afraid to join them.
As I was studying this week I wondered why it mentions “Solomon’s Colonnade.” The colonnade was like a long meeting hall supported by columns (pillars). According to the historian Josephus, “The colonnades were all double, the supporting pillars were 37–1/2 feet high, cut from single blocks of the whitest marble, and the ceiling was paneled with cedar.” It was clearly a beautiful and amazing place.
If you’ve ever been downtown to Quincy Market and seen the massive granite pillars outside of Faneuil Hall you can imagine Solomon’s Colonnade. Actually, it was Westford’s Fletcher Granite Company that made those Quincy Market columns. They “were hauled to a landing in Chelmsford by 22 yokes of oxen, loaded onto a barge and sent into Boston.”
But why mention “Solomon’s Colonnade”? It seems like such an unimportant detail. The key to understanding is not what Solomon’s Colonnade is but where it is. A colonnade ran around the perimeter of the temple courtyard. Solomon’s Colonnade was on the east side of the temple and was like a “porch” to the temple compound. A porch is where you gather and talk and relax; but it’s not as important as the actual house. The Colonnade was nowhere near as important as the temple.
Since we’re talking about Boston imagine for a moment the Red Sox are having an amazing year (the season didn’t get delayed). They’re winning game after game and packing out Fenway Park. Ticket sales are through the roof and it looks like they’ll make it to the World Series. But in the fall a group of friends start a co-ed baseball division a couple blocks away at Clemente Field. The games really start to catch on. Everyone wants to watch these teams play. They show amazing skill, it’s free, and so they grow and grow. Pretty soon people are going to Clemente Field instead of Fenway and the Red Sox ticket sales start to drop. There are more and more empty seats because everyones over at Clemente Field having a great time. The executives at Fenway and the Mayor would take notice. Maybe they’d try to shut it down.
This is what it’s like for these early Christians. They’re performing miracles and telling others about Jesus and growing but people are afraid to join them because they are meeting in the shadow of the temple. It says the people respected them but “No one else dared join them…” The temple is the religious, political, economic, and social center of Jerusalem. It is an absolute powerhouse. If you upset the temple system with its priests and economic alliances you’re gonna pay. If the temple isn’t happy, nobody is happy.
This passage, right here, Acts 5:12-16, is a turning point in the book of Acts. Right after this the people in power at the temple begin persecuting the apostles and they seize and murder Stephen. All that was coming their way and still the Christians gathered, risking the the wrath of the temple. Why? Because…
There is goodness and grace in the shadow. God is at work in our risk. God is at work when we’re worried or anxious. God is at work in this cultural moment. We can’t see what’s coming in COVID-19. We can’t see what’s coming in the stock market. We can’t see what’s coming in our relationships with family members and friends. We can’t see what’s coming a month from now or even tomorrow or even an hour from now. With all that uncertainty life can feel quite risky. But there is goodness and grace in the shadow. Look what God does in their shadow.
Acts 5:14 (NIV) Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.
Here’s what this doesn’t say. It doesn’t say that God made sure nothing bad was going to happen to the Christians. It doesn’t say that they wouldn’t lose their money or financial security. It doesn’t say they wouldn’t lose their social standing or access to the temple. It doesn’t say they knew they’d live or be okay. It doesn’t say that all of their friends and family will be safe. It doesn’t say any of these things.
Here’s what this does say. It says that even though some people were afraid some saw the truth and came to Jesus. It says that despite the looming threat of the temple powers people realized Jesus is worth more than anything this world has to offer. It says that people were believing and becoming Christians despite the risk. It says there is goodness and grace in the shadow.
Here’s what this doesn’t say about our shadow. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know if we’ll all be okay or if those we love will make it through. We don’t know and that creates feelings of deep uncertainty and with uncertainty comes fear and anxiety.
Here’s what this does say about our shadow. We can count on Jesus no matter what. If you believe in the Lord, which means if you believe Jesus is God, and place your whole trust in him, your whole life in his hands, you’ll be okay. You’ll be okay not as the world defines it but as God defines it (John 16:33). God promises to never leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5). God promises to use all things, even this, for our good (Rom 8:28). God promises that one day he’ll wipe away every tear and death will be no more (Rev 21:1-4). There is goodness and grace in our shadow.
The people saw their belief in Jesus and despite the risk some still come.
Acts 5:15-16 (NIV) As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.
When some dared to experienced God’s goodness and grace in the shadow, it drew others out. It was a ripple in a pond. Their faith in Christ brought others to faith in Christ. When others saw God’s power they stopped being afraid. They heard how these Christians were performing miracles and they dared to bring out their sick so that “at least Peter’s shadow might fall on them…” There was a lot of superstition around shadows back then. A shadow falling on you could benefit you or harm you depending on whose shadow it was. Peter pan’s fun-loving mischievous shadow wasn’t a thing.
This wasn’t the correct way to get healed; but still God healed them. “…all of them were healed…” This tells us we don’t have to have everything figured out. We don’t have to have perfect faith. We don’t need to be perfect. We need to believe Jesus is our Lord and Savior and he’ll take care of the rest. Do you think the people who were sick and tormented by evil spirits had it all figured out? No! They were probably really confused and delusional and maybe even spiritually hostile to Jesus, but still Jesus healed them. God takes broken people and mends them up. There is goodness and grace in the shadow.
That goodness and grace can look like actual physical healing, if we ask it and the Lord wills it. That goodness and grace can look like demons fleeing—true spiritual healing. God’s goodness and grace will look different in each of our situations but it will also look the same because it will look like Jesus.
Jesus is in the shadow with us. There’s this other time Jesus was in Jerusalem for a festival and he was actually walking through Solomon’s Colonnade (John 10:22-23). The people were asking him if he is the Messiah, which mean’s God’s special chosen king (John 10:24). Instead of answering their question he talks about those who believe in him.
John 10:28-29 (NIV) 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
If you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior nothing can snatch you out of his hands. Jesus is in the shadow with us, holding us in his hands. He and his Heavenly Father hold us and we are secure. How can we know we are secure? How can we know we’re going to make it through, not necessarily in this life but to eternal life with Jesus and our Heavenly Father?
Because. We have a big brother who walked through the shadow before us. The shadow he experienced is much darker and deadlier than COVID-19.
Luke 23:44-46 (NIV) 44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
At the cross Jesus experienced not just the shadow of God’s judgment on sin but God’s judgment itself. Jesus didn’t deserve God’s judgment. He never did anything wrong and always obeyed God. But he willingly took the judgment upon himself.
There is a much more serious threat than COVID-19—eternity without God. If we put our faith and trust in Jesus, God spares us. We still suffer in this life and one day we’ll die but that’s like the shadow of a far greater consequence we never have to taste if we know Jesus. We experience the shadow of God’s judgment because Jesus experienced the reality. I read this and think it fits perfectly:
In Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering, Tim Keller tells the story of a famous preacher at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia in the first half of the twentieth century. His name was Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse, and his wife died when their daughter was still young. He wanted to come up with a good illustration to explain to his young daughter what had happened to his wife, her mother. One day as he was in the car with his daughter, a huge truck passed by them, and the shadow of the truck swept over the car. Dr. Barnhouse asked the little girl, “If you were to get hit by the truck, would you prefer that you get hit by the truck itself, or get hit by the shadow of the truck?”
She answered, “Oh daddy! The shadow of the truck rather than the truck itself because it won’t hurt as much.”
He responded along these lines: “That’s exactly what happened to your mother. The shadow of the truck of the judgment of death came over your mother, but she is still alive. She’s actually more alive than we are. She’s in the presence of God, and we will see her someday. You need to understand that only the shadow of the judgment of death went over her, but the truck of the judgment of death crushed Jesus. The crushing judgment of the truck ran over Jesus so only the shadow will go over us, your mother, and all who place their faith in him” (Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, page 317). – Quoted from Micah For You: Acting Justly, Loving Mercy by Stephen Um
Jesus experienced the reality so we experience the shadow. Jesus experienced death on the cross so that even if we taste pain and suffering in this life one day we will experience eternal life with him. There is goodness and grace in the shadow because Jesus is in the shadow with us.
Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV) 24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message on Facebook Live during the 2020 COVID-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown in Massachusetts. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions You and your family or friends can use these group discussion questions to talk through today’s sermon and Bible passage. Please use whatever questions you find helpful.
How are you feeling about everything going on with COVID-19 (coronavirus)? Are you feeling fine or anxious or somewhere in-between? How’s your heart? What type of shadow did the first believers face as they met in Solomon’s Colonnade? Why is their meeting place significant? What do you think of the idea that “There is goodness and grace in the shadow”? How do we see this in the early church’s activity and how might we see it today? God healed the people through Peter and even his shadow? Instead of turning away because of their superstition, God heals them. Why do you think God does this? What does it teach us about him? Do you think superstitious practices are okay today? Remember the principle that just because something is descriptive in Acts doesn’t make it prescriptive. Read John 10:27-29. Why can we as followers of Jesus know we are safe and secure in his hands? Do you feel safe and secure or not so much? Describe your confidence or lack thereof? What does it mean for Jesus to bear God’s judgment? What does it mean for him to bear the reality and us to only taste the shadow? How does the idea that Jesus walks through the shadow with us make you feel? How does it make you think differently about what we are going through as a culture and what you might be going through personally?
End your discussion by praying for what you learned and that the Holy Spirit would help you apply it to your life. Pray that Jesus would use it to further his kingdom and bring our neighbors, friends, and family to him.
Church Service: You can watch the full church service on Facebook or the sermon only on YouTube.
A plague hit Rome from 249 to 262 AD. This plague lasted 13 years. Our pandemic has been a week and a half and we’re already going crazy. Can you imagine what that was like? Historians have studied this plague and it was bad, real bad. I don’t want to describe it to you but if you look up the Plague of Cyprian you can read all the details. It killed about 5,000 people a day. The city of Alexandria Egypt declined from 500,000 to 190,000. Church records say it was like Ebola.
There were Christians but this plague didn’t spare them. The leader of the church at this time, Dionysius, wrote how Christians loved others at steep cost to themselves..
Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead.
They loved others so much they died in their place. Why did they do this? What could possibly motivate them to love others self-sacrificially? We have doctors and nurses today. We have modern medical systems with sterile environments and face masks and aprons and toilet paper (or at least we did). We have all sorts of ways to stay safe. They had none of that; but they had Jesus and Jesus had them. This is the key to why they weren’t afraid and we don’t have to be afraid today.
Jesus is over all plagues. Jesus is reigning and ruling over every pandemic, every disease, every virus, and every plague. These early Christians knew that nothing falls outside of the power and authority of Christ Jesus. Whether they lived or died they were secure in him. I want to show you a chapter of the Bible that highlight Jesus’ power over illness. I’m going to start at the beginning of the chapter in verse one.
Matthew 8:1-3 (NIV) When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
A leper comes up to Jesus and wants to be healed. He says, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” In other words, “Jesus, if you want to heal my horrible skin disease, it will happen.” You know what Jesus did? Jesus willed it! He reached out his hand, touched him, and said, “I am willing, be clean!” It says “Immediately” the man was cleansed. It wasn’t a day or a week or a month. This terrible disease left him immediately. Jesus had power over this man’s leprosy. There’s a lesson for us in this.
Nothing is going to happen outside of Jesus’ will so we don’t need to be afraid. In a fallen world it’s normal to feel afraid or anxious; it’s normal but it’s not required if you know Jesus. If we understand that nothing happens apart from Jesus’ will, even something we don’t understand like COVID-19, then it gives us hope and confidence that everything is going to be okay. I don’t know why Jesus allows pandemics to happen, but I do know that when Christians have followed the way of Jesus during plagues, and love others at cost to themselves, Christianity has grown and flourished.
Pandemics have been one of the key ways Christianity has spread. I don’t think you’re going to find this in any church-growth book. 5 Steps to Growing Your Church. “#1. Pray for a pandemic.” It’s confusing but it’s also reassuring that Jesus has everything under control and we can trust he knows what he’s doing. Nothing is going to happen outside of Jesus’ will so we don’t need to be afraid.
I read one blog post from a father posted on Wednesday, March 11th from a rural community in Austria. He shared how the local health department called him to tell him one of his fourteen-year-old son’s classmates had a confirmed case of COVID-19 and that they had to quarantine him for two weeks. Can you imagine getting that phone call? When he and his wife told their son he said, “Mom, Dad, we’re going to pray this one out, and everything is going to be okay.” When you know that nothing is going to happen outside of Jesus’ will, it gives you peace.
Jesus is Lord in sickness and in health. Right after the leper a centurion, a command of 100 Roman soldiers, comes to Jesus asking him to heal his servant (Luke 7:1-10). Jesus asks him if he wants him to come and heal him but the Centurion says:
Matthew 8:8b-10, 13 (NIV) 8…“Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. …
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
The centurion doesn’t address Jesus by his name, but calls him, “Lord”—“kyrios.” That’s how you would address your master, a sovereign king, or even deity, God himself. But are masters or kings the Lord of sickness and death? No, only God is. He’s saying, “Jesus is Lord of sickness and health—Jesus is God.”
Do you believe Jesus is Lord and God? If you don’t, maybe you’re wandering through this pandemic fearful of what’s going to happen. But what if you could trust that Jesus is God and is going to work everything out for your good? The Bible actually tells us that if you love God, God is going to use everything for your good (Rom 8:28), even being stuck at home, loss of income, sickness, even death.
In 1854 there was a “major cholera outbreak” in London where the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon served as pastor. He was visiting the sick and doing funerals every day. He wrote of one young woman who was dying; but did so trusting Jesus.
I went home, and was soon called away again; that time, to see a young woman. She also was in the last extremity, but it was a fair, fair sight. She was singing—though she knew she was dying—and talking to those round about her, telling her brothers and sisters to follow her to heaven, bidding goodbye to her father, and all the while smiling as if it had been her marriage day. She was happy and blessed.
That does not make sense unless you know Jesus is Lord in sickness and in health and nothing is going to happen outside of his will. The only way to have peaceunderplague is to know Jesus is over plague.
I want to put an idea in your head. Maybe Jesus is allowing this pandemic to mess up your life to get your attention, to slow us all down. When else would you stop and listen and think of spiritual things?
Maybe Jesus is using this pandemic to touch your heart. The story of the leper and the Centurion’s servant lead up to today’s story. Jesus comes into one of his disciple’s home, Peter’s, and he touches his mother-in-law who is sick and heals her. I don’t want to miss that he has touched something much deeper. He hasn’t just made her body well. He’s made her soul well.
Matthew 8:14-15 (NIV) 14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
Even though she’s feverish, and there was some belief that the fever itself was a disease and so people didn’t touch feverish people, Jesus touches her. Can you imagine if you got sick with COVID-19 and Jesus comes to visit you and he reaches out to touch you without gloves? If you had enough strength, you’d probably jerk away. Before this woman can do that he touches her hand. As he touches her hand he somehow touches her heart. She gets up and begins to do what she does best—love Jesus by serving him, making him a meal, getting him something to drink. Can we be open to the possibility that Jesus wants to use this pandemic to open up our hearts—to tell us that we can trust in him no matter what happens?
During the Cholera outbreak a man who had previously mocked Spurgeon for his faith in Christ called upon him at 3:00am in the morning to come and visit him because he was dying. Something about sickness made this man realize he needed something more, something beyond this life, someone “over” this life. I wish I could tell you that that man made it, but he didn’t. By the time Spurgeon got to him his mind was gone. His story doesn’t have to be ours. We can find eternal safety with Jesus today.
Jesus is Lord of the physical and the spiritual. Look at the absolute power Jesus displays as he heals people and casts out demons.
Matthew 8:16 (NIV) When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.
Maybe you’re thinking, “I’m a spiritual person but I’m not interested in religion.” I’m not interested in religion either! I’m interested in knowing the God who can cast out demons. I’m interested in Christ Jesus who is Lord of all things physical and all things spiritual. I’m interested in the person who if he wants, can heal me of my sickness or can work through my sickness to do something even greater. I’m interested in Jesus who has the power to speak a word and demons flee.
Jesus is over all plagues but there’s one plague he’s most interested in healing.
Jesus came to heal your plague. Jesus willingly bore our sin, the ways we disobey God and break his creation and act like a virus in our world. The ways we hurt each other and take advantage of each other—Jesus came to bear those sins.
Matthew 8:17 (NIV) 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
“He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
Jesus came to heal disease but that’s not all he came to do. The author of our gospel, Matthew, quotes a passage in the Old Testament that speaks of a coming savior. It calls this coming savior the Suffering Servant. It says he came to bear our pain, our suffering, and our iniquities, our sins:
Isaiah 53:4-5 (NIV) 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
The prophet Isaiah isn’t just talking about our physical wounds, but our spiritual wounds. Those deep wounds in our hearts that only Jesus can touch and heal. Jesus does physical acts of healing because he cares about us but also to prove that he can forgive our sins and heal our hearts. Jesus loves you enough to bear your plague on the cross. My sin is so bad the only cure is death. You don’t play with COVID-19. You kill it. That act of death on the cross is what gives us life, eternal life in Jesus.
Jesus is over all plagues because he came under our plague. This is why we who know Christ go and sacrificially love our neighbor at risk to ourselves. We are secure in Christ (John 10:28-29).
We come under because he is over. Our neighbors need us right now. They’re scared. They’re terrified. They don’t know what they’re going to do without Tom Brady… But isn’t it true that Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and it changed her life and now she wants to serve others?
In 1527 the black plague struck Wittenberg Germany where the theologian Martin Luther lived with his family. His wife Katharine was pregnant with their second child. Instead of fleeing, he wrote a why a believer should stay and help others. Martin Luther says:
Yes, no one should dare leave his neighbor unless there are others who will take care of the sick in their stead and nurse them. In such cases we must respect the word of Christ, “I was sick and you did not visit me …” [Matt. 25:41–46]. According to this passage we are bound to each other in such a way that no one may forsake the other in his distress but is obliged to assist and help him as he himself would like to be helped.
But if you think I’m suggesting we run around good health practices, I’m not suggesting that at all. In that same letter Luther encourages his people to protect each other.
I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely…
As Christians, we show we love our coworkers, neighbors, classmates, and complete strangers by practicing good health practices, social distancing, washing our hands, and self-quarantine. We also show the love of Christ by being willing to risk ourselves for those in need. Maybe that looks like a coworker who comes down with COVID-19 and you drop a meal off at their door. Maybe that looks like a neighbor who get’s so sick they can’t watch their kids so you take them in. Maybe that looks like giving your extra toilet paper to a complete stranger on Facebook.
Maybe the Lord won’t ask you to risk that but he’s asking you to risk something. You can risk your time by calling or texting friends, neighbors, and church members to check in on them. You can risk your paycheck to help cover those in need. I know one person who is giving her work hours to coworkers because they need it more. How might you wisely risk yourself for others? Why not just hole-up and shut out the world until this whole thing is over? Luther has one more word for us:
If Christ shed his blood for me and died for me, why should I not expose myself to some small dangers for his sake and disregard this feeble plague? If you can terrorize, Christ can strengthen me. If you can kill, Christ can give life. If you have poison in your fangs, Christ has far greater medicine.
Martin Luther really believed this and it cost him something. He lost people he knew and loved. Jesus told us (c.f., 1 John 3:16):
John 15:13 (NIV) Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Christ is over COVID-19 and all things, all pandemics, all sickness, all disease, all sin, all brokenness. Before he was over he brought himself under. He died to give us eternal life. He sacrificed himself to rescue us. Now we go and do likewise. We come under because he is over.
Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV) 24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message on Facebook Live during the 2020 COVID-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown in Massachusetts. You can access the Order of Worship here. You can also download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions You and your family or friends can use these group discussion questions to talk through today’s sermon and Bible passage. Please use whatever questions you find helpful.
What did you find surprising about the way Christians have responded to plagues throughout church history? What does it mean that “Christ is over” all things, including plagues? How do you feel about that? Does it create mistrust or more trust in you? Why doesn’t Jesus heal everyone, all sicknesses and all diseases? What does the leper’s request teach us about praying for healing? “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” (Matt 8:2) Why do you think the church has experienced growth during times of plague and suffering? What about their actions gave their witness power? Do you believe Jesus is God? How might his healing of the leper and the centurion’s servant and Peter’s mother-in-law give credibility to our beliefs? Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (NIV) How can this verse encourage us in times of crisis? How might Jesus be using the Coronavirus (COVID-19) to get ahold of your heart? What deep part of your heart do you need Jesus to touch and heal? Matthew 8:16 tells us Jesus can cast out demons at the same time it tells us Jesus healed many who were sick. Is there a connection between the spiritual and physical? How much clarity can we have when making these types of connections? Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12. This passage is about the Suffering Servant and was written around 700 years before the birth of Jesus. Why do you think the Gospel of Matthew quotes Isaiah 53:4? How does the broader passage connect to Jesus? What does it mean for you to follow the way of Jesus during this COVID-19 pandemic? How can you love and care for your neighbor by not endangering them but also risk your time, energy, and maybe even yourself for the good of others? What does that tension look like?
End your discussion by praying for those effected by this pandemic. Pray that Jesus would use this time of crisis to further his kingdom in our communities, friends, and families.
A plague hit Rome from 249 to 262 AD. This plague lasted 13 years. Our pandemic has been a week and a half and we’re already going crazy. Can you imagine what that was like? Historians have studied this plague and it was bad, real bad. I don’t want to describe it to you but if you look up the Plague of Cyprian you can read all the details. It killed about 5,000 people a day. The city of Alexandria
Mark Pender preached a sermon on good intentions and how we need to be accountable to others and know Scripture.
Mark Pender preached a sermon on good intentions and how we need to be accountable to others and know Scripture.
Every church has a culture, no matter how big or how small. Our culture is who we are and how we do things. Some might call it our “ethos”—the character of our church community.
Some churches have a culture of excellence. They have great preachers and their worship teams are cutting edge. Some churches have a culture of evangelism. They’re constantly getting out into their towns and communities and sharing the love of Jesus with others. Some churches have a missions culture. They really care about their missionaries and are constantly sending missionaries to the uttermost parts of the earth. Some churches have an invitational culture. Those who go to the church love to invite their friends. Some churches have a service culture. They’re always getting out into their neighborhood to serve and care for the least of these. Some churches have a culture of fellowship. They love spending time with each other and feel like one big family. Some churches have a welcoming culture. People feel really warm and welcomed when they come into the church.
There are lots of different cultures a church can have. Today I want to ask this question:
What does a culture of encouragement look like?
If I were to stop and ask someone who has visited our church recently, what our culture is like, what would it take for them to say, “That church is a really encouraging place”? Today I want to cast a vision of what a culture of encouragement could look like. Thankfully, our text today (Acts 4:32-37) casts that vision.
We’re given another snapshot, a Polaroid picture, of the first church in Jerusalem. It sounds a lot like what we read right after Pentecost (Acts 2:42-37). It highlights the way the community is encouraging one another in practical ways. It helps us define what a culture of encouragement can look like.
A culture of encouragement is defined by: Let’s read the first half of Acts 4:32, “All the believers were one in heart and mind…” (NIV) All the believers have grown to about 5,000 men, not including women and children (Acts 4:4). All of them are sharing “one heart and mind.” The Greek says “one heart and one soul.” (NA28) One commentary I read says this means “real friendship.” A culture of encouragement is defined by:
1) Friendship (v32) We care about each other. This is a big church. Can you imagine a church of 5,000 people all caring about each other? I imagine some of them must have lived in the outlying villages and towns in Judea and yet they are all marked by an atmosphere of friendship.
A culture of encouragement begins with friendship. You have to know what’s going on in each other’s lives if you want to encourage each other. Otherwise we’re just motivational speakers. Love is spelled “T.I.M.E.”—time. If we want to create a culture of encouragement we need to spend time together.
We as a church don’t spend a lot of time with each other during the week, especially during the day. Understandably so because we’re all busy working or parenting. We come together on Sundays and then we go our separate ways. The 20 minutes of fellowship after the church service doesn’t give us much time to go deep. The author and Christian counselor Larry Crabb once said, “I heard two men talking in a public restroom: ‘I saw a great movie this weekend,’ said one. ‘Me too,’ replied the other. Then they left.” “How was your week?” “Good. How was your week?” Good.” “See you next Sunday.”
There might be a program here or there we could create to help cultivate friendships, but maybe this could happen a little more naturally. Remember a couple weeks ago when I challenged us to invite a family or person over to your home for dinner (or out to dinner) that you’d never had over before? Here’s an opportunity. You can do it! A culture of encouragement is defined by friendship and by…
2) Generosity (v32-35) Acts 4:32b says, “No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” Then if you skip to the second half of verse 33, “…And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.” (NIV) (c.f. Acts 2:42-45)
The believers are marked by generosity and compassion for the needy members of their church family. When you grow to 5,000+ people, you’re going to add those who have money and those who do not. Those who had willingly helped the have nots, even at cost to themselves.
One commentary I read said that the middle-class was about 10% of the people, and not all of them owned houses, and the upper class was about 4-7% of the people. That means maybe 14-17% of people in Jerusalem owned homes, not many. Of our 88 members and attenders at Cornerstone, it would mean only about 15 of us own homes, and that’s not distinguishing between adults and children. Toben owns one of these homes. She’s a land baron. Whether or not they were poor, it was costly for people to sell their homes.
One of the most encouraging things to see is when one person gives generously to another person in need. That’s why we have a benevolence fund here at Cornerstone, so we as a church body can donate to a fund and the Deacons can give it to those in need within our church body. I’m always encouraged when I hear how our benevolence fund is being used to help others. I pray that if the needs grew our generosity would grow with it—even at the cost of us having to sell some of our stuff to care for each other.
What if you don’t have money to give? You can still be an encouragement. The Visual Guide to Acts says, “If you are rich in something, be generous with it” like “friendship” or hospitality” or “property” or “time” or “skills.” Whatever you can be generous with is what you can use to encourage others. Hebrews reminds us the principal is encouragement; whether with our money or something else.
Hebrews 10:24 (NIV) And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
A couple months ago one of the women participating in our Ockenga Fellows Program got in a really bad car accident. Her car flipped and she spent about a month in the hospital and is now home trying to rest and recover. One of our cohort mentors called her and asked if there was anything he could do to help and she asked him to send her some of his sermons. He did and she said she listened to them all in one day. I was challenged by that to do something nice for her as well, so I bought her takeout. When we spoke on the phone I asked her if there was anything else I could do. I was hoping she wanted me to send sermons too but she didn’t ask for those… Nevertheless, my mentor’s example of generosity and encouragement inspired me to do something similar.
I know Matthew 6:3 says, “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,” which is why sometimes I think we don’t like telling each other what good things God has done through us. But sometimes I think we miss out on the opportunity to encourage each other. “Look at what God did (through me)!” “That’s awesome! I want to do something like that too.” A culture of encouragement is defined by 1) friendship, 2) generosity and by 3)…
3) Hope (v33) This isn’t just any kind of hope. This is hope rooted in the resurrection—this is resurrection hope. The first half of Acts 4:33 says, “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” (NIV) The Apostles really viewed it as their job to tell others about the resurrection (Acts 1:22). They preach about the resurrection over and over again (Acts 2:31; 4:2, 33).
If we really believe in the resurrection, it changes things, doesn’t it? The resurrection is the truth, not just the idea, the truth that Jesus died and God raised him back to life three days later. There’s a second part to it. If we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus, God promises one day he’ll give each of us resurrection too. That’s right, God will raise you from the dead to a new and eternal life.
My friend Joe is gifted in encouragement. We got breakfast this week at the best breakfast place around, Cracker Barrel, and he reminded me of how the resurrection of Jesus ties into the visions God gives us. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, he can work through us to do great things. That great thing might be singing on the worship team, going out of your way to help your neighbor after work, or helping found a nonprofit that will reach millions of people. Our God can bring life out of death. He can do anything.
When we truly believe the resurrection as a church community, it should permeate our church like an aromatic perfume. Can people “smell the resurrection” on our hearts as we believe it and talk about it? We have so much to be hopeful about and to encourage one another with. You ever heard the catch-phrase, “You can do it!” Well our version is—“Jesus lives! You can do it!” A culture of encouragement is defined by 1) friendship, 2) generosity, 3) hope and by…
4) People (v36-37) A culture of encouragement produces people of encouragement. Or is it the other way around? Encouraging people produce a culture of encouragement. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Encouragement starts with flesh and blood people encouraging each other, but pretty soon it can create a church ethos characterized by encouragement.
Let’s read about one of those people who helps cultivate a culture of encouragement. Acts 4:36-37 (NIV) says, “36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
There’s a man named Joseph who is a Levite. Levites don’t typically own land. The Old Testament law forbid it (Num 18:20; Deut 10:9) but for whatever reason this man does, perhaps because he was raised on the non-Jewish island of Cyprus. Joseph is such an encourager the apostles rename him “Barnabas (which means ‘son of encouragement’)”. If we look at all the places we hear about Barnabas in Acts we see he really is defined by encouragement. Barnabas is:
A friend – Barnabas sticks up for Saul (Paul) after his conversion when the disciples are afraid of him. He tells them how Saul saw Jesus and preached in Jesus’ name (Acts 9:26-27). Generous – Right here Barnabas sells a field and gives it to the Apostles (Acts 4:36-37). He’s generous. Hopeful – He encourages the whole church to keep their hearts set on Jesus (Acts 11:23-26). People – He sees what God can do through others even when others can’t. Later in Acts when Paul get’s frustrated with John Mark for bailing on him and Barnabas, Barnabas gives John Mark a second chance when no one else will. He’s a true friend (Acts 15:36-39).
Barnabas lives out the call God wants to challenge each one of us with today.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV) Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Jesus calls us to encourage one other, to be Barnabases to each other, just as we already are, but even more so. A church culture that is encouraging is full of people who are encouraging, not just at church, but this time tomorrow when we’re at work or school. You can create a culture of encouragement there too. Your frontline will know you as the Christian who encourages. Not a bad way to be known.
A culture of encouragement is defined by 1) friendship, 2) generosity, 3) hope and 4) people. I want to return to our opening question,“What does a culture of encouragement look like?” and I want to rephrase it to, “What can a culture of encouragement look like at Cornerstone?”
It looks like us grabbing breakfast with each other before work or eating lunch together on break. It looks like us inviting each other into our homes to play games and eat meals. It looks like us doing fun outing together and getting to know what’s really going on in each other’s lives. It looks like slipping an envelope with cash in it to a family when their car breaks down or giving to the benevolence fun so the Deacons can write a check.
A culture of encouragement looks like us hosting a church-wide yard sale so we can send kids to France or pay for a family’s medical bills. It looks like us all having hope, hope for the future, hope for our ministry, hope for Westford, hope for our families, and hope in what Jesus can do because if he can rise from the dead he can do anything.
Most of all a culture of encouragement looks like people. It looks like you and me going out of our way to tell each other that we can do it—whatever God is sending us to to—because God is at work. It looks like believing in each other’s giftings and callings and speaking “words of life” to each other. It looks like us caring our culture of encouragement outside and onto our frontlines and the places we’re at every day.
I believe we have a culture of encouragement already but that God isn’t done with us yet. I pray he will make us more and more encouraging. I want to be a part of what we’re going to become. A culture of encouragement is defined by 1) friendship, 2) generosity, 3) hope and 4) people.
Benediction (blessing) – 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV) Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions: Enjoy some questions to talk through with your small group, Bible study, or Sunday school:
What would it take for an outsider to define your church as a “really encouraging place”? What do you think a culture of encouragement looks like? Have you found it to be easy, difficult, or somewhere in-between to form real friendships at your church? What’s one step you can take to develop real friendship in your church community? If “love” is spelled “T.I.M.E.”, what do you love? What do you spend the most time with? Share a story of how someone else’s generosity encouraged you. Have you had the chance to be generous too? Share a time when you tried to be generous to encourage the group. What is “resurrection hope” and why does it matter for creating an encouraging community? Does a culture of encouragement produce people of encouragement or do encouraging people produce a culture of encouragement? How was Barnabas encouraging in our passage and throughout Acts? What can we learn from him? What it look like for you to create a culture of encouragement at your workplace or your school, wherever you spend most of your time, your frontline (licc.org)? Let’s take some time to encourage each other in our small group. Go around the group and say an encouraging thing about each member. Try to keep it brief but meaningful.
End by asking our Heavenly Father to help us foster cultures of encouragement in our churches and where we spend time with those who don’t yet know Jesus.
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Every church has a culture, no matter how big or how small. Our culture is who we are and how we do things. Some might call it our “ethos”—the character of our church community. Some churches have a culture of excellence. They have great preachers and their worship teams are cutting edge. Some churches have a culture of evangelism. They’re constantly getting out into their towns and communities and sharing the love of Jesus with others. Some churches have a
I want to read you a quote from one pastor’s last sermon. He said… Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He has allowed me to
I want to read you a quote from one pastor’s last sermon. He said…
Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He has allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing anything. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Those words are from Martin Luther King Jr’s last sermon. He was reflecting on a bomb threat he’d received earlier that day. The next day he was assassinated. King was called by God to a certain task, to give himself to the cause of the poor, the oppressed, and people of color. This was the mission and it cost him everything.
If someone threatened your life wouldn’t you be afraid? I would be, but he wasn’t. Why? Because, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” King understood what you and I need to know if we’re going to serve God in any capacity, if we’re going to tell others about him, if we’re going to be bold for Jesus, and that’s this…
Our doing for God must come from a deep knowing of God. MLK knew Jesus and that empowered his doing for Jesus. It gave him courage and boldness in the face of stiff opposition to keep going and to keep moving. The same is true for you and me. Our doing for God must come from a deep knowing of God. Peter and John are two men whose doing for God comes out of a deep knowing of God. They encounter threats and opposition but it doesn’t phase them. Yes Jesus calls them to go and make disciples in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) but they do so with a deep knowledge of who God is.
The day before the story from today’s text when they were walking into the temple Peter and John encountered a man born crippled. He’d been that way for 40 years and God laid it on their hearts to call upon his power and heal him. They did and he got up and started shouting about what God had just done (Acts 3:1-9). The crowds come running and Peter preaches a sermon that leads 5,000 men to faith in Jesus Christ. But this makes the political and religious leaders in charge angry. The temple guard throws them in jail but the next day they’re forced to release them because the people in Jerusalem love them (Acts 4:16). They command Peter and John to stop preaching Jesus but they refuse and are let go.
If I were them I think I would have gone home and had a good long cry. I would have complained loudly and hid in my house and stayed off social media because I didn’t want to hear what people were saying.
Peter and John don’t do this. Instead they go find the other Christian believers and tell them everything that happened (v23). When those Christian believers hear what happened they don’t go running and hide away. Instead they have a prayer meeting where all together they pray to God for boldness to keep sharing. If we look closely at what they pray we’ll see that our doing for God must come from a deep knowing of God.
This was something we read and reflected on for my Doctorate of Ministry (D.Min) classes last week. I have to admit I am convicted. My doing for God often comes before my being with God (Scazzero). I tick off multiple to-dos with little thought of God and without inviting him into my day. That’s idolatry. I want to confess it and I want God to change me. The book Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts says lists the first mistake, “Neglecting the Great Commandment in Pursuit of the Great Commission.” In other words, making disciples for Jesus before loving Jesus himself. I don’t want to do that anymore, and if there’s any part of you that knows you’ve been “doing for God” more than seeking a relationship with God I invite you to repent with me and ask God to change you too. Our doing for God must come from a deep knowing of God. So what do we need to know of God?
We need to know God’s sovereignty and creative power. (v24) When faced with opposition and persecution the believers don’t pray to an abstract idea of God floating up in the sky. They pray to the “Sovereign Lord.” In the Greek this is the word “despotes,” which is where we get our English word “despot.” Today, despot means tyrant. Despot makes us think of Stalin, Hitler, and Mao. In the Bible this word has no negative connotations and speaks of someone who has the right to command authority, and in God’s case, absolute authority.
In our parenting community group this week the session was called “You’re in Charge.” The author of Shepherding a Child’s Heart, Tedd Tripp, told us parents aren’t in charge of our children because we’re bigger or older than them. We’re in charge because God has given us that authority. Some parents use God’s authority like tyrants and others use it to tenderly love and lead their children. But whose in charge of us? God is. That gives us joy because he’s good. When the going get’s tough, we know whose really in charge.
Verse 25 calls King David God’s servant. If you know King David’s story, it wasn’t easy. Yes, he defeated Goliath but later in life his son tries to kill him. Yet God was still in charge. Verses 27 and 30 call Jesus God’s holy servant. Jesus is God’s servant who feeds the 5,000 but also dies on a cross. God is in charge, using it for good. And in verse 29 those praying call Peter and John and themselves God’s servants. Those praying are suffering persecution and some will die for Christ (Acts 8:1). God’s still in charge, working good.
When the going get’s tough we need to know that God is the one really in charge. They pray, “Sovereign Lord… you made the heavens and the sea, and everything in them.” Louie Giglio preached a sermon on the size of our earth in comparison to our sun and the biggest stars in the universe. He says, “If Earth were the size of a golf ball, the Sun would be fifteen feet in diameter.” You can fit almost a million earths inside the sun. But there’s a red supergiant star called Betelgeuse that if it were located in the same place as the sun its surface would engulf the orbit of Mars. It takes about three days to get from earth to the moon. It takes 7-8 months to get to mars. Imagine if that were all a star. That’s Betelgeuse and our God made it.
When we know God’s sovereignty and creative power, it puts everything in perspective. Even on my best most productive day, I’m nothing in comparison to God. And even on my worst day of suffering and hardship, God is more than enough. It’s not simply a knowing about it’s a true knowing from the heart. Our doing for God must come from a deep knowing of God.
We need to know God’s anointed one overcomes. (v25-27) As they pray they call to mind the truths of Psalm 2, a Messianic Psalm about God’s anointed one. “Anointed one” is “Messiah” in Hebrew and “Christ” in Greek. Quoting David the believers pray:
“‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one. (NIV)
If we were to turn to Psalm 2 we would find a Psalm that declares how big God is and how he laughs at his earthly enemies (Psalm 2:4). The nations and the kings of the earth try to stop God’s anointed one, the Messiah, but they fail. The early Christians are identified the kings of the earth as Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and people of Israel who who conspired against Jesus, God’s anointed.
Although the kings of the earth do their best to stop Jesus, even putting him to death on the cross, they fail. Jesus rises from the grave and God calls all the kings of the earth to serve him or face destruction (Psalm 2:10-12). And yet Psalm 2 ends with an offer of hope, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” This presents us with a choice. We can either oppose king Jesus and face ruin or find our refuge in him through repentance and faith. Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17). They trusted Jesus. Will you? Our doing for God must come from a deep knowing of God. We need to know God’s anointed overcomes.
Think about your own life for a moment. Is there anything that just feels too big for God to handle? If Jesus can handle the cross he can handle your situation, no matter how difficult. God has laid out unstoppable plans through Christ Jesus. This brings us to our next knowing…
We need to know God turns evil into his good plans. (v28) Speaking of Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles and Jews the believers pray in verse 28, “They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” (NIV) The ESV talks of God predestining what takes place. “Predestination” is not a word we use very often. It means “God is in charge” of everything that happens. Nothing takes him by surprise. He ordains it all. That means he says, “This will be”—what we see as good or bad God has decided would take place.
That means we’re not responsible for our sins, right? If God ordains everything than they’re his fault! It’s like we’re playing Monopoly and you just drew a “get out of jail free” card. But Peter says that’s not true.
Acts 2:23 (NIV) This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
Even though it was God’s plan for Jesus to die on the cross those Peter were preaching too were still responsible. For us that means that even though God is sovereign we’re also accountable for our sin. We stand before God condemned for our sin unless Jesus stands in our place.
Would you rather have a God who is not in charge of all things and so when bad things happen they’re out of his control? Or would you rather have a God who is in charge and can work through even the worst of moments by incorporating them into his bigger redemptive plan for all of creation? I’d rather have the God who is in charge, even if he lets bad things happen, knowing that he will use them for good some way.
Peter and John have peace here because they know their God works through human evil to bring good (Gen 50:20). Our doing for God must come from a deep knowing of God. When bad things happen and we face hardship and suffering, we won’t immediately fall away because we recognize God is at work. We need to know God turns evil into his good plans. Our doing for God must come from a deep knowing of God.
We need to know God hears our prayers and works through them. (v29-31) When Peter and John and the believers pray they don’t pray for what we might pray for in this situation. They don’t pray for safety or security or to get home and eat dinner with their family. They pray for boldness to keep sharing the gospel and that God would confirm their message with signs and wonders through the name of Jesus (v29-30). That’s convicting.
I want to ask a question. What if the way we’re praying is actually keeping us from knowing God deeply? Let me rephrase that. What if praying for safety and security prevents us from knowing God’s faithfulness in the midst of trial? What if not praying for boldness means we don’t get to experience God’s power as we witness to others? Prayer is a good thing, but what if it could be better?
They’re not afraid to pray big. They pray for God to perform signs and wonders through them (miracles!). If we look at the spread of Christianity around the world we hear of signs and wonders accompanying the spread of the gospel. Let’s pray for God to perform signs and wonders here in Westford to help people come to faith. This community is tough. We could use some supernatural signs to break through. See what happens when they pray:
Acts 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (NIV)
When God came down on Sinai the “whole mountain trembled violently” (Exod 19:18). Now the room where they pray shakes with God’s power and presence. The Holy Spirit comes to fill them up with his power. It’s out of a deep knowing of who God is and calling to him and being filled by him that Peter and John and the believers keep doing for God. We stay on mission for God by staying in relationship with God.
Our doing for God must come from a deep knowing of God. If your doing for God doesn’t come from a deep knowing of him, do you want to change? I do, but I need God to change me. I can’t. If that’s you too would you bow your heard with me and pray that God would come and change us so that our doing for God comes out of a deep knowing of him? Let’s pray.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts. Read the story of our church here.
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Rev Brian Bethke, Canon for Leadership Development with the Anglican Diocese of New England preached on following Jesus outside of the camp from Hebrews 13:10-16. Check out his sermon here. We also got to celebrate Julia Pender’s baptism as part of the worship service.
Rev Brian Bethke, Canon for Leadership Development with the Anglican Diocese of New England preached on following Jesus outside of the camp from Hebrews 13:10-16. Check out his sermon here. We also got to celebrate Julia Pender’s baptism as part of the worship service.
John and David are out back working on the AC Unit. John is a believer and begins to ask David, “Do you go to church?” David explains that he used to go to mass but hasn’t been in years. They talk a little bit about the differences between Catholicism and John’s church, but the details stay high-level. Catholics have priests. Protestants have pastors. Catholics baptize babies. John’s church doesn’t. They don’t talk about any real theological differences. They don’t speak
John and David are out back working on the AC Unit. John is a believer and begins to ask David, “Do you go to church?” David explains that he used to go to mass but hasn’t been in years. They talk a little bit about the differences between Catholicism and John’s church, but the details stay high-level. Catholics have priests. Protestants have pastors. Catholics baptize babies. John’s church doesn’t. They don’t talk about any real theological differences. They don’t speak of sin or grace. As they wrap up fixing the AC, David says, “It’s not really what you believe that matters; just that you have faith.” John knows that’s not right, but he doesn’t say anything, maybe because he doesn’t want to offend or he doesn’t know what to say.
Samantha and Jessie just finished their Zumba class. Samantha, a recent believer, invited Jessie to grab coffee with her after class. They’re on their way to Dunkin Donuts when Jessie starts telling Samantha how difficult her marriage is right now. Samantha listens and tries to offer words of encouragement. She knows what she really needs is Jesus but something inside her worries their relationship will end before it ever begins if she brings up religion. So she compromises, she says, “I’ll pray for you.” Jessie seems to mean it when she says “thank you.” Their conversation turns to lighter topics. Samantha wonders if she should have said more. Instead of bringing it back up she prays, like she said, and asks the Spirit for another try.
Maybe you can relate to one of these stories. Maybe it’s not so different than something you’ve experienced. The Lord gives us an opportunity to talk about Jesus and we miss it. Maybe you feel guilty, a burden for your friend, coworker, or family member that needs Jesus. Or maybe you feel fine but you’re pretty sure your pastor wants you to feel guilty. Why don’t we share the gospel? Or if we do, what are the biggest obstacles to overcome? Apathy? Lack of opportunity? Fear of rejection?
In Acts we find two men who have the courage to share the gospel in the face of fear. They’ve just healed a man at the temple gate. He was crippled and couldn’t walk for 40 years, but through faith in Jesus they perform a miracle. They heal him and that’s when the trouble starts. He get’s up and goes running into the temple courts shouting and jumping and praising God (Acts 3:8). That attracts a large crowd who they tell about Jesus and his resurrection from the dead. That large crowd attracts the priests, and the captain of the temple guard, the Sadducees, and others who don’t like what they see (Acts 4:1, 8). They are “greatly disturbed.” They are deeply annoyed, even vexed, and so they “seize” them and throw them in jail (v3).
How do you think Peter and John feel? There are two options. They feel…
Fear of man -> inward fear
They can let their fears and anxieties of what people might do to them define them, which produces an inward-focused fear of “what might happen to me.” Or they can feel…
Fear of God -> outward courage
A healthy fear of who God is, a respect and awe for him, produces outward courage that helps us focus on God, his will, and the needs of others more than ourselves.
Proverbs 1:7 (NIV) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
As we think about evangelism like Peter and John we don’t need to be afraid but to obey God. When those in power tell them to stop evangelizing it doesn’t go well.
Acts 4:18-20 (NIV) 18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
They are so focused on God and telling people about him (outward courage) that they’re not afraid, or if they are, their courage overcomes their fear.
Today I want us to look at their fears and our own—and the hope we have that overcomes our fears. I have four fears and hopes and one big idea. The first fear and hope are…
- Fear of harm / Hope in the resurrection. Look back at verse one. The temple had a police force called the “temple guard” that may have been made up of priests themselves (v1). So you have a group of highly trained, highly skilled, probably very zealous, men coming to arrest you and throw you in prison. During the summers in my hometown of Estes Park CO the police force hired rent-a-cops during tourist season. These are no rent-a-cops.
To top it off Caiaphas and Annas are there (v6), the current and past high priests who got Jesus executed (John 18:13, 24). Peter even says to them that Jesus is the one “whom you crucified” (v10). This isn’t corporate guilt. They literally killed him. That would have given me pause. If someone murdered my seminary professor and started threatening me for being a pastor, I’d think twice (v21).
Now I want to stop and ask, “Have any of us been physically threatened for sharing Christ?” Like if in our opening story David turns to John and says, “You better stop telling me about Jesus or I’ll punch you in the nose!” For most of us that hasn’t happened. The harm we experience is more mental or emotional—we feel we might be ostracized. But even then, are we actually excluded, or is it just the fear of exclusion? Unless we move to a different country, we’re probably not going to be thrown in jail for sharing Jesus.
Perception is reality. So we need to change our perception. We need to think like Peter and John. They seemed to be so focused on the resurrection of Jesus and filled with the Spirit that it swallows up their fears. They speak of the resurrection three times—twice to the crowds and once to the leaders. Even if they’re killed, Jesus will raise them up. Hope in the resurrection overcomes fear of harm. The second fear…
- Fear of man’s authority / Hope in Christ’s authority. Peter and John displease the priests and temple guard and the “rulers” (v5). In Jerusalem, the political, religious, and governmental all mix together. It’s like if our church building was also town hall. Acts goes out of its ways to tell us those “in charge” politically were there, the “rulers.” Then Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin, a ruling council made up of 70 powerful Sadducees and Pharisees and presided over by the high priest. They couldn’t condemn people to death (John 18:31) but they could send them to Pilate for execution, just like they did Jesus (Mark 14:55-56, 15:1).
I reviewed a chapter of the book The Gospel & Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever this week. The chapter was called “Why Don’t We Evangelize?” Excuse #2 is “Evangelism is illegal.” That’s true in some countries that are “atheistic or Muslim, secular or even ‘Christian’ (in name).” Maybe some of us work for the government or are a teacher or your job won’t allow it. We should look for legal opportunities. Christ’s command to “go and make disciples” (Matt 28:18-20) supersedes all earthly laws and regulations.
When we’re afraid of earthly authorities, let’s remember Christ and his authority. He’s seated on the throne ruling and reigning. He’s in charge. When the rulers and others question why the crippled man is healed, Peter says this addressing those in charge:
Acts 4:10-11 (NIV) 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
Peter quotes Psalm 118:22. Verses 19-29 of this Psalm speaks of worshipers going up to the temple. The cornerstone was the first stone the builders put down to determine the direction of the temple, its length, and the width of its walls. Scripture identifies Jesus as the temple of God (John 2:19-21), but believers are also called the temple (1 Cor 3:16). That means Jesus is the first stone of a new temple and we are the stones built on him (1 Pet 2:5). They’ve rejected the one who is laying the foundation for a new, eternal, temple. They’ve turned their back on God’s temple by rejecting Jesus.
When we feel fearful, let’s remember who is really in control, Jesus. Acts 4 has really convicted me that we need to all be doing personal evangelism. It’s not just my job as the pastor to do it or Bernie’s job because he’s really gifted. Jesus calls us each to tell non-believers about him. So my challenge for you is to pray that the Lord gives you opportunities to share this week. I got to share Jesus several times this week and I think it’s because it was on my heart. I was asking the Spirit for opportunities. One woman at my gym mentioned her church so I asked her where she went to church and that started a whole conversation. It played out almost exactly like the intro to my sermon, but Jesus showed up and gave me the courage I needed. Hope in Christ’s authority overcomes fear of man’s authority. The third fear and hope is…
- Fear of loss / Hope in lives saved. The elders were the “lay leaders” in Jerusalem. They weren’t priests, but they were men in power, probably business owners or respected citizens. I think it’s fair to say that if Peter and John crossed the elders of Jerusalem they could kiss their money, relationships, and security goodbye.
That’s a big question, isn’t it? What might I lose from telling this friend or loved one about Jesus? Their friendship? Perhaps my job? Fear of loss is huge. But have we also thought about what we might gain? A brother or sister in Christ? Yes, the leaders responded poorly, those who had power to lose if the people started believing in Jesus. But what about the people themselves?
Acts 4:4 (NIV) But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.
In Acts 3:41 3,000 come to Christ. Now the number grows to 5,000 men, not including women and children. Hope in lives saved overcomes fear of loss.
I recently read a book on recent converts in Asia. The book asked:
“How did you get to know about Christianity for the first time?” …Not a single one of them reported that they had done so through the media or reading the Bible. Nor were preachers of much impact—only 3 percent […] gave that as the source of their initial awareness. Instead, 90 percent had their initial contact with Christianity through interpersonal ties: through acquaintances, family members, or neighbors. – A Star in the East (p. 105)
If we want to get past fear of loss, we need to focus on the lives Christ can save through us, and invite. If you never try, you’ll never know. How many of us have never tried because of fear, but really, that’s the best reason to try. We want to see them repent of their sins and come to Christ so that one day we won’t lose them, so that we’ll get to spend all eternity with them. Hope in lives saved overcomes fear of loss.
- Fear of intellect / Hope in the Spirit. There’s one especially encouraging verse, verse 13.
Acts 4:13 (NIV) Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
No Peter and John weren’t dumb. They could likely speak if not write in multiple languages, Greek and Aramaic. But they also weren’t educated like the “teachers of the law”—the scribes. By all outward appearances, they’ve just come from wandering in the countryside for three years, but actually they were with a Rabbi, Jesus, living with him, learning from him, watching him, hearing his teachings.
This means you don’t need to go to Bible school to tell others about Jesus. You don’t need a Master of Divinity or Theology or a Bible certificate. You just need to sit at Jesus’ feet by growing in your church family, studying the Scriptures, praying, and following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says:
Luke 12:11-12 (NIV) 11 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”
It’s good to engage the mind as part of our Christian faith. We need to think critically about what we believe and why we believe it. I also believe it can be good to plan to have conversations with others about Jesus, especially if we never do it otherwise. But we also need to hope in the Holy Spirit and what he can do. Hope in the Spirit overcomes fear of intellect.
So how can we overcome our fear of sharing the gospel? 1) Hope in the resurrection overcomes fear of harm. 2) Hope in Christ’s authority overcomes fear of man’s authority. 3) Hope in lives saved overcomes fear of loss. 4) Hope in the Spirit overcomes fear of intellect. These four come together for one big idea:
Faith in Jesus can transform inward fear into outward courage. When we have received salvation from our sins through faith in Jesus Christ he begins to transform us from fearing man to fearing God. Jesus begins to replace our fears with a heart of courage. Peter says:
Acts 4:12 (NIV) And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
It’s really hard to say that today, “Jesus is the only way” but it’s true. Have you told anyone that recently? We’re not responsible for whether they believe or not, but if we don’t tell them who will? Their hearts aren’t going to tell them. Our hearts are deceptive above all things (Jer 17:9). Faith in Jesus can transform inward fear into outward courage.
I want to end with the story from Mark Dever’s book, The Gospel & Personal Evangelism(p. 13-15).
John Harper was born in a Christian home in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1872. When he was about fourteen years old, he became a Christian himself, and from that time on, he began to tell others about Christ. At seventeen years of age, he began to preach, going down the streets of his village and pouring out his soul in passionate pleading for me to be reconciled to God.
[Several years later he was hired to do evangelism full-time and he soon started a church.]
This church, which he began with just twenty-five members, numbered over five hundred by the time he left thirteen years later. […] (Evangelism works!)
In fact, he was such a zealous evangelist that the Moody Church in Chicago asked him to come over to America for a series of meetings. He did, and they went well. A few years later, Moody Church asked him if he would come back again. And so it was that Harper boarded a ship one day with a second-class ticket at Southampton, England, for the voyage to America.
Harper’s wife had died just a few years before, and he had with him his only child, Nana, age six.[Nana] remembered being woken up by her father a few nights into their journey. It was about midnight, and he said the ship they were on had struck an iceberg. Harper told Nana that another ship was just about there to rescue them, but, as a precaution, he was going to put her in a lifeboat with an older cousin, who had accompanied them. As for Harper, he would wait until the other ship arrived.
The rest of the story is a tragedy well known. Little Nana and her cousin were saved. But the ship they were on was the Titanic. The only way we know what happened to John Harper after is because, in a prayer meeting in Hamilton Ontario, some months later, a young Scotsman stood up in tears and told the extraordinary story of how he was converted. He explained that he had been on the Titanic the night it struck the iceberg. He had clung to a piece of floating debris in the freezing waters. “Suddenly,” he said, “a wave brought a man near, John Harper. He, too, was holding a piece of wreckage.
“He called out, ‘Man, are you saved?’
“‘No, I am not,’ I replied.
“He shouted back, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.’
“The waves bore [Harper] away, but a little later, he was washed back beside me again. ‘Are you saved now?’ he called out.
“‘No,’I answered. ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’
“Then losing his hold on the wood, [Harper] sank. And there, alone in the night with two miles of water under me, I trusted Christ as my savior. I am John Harper’s last convert.”
Faith in Jesus can transform inward fear into outward courage. Don’t wait for the boat to sink to tell your coworker in the next cube over about Jesus. Pray that Jesus would give you strength. Believe he will. Then go and share. Faith in Jesus can transform inward fear into outward courage.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions:
How often do you share the gospel with people who don’t yet know Jesus? What are some of the reasons you don’t evangelize or share the gospel? Is it fear that holds you back? Apathy? Time? Some other thing? What’s the difference between the fear of man and the fear of God? How might one fear push us inside ourselves and the other draw us out and into our world? Have you ever experienced a threat for sharing about Jesus? How did you overcome it? How does the resurrection give us hope in the face of threats and opposition? How does Christ’s ascension and being seated on the throne give us hope and courage to share the gospel? What does it mean for him to reign supreme in all things? What do you fear you will lose by sharing the gospel? What might we actually lose if we don’t share the gospel? We know God is sovereign, but we also are called to evangelize and make disciples. How can the mind hinder and/or help us in our evangelism? Apologetics and testimony are both different than actually sharing the gospel. How can they help and sometimes get in the way of gospel evangelism? Can we be saved by anyone but Christ? How about our friends? Can they be saved by anyone but Jesus? How does salvation through faith in Christ Jesus help us overcome our fears and have courage to share? What’s one step you want to take this week to go and share the gospel with a friend, coworker, family-member, or stranger? Close by praying for each other.
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Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or watch only the sermon on YouTube.
As I was thinking about you this week, imagining you sitting in these chairs, I was thinking that we all have a need. Your need is that thing or issue that’s on your mind, and that’s weighing on you but you don’t know how to solve. If we were to each stop and publicly identify our need, we’d be here a while.
Some of us would identify money as our need. We need a job, or a raise, or help paying off our student debt, or mortgage, car payment, or medical bills. We would identify our need as financial. Some of us would identify relationship as our need. We’re having marriage problems or family problems. We have a problem with a parent, sibling, or coworker we don’t know how to fix. We need reconciliation or another try or to feel loved. We would identify our need as relational. Some of us would identify time as our need. We’re just too busy with our schedules and our kid’s sports and activities. We don’t have enough time with our family or to get our job or homework done. If only we had more time, everything would be easier. We would identify our need as time.
I’m sure we would identify other needs—medical, emotional, social. As we open the Scriptures we encounter a God who cares for the needs of his people. Jesus came to preach the gospel, the good news, but also to heal and restore the lame and the blind and set the oppressed free (Luke 4:18-19). Jesus cares for our spiritual needs, but also our physical, mental, emotional, social, and economic needs (Matt 6:25-34). We shouldn’t be surprised that once Jesus sends out his disciples on mission, they do the same.
Peter and John, two of Jesus’ closest disciples, are going to the temple for a 3pm prayer meeting, and as they’re walking into the temple compound they encounter a man who has never walked. He was born lame and has had to depend on the generosity of others his entire life, to be transported to the temple, maybe to get into his bed, eat, and go to the bathroom. His need is obvious, right? But he actually underestimates his need and so do we.
We underestimate our need. (Acts 3:1-8a) The man didn’t ask them for healing. He didn’t have a clear perception of his need. Instead, he asks them for money. “If I can just have more money, it will solve all my needs, or at least most of them.” Have you ever told yourself that? This man became so locked into a way of thinking he couldn’t imagine what God might do. We also can become so locked in a way of thinking we can’t imagine what God can do.
I read an article this week that spoke of the difference between the left side of our brain and the right side. Maybe you know this already but creativity and imagination are attributed more to the right side of our brains and order and logic more to the left side of our brains. I think we can get stuck in a left-brain understanding of our need, the basics, and today I want us to right-brain imagine what the Scriptures might really say our need is.
This man thinks he needs silver and gold. I need food and some place to sleep. Very left brain thinking. But Peter and John, right-brain disciples, look at him and imagine God’s possibilities for him.
Acts 3:6-8a (NIV) 6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk…
Peter performs this amazing miracle and heals this man’s legs. This must be his real need, right? But even when Jesus heals people, it often carries a greater point. When a paralyzed man is lowered through the roof to see him Jesus first says, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then he says “take your mat and go home” (Mark 2:9-11). He heals the man to prove he can forgive sins. Forgiveness was his greater need. Now Peter and John heal this man to open the door for them to tell the crowds their greater need.
Only God can satisfy our true need. (Acts 3:8-10) The lame man thought he needed silver or gold, and once Peter healed him maybe he thought that was what he really needed, but Peter and John know he needs God himself. He needs God to reach down into his life and touch him and that’s what we need. When God does, it changes everything.
Acts 3:8-10 (NIV) 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
He jumps up and begins telling everyone how good God is! He has encountered the life-giving power of God. When God meets our needs, let’s tell others. When God keeps providing for you month after month even though the budget is tight, tell others. When God gives you peace in the midst of loss, tell others. When God is there for you at your darkest moment, tell others! We think our need is one thing, money, relationship, time, health, but in reality our need is so much bigger. We need God himself. We each need to experience the living God. But let’s clarify what that means.
How do we need God? (Acts 3:11-26) It’s one thing to say we need him, but another to explain what that means.
1) We need to experience him. (v11) Acts 3:11 (NIV) While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.
I want to focus on two words. The people were “astonished” and they came “running.” That word for astonished also means “amazed” or “alarmed.” That’s what happens when we encounter the living God. He’s amazing but alarming, scary. You would think this would have driven away the people from Peter and John, but instead it attracts them to them. The word for “running” describes them flocking together like a flock of birds, or running together like the Chelmsford road race. Instead of running away everyone comes running to because they want to know what happened. They’re attracted to this supernatural display of God’s power. When we’re experiencing God in our lives and church, we should expect that others will be attracted to him. They’ll want to experience God too.
Like the crowd and like the crippled man we too need God. But we don’t come to God so that we can have more money, or better relationships, or more time, or better health. We come to God so we can experience him working through those things. Sometimes God gives us what we think we need. Sometimes he doesn’tgive us what we think we need. Allthetime he wants to give us our actualneed, Jesus. God works through the giving or the not giving to give us himself.
A couple years ago Monica and I needed a house. There wasn’t a lot out of options but one day we got together with our realtor and looked at six houses our first day of searching. As we were driving to the very first house I pointed out one on the street, a cape, and told Monica I liked that house. The first house we drove up to happened to be a green cape. We liked it, but had planned to go to see other houses that day. As we looked at them we kept comparing them to that first house. Even though there wasn’t a lot of options, we made an offer below asking price, and later that day our realtor called us to tell us he’d never experienced anything like it but the owners had accepted our offer. When we spoke to the owners they didn’t have a clear reason for moving—no job change or retirement—they had just felt it was time.
Monica and I hold onto this story as a reminder that God has us exactly where he wants us. He kicked a family out of their house so we could have it! What I thought we needed was a home, but what we really needed was to experience God providing for our needs. Remembering this story has ministered to my soul ever since. Sometimes I ask the Lord, “Lord, is this where you want us?” And he brings this story to mind to remind me this is exactly where he wants us. God giving us the house is no longer just about the house, but about God showing us his goodness and will through the giving of the house.
What’s your story? Maybe it wasn’t a house purchase, but it was money coming in at the last moment to pay your bills, or meeting your loved one, or some other way God has provided for your need. Really, he was providing himself for you in your need. 1) We need to experience him.
2) We need his conviction. (v12-15) Peter and John began to explain to the crowd why this man can walk. It’s not their power that has done this, but Jesus’ power working through them. You can imagine the conviction of their sin that begins to roll over them as they hear this message—they just crucified Jesus to death.
Acts 3:13 (NIV) The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.
Peter identifies the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—as the same God who chose Jesus. This would be great news—the God of our forefathers is on the move again!—but it’s not because they killed the one God chose.
Acts 3:14-15 (NIV) 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
You killed God’s holy and righteous one. You killed the “author of life!” Imagine how convicting that would be. We need conviction too. We need to become aware of our own sins and for it to grieve our hearts. We’re not guilty for killing the author of life but we can each be responsible for “disowning” the Holy one.
If you’ve ever seen the movie Silence it’s about two Catholic priests who go into Japan to share Christianity in the midst of severe persecution. They encounter Kichijiro, a man who repeatedly denies his faith but again and again repents and returns. Over the course of the movie you become more and more frustrated with Kichijiro. Why would he do this? Why would he deny Christ and his fellow Christians again and again? But perhaps, in some ways, we’re just like him. We deny Jesus too, but when we’re embarrassed to say his name at work, or when we hold onto lust or greed in our hearts, or when we divide our lives into sacred and secular, giving some things to God and keeping others for ourselves. Just like Kichijiro we need to repent and return, again and again. The priest keeps forgiving and accepting him just like God keeps forgiving and accepting us.
We need Jesus to not only provide for us financially, but to radically transform the way we see money. We need Jesus to build up our relationships, but on him as our foundation. We need Jesus to not give us more time, but to love him and love others with the time we already have. The thing that we think we need is not actually what we need. We need Christ and we need him to transform us from the inside out. 1) We need to experience God. 2) We need his conviction.
3) We need faith in his Son, Jesus. (v16) Now Peter and John explain how they healed the crippled man.
Acts 3:16 (NIV) By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.
Peter and John have faith in Jesus and Jesus gives them the power to heal this man. We need that same kind of faith in Jesus.It says that “the faith that comes through him.” That kind of faith actually comes through Jesus. Jesus gives us the faith we need to have faith in him. That sounds counterintuitive but in order to believe in Jesus you need Jesus to give you belief.
If you’re here and you don’t believe in Jesus, you don’t trust him yet, or your faith is weak and not really part of your life, you need Jesus. Pray that Jesus would give you faith in him. Pray that Jesus would open up your heart to see your need for him. Pray, “Jesus, I need you to give me faith in you. Amen.”
The gospel is the good news that Jesus died and rose again so that by faith in him you might know and experience God. How do we need God? 1) We need to experience him. 2) We need his conviction. 3) We need faith in his Son, Jesus.
4) We need his refreshment. (v17-20) Peter admits they were “ignorant.” They didn’t know, but this doesn’t excuse them. It doesn’t excuse us either. We can live our whole lives doing one thing and ignoring Jesus because “we didn’t know” but that doesn’t make it okay. God uses their mistake to bring salvation.
Acts 3:18 (NIV) But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.
The Messiah came to suffer to pay the penalty for our sins. What should our response be?
Acts 3:19 (NIV) Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
We see here that repentance means to turn your being from sin to God. That doesn’t mean you’ll never sin again (disobey God), but you’re turning your mind, will, and affections to Jesus. Repentance isn’t a one time act, but a lifestyle, a daily act of turning to Jesus. When we repent two things happen:
Our sins are “wiped out.” “…ancient writing was on papyrus and the ink had no acid in it. It therefore did not bite into the papyrus like modern ink, but simply lay on top of it. To erase the writing a man simply wiped it away with a wet sponge.” (NIV Application Commentary Acts) Jesus shed his blood and used it to wipe away our sins. If we repent and trust in Jesus he forgives us completely.
….“times of refreshing” come from the Lord. Remember your need? If you need refreshment, if you need long-lasting rest and renewal, Jesus has it. He wants to renew your soul. He wants to heal you.
He wants to deal with those parts of your soul that is anxious about money, or relationships, or time. He wants to deal with those hidden parts that are afraid. We need his refreshment.
5) We need his restoration. (v21-26) Peter promises that Jesus is going to come back and “restore everything” (v21). That’s what Abraham and Moses and Samuel and all the prophets believed. Through the Messiah, through Jesus, “all peoples on earth [would] be blessed” (v22-25). Jesus is going to come back and restore the world to the perfect paradise we lost in Eden, only better. There’s going to be perfect peace and harmony and you won’t feel the pain of your unmet needs anymore. Jesus will supply all your needs forever and ever.
Now we’re presented with a choice. We can either believe in Jesus and receive blessing (v26) or we can reject him and be “completely cut off” (v23). Life comes down to a choice. You can choose to pursue your needs, money, relationships, time, health, whatever else, but in the end that will only lead to more and more need until you perish in your need. Or… you can choose to be in relationship with God through Christ Jesus and he will take care of all your needs, spiritual and material. God won’t give you everything you think you want, but he’ll give you everything you actually need, himself.
Only Jesus can satisfy your true need. When the crippled man looked at Peter and John, Peter says, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” (v6) He’s saying, “I can’t give you silver or gold, but I can give you Jesus” and that’s all I have for you too. I can give you Jesus. Do you want him? Maybe you can think of other things you want but what you really need is Jesus. Only Jesus can satisfy your true need.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions: Good for small groups, community groups, life groups, Bible studies, Sunday school, or personal and family times of devotion and prayer.
What would you identify as your biggest need right now? What’s taking up your mental energy? If you were to imagine what God sees as your biggest need, what do you think God would identify? Do you believe that God can satisfy your needs? Is it possible to ever feel fully satisfied in this life? When you read the story of Peter healing the crippled man (Acts 3:1-10), what do you think was his most pressing physical need and most pressing spiritual need? How does Peter address both? What do you think it means to experience God? When was the last time you experienced God? What was it like? Do you think those listening to Peter’s message were convicted of their sin, their rebellion against God (Acts 3:11-26)? Why sin is the Holy Spirit convicting you of? What does it mean to repent and believe in Jesus? How often should we do this? Is this a one time event or an ongoing lifestyle? Do you believe Jesus can forgive you of your sins? What does it mean to be refreshed spiritually? How does that relate to sin and forgiveness? What is Jesus ultimately restoring? Read Revelation 21:1-4. Do you want to repent and believe in Jesus and be part of this? Or do you choose to reject him? Do you agree with this sentence? “Only God through Christ can satisfy our true need.”
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Church Service: You can watch our full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.
As I was thinking about you this week, imagining you sitting in these chairs, I was thinking that we all have a need. Your need is that thing or issue that’s on your mind, and that’s weighing on you but you don’t know how to solve. If we were to each stop and publicly identify our need, we’d be here a while. Some of us would identify money as our need. We need a job, or a raise, or help
Cornerstone is a church plant. Sometimes when you tell others you’re starting a new church it’s like, “Wow! That’s amazing! You can do whatever you want!” It’s almost like people think you’re playing a game of Sim Church, kind of like Sim City or The Sims. Except instead of building a city or a neighborhood I’m putting up some stained-glass windows here, a nice cross there; I’m starting VBS and Awana and now it’s time for the baptisms.
But here’s the thing… The church is not an iPhone with fully customizable preferences—the iChurch. The church is a people, lots and lots of messy people who come together to know and worship Jesus—not iChurch but WeChurch. That’s what we see in Acts. Messy people come together to know and worship Christ Jesus. Acts 2:42-47 introduces us to the first church plant, ever. As we look at it we see they’re not a Sim Church or an iChurch but a WeChurch, a community of believers doing church together.
And so today I want to look at one that means. What does it mean to do church together? If an iChurch is about me and my preferences then WeChurch is about Christ and his preferences. He’s given us an example of what he’d like to see in Acts. This passage is purely descriptive, with no relevance to today, but neither do I believe it’s so prescriptive that we have to look exactly like it. Instead, I see some truths and principles for all churches. So let’s look at what those are, which tell us how to do church together.
- We gather around God’s Word. We opened chapter two with Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13); then we heard Peter preach and 3,000 people repent and believe in Jesus (Acts 2:14-41). Now here, those who stay behind in Jerusalem and don’t return to their homes in the countryside, they form the first church. It’s like they almost naturally come together to do what they’re supposed to do to be a church, and it starts with gathering around God’s Word.
Acts 2:42a, 43 (NIV) They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching… 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
They don’t yet have copies of the New Testament, but they have the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, or what they would have called the Tanakh, the Torah (Gen – Deut), the Nevi’im (prophets), and the Ketuvim (historic and poetic). The Apostles (the 12 disciples) would have spent time talking about Jesus, reminding them of his teachings, and showing how the Tanakh points to Jesus as the Christ (the Messiah), just like Peter did in his sermon (Acts 2:14-40). Then they perform miracles just like Jesus to authenticate that what they’re saying is true.
There has to be something that brings us together as a people. We’re not a movie club. We’re not brought together by our love of film and television. We’re not an exercise group or a cooking club. We’re not brought together because we’re all from the same country or speak the same languages. It’s not our hobbies or interests or nationalities or anything else that unites us except for Christ Jesus and his Word. That means when we get together as Christians, we can talk about all those other things, our favorite TV shows and recipes and hobbies, but we can also talk about Jesus and his Word.
When we gather around God’s Word, you could say we’re gathering around Christ and the gospel. We’re coming to learn about him, to see how the Scriptures point to him, to confess our sins to him, to receive his grace in our lives, to remember his sacrifice on the cross, to celebrate his resurrection and ascension, to be in relationship with him, to know him. There is someone who unites us despite our different ethnicities and backgrounds and movie and food and exercise preferences. We gather around Jesus and his Word.
- We do life together. Christianity is not just a Bible study, it’s a lifestyle.
Acts 2:42b, 44-46a (NIV) They devoted themselves… to fellowship… 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts…
The church is not a building or a place but a fellowship—people doing life together. This word for “fellowship” in v42 is the Greek word “koinonia.” It most commonly means “fellowship, communion, participation, sharing.” You really see what that means as you look at v45-46. These people are willing to sell property and possessions to help each other out, and they’re spending time together daily worshipping.
In the 12th century an English monk named Aelred called doing life together “spiritual friendship.” Our denomination, the CCCCs, has set one of our guiding values as, “A community that lives out a shared life and shared mission.” The last time I preached Acts 2:42-47 my big idea was “The core of Christian community is costly love.”
We are to spend time with each other, care for each other, be willing to sacrifice for each other, give generously to each other, and share a common life, all in response to Jesus doing those things for us. Not the iChurch but the WeChurch. The Bible says little of independence and everything for community. The investors on Shark Tank say, “The most valuable commodity I have is my time.” Christ calls us to give our most valuable commodity to each other.
We are already doing fellowship when we gather for worship, or when we play games or eat a meal. When we do a Bible study or go on a hike or join a community group or Christian Ed or visit each other in the hospital, it’s all fellowship. But if we’re honest, we might also admit when we do it can be a bit planned, a bit orchestrated—the house is clean, the meal is made, and the parents are home.
Fellowship is more like welcoming a church friend in to experience life with you even though there’s laundry piles on the floor, dishes in the sink, the baby is crying, and the kids won’t do their homework. Fellowship is when your parent dies or you’re sick and a church friend comes over to take care of you. Fellowship is getting up early for breakfast with brothers or sisters in Christ to pray and confess your sins to each other. Fellowship is seeing each other on the good days and the bad, day in and day out, which is probably more like how our family and children see us than our church family.
There’s a deeper component to this. The root of the Greek word for fellowship, koinonia, is koinos, which means “common” or “profane, impure.” Although there is something rich and meaningful and loving about church fellowship, it can also become something almost profane and impure. This is the model church, but you know who might very well be among them worshipping and praising God? Ananias and Sapphira who try to lie to God to make themselves look good (Acts 5). They also have to have the whole Jerusalem Council in Acts 17 because the Jewish believers don’t know how to incorporate the Gentile believers (Acts 15). Peter leads them but at one point he refuses to eat with the Gentiles (Gal 2:11-13).
My friend Pastor Rick Harrington from the Ockenga Program recently self-published a book called How to Find a Church: Seven Steps to Becoming Part of a Spiritual Family. The first step is preparation, the second is the visit, and so on and so forth. The last step is “Persevering through the pain.” He writes:
You will get hurt. I actually think this is part of God’s plan for the church (though that does not excuse the one who causes the pain). He wants us to learn to forgive and show grace. This is where it takes true grit, a staunch stomach and a test of a faith. You need to stick it out… When you’ve done this step, you’ve found your spiritual family. – How to Find a Church by Pastor Rick Harrington
Life together has wonderful times of encouragement and joy but also bruises and frustrations, but we stick it out because we love Jesus and each other. 1. We gather around God’s Word. 2. We do life together.
- We share meals and take communion. Food is a big deal in the first church plant.
Acts 2:42c, 46b (NIV) They devoted themselves… to the breaking of bread… 46 …They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
The early church would eat together and celebrate the Lord’s Supper as part of the meal (1 Cor 11:20-22). It was a continued time of fellowship, focused around Christ, aided by food. You know some parts of Christianity aren’t much fun; like suffering for Jesus (Matt 16:24). But some parts of Christianity are great, like the food, like the eating together. I know the Jesus only gave us two ordinances, baptism and communion, but I’m pretty sure he meant to add “church potluck” as the third.
Food is such an important part of doing life together. I want to challenge all of us to invite one person or family from Cornerstone who you’ve never had over to your home in the month of February. This can be someone you don’t know really well, or someone you do know really well but have never had over, and invite them over for dinner. Now if you’re brand new to Cornerstone, you can join the challenge, or you can invite yourself over to someone’s home who has been here a while. If your home isn’t the best place to meet, go out to eat. Just share a meal with someone you don’t typically do this with. 1. We gather around God’s Word. 2. We do life together. 3. We share meals and take communion.
I want to talk a little bit more about communion, but we’re going to close by taking communion today, so first I want to talk about the fourth way we do church together and then look at the results.
- We pray together. Acts 2:42, 47 (NIV) They devoted themselves… to prayer… 47 praising God…
In Acts we find the early church praying together and worshipping God. Have you ever heard “A marriage that prays together stays together?” Well “A church that prays together stays together.” The last book I read with some local CCCC pastors was on prayer. In it the author shares this quote from Gene Getz.
The hallmark of Western civilization has been rugged individualism. Because of our philosophy of life, we are used to the personal pronouns “I” and “my” and “me.” We have not been taught to think in terms of “we” and “our” and “us.” Consequently, we individualize many references to corporate experience in the New Testament, thus often emphasizing personal prayer. The facts are that more is said in the Book of Acts and the Epistles about corporate prayer, corporate learning of biblical truth, corporate evangelism, and corporate Christian maturity and growth than about the personal aspects of these Christian disciplines…. Don’t misunderstand. Both are intricately related. But the personal dimensions of Christianity are difficult to maintain and practice consistently unless they grow out of a proper corporate experience on a regular basis. – Old Paths, New Power
An iChurch prays alone or not at all. A WeChurch prays together. One of the highlights for me of moving to Sunday mornings is being able to sit down and pray from 8:00 – 8:40. If I’m being honest, usually we begin praying at around 8:15 or 8:20 (we start with grace). Usually it’s just Karyn and myself. We’ve gotten as many as three on two other days. I don’t want to guilt anyone into coming to pray, but if there’s any little part of you that the Holy Spirit is convicting, and you think you need to pray more with your Cornerstone church family, please come. I feel energized and a sense of peace after our prayer time. We should feel that way because we’ve been in the presence of the king praying together as the church body.
How do we do church together?… 1. We gather around God’s Word. 2. We do life together. 3. We share meals and take communion. 4. We pray together. So what’s the fruit of all this? What’s the outcome?
The result? We grow. The last verse ends like this.
Acts 2:43, 47 (NIV) Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. … 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts: A Visual Guide lists three outcomes we see in these verses:
Fear (v43)
The word for “awe” is the Greek word phobos which can mean fear, terror, or reverence. Some people are just plain afraid. They see miracles and this communal church family and it freaks them out.
Favor (v47)
Verse 47 says they enjoyed favor, which is the same word for grace. People were amazed and favorable towards them. But the best result of all…
Faith (v47)
Every day more and more people are coming to faith in Christ and joining the church family.
The result of this church family studying the Scriptures together, doing life together, sharing meals and communion together, and praying together is there’s something so unique, distinct, and wonderful about them that others can’t help come to faith in Christ. It’s not that they don’t evangelize and witness. They do; but how they live positively influences their witness. I listened to one Pastor this week who said, “Our with-ness aids our witness.” – Skip Heitzig Our with-ness aids our witness.
Let’s transition to communion.
I’d like today’s communion to be a little bit of a response to today’s sermon. We’ll pass out the bread and the cup the normal way; and we’ll all take it at about the same time to show our unity as a church body; but when you take it; would you turn to the person next to you and speak the phrases I normally speak.
“The body of Christ, broken for you.” And then they say it back to you. “The body of Christ, broken for you.” Then you both take the bread.
Then once we’ve passed out the cup to everyone you say the lines I would normally say.
“The blood of Christ, poured out for you.” Then they say. “The blood of Christ, poured out for you.
Communion is meant to be a communal experience. You don’t do communion in iChurch, but WeChurch. I’m not a fan of taking communion by yourself or even apart from the gathered church body. This is a special thing for us, the church congregation, so let’s keep it that way. I’m going to read the Words of Institution, and then I’ll pray and we’ll partake.
1 Corinthians 11:23-24 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (ESV)
1 Corinthians 11:25-26 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (ESV)
Let’s pray.
Serve communion.
Please say to each other:
“The body of Christ, broken for you.”
“The blood of Christ, poured out for you.”
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions: Good for small groups, community groups, life groups, Bible studies, Sunday school, or personal and family times of devotion and prayer.
If you could play Sim Church, what type of church would you create? Would it be more of an iChurch or a WeChurch? Why does God’s Word matter? How does it bring us to Christ Jesus? What might it mean for you (or your group) to take more seriously the example of fellowship found in Acts 2:42-47? What do you think it means to do life together? How might you do this? Have you ever been hurt by a church? Without naming the church or people, how has your past hurt effected your current church experience or expectations? Do you think the saying “hurt people hurt people” is true? Has it been true for you? How might gospel help you find forgiveness and healing? What else might you need to do to find those things? For example, if you haven’t released the bitterness yet, go talk with the pastor or a leader of that church. What type of heart do you want to have when taking communion? How important is it to be right with your brothers and sisters in Christ in your church? When was the last time you hosted a church friend over to your home for a meal? Can you come up with one name you want to invite this month to dinner? If you don’t feel comfortable doing it at home, take them out for a meal. Why does corporate prayer matter? What’s the prayer life like of your group? Something that really matters or is usually rushed? Do you agree with the idea “Our with-ness aids our witness”? Why or why not? How might you pray right now for change based on our study of Acts 2:42-47?
For another Acts 2:42-47 small group study guide click here. For another sermon on Acts 2:42-47 click here.
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Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or the sermon only on YouTube.
Cornerstone is a church plant. Sometimes when you tell others you’re starting a new church it’s like, “Wow! That’s amazing! You can do whatever you want!” It’s almost like people think you’re playing a game of Sim Church, kind of like Sim City or The Sims. Except instead of building a city or a neighborhood I’m putting up some stained-glass windows here, a nice cross there; I’m starting VBS and Awana and now it’s time for the baptisms. But here’s
We talk a lot about sharing our faith with others here at Cornerstone. But have you ever gotten into a situation where you had the chance to share the gospel and you froze because you felt like you didn’t know what to do? Can you think back to the last time a friend or family member brought up something about Christianity or the Bible and you thought, “What a great opportunity!” as it sailed right past you? Today, I want us to look at how the Apostle Peter shared the gospel as an example of how we can share the gospel with others so that we don’t miss these opportunities.
Acts is a historical record, which means everything in it is “descriptive” and not necessarily “prescriptive.” In other words, it describes what happens but that doesn’t mean we have to copy that in our own lives, or that it is the typical pattern for believers. Otherwise I’d have to preach to you in German and I don’t know how to speak German… So as we review Peter’s example today, know this is only one way to share the gospel. There are other options. For example, Peter doesn’t use a personal story when sharing, but if we were to flip to Acts 26 we would see the Apostle Paul sharing his testimony.
In Acts 2:14-41 I find seven steps to sharing the gospel with others. What’s the first step?
- Engage with objections (Acts 2:13-14) Peter is not afraid to have a hard conversation with people who are mocking the believers. Let’s back up for just a moment. It’s Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has descended on the church body in a special way and is filling the believers and disciples. They’re speaking in foreign languages “declaring the wonders of God” (Acts 2:11). It’s like If I were to begin preaching in fluent Mandarin with no American accent. You’d be amazed, right? You’d instantly believe in Jesus if you didn’t already, right? Not necessarily.
Acts 2:13 (NIV) Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Have you ever had an experience like that when you’re sharing some part of the gospel or its impact on your life and people laugh at you? When I worked in banking out of college I was on the road with some coworkers and we started talking about Christianity over dinner and I pulled out a pocket New Testament and one girl laughed at this because it was like I had planned the whole thing. Well, she was right. I probably deserved that. But we keep going, keep sharing.
That’s what Peter does. He could have walked away feeling alienated and harassed, but instead he and the other eleven Apostles stand up, and full of the power of the Holy Spirit he engages with their objections. He says, “Fellow Jews… let me explain this to you…” Instead of shutting down he powers up.
One of the things I like about doing CrossFit is you never know when someone is going to ask you a question. When I first started there one of the coaches who knew I was a Christian asked me point blank about the abuses in the Catholic priesthood. It took me aback, but it also gave me the opportunity to talk about how Jesus loves the little ones and is a God of justice.
In 2019 Barna found that 86-92% of Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Elders either “Strongly agree” or “Somewhat agree” that “When someone raises questions about faith, I know how to respond.”As Christians, we have good answers. 1. Engage with objections. Step two is…
- Share Scripture (Acts 2:15-17) Now if you’re like me, you’d probably prefer step #2 to be “share a personal story.” That’s one option. 1 Peter 3:15b says to “Always be prepared to give an answer…” (NIV) Maybe that’s the answer the Lord gives you. But I don’t want us to miss the opportunity to share Scripture. Scripture is powerful.
Isaiah 55:11 (NIV) so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
When I share my personal story I don’t know if some part of it will resonate or not, but I do know that God’s word has a power my words do not. That’s why when we share faith stories at Cornerstone I always want there to be some meaningful Scripture passage included. Not only is Peter speaking Scripture empowered by the Holy Spirit, but he quotes the Old Testament. His audience is Jewish so he shows them where the prophet Joel said what they are witnessing would happen (see Joel 2:28-32).
Acts 2:17 (NIV) “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Peter is saying, “This is it! This is the beginning of the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. The men and women you see standing before you are doing what God promised.” This is powerful stuff. When we see how the Old Testament ties perfectly into the New, it builds our faith in God.
I recently had a party at my house where I tried (emphasis on “tried”) to get some of my Christian friends and non-Christian friends together to talk about theology. For our first bit of theology one of my Christian friends quickly brought up the dead sea scrolls. I won’t say who it was because I don’t want to embarrass Terry but I actually think the dead sea scrolls are a powerful reason to believe the gospel, especially The Great Isaiah Scroll. It predates the birth of Jesus by about 125 years and you can flip to Isaiah 53 where it speaks of the “Suffering Servant,” which is a prophecy of the sacrificial death of Jesus. It predates Jesus and clearly points him. 1. Engage with objections; and 2. Share scripture.
- Rely on the Spirit (Acts 2:18-21) There’s something very “meta” going on as Peter preaches. He is full of the Holy Spirit as he explains the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4). Something significant has changed at Pentecost. No longer does God’s Holy Spirit reside in the tabernacle or temple, his Holy Spirit resides in his church body, his people.
Acts 2:18 (NIV) Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
This means God’s Holy Spirit resides in us, and through us can do great things. Last week I told a story of God using an American friend of mine to preach the gospel to some Afghanis in their native language and he speaks English. That’s amazing and that’s just the kind of thing Jesus promised.
John 14:12 (NIV) Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
We’ll see the disciples doing “greater things” in the book of Acts (healing the sick and raising the dead). As believers we also have the Holy Spirit. That means God can do “greater things” through us, but we need to ask him what he wants to do, and spend that time seeking him. I actually preached Acts 2:1-21 my second week at Immanuel Church back in July 2013. As I was reviewing that sermon I rediscovered a story Ron shared with me. After I preached my Associate Pastor candidate sermon at Immanuel about sharing the gospel he shared a story with me a story of a time he shared the gospel.
Many years ago Ron was on a business trip to the upper Peninsula in Northern Michigan. He had several flights to get back to Chicago and when he got on the plane only a handful of people were onboard. There were more flight crew than passengers. After the plane took off the flight attendant walked by Ron and asked him, “Why do you look so happy?”
“Because I got Jesus in my life” Ron said, without any hesitation, and then immediately thought, Where did that come from? Well, it came from the Holy Spirit because that’s not something Ron would normally say.
The flight attendant sat down and said, “Tell me more” and for the remainder of the trip Ron shared the gospel with her. Scripture came pouring out that he didn’t even know he had inside. On every single stop to Chicago nobody got on or off the plane. The Holy Spirit had arranged their whole time together.
When Ron left his hotel that morning he took its copy of the four spiritual laws a church had placed, which is a simple booklet outlining the way to salvation using Scriptures. The church that had placed the booklet was actually from the flight attendant’s hometown. She put her faith in Christ on that flight. Apparently she was crying and the crew and passengers were giving Ron all sorts of weird looks.
The Holy Spirit orchestrated the whole thing. The booklet, the flight, the question, the time to have a conversation, the tender heart to the gospel. We need to pray for his help. 1. Engage with objections. 2. Share Scripture. 3. Rely on the Spirit. Step four is less popular because we don’t want to offend…
- Talk about sin (Acts 2:22-23) Peter doesn’t shy away from their sin and responsibility to God.
Acts 2:22-23 (NIV) 22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
Peter is addressing “men of Jerusalem” but he’s also addressing all the people from the various regions we read about in Acts 2:9, “Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia…” The festival of Pentecost has drawn people from all over the known world even if they identify primarily as men of Jerusalem. At the end of his sermon 3,000 people become Christians, which implies even more were listening. The point is, whether these people were the ones to mock Jesus and call for his crucifixion, they are still guilty of Jesus’ death. They’re corporately guilty.
Does that mean we’re innocent? I think this is also our sin. Whether or not we drove the nails through Christ’s hands, today whenever we choose sin over him we are showing that same heart of rejection. Did you know that Mel Gibson is in the movie The Passion of the Christ? His hands are the ones that nail Jesus to the cross. Gibson said, “It was me that put him on the cross. It was my sins.”
The first step in coming to Christ is realizing we’re sinful and broken and need a Savior. Peter was bold. He pointed out their sins. The Holy Spirit may ask you to do the same. But remember, whenever we point one finger at someone else there are three fingers pointing back at ourselves. Whenever we talk about someone else’s sins we have to do so humbly and I think one of the ways we can do that is to admit our own sin and talk about how we’ve received forgiveness. Peter denied Jesus three times (Luke 22:54-62). He’s not there as a perfect man but as a forgiven man. We can’t be afraid to talk about sin. But we also can’t leave it there. A recognition of sin leads to a desire for grace. Number five…
- Emphasize the resurrection (Acts 2:24-32) Peter preaches on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead for the next nine verses. He starts with this verse:
Acts 2:24 (NIV) But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
Then he outlines how King David prophesied the Messiah (God’s special King) would one day die and rise again from the grave. Quoting Psalm 16:8-11, a Psalm of David, Peter says:
Acts 2:26-27 (NIV) 26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, 27 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.
Recognizing that David obviously wasn’t talking about himself because he’s dead, Peter points to one of David’s descendants, who God promised would sit on his throne forever (Acts 2:30). And then, Peter nearly repeats the prophecy of verse 27 again in verses 31-32.
So what’s all this tell us? The resurrection really matters. I did a little research and I found that an estimated 60 billion people have lived on planet earth since the birth of Christ. Do you know how many of them have returned permanently from the grave? Only one, Christ Jesus.
The odds of me dying this year are 0.16%. Not bad, right? But if I were to change it to “the odds of me dying”—those are 100%, someday (unless Christ returns). We’re all going to die one day and this could be your year (Matt Chandler). Wouldn’t it be nice if someone could promise you that one day you’ll wake up to eternal joy and happiness from death? Then showed you they weren’t lying by doing it themselves? That’s Jesus! The resurrection is powerful. Let’s emphasize it. But we can’t forget the most important part.
- Bring it to Jesus (Acts 2:21, 33-36) Peter said this back in verse 21:
Acts 2:21 (NIV) And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Then he points to Jesus as the one who is Lord (as affirmed by King David).
Acts 2:36 (NIV) “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
At the end of the day we can get so wrapped up in reasons why to believe in Jesus that we forget to talk about Jesus. But Jesus is “Lord,” a name used for God himself in the Old Testament; and he’s “Messiah”—God’s special King, the Savior. To come to Jesus as your Lord, God, Messiah, and your Savior King is what it means to be a Christian. Jesus offers salvation to any who believe in him (Acts 4:12).
Jesus is the one who lived without sin, took on our sin at the cross, and paid the penalty for us so that we might receive eternal life. Our friends, neighbors, coworkers and strangers all need to hear.
Number six; bring it to Jesus. Is that where it ends? Once we get to him we…
- Call for repentance and faith (Acts 2:37-41) Those listening were “cut to the heart” and asked what there were supposed to do (Acts 2:37). See, the Holy Spirit was speaking through Peter, but he was also moving the hearts of those listening.
Acts 2:38 (NIV) Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Peter calls them to admit their sins, to recognize their responsibility in Christ’s death, and to believe. They’re to show their belief by publicly confessing Christ through baptism. When you’re baptized it’s like you’re saying, “I identify with Jesus and his death and resurrection.”
When we share the gospel in personal conversations with friends, the step I almost always feel like I fail to fully develop is this call to repentance and faith. But that’s key. We could simply say something like, “Would you like to pray for Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to accept him as your Lord and Savior?” Let this be a challenge to us to make sure we talk about repentance and faith in Christ.
The seven steps to sharing the gospel are: 1. Engage with objections. 2. Share Scripture. 3. Rely on the Spirit. 4. Talk about sin. 5. Emphasize the resurrection. 6. Bring it to Jesus. 7. Call for repentance and faith.
Although there’s no guarantees, Lord willing as we do this we’ll see people coming to Christ Jesus. About 3,000 people repented and were baptized that day (Acts 2:41). That’s a huge number, but Jesus and the Holy Spirit are still at work today. We can still see friends, family, and strangers coming to Christ. Let’s pray the Holy Spirit gives each one of us the opportunity to share Jesus this week.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Discussion Questions:
What type of objections have you encountered when sharing about your Christian faith? How did you handle the objections? If you could go back and do anything differently, would you? Why is it important to engage with difficult questions and not brush them aside? When your child or teenager asks you a really tough question about God, how might you respond? Why is it worthwhile to share Scripture when sharing the gospel with people who don’t yet believe in Jesus? How is it different than just sharing a personal story or testimony? Do you have any Scripture passages you recommend sharing when presenting the gospel? Why do we need the Holy Spirit to anoint or fill us in a special way to share the gospel effective with others? What does the Holy Spirit need to be doing in them to prepare them for the gospel? Why is it so hard to address sin with those around us? What do most people think of the concept of sin? How might you be able to communicate the idea that someone is indeed sinful in a way that is winsome even if it is somewhat offensive? What is the gospel message? If you only had 60 seconds to share the gospel with someone, what would you say? Why does the resurrection matter? What if Jesus hadn’t risen from the grave? Would it make sense to be a Christian? See 1 Corinthians 15:14. Who is Jesus to you? What does it mean that he is Lord and Messiah? How can baptism act as a confession of faith in Christ? Repent means to turn from your sin and to God. Does that mean I have to clean up all my sins before I can come to God? What does it look like for me to repent and believe in Jesus not just when I come to Christ but as I progress through my Christian walk? Does it encourage you that 3,000 came to faith in Christ through Peter’s sermon? How might this encourage you to share the gospel with your coworkers, neighbors, friends, and family members who don’t yet know Jesus? Who do you want to pray to come to know Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior?
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We talk a lot about sharing our faith with others here at Cornerstone. But have you ever gotten into a situation where you had the chance to share the gospel and you froze because you felt like you didn’t know what to do? Can you think back to the last time a friend or family member brought up something about Christianity or the Bible and you thought, “What a great opportunity!” as it sailed right past you? Today, I want
What would you do if all of a sudden I yelled, “Fire!” Would you stop and look around to see what I was talking about? Would you just get up and run out of the building? Would you try to locate the fire-extinguishers? Or maybe you’d grab a pack of marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate for s’mores. What would you do if one Sunday you walked into this room and it was full of fire, wind, and smoke? Would you think, “ah the perfect place to worship the Lord”? Or would you turn around and run back out? At the very first worship service of the very first church something like this happened.
Acts 2:2-3 (NIV) 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
There was a “violent wind” and “tongues of fire” (no smoke). Something wild is happening, something uncontrollable. God is filling the room and the people. But if it was your first day at that church you might have thought it made no sense, but it actually made perfect sense. The disciples in that upper room, perhaps as many as 120 of them, were Jewish and would have recognized what was happening as a continuation of the same story the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) had been telling. I want to tell that same story today to help us worship better. To do so we have to go back to the beginning.
Genesis 1:1-2 (NIV) 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
In the beginning absence, darkness, nothingness, chaos—all churning together like a stormy sea; and the Spirit of God hovers like a bird over the waters. The Hebrew word for Spirit is rûaḥ and can also mean “wind” or “breath.” The Spirit of God is there transforming chaos into creation. God made everything, and it was good, chaos no more. But man and woman, Adam and Eve, we reintroduced chaos. We choose our own way instead of God’s way and suddenly everything fell. But God has a plan. A long time later he shows up, this time to a man named Abram. God promises this man that he’s going to bless him and his descendants and through him bless all the nations.
Genesis 12:2-3 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
God is going to bless Abram, his descendants, and the whole world through them. But he says, “How can I know this?” The Lord God answers him by having him sacrifice animals by cutting them in half and laying them out as a pathway to walk through. According to the culture of this time Abram might have been thinking, “Oh if I don’t obey God, he’s going to cut me up like these animals.” But God isn’t saying that.
God puts Abram into a deep sleep and then the Spirit of God comes down and hovers, this time as a “smoking firepot with a blazing torch” and as those things God passes through the split animal pieces. God is saying, may this be done to me if I don’t keep my promises to you. The God of the Bible is someone you can count on. He’s trustworthy. He doesn’t break his promises found in Scripture.
The Spirit of God shows up again, this time to Abram’s (now Abraham’s) descendants, the Israelites. God shows up as a burning bush and tells Moses to lead the Israelites out of captivity in Israel (Exod 3). Moses leads them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and to a mountain called Sinai. There God tells Abraham’s descendants that if they obey him they will be his priests to all the nations.
Exodus 19:5-6a (NIV) 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’
The Bible Project’s Exodus video says for Israel to be a “kingdom of priests…” “This means they will become God’s representatives to the nations and show them his character by how they live.” The people agree to God’s terms—absolute obedience—and then guess what shows up? A cloud and fire!
Exodus 19:16-18 (NIV) 16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.
The cloud is a theophany, a visible manifestation of God’s presence to his people. The form he chooses to reveal himself is in a storm cloud and fire. Fire can be both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing if it keeps you warm and cooks your food, but it’s a curse if it burns down your home. Likewise, God is safe, but he’s not. God sets forth terms that he too will be a blessing if the people obey, but a curse if they don’t. Most of all God wants to bless them with his presence, which he does at the end of Exodus when the Israelites finish building the tabernacle tent.
Exodus 40:34-35 (NIV) 34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
God’s presence comes down and fills the tabernacle. The fullness of God’s presence dwells among his people. Notice the form God’s presence takes when the Lord leads his people away from Sinai.
Exodus 40:38 (NIV) So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.
God’s Spirit lead them forward as a flaming column of fire by night and cloud by day. If you could have God lead you this way would you do it? What if he lead you someplace you don’t want to go?
He led the Israelites to the promised land but when they get there they don’t like it. They complain and disobey God and have already broken the terms of the covenant. God shows them mercy, and sticks with them, even though year after year for hundreds of years they keep disobeying God.
That’s the thing, right? We need God even though we disobey him. We need him because we disobey him. Do you realize you need God even though you disobey him? Most of the time we think we have to clean up ourselves before God will love us. Yet we find God sticking it out with Israel for hundreds of years.
Eventually King Solomon builds a permanent temple for God’s presence to reside. After they finish building it God’s presence fills the inner room called the Most Holy Place like he filled the tabernacle.
1 Kings 8:10-11 (NIV) 10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.
It’s this great and awesome and wonderful moment and it probably felt like it was going to last forever, but it doesn’t. Even though God promised Abraham he was going to bless him and his descendants and through them all the nations, and God promised it unconditionally, for the Israelites to actually get to enjoy the temple and God’s presence in the promised land they had to obey the promises they made at Sinai. And the people don’t do it. God is patient, but for hundreds of years they disobey God, and so one day the prophet Ezekiel gets a vision of God’s presence (pictured as a cloud) leaving the temple.
Ezekiel 10:4 (NIV) Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord.
The presence of God is departing the temple’s Most Holy Place and filling the courtyard. God leaves step by step, almost reluctantly. Can you imagine what that must have felt like? Watching God depart?
Ezekiel 10:18-19 (NIV) 18 Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 19 While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground… They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
I have preached the history of God’s presence filling and departing the temple before. Today I’m expanding on it. When I first preached on this I told you about an illustration I heard when I was going to seminary. The speaker put up a slide of a chest x-ray and said he would ask his medical students what was wrong with the x-ray. His students wouldn’t spot the problem; nor could we. There was no cloudy mass, no cancer, no breakage or chipping, nothing. But, something was indeed wrong. What was it? A bone was actually missing, completely gone. The problem wasn’t presence but absence.
The special presence of God’s Spirit has left his people and it is spiritually and socially devastating. We need God’s presence in our lives. Without him, it’s devastating. We can’t do this life without God. It’s too hard. If that’s you, you can do what the Israelites did in captivity. They get overthrown and taken into exile in Babylon. That time becomes an opportunity for them to repent and turn to God and that’s what today can be for you. Repent of your sin and believe again in Jesus. Jesus can bring you out of the darkness of your sin and into the light of his hope.
God rescues them and brings them home and they once more build a temple so God’s presence will return. But this is what happens when the people of Israel finish building the temple.
Ezra 6:15-16 (NIV) 15 The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
16 Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.
Do you see the glory cloud enter the temple once more? No. God’s special presence doesn’t return. This doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit isn’t at work in people’s lives bringing them to repentance and faith. We always need the Holy Spirit to believe in Jesus. But it does mean the Holy Spirit is absent from the corporate people of God in a significant way. But God promises he is going to fill his temple once more.
Haggai 2:6-7 (NIV) 6 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.
We see this fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus is the incarnation of God. He is conceived by the Holy Spirit and full of the Holy Spirit, full of the very presence of God. When Jesus drives the money changers out of the temple the people ask him by what authority he does this.
John 2:19-21 (NIV) 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
Jesus’ body is the new temple. He houses God’s presence and the Holy Spirit. Remember how the Holy Spirit at the beginning of creation hovered over the chaos waters like a bird? At the start of his ministry Jesus went to be baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist and then this happens.
Matthew 3:16 (NIV) As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
It’s as if Jesus and the Holy Spirit are reenacting the very moment of creation—declaring Jesus is the beginning of God’s new creation. Not that he himself is a created, but that he is the origin of a new way, a new life, a new creation. Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus has the power to start a new creation in you? To give you brand new eternal life in him? If you want it, God has to do something radical in you. Do you know what John promised just a few verses earlier?
Matthew 3:11 (NIV) “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Jesus is going to baptize his followers with the Holy Spirit and fire. Those listening must have thought of Abraham’s smoking fire pot, of Moses’ burning bush, of Israel’s fiery encounter with God at Mount Sinai, and of the glory cloud and pillar of fire that lead the people of Israel by day and night and filled the temple. Maybe they even asked, “Will God’s presence finally return to his temple?”
Yes, but not a stone temple, a temple made of flesh. An even greater temple had come, Jesus. But Jesus isn’t the only temple. Just like he houses God’s presence he is going to house God’s Spirit in anyone who follows him, the people of God, the church. That day arrives at Pentecost, 50 days after passover, at the beginning of the wheat harvest.” A new harvest is coming through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:1-2 (NIV) 1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
What do we see? We see the Spirt, the rûaḥ, the same “wind” or “breath” that was there in Genesis coming down from heaven, coming down from hovering over the chaos of our world, and filling these people. The columns of fire come, this time much smaller and individual.
Acts 2:3-4a (NIV) 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit…
God’s presence has finally come. The Holy Spirit is filling them as he has never done before. Did they already have the Holy Spirit in them? Yes! They believed in Jesus after all. But they didn’t have the Holy Spirit in that same temple sense until now. This applies to us as well. If you know Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit, but we can long to be filled in a special way with the same power and presence they felt.
How can we apply this? Let’s thank God for the presence of his Holy Spirit in us. And also, let’s ask him for a special anointing to live for him and do his work in our world. Corporately, as a body, we need to ask for the Holy Spirit to fill our church family in a powerful way. We want him to lead us.
1 Corinthians 3:16 (NIV) 16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
This is a plural “you”—you all. God dwells in you, church. We as the church are the temple of God. I want you to imagine for a moment that your favorite celebrity or personal hero comes into church next Sunday and sits down right next to you. If Tom and Giselle and their kids Benjamin and Vivian came to church next Sunday would it change what you did? Would you smile just a little bit bigger when greeting them at the door? Like not in a creepy way… Would you use your best singing voice? Maybe you’d go outside to throw the football with the youth after church. “Hey Tom, catch!” Would you act differently and give your best? Or, are you already giving your best welcome and worship because King Jesus is here? God’s presence dwells among us, living in each of us. Let’s give him everything.
The Spirit marked a new temple in Acts 2 and filled them so that they could fulfill the blessing Abraham’s descendants are supposed to be to the nations, so Christians can be that priesthood to outsiders.
Acts 2:4-6 (NIV) 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.
Luke includes the word for nation (ethnos) here. He wants us to see the beginning of the people of God reaching all the nations with the gospel. Jesus promised that his Holy Spirit would come, and then his followers would take the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The church from its beginning was meant to be an Outward Church. God performs the miracle of language so that everyone can hear the gospel in their native tongue.
My friend Brian from my Ockenga program and Doctorate of Ministry program, who is going to preach here in February, used to be in the Marine Corps and had opportunities to go share the gospel with locals when he was in Afghanistan. He didn’t speak their language and he didn’t have a translator. He was also a cessationist, which means he didn’t think the Holy Spirit performed miracles like translating language anymore. When he got up to speak, the locals listened. When he finished they thanked him and his local contact said that every single one of them understood what he had said. The Holy Spirit had translated his English words to their Afghani ears. It completely changed his perspective. Now he believes.
God is at work. The Holy Spirit is on the move. He showed up in Acts and he’s showing up today! One day, God is going to finish his promise to “fill this house with glory” (Haggai 2:7b). Jesus Christ will return and make all of creation new again. We find this promise at the end of the book of Revelation, which is a vision of this end of days.
Revelation 21:22-24 (NIV) 22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
Here we find God’s presence dwelling with his people forever and ever, and his people includes those foreign nations promised all the way back in Genesis 12. So the question is, do you want the Holy Spirit? First, do you want the Holy Spirit to help you repent of your sins, believe in Jesus, and receive eternal life? If yes, that’s the Holy Spirit working on you. Second, do we as a church want the Holy Spirit to anoint us in a special way to spread the gospel to all the nations?
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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What would you do if all of a sudden I yelled, “Fire!” Would you stop and look around to see what I was talking about? Would you just get up and run out of the building? Would you try to locate the fire-extinguishers? Or maybe you’d grab a pack of marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate for s’mores. What would you do if one Sunday you walked into this room and it was full of fire, wind, and smoke? Would you
When I graduated college I wanted to take an epic motorcycle ride with my dad before I moved out to Washington DC. In May my dad, a friend, and me rode motorcycles on a 230 mile loop starting in my hometown of Estes Park, Colorado. We rode up and over Trail Ridge Road, which is a beautiful ride that winds back and forth as it gets higher and higher and higher. It goes as high as 12,183 feet. Right now
When I graduated college I wanted to take an epic motorcycle ride with my dad before I moved out to Washington DC. In May my dad, a friend, and me rode motorcycles on a 230 mile loop starting in my hometown of Estes Park, Colorado. We rode up and over Trail Ridge Road, which is a beautiful ride that winds back and forth as it gets higher and higher and higher. It goes as high as 12,183 feet. Right now that road is closed because of snow, often higher than cars, but it had just finished melting on our trip. The snow-covered rockies were beautiful but I was freezing. I should have worn more layers.
We rode down the mountain and we were so eager to get some miles under our tires that we didn’t stop for gas and the next gas station wasn’t for 50 miles. As we were riding through beautiful views all around us but I kept worrying, “Am I going to run out of gas? Am I going to make it?” My motorcycle had a reserve tank that would get you a few more miles but I didn’t want to have to use it. I don’t know if I did or not but thankfully I did make it to the gas station. I was so happy I took a picture of it. After this we drove into a rainstorm and I started freezing again.
I wasn’t as prepared for this trip as I should have been. I didn’t wear enough layers and I didn’t have enough fuel. Although I enjoyed the ride, and the views, and this is a great memory, I think I could have enjoyed it even more if I had been better prepared. In the book of Acts, God is calling us to a grand mission to go out and share the message of Christ Jesus with our world. We’re going to encounter beautiful vistas, lives changed by Jesus Christ, God at work, but we’re also going to encounter difficulties and hardships, snow, rain, and running out of motivation. There are some things we need to do before the mission to be prepared and enjoy the journey.
As we continue Acts chapter one we will see how the disciples prepared to go on their mission, which will show us how to prepare for ours.
We need power for our mission. (Acts 1:8-9) Before Jesus sends his disciples out to share the gospel (the good news about him) with the whole world, what does he promise? He promises power through the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:8 (NIV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The Greek word for “power” is δύναμις (dune-a-mis), which sounds like our word for dynamite or dynamic. This power is the type of power than can…
Transform people’s hearts (Luke 1:17); Conceive a baby in a virgin girl (Luke 1:35); Cast out demons (Luke 4:36; 9:1); Heal the lame and the sick (Luke 5:17; 6:19; 8:46); Perform miracles (Luke 10:13, 19; 19:37; Acts 2:22; 3:12; 6:8; 8:13; 19:11); and… Make people listen when the gospel is shared (Acts 4:7, 33).
This power is the Spirit’s power (Luke 4:14; 24:49). This power is Jesus’ power (Luke 22:69; Acts 10:38). Did you know that more of the sun’s power strikes the earth in one hour than the entire world uses in one year? Enough solar energy hits the earth in one hour to supply our whole world with power for an entire year. Christ’s power is even greater. If we’re going to be his witnesses in our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, we need to access his power.
The original name for Acts is the “Acts of Apostles.” The Bible Project points out that “a more accurate name” is “The Acts of Jesus and the Spirit.” Aren’t the apostles and disciples doing all the work? The Holy Spirit is working through them. The work that takes place in Acts is first Christ’s work. He’s the primary worker. He’s the conductor. He’s the hero. Look at what Jesus does right after he gives them the mission.
Acts 1:9 (NIV) After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
Where did Jesus go? This is what Jesus promised those who were condemning him at his trial.
Luke 22:69 (NIV) But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
When Jesus ascended into heaven he sat down at the right hand of God. He is seated in heaven right next to our Heavenly Father right now (Rev 5:13). This is a place of glory, authority, and power. Jesus is seated on his throne, ruling, and reigning, and taking care of business. In order to do his mission, we need his power. Why? Because…
Christ’s power is unstoppable. (Acts 1:12-26) Do you remember what Jesus promised Peter in the gospel of Matthew?
Matthew 16:18 (NIV) And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Jesus is going to build his church through the power of the Holy Spirit and the deeds of his people, and nothing will be able to stop it. Newton’s first law of motion says that an “object in motion stays in motion.” His law clarifies this is only the case if that object doesn’t run into something or encounter resistance. Jesus’ promise is even greater. He promises his church will keep growing and going despite resistance. How? Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to help them (Acts 1:4).
Acts 1:12-13 (NIV) 12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
All eleven disciples are present (Luke 6:14-16). Judas betrayed Jesus and is gone so Peter gets up and talks about why the disciples should actually number twelve.
Acts 1:15-17 (NIV) 15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) 16 and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.
Quoting the Psalms, Peter explains how the Spirit accounted for Judas’s betrayal (Psalm 69:25; 109:8).
Acts 1:20 (NIV) “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:
“‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’
and,
“‘May another take his place of leadership.’
This means God knew, and even allowed, Judas to betray Jesus. Judas was a part of God’s big plan. Evil cannot stop Christ’s plans. Christ causes all things—the good things and bad things, the things we don’t understand or can’t see past—to work out for good (Rom 8:28). Christ’s power is unstoppable.
There’s a story in the Old Testament of a young man named Joseph whose ten older brothers sell him into slavery. While in slavery, things seem to get better. He gets a good job and get’s promoted but then he gets betrayed again and this time thrown into prison. After years God raises him out of prison to become Pharaoh, King of Egypt’s, right hand man (Genesis 41:39-43). Then a famine hits the land and Joseph’s brothers who betrayed him come to Egypt for food. After they discover Joseph is still alive and ruling Egypt, they are terrified Joseph is going to kill them. But Joseph says this:
Genesis 50:20 (NIV) You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Joseph is the son who was betrayed, but God used it for good. Jesus is the Son who was betrayed, and God used it for our good. What happened to Joseph lead to the saving of many lives. What happened to Jesus leads to the salvation of many more lives. If you repent and believe in Jesus, your life will be saved too.
They replace Judas with another disciple because God is showing you can’t stop his plan. The Bible identifies the 12 tribes of Israel as the people of God in the Old Testament and Christian believers as the people of God in the New Testament. Jesus chose 12 disciples (apostles) to signify that this new thing was a continuation of the old thing. Revelation 4:4 talks about the twenty-four elders seated on the twenty-four thrones surrounding Christ’s throne—12 tribes, 12 disciples, one continuous people. When we step back and see the big story God is telling it shows just how powerful and unstoppable God’s plans are.
God has called us to a big mission—to make, mature, and multiply disciples in Westford, on our frontlines, across social and cultural barriers, and even in foreign nations (Acts 1:8). I have two questions:
Do you believe Jesus has the power we need?
Do we really believe Jesus can change lives? Do we believe Jesus can work through us to change lives in Westford and on our frontlines (our everyday places) and around the world? If yes…
Do you want Jesus to empower us for our mission?
Do we want to be led by the Holy Spirit? I don’t think that’s a quick yes because God doesn’t give us the Holy Spirit so that we can just have nice Christian lives. He empowers us so we can go out into a fallen and broken world, live for Jesus, and tell others about him.
We need power for our mission. Christ’s power is unstoppable. How do we access the power of the Son?
His power comes through prayer. (Acts 1:14, 24) What do the disciples and the women and Mary the mother of Jesus do right when they get back to Jerusalem after seeing Jesus ascend into heaven? They pray.
Acts 1:14a (NIV) They all joined together constantly in prayer…
The NASB says, “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer…” Here we find 120 followers of Jesus continually pouring out their hearts to their Heavenly Father. Jesus ascended on the 40th day and the Holy Spirit came on the 50th day at Pentecost. We get this image of those 120 people constantly praying together for those ten days.
Acts 1:24 (NIV) Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen
They covered their leadership decision in prayer and cast lots because they trust Jesus to make the ultimate decision. That doesn’t mean we should cast lots today. We have the Holy Spirit and wisdom and Godly brothers and sisters in Christ we can ask for advice. The twelve apostles wanted to make abundantly clear that Jesus was still head of his church and would decide what would happen.
Before we go on mission or choose church leaders or try anything as a church, we have to pray. Do we pray because it makes us “better Christians?” No. We pray because we want to know God. We pray because we want to experience the Holy Spirit. Prayer is not an end in itself. Prayer is the means to an end, knowing and experiencing Jesus.
As a church, we want revival. That means we want lots of people to come to know Jesus. But are we willing to pray for it? Here are some of the ways we are already praying at Cornerstone.
Prayer Network: Emails-based prayer requests group. Friday Night Community Group (6:30-8pm): Weekly gathering to pray. Sunday Morning Prayer (8-8:45am): Prayer for mission and church. Elders & Deacons Meetings: We pray before meetings, sometime 30-45 minutes. Other Prayer: Personal, one-on-one, community group, ministry team prayer times.
This should encourage us that we have places we are praying at Cornerstone, but it should also challenge us because I know some of these prayer times are struggling. I know we’re all busy so it can be really hard to stop and pray as a church body, but something special happens when we do. Jesus said that when two or three gather, he’s with us (Matt 18:20). I want Jesus to be with us. When he’s with us, stuff happens.
Paul also says to “pray continually” (1 Thess 5:17). That means we can pray as we go. When you’re on your frontline, pray for your coworker to come to know Christ. When you’re going to the grocery store, pray for the cashier to meet Jesus. When you’re going to Dunkin Donuts, pray for staff to know Christ. When you’re driving through Westford or Littleton or Acton pray for homes as you drive by them—that those who live there would hear the gospel, repent, believe, and be saved, and that if it’s his will he would use you to share the gospel with them.
Before the mission… we need power for our mission. Christ’s power is unstoppable. His power comes through prayer.
I want to close with a story of prayer leading to revival. Some might say that revival never comes without prayer. Here’s a story that shows prayer can lead to revival. I hadn’t known about this one before so maybe it’s new to you as well.
For eight years a sculpture of a man praying on a park bench inviting those walking by to join him was outside Columbus Circle in upper Manhattan. The sculpture is called “Invitation to pray” and now resides at a local Christian college.
This sculpture is of a man named Jeremy Lanphier. Jeremy Lanphier lived in New York City in the 1800s. He became a Christian and began telling others about Christ. He worked as a “clothing wholesaler” during the day but talked with people and gave out tracts after work. Pretty soon a church hired him to visit members, witness around the church, and hold Bible studies. It drained him spiritually but he felt recharged if he spent his noon hour in prayer. He realized if prayer could recharge him it could recharge others, so he handed out 20,000 flyers to a noon prayer meeting, but nobody came.
He knelt down to pray. 30 minutes in a man joined him, then another and another. Every week more and more joined until he had to rent a bigger building. Pretty soon he had “forty businessmen” praying with him every day. A financial crisis struck the city and more and more people began joining noon and evening prayer gatherings. The newspapers picked it up then people in other cities, “Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland” began praying. Thousands of people began praying and this contributed to “as many as a million people [being] converted or renewed in the revival that followed.” We need power for our mission. Christ’s power is unstoppable. His power comes through prayer.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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Today is January 5th, 2020, the first Sunday of a new decade. The last Sunday of this decade will be December 30th, 2029. This last Sunday we celebrated as a church everything God did in 2019. I hear it was really encouraging. So my question is:
What do you want to celebrate on Sunday, December 30th, 2029?
Imagine if you can celebrate anything—people coming to faith, baptisms, us reading our Bibles and growing together in our love for Jesus, the Lord sending out own to become missionaries and support other churches. What do you want to celebrate? On that Sunday I want to celebrate all the ways Jesus has worked in and through us as a church to be a witness to his world.
There are 3,647 days between now and the last Sunday in 2029. That seems like a lot of time, but it will fly by like the snap of my fingers. And so we want to use our time wisely. We’re going to take about the first year, of those ten years, to study a book that’s all about the witness of God’s people in their world. If we want to be faithful witnesses, we need to know how to do it, and we find that in the book of Acts.
Acts tells the story of the first churches and the first missionaries and their outward witness. Here in the opening chapter of Acts we find this encouragement for sharing Christ with others.
Jesus gives us everything we need to be his witnesses in our world.
This is my big idea. Jesus gives us everything we need to be his witnesses in our world. As we open up the first eleven verses of Acts we encounter three things Jesus gives us to help us witness.
- Proof of his resurrection. (Acts 1:1-3) Let’s look at the first verse.
Acts 1:1 (NIV) In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach
What book is the author talking about? He’s talking about the gospel of Luke, which we finished a series in, The Certain Gospel, last May. Luke wrote both the gospel of Luke and Acts. Both are addressed in their introductions to “Theophilus.” Luke is a physician, a historian, and joins Paul later in Acts (Acts 16-28; Col 4:14). Luke lives and breathed life in and among Paul and the other early believers. We can trust him and his accuracy and the proofs he presents. The proof he presents is Jesus himself rising from the grave.
Acts 1:1b-4a (NIV) …I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command…
So what are the proofs of Jesus’ resurrection that Luke presents?
Jesus presented himself to the disciples. As they retell it, he wasn’t some limping ashen person who had fainted and barely survived a cross, but a glorious king. The one who was scourged with whips was better than brand new. He didn’t appear once, but over a period of 40 days. Paul tells us Jesus appeared to over 500 people, many of whom Luke could have talked to (1 Cor 15:1-6). Jesus also gave proofs by eating with them—ghosts don’t eat (v4; Luke 24:42-43), talking to them, letting them them touch his hands and side (John 20:24-29).
These disciples were so convinced they saw Jesus alive after his death that most of them died martyr’s deaths and all of them suffered to tell others about Jesus. Actually, the word for “witness” in verse 8 is the Greek word “martus,” where the word “martyr” came from. So I could rephrase my big idea…
Jesus gives us everything we need to be his martyrs in our world.
That’s a cheery way to start out a new year! What could possibly cause me to give my life, even if I don’t die, just give the days of my life, to tell others about Christ? The only thing that could possibly make it worth while is if someone died and came back to life and told us how to have eternal life and that is exactly what Jesus did.
Jesus died. He really died. This wasn’t a 15 minute resuscitation story, which is amazing. I just heard about a woman whose heart stopped for six hours, but because she was caught in a freezing cold snowstorm, doctors were able to revive her. Well Jesus was dead for three days in the hot middle eastern sun and he didn’t have modern medicine to revive him. But God raised him from the dead. God brought him back to life. And Jesus said that anyone who repents of their sins and believes in him will receive eternal life too. He makes being a witness, even a martyr, worth it.
But maybe you doubt. Maybe you don’t believe Jesus really rose from the grave. Maybe you need more information. You know I like books. Let me give you a few recommendations of resources that can help you explore the evidence of the resurrection and other difficult aspects of Christianity.
More Than a Carpenter: His story might change yours by Josh McDowell – I read this book recently. It’s a quick read and in it Josh McDowell shares his own story of coming to faith. It’s really good. You can take it home with you today as we have it at our Welcome Center.
The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus by Lee Strobel – We also have this one available at the Welcome Center. An atheist journalist records his interviews where he researches questions like, “Can we trust the Bible? and “Can we trust the resurrection really happened?” His investigation of Christianity led him to faith in Christ.
The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity by Lee Strobel – Strobel followed up with this book, which answers questions like, “Why do good things happen to bad people?” and “How can Christianity claim to be the only way to God?”
The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ by Lee Strobel – Maybe you’ve heard of early Christian writings like the Gospel of Thomas and how they tell a different story about Jesus. Strobel investigates if we should trust them.
What’s Wrong With Religion? 9 Things No One Told You About Faith by Skye Jethani – This is a fantastic book that is simple and short that logically presents the faith. Great for students.
Maybe you’re not up for a book but could read an article or two or would like to try a podcast.
Stand to Reason (str.org) – I listened to this for hours in college. The main guy, Greg Koukl, does a great job of explaining and giving reasons for why we believe what we believe.
Apologetics Study Bible – If you want to incorporate reasons to believe into your daily devotions, as well as some well written articles, you could check out the Apologetics Study Bible.
If you want to try any of these resources, myself or any of the elders would love to discuss what you’re learning with you. Or if you know someone who would benefit, take one and give it to a friend. Offer to read it with them and take the time to discuss it with them. Jesus gives us everything we need (including proofs of his resurrection) to be his witnesses in our world.
But we all know that you can give the very best reasons to believe in Christianity, but in order for that belief to come, God has to do something in our hearts. This is the second thing God has given us.
- Power for our mission. (Acts 1:4-8) Look at the absolute power Jesus promises to send to his disciples as they wait in Jerusalem.
Acts 1:4-5 (NIV) On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus gives us his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not some mystical force we can move with our minds if we pray hard enough. The Holy Spirit is God himself, the third person of the Trinity. He is as much God as the Father and the Son. Jesus is promising to send his Holy Spirit to fill up his disciples and empower them for ministry. If you know Jesus Christ, this same Holy Spirit resides in you. And you can ask the Holy Spirit to not just reside in you, but to fill you up and empower you to reach out to that one person he has placed on your heart.
I listened to an interview on the Holy Post podcast (#377) with an author that wrote a book on the life and faith of Mister Rogers. Fred Rogers loved the Lord and actually went to seminary as he worked in television. He became an ordained Presbyterian Minister and integrated his faith and work into everything he did. But did you also know that Fred Rogers was an incredibly Spirit-lead man? There’s lots of stories of Fred calling people when something was going on in their life to check in on them or showing up in a time of trouble, but I want to tell you the best story I heard on the interview.
One woman worked on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood for several years, and after her husband was diagnosed with cancer, one morning she woke up and her husband had died during the night. This was especially hard because she thought God was going to heal him. It’s really early in the morning and she’s in this “moment of crisis” and she hears a know on the door. She goes out and it’s Fred and he said “I was praying and I felt like you needed me.” He was there, cried with her, and called the funeral home for her. This experience helped transform her life. Fred believed the Holy Spirit was active in every human encounter and between him and the audience watching his show and he has had an incredibly impact on many many people.
Jesus can fill us up with the same Holy Spirit he filled Fred Rogers up with. Jesus gives us power for our mission, his Holy Spirit and…
Jesus gives us an outward mission. Acts 1:6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
The disciples were interested in building a kingdom, but a kingdom that looked more like a political kingdom set up on earth. Jesus tells them to stop worrying about his kingdom and start telling others that the king has come!
Acts 1:7-8 (NIV) He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus promises the Holy Spirit is going to come on them, which we’ll see in Acts 2 at Pentecost, and that he’s going to send them out on mission to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth. As we read Acts we’ll see the outward expansion of their witness from Jerusalem in Acts 1-7, to Judea and Samaria in Acts 8-12, and the ends of the earth (to Rome) in Acts 13-28.
This is first a geographic plan of expansion for the early church, but I think there’s something in this for us. Just because something is recorded in Acts doesn’t mean it’s a set pattern, but the Bible does communicate theology through history, and we find a pattern for our outward mission. How so?
Jerusalem – Westford
Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. It’s the political, economic, and cultural hub of the nation. It’s where God has placed his disciples for the moment. God has placed us as a church in Westford. God has called us to minister in Westford—not to the exclusion of the town we each may live in (Chelmsford, Littleton, etc.) but the mission begins here. Jesus quickly expands the mission.
Judea – Frontlines
The disciples are not from Judea. They’re actually from Galilee, which is like the northern cousin of Judea. When I hear Judea I think of a specific geographic region in Israel but also the hometowns of the disciples, the places they knew best. So although it’s not exact we can apply this to our frontlines. Your frontline is the place where you live or work and spend lots of time around people who don’t yet know Jesus, like your coworkers, classmates, or family members. Where’s your Judea? Where’s your frontline?
Samaria – Those different than us
As we think about Samaria, we realize the people of Judea really didn’t like Samaria in Jesus’ time. They looked at them like they would other pagans, or even worse as Samaria had once abandoned the one true God of Israel. At one point in Jesus’ ministry James and John tried to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village (Luke 9:52-54) but Jesus rebuked them (Luke 9:52-54). In Acts 1:8 God calls his disciples, including James and John, to go to Samaria with the gospel message.
Who do you feel most different around? Whose your Samaria? Maybe it’s a group of people that hold a different political opinion or ideology about life than you, or it’s someone who doesn’t have your best at heart, but it doesn’t have to be a negative. It just might be someone you’re unfamiliar with or don’t live close to so you don’t really know them. Jesus calls us to people like these, maybe not to every single one, but to our Samaria, wherever that may be.
Ends of the earth – International missions
The book of Acts ends with Paul making it to Rome, but the mission doesn’t stop there. We too are called to go and serve in places that need Christ and haven’t heard of him yet. God might be sending you to go, have you thought of that? He can also use our prayers, our finances, and short-term teams to further his mission abroad. I looked over the missions programs we are currently supporting as a church, and I think I see some similarities between them and Acts 1:8. Though not exact, this is what I came up with:
Biblical Contextual Ministry or Missionary
Jerusalem Westford Church body & Outreach team
Judea Frontlines Each one of us / Vere Institute – Chris Lake
Samaria Those different than us Vision New England Prison Ministry – Denis Frediani Bethany Christian Services – Safe Families
Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (CCCC)
Ends of the earth International missions Mission of Hope Haiti – Emmanuel Orphanage
France – Thierry Mirone
*We’ve taken short-term trips to both.
It’s good to see how we’re beginning to reach out to some of these areas, but we need to keep going, keep striving, empowered by the Holy Spirit to reach our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. In seminary one of my professors said that pastors often overestimate what they can do in 3-4 years and underestimate what they can accomplish in 10-15 years. That really applies to us more as a church. Let’s not underestimate what God can do through us in the next 10 years. Jesus gives us everything we need to be his witnesses in our world—proof of his resurrection, power for our mission, and…
- Motivation to go. (Acts 1:9-11) This text ends with Jesus ascending into heaven and all the disciples standing there waiting for Jesus to return. So two angels appear and send them to Jerusalem because Jesus is coming back!
Acts 1:9-11 (NIV) After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Jesus is coming back, and the disciples hadn’t even started on the mission. I don’t want to get to Sunday December 30th, 2029, 3,647 days from now, and still be standing here looking into the sky. I want to get going! I want to have something worth celebrating. I want to tell others about the resurrection of Jesus and see what the Holy Spirit does. Jesus gives us everything we need to be his witnesses in our world.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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Today is January 5th, 2020, the first Sunday of a new decade. The last Sunday of this decade will be December 30th, 2029. This last Sunday we celebrated as a church everything God did in 2019. I hear it was really encouraging. So my question is: What do you want to celebrate on Sunday, December 30th, 2029? Imagine if you can celebrate anything—people coming to faith, baptisms, us reading our Bibles and growing together in our love for Jesus, the
Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away. So he said to his mother, “I am running away.” “If you run away, “ said his mother, “I will run after you. For you are my little bunny.” These are the opening words of The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown. We have a lot of children’s books in our house right now but there’s something special about this book. Runaway Bunny has never gone out of print
Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away. So he said to his mother, “I am running away.”
“If you run away, “ said his mother, “I will run after you. For you are my little bunny.”
These are the opening words of The Runaway Bunnyby Margaret Wise Brown. We have a lot of children’s books in our house right now but there’s something special about this book. Runaway Bunny has never gone out of print since it was first published in 1942. Families still love reading it and passing it along today.
Maybe you’re thinking, “You got your Holidays wrong! It’s not Easter.” Well, I actually think The Runaway Bunny tells us about Christmas. I think we love this book because it whispers a greater story, the story of God pursuing us because he loves us. The story of the Bible and of Christmas is the story of us running away from God and God running after us.
“If you run after me,” said the little bunny, “I will become a fish in a trout stream and I will swim away from you.”
“If you become a fish in a trout stream,” said his mother, “I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.”
The little bunny is strong and independent; but his idea of freedom is actually captivity. Little bunnies don’t make good swimmers. We’re kind of like that little bunny, aren’t we? We run to things that we think will make us happy but they don’t. That’s how it’s been since Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:17). They wanted freedom but instead they got captivity. Their sin introduced brokenness and mistrust into our world. So what did they do in the garden? They ran away. They tried to hide.
Genesis 3:8 (NIV) Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Do you know what it’s like to be so wrong you just want to hide? Hi an emotion, hide a memory, hide a thing you did or said? Hide from your parents, your spouse, your friends, your boss, your God? One of my earliest memories is me running away and hiding from my brothers because I had done something wrong (I think I’d lied). We all hide because we all feel shame, but God doesn’t want to leave us in our shame. When Adam and Eve were hiding, do you know what God was doing? He was searching.
Genesis 3:9 (NIV) But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
God knew exactly where they were as he walked through his garden, but still he called out, “Where are you?” Why would he do that? Why not just appear exactly where they were hiding and surprise them?! Because our God is a God who cares enough to come after us (Rom 3:11). Our God is a God who loves us enough to find us. Even now, God is offering Adam and Eve an opportunity to come to him, but instead they hide. But you don’t have to hide.
Where are you Adam? Where are you Eve? How would you answer that question? Where are you? Are you walking with God in the garden or are you hiding behind the trees? What do you hide behind? Do you hide behind good deeds? Good parenting? Good grades? Good fitness? A good relationship? Good work? A good career? Good morality? Being a good person? Hiding behind something that is good is still hiding. What thing is in-between you and God? Don’t let it keep you back from him.
The runaway bunny has good ideas; he has really great ideas. He doesn’t want to do bad. He wants to do good. He wants to become a mountain!
“If you become a fisherman,” said the little bunny, “I will become a rock on the mountain, high above you.”
“If you become a rock on the mountain high above me,” said his mother, “I will be a mountain climber, and I will climb to where you are.”
The little bunny wants to become a mountain high above his mother. He wants to surpass her. He wants to be in charge. That’s exactly what Adam and Eve wanted and what we want when we do life our way instead of God’s way. We want to rule over God; we want to be the ones in charge. The mommy bunny doesn’t say, “Fine, have it your way” and leave her bunny to his mountain; instead, she goes after him. And that’s the story of the Bible, God doesn’t leave us to ourselves but comes after you and me. The Psalmist David describes a God who pursues us no matter where we go.
Psalm 139:7-10 (NIV) 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
There’s nowhere we can get away from God. You can’t be so high and so good that you don’t need God. But neither can you be so bad and so low that God can’t forgive you. There’s no location, activity, memory, or action we can hide behind where God can’t rescue us.
The little bunny tries to hide in a hidden garden, a place with lots of hiding spots for a little bunny, but his mother becomes a gardener and finds him.
The little bunny tries to become a bird and fly away from his mother, but she becomes the tree he calls home.
The little bunny tries to become a sailboat and sail away from his mother, but she becomes the wind and brings him home.
The little bunny tries to run away and join a circus as a flying trapeze artist, but his mother becomes a tightrope walker and walks across the air to him.
If this book was about anyone else but this little bunny’s mother or father, it would be really creepy, but it’s not. It’s about his mother. She’s pursuing him not out of anger or wanting to take something from him, but out of love. She loves him enough to become what he needs; and we have a God who has become what we need to rescue us. I’m going to read a passage from the Bible that describes God becoming exactly who we need, a small baby boy named Jesus.
Luke 1:30-35 (NIV) 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
What we need is for God to come to us just like he did in the garden. He needs to come and walk among us and that’s exactly what he did through Jesus. Jesus lived and breathed and experienced life just like you and me. Jesus had to wake-up on Mondays too. But the mysterious thing about Jesus is that he is also the one true God. That means through Jesus God is feeling and experiencing the things we feel and experience, except he doesn’t sin. He handles life the way it should be handled. Jesus, because he’s God, but also man, can speak to his Heavenly Father on our behalf. He can make amends for us.
He can make amends because he shed his own blood on the cross to pay for our sins. That sounds old fashioned, doesn’t it? Why would a loving God require his Son to die? Because he’s also a just God. The only way God can forgive our sins and love us is by paying the penalty for sin himself—and that’s what God did in Jesus. Jesus is the God who took our penalty upon himself so that we might live. He’s a God who wants to rescue anyone who is lost.
Jesus told a parable of a lost sheep during his ministry. He told it because people were complaining that he spent time with the wrong kind of people, the outcasts and sinners, the misfits (Luke 15:1-2). Our God loves the outcasts, sinners, and misfits.
Luke 15:3-7 (NIV) 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home.
A shepherd loses one of his sheep and then goes far and wide to find it. That’s what God has done for us.
Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
If you’re out there doing your own thing, maybe a really great thing, but you’re running away from God, Jesus is the good shepherd who is coming after you. He is not content to let you perish apart from him. He does call you to repentance, to turn away from the sin that hurts you and believe in him, but he does so out of love.
“If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air,” said the bunny, “I will become a little boy and run into a house.”
“If you become a little boy and run into a house,” said the mother bunny, “I will become your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you.”
Are you a runaway bunny? It takes courage to admit you’re a bunny. It takes courage to admit you got a sin problem and can’t make it right but God can through Jesus. It takes courage to stop running and and come home.
“Shucks,” said the bunny, “I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny.” And so he did. “Have a carrot,” said the mother bunny.
~
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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Have you ever had one of those moments where you’re listening to a teaching or reading or watching a documentary and something “clicks” in your mind? You finally “get it” and the way you think has changed? Maybe it’s a radical “paradigm shift” or just a “aha moment.” Something is different.
I had one of moments this fall when I began reading Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp. This is a book on parenting, but he starts with the heart. I’m going to be leading a Community Group for parents on this material, so I hope today’s sermon will intrigue you to learn more. He defines the heart as “the control center for life.”
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Everything we do comes from our heart. They’re our control center. Our hearts determine our behavior. So when I say or do something—what I’m saying and doing are a reflection of what’s going on inside me. Now he applies this to parenting. He argues most books on parenting focus on behavior–modification and not heart–change but Jesus is not interested in “good behavior” without a heart that loves him. In fact, pointing to Jesus’ judgment of the Pharisees in Matthew 15 for caring more about outward behavior than impure hearts (Matt 15:1-20), Tripp says:
“A change in behavior that does not stem from a change in heart is not commendable; it is condemnable.” – Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp
We can finally start to behave and do all the right things, but if Jesus doesn’t have our hearts, it won’t matter in the end. As I’ve taken us through Proverbs this summer and fall we’ve talked a lot about the importance of living life God’s way. But if all we do is walk away from these series in Proverbs and think, “I got to do better” than we’re actually no better off. Why is that? It’s because…
The heart matters most. Jesus condemns the Pharisees and teachers of the law—the most religious people of all—because they care more for their traditions and hand washing than people. Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah.
Matthew 15:8-9 (NIV) 8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’” (see Isaiah 29:13)
It’s possible for you and I to have perfect church attendance, to have great behavior, to always say “please and thank you,” to make others feel respected and valued, to be the best of parents, to always vote the right way, to look outwardly fine, die and go straight to hell because our hearts are far from God. We do want to love and value others, but it has to come from a heart that’s with God.
In Proverbs we’ve talked about marriage, money, the things we say, leadership, parenting, alcohol, and so much more. If we’re to approach any of those things the right way, our focus cannot just be on doing the right thing, but on having a right heart. Trip gives this illustration in his opening chapter.
The children are playing and a fight breaks out over a particular toy. The classic response is “Who had it first?” This response misses heart issues. “Who had it first?” is an issue of justice. Justice operates in the favor of the child who was the quicker draw in getting the toy. If we look at this situation in terms of the heart, the issues change.
Now you have two offenders. Both children are displaying a hardness of heart toward the other. Both are being selfish. Both children are saying, “I don’t care about you or your happiness. I am only concerned about myself. I want this toy. My happiness depends on possessing it. I will have it and be happy regardless of what that means to you.”
In terms of issues of the heart, you have two sinning children. Two children are preferring themselves before the other. Two children are breaking God’s law. Sure, the circumstances are different. One is taking the toy that the other has. The other is keeping the advantage. The circumstances are different, but the heart issue is the same—“I want my happiness, even at your expense.” – Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Trip
With a little imagination I’m sure we can all think of examples where we prioritized our own happiness at the expense of others. This is an issue of the heart, and if we don’t address our hearts, what’s going on inside us, change won’t last. But this isn’t easy. In fact, it’s very hard to look honestly at ourselves.
We all have defective hearts. Our hearts are the “control center” of our lives. The Bible Project says the heart is where your physical life, your intellect, your emotions, and your decisions all come from. It’s the source of everything you. But what if a button or lever isn’t working in the control center? What if the wiring is wrong? What if something in your mind or emotions is off? That will effect everything. We all have something wrong.
Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV) The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Have you ever had your heart lie to you? You’re at the store and you’re walking down the desserts aisle and you spot a triple dark-chocolate cheesecake? You look at it and imagine how good it is and how happy you’ll be once you eat it. Then you remember you’re on a diet and a budget, but your heart tells you you’ll be happy so you buy it. You go home, eat two slices, feel sick, and immediately begin to condemn yourself because you can’t lose weight and this cycle has happened before. That’s a defective heart.
How about when you’re at the office and you’re working on a project with a coworker? But then you see them talking to your boss and you begin to wonder if they’re gunning for the promotion you deserve. You get suspicious, start alienating them, the relationship breaks down, and you find out they didn’t want the promotion; they just wanted to help you succeed. That’s a defective heart.
What about your family? Have you ever fought with a brother or sister or parent over something it turns out you actually agree upon? Or maybe something that’s really not a big deal but you make it a big deal because you have to be right? That’s a defective heart.
Our hearts are constantly telling us that we’re so good we don’t need a Savior but we’re not good enough to stop trying. It’s exhausting.
Proverbs 20:9 (NIV) Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”?
Who can say they have a pure heart? No one! Who can say they are clean and without sin? No one (Matt 5).Who can say their heart is fine? No one!I watched a clip from an interview on Youtube between George R. R. Martin, the author of Game of Thrones, and Stephen King, the best-selling horror author, probably ever. I don’t recommend either of these authors but I found what George R. R. Martin said about the human heart to be fascinating:
My fantasy series is often compared to Tolkien… Tolkien’s view of good and evil is externalized. It comes from Sauron or Morgoth before it and there are Orcs who are absolutely irredeemable. The good people get together and stop the Orcs. Good people are good. I’ve always been more interested in gray characters… I do think the battle for good and evil is a great subject for fiction but in my view the battle for good and evil is waged within the individual human heart… We’re all partly good and partly evil. We make decisions everyday. We may do a good thing on Wednesday and an evil thing on Thursday, or a selfish thing. It’s all very complicated.
When I heard him say that it just struck me as exactly what the Bible teaches. Humans do have good inside. We’re made in God’s image and can do good deeds, but we all also have evil inside us, and its root is a defective heart. A world without the possibility of change would be one of darkness and horror like these authors have created, but there’s good news, there’s hope.
The Holy Spirit can change our hearts. This is a two-part change. The first change is that of salvation and the second is that of sanctification.
Salvation The first part is that initial change from a heart of wickedness that rejects God to a heart that loves God and worships him. This is only possible if the Holy Spirit (God’s Spirit) comes and gives us entirely new hearts. He has to renovate the control center of our lives.
The prophet Ezekiel promises God’s people Israel as they are exiles in Babylon that God is going to deal with their fundamental problem, which lead to their exile, their sinful hearts.
Ezekiel 36:25-26 (NIV) 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Do you see the connection between forgiveness and new hearts? In verse 25 God promises to come and cleanse his people and forgive them. And in verse 26 he is removing the old stony heart and giving a new healthy flesh–heart to his people. A heart of stone comes from trying to live up to God’s standards without God’s Spirit (2 Cor 3). But if the Holy Spirit comes and transforms our hearts first, the new heart enables us to love and obey God. See the very next verse in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 36:27 (NIV) And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
We receive salvation when the Holy Spirit comes and changes our hearts and washes away our sin (salvation). He does this by setting our hearts on Jesus and what he has done for us. Jesus was stabbed in his literal heart with a spear on the cross so that your spiritual heart can be made new. Jesus’ physical heart was broken but so was his emotional heart. Jesus was forsaken and abandoned by his Father so that we don’t have to be. He didn’t feel his Father’s love so we could have it.
If you want to be saved that’s a sign the HolySpiritis working on your heart to convict you of your sins and give you faith in Christ. You can receive salvation by repenting and believing in Jesus. That’s just the beginning. When the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts, granting us salvation, it enables our…
Sanctification Sanctification is growing in holiness and obedience to God. It’s when our lives begin to look a little less like our old defective selves and a little more like Jesus. It’s when we start to see fruit in our lives even if the harvest isn’t complete. A heart that loves and worships God produces a heart that obeys God. It’s like God comes in and rewires the control–center of our lives (that’s salvation). Sanctification is when we begin to use our control-center to do the things God wants. We see it in Proverbs.
Proverbs 4:4 (NIV) Then he taught me, and he said to me, “Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live.
God changes our hearts—he saves us—and then he molds our hearts—he sanctifies us. He puts situations, circumstances, and people in our lives to make us more like Christ. This is a journey. It takes time. Sometimes we even fight against our sanctification. Our old defective hearts rear up and try to push us off–course. C.S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity of how our old natures don’t want to be changed. Lewis uses the illustration of a toy soldier made of tin.
Imagine turning a tin soldier into a real little man. It would involve turning the tin into flesh. And suppose the tin soldier did not like it. He is not interested in flesh: all he sees is that the tin is being spoilt. He thinks you are killing him. He will do everything he can to prevent you. He will not be made into a man if he can help it. – Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Our selfishness doesn’t want to stop being selfish. Our resentment doesn’t want to stop being resentment. Our pride doesn’t want to stop beingprideful. Our sin doesn’t want to stop being sin. God can change our hearts. He can save us and sanctify us, but we have to get involved.
We work with God’s heart change. We have a choice in the matter. We can choose to work with or against the change God is working in our hearts. We can shut down what the Holy Spirit is doing by not humbling ourselves, by not seeking a relationship with God, by fighting against what God is doing in our lives.
Proverbs 28:14 (NIV) Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.
Don’t harden your heart. There’s lots of ways to work with God’s heart change.
By studying God’s Word (Prov 2:2, 10; 3:1; 6:21; 7:3; 22:17). By trusting in the Lord (Prov 3:5; 23:17; 28:26).
This requires we humble ourselves and seek a relationship with him.
By guarding what influences our hearts (Prov 4:23; 23:15). By receiving correction (Prov 5:12; 24:32). By being peacemakers (Prov 6:14; 24:2, 17). By guarding who we give our hearts to (Prov 7:25; 23:1, 26; 26:25).
Who you marry, who you love, what you love, by giving our hearts to the Lord.
By seeking God’s way and not our own (Prov 18:2; 19:3; 23:19).
The heart matters most. We all have defective hearts. The Holy Spirit can change our hearts. We work with God’s heart change.
The heart matters for parenting, for teaching, for dealing with coworkers, for family members, and for us as a church. When we see something that bothers us in ourselves or in someone else, our normal response is, “Stop that” But if we’re really going to address the heart, we need to first ask ourselves, “What is going on in my heart?” And second, “Whats going on in their lives and hearts that I can care for?” It takes patience, and humility, and courage, to address our own hearts and to care for the hearts of others. May the Lord change each one of our hearts.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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Have you ever had one of those moments where you’re listening to a teaching or reading or watching a documentary and something “clicks” in your mind? You finally “get it” and the way you think has changed? Maybe it’s a radical “paradigm shift” or just a “aha moment.” Something is different. I had one of moments this fall when I began reading Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp. This is a book on parenting, but he starts with the
For our Christmas series this year—Wisdom for the Holidays—I’ve extended our time in Proverbs. I’ve done this because we could all use a little help navigating a fun but sometimes difficult time of year. The first week I spoke on gifts, the second week on drinks, and this week I’m talking about family. For many of us, spending time with family, whether our nuclear family (immediate)—parents and children—or our extended family—in–laws, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc—is a big part of Christmas.
For some this time with family is great. It’s fun. You havean easy time withyour family. For others your family can really stress you out and cause a lot of anxiety. Or maybe you’re somewhere in-between. You love your family, but moments arise where you wonder if you were swapped at birth.
Today I have three gifts of wisdom from God’s Word that I think might help us all navigate time with family this Christmas. There are so many different things we can buy, but these gifts don’t cost you any money, but neither are they exactly free, because they will cost you. The three gifts are the gift of peace, the gift of respect, and the gift of contentment. The first gift to give to your family is…
The gift of peace Proverbs says just how important peace is by how much it judges troublemakers.
Proverbs 6:16-19 (NIV) 16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
God hates those who stirs up conflict within a family. The ESV translates v19 as the Lord hates “one who sows discord among brothers.” That’s closer to the Hebrew so this wisdom first applies to the family. As you spend time with your brothers, sisters, parents, and grandparents over the Holidays, try to avoid fighting (Prov 18:19). I have three ways you can give the gift of peace:
1. Don’t start conflict. Your family knows exactly what will get you riled up. They know your “buttons” and we know theirs. We practically gave each other our buttons, as a gift. It can be tempting to push them, to talk about that political issue or to make that passing comment that makes you feel a little better than them.
Proverbs 17:14 (NIV) Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.
Jesus didn’t say “blessed are the instigators.” Rather he said…
Matthew 5:9 (NIV) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Children of God are to be children of peace. We are to be characterized by peace and harmony. My son really likes DanielTiger these days. Daniel Tiger is a PBS show inspired by Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. The main star is Daniel the tiger. Every episode there’s a lesson. In one episode Daniel get’s mad because he can’t go to jungle beach so his mom teaches him a song to sing when he’s mad.
When you feel so mad that you wanna roar, take a deep breath, and count to 4.
1.2.3.4. (with accompanying hand motion)
We could all benefit from this song when we are feeling upset or mad. So if family member’s start getting upset over Christmas, flip on Daniel Tiger season one episode 4 on Amazon Prime. Don’t start conflict.
2. Don’t further conflict. You know how some people say, “They started it but I’m going to finish it.” That never leads anywhere good. If conflict is already happening, don’t add fuel to the fire. There’s a number of ways we do this, like when we start gossiping about other members of our family (Prov 16:28).
Proverbs 26:20 (NIV) Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down.
It helps to define gossip.
Gossip: saying something negative about anyone or anything to someone who can’t do anything about it. (Stephen Mansfield – The EntreLeadership Podcast #303)
Do I need to give examples of family gossip? “Last Christmas I gave her a really nice gift and she gave me socks…” “Their kids act that way because they’re always fighting…” “I can’t believe he did it again…” Gossip can further a conflict but so can wading into a conflict to try and solve it.
Proverbs 26:17 (NIV) Like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears is someone who rushes into a quarrel not their own.
It’s easy to take sides in your family; especially since you know the history, but Proverbs warns against getting into someone else’s fight. If we don’t start a conflict, and we don’t further conflict, it can help make peace. But one more way to give the gift of peace, this time a positive way.
3. Be patient. Be patient with your family. Endure with them. Proverbs tells us practicing patience is actually one way to help create peace in the midst of conflict.
Proverbs 15:18 (NIV) A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.
The quarrel is ongoing, but patience helps bring it to an end. So instead of wading in and trying to solve everything, prayerfully pray for peace and patiently endure. But how about when a family member tries to start something with you? Or you hear your family talking about you?
Proverbs 19:11 (NIV) A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.
This doesn’t mean we should avoid talking with someone if there’s a problem. If you find yourself griping about them or feeling wounded please do. But if possible it’s your “glory” to not be offended.
As I was studying for my sermon on gift-giving several weeks ago I ran across an article on giving gifts that resonated with me. In it the author, Jon Bloom, a staff writer for desiringGod, talks about the importance of love at Christmas:
Love gives the gift of patience when Christmas celebrations don’t go as planned. Love gives the gift of kindness when holiday tempers flare, insensitive comments are spoken, and expectations are disappointed. Love gives the gift of not envying those whose Christmases seem happier, not boasting over social media with a picture-perfect (and misleading) holiday moment, not seeking its own way in a group decision over a holiday leisure activity, not being irritable with adrenalized children or crabby relatives, and not carrying resentment over past or present relational offenses…
We give the gift of peace by not starting conflict, not furthering it, and by being patient. This isn’t possible in our own power. In order to do this, we need to remember the gospel.
The gospel makes peace possible. In you have sin you are God’s enemy, a child of wrath (Eph 2:3). But “gospel” means “good news.” The good news is that you can be reconciled to God. That means you don’t have to be enemies anymore. You can become his friend. He’s made this possible through the sacrificial death of his Son. Jesus had to die to pay the penalty for your sin. That means you are far more sinful than you realize; but you’re also more loved than you can imagine. Now because we’ve experience peace with God we can extend peace to others.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NIV) 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
If you want a peaceful Christmas with family, the first thing you need to do is get reconciled with your heavenly family, with God the Father through his Son Christ Jesus. The Bible says if we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus we will know that peace. If you don’t know Christ, can I encourage you to think about it? Ask yourself if you want peace with God. God wants to be reconciled with you; and then to work through you to be reconciled with your family and for them to be reconciled to him too. God will help you through his Holy Spirit and through the gospel changing your life. We can give the gift of peace because of the gospel. The gospel makes possible our next two gifts as well.
The gift of respect There’s nothing like bringing the gift of respect to your family Christmas party—respect for your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews. I want to focus on a few key relationships in the family.
1. Children, respect your parents over the Holidays. Proverbs continually calls children to bring joy to their parents.
Proverbs 15:20 (NIV) A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.
First I’m speaking to our children and youth. How can you honor and thank your parents for all they do for you this Christmas? Chances are they spend a lot of time and money on making Christmas fun. Have you thanked them? I’m also thinking of our adults with parents. How can you respect the grandparents (Prov 19:26)? How can you include them? Normally, parents take a lot of pride in their children. Proverbs actually reverses that so that children take pride in their parents.
Proverbs 17:6 (NIV) Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.
Take pride in your parents (and your grandparents). Look for what’s best in them. Thank God for them. Children, respect your parents over the Holidays. Now parents, this implies you are acting in a way worthy of their respect.
2. Parents, model respect for your children. Treat your children with as much respect as you wish to be treated. If we want our kids to treat us with respect, we have to first treat them with respect. If we want our kids to speak respectfully about others, we have to speak respectfully about others in front of them. We see an example of modeling respect in Proverbs as the father figure teaches and models how to live for his son.
Proverbs 20:7 (NIV) The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.
If you’re following Jesus, Lord willing, your children will want to join you. This is not an absolute rule but a general principle. Whether or not your children want to follow you, they’re still receiving a blessing as you follow Christ. Parents, model respect for your children.
3. We show respect by listening to each other. You can give your parents and grandparents the gift of respect when you listen to them, their opinions, their advice, and their stories. They might have something to teach you, an experience or memory.
Proverbs 23:22-23 (NIV) 22 Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. 23 Buy the truth and do not sell it— wisdom, instruction and insight as well.
We show respect when we ask good questions and listen to their response, questions like:
What was your childhood and teenage years like? Where did you go to school? Did you like it there? What did you look for in your husband or wife? What do you think of this theology I’m wrestling with? How have you been encouraged in your faith recently?
Over Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to ask my dad some questions and I learned some things I’d never known before. Like my uncle once owned a really beat up house on a lake that my parents would go and visit. It was like a horror–story lake house. I never knew that! That sounds kinda fun. I found that out by asking questions like these. We show respect by listening to each other’s stories. This Christmas give the gift of peace and the gift of respect and the third gift…
The gift of contentment This final gift is really a gift to yourself. Even if you are family makes peace difficult, and there’s a lack of respect, by God’s grace we can still experience contentment (Phil 4:11). This can take some effort.
1. Find contentment in the family God has given you. I don’t give this next verse to say you always have to travel home for the Holidays or have to spend as much time as possible with the in-laws, but to encourage you to find contentment where God has you.
Proverbs 27:8 (NIV) Like a bird that flees its nest is anyone who flees from home.
There is a time when it’s right to leave the nest and migrate south for the winter, but there’s also a time to stay and be with the family God has given you. But what about those of us who have really difficult families, or none at all?
2. Seek contentment in your Heavenly Father. Our earthly families are not always safe, but our Heavenly Father is always a refuge.
Proverbs 28:25 (NIV) The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper.
God offers us eternal security in him (Prov 28:26). It’s through a relationship with our Heavenly Father that we will be able to extend peace and respect and to know contentment (Prov 10:12). It’s knowing him that makes this all possible. Give the gift of peace, respect, and contentment to your family this Christmas.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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For our Christmas series this year—Wisdom for the Holidays—I’ve extended our time in Proverbs. I’ve done this because we could all use a little help navigating a fun but sometimes difficult time of year. The first week I spoke on gifts, the second week on drinks, and this week I’m talking about family. For many of us, spending time with family, whether our nuclear family (immediate)—parents and children—or our extended family—in-laws, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc—is a big part of
For the Christmas season this year I am talking about topics we encounter this time of year. Last week I preached on gifts and gift-giving since many of us are purchasing gifts for family and friends this time of year. Next week I’m preaching on family as we often spend time with family over the Holidays. Today, I’m preaching on drinking wine but more generally alcohol. As we go to work parties or spend time with friends we may be
For the Christmas season this year I am talking about topics we encounter this time of year. Last week I preached on gifts and gift-giving since many of us are purchasing gifts for family and friends this time of year. Next week I’m preaching on family as we often spend time with family over the Holidays. Today, I’m preaching on drinking wine but more generally alcohol. As we go to work parties or spend time with friends we may be offered or ourselves offer wine, beer, cider, or some other drink. Should we turn them down or not offer these beverages because the Bible prohibits drinking? Proverbs warns:
Proverbs 20:1 (NIV) Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
What about the book right before this, Psalms? Doesn’t it actually encourage drinking?
Psalm 104:15 (NIV) [The Lord makes…] wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts.
Which one is it? Drink nothing or a lot? As you might suspect the Bible falls somewhere in-between. Let’s first look at the negative side of wine, then the positive, followed by the redemptive side.
- The Bible warns against the overuse of wine and strong drink. From the Old Testament to the New the Bible warns against drinking too much and getting drunk. The first time wine is mentioned in the Bible is with Noah.
Noah – Drunkenness can destroy a family. After the flood that destroyed all humankind but Noah and his family he plants a vineyard, becomes drunk, and passes out naked outside his tent (Gen 9:20-21). One son, Ham, treats his father disrespectfully, and the other two sons, Shem and Japheth, cover him up. This leads to Noah cursing Ham’s family and blessing the other two sons’ families. Although God uses this story for good to bless Shem’s descendants, the “Semites,” and foreshadow the acceptance of the non-Jewish Gentile people into the family of Shem, Japheth’s descendants, it also illustrates how drunkenness can tear a family apart. I imagine Noah had every reason to get drunk. He probably had PTSD from the flood and was self-medicating, but that didn’t make it okay. Noah’s drunkenness mixed with his son’s disrespect destroys his family.
Proverbs – Wisdom says don’t over-drink (especially leaders). We’ve been spending a lot of time in Proverbs. It’s a book of wisdom—that means it tells us how to live our everyday life God’s way. Towards the end of Proverbs there’s a section called “Thirty Sayings of the Wise.” The longest of these sayings is “Saying 19” in Proverbs 23:29-35. It says not to drink too much. I want to read the central two verses of the seven verses.
Proverbs 23:31-32 (NIV) 31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! 32 In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.
Wine, beer, and alcohol, when over-consumed, although it might be a lot of fun to drink, makes you eyes red, makes you see strange things, makes you stagger back and forth, and is a pointless addiction that leaves you wanting more (Prov 23:29-35). Proverbs also warns that over-drinking can leave you poor.
Proverbs 21:17 (NIV) Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.
Over-consumption of alcohol can lead to acts of violence (Prov 4:17).
Proverbs 20:1 (NIV) Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Proverbs also warns kings to be careful with wine.
Proverbs 31:4-5 (NIV) 4 It is not for kings, Lemuel— it is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, 5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.
I think it’s fair to apply this to anyone in leadership today. If you are in authority over others, whether in government, a business, your family, or the church, be careful with drinking. Michigan Medicine published a Mott Poll Report in December 2018 about parenting and alcohol. They found:
1 in 4 parents who drink alcohol on special occasions are not likely to plan how much they drink or whether they’ll be able to take care of their child the next day.
Proverbs would recommend not drinking too much in the first place. Over-drinking impairs our judgment.
3 in 10 parents know of an adult who may have caused an unsafe situation for their child due to drinking alcohol on a special occasion. 1 in 12 parents (8%) admitted to a prior situation where they may have been too impaired from alcohol to take care of their parenting responsibilities.
As parents we must be mindful of how alcohol can effect our parenting. All throughout Scripture those who are entrusted with the spiritual care of God’s people are also to be mindful. In the Old Testament, the priests were not allowed to drink wine before going into the tabernacle to protect its holiness and to be able to teach the people (Lev 10:8-11). In the New Testament, the church leaders, our Elders and Deacons, are not to be “given to drunkenness” or “indulging in much wine” (1 Tim 3:3, 8). Wisdom says don’t over-drink (especially leaders). Drinking too much can also hurt our walk with God.
Relationship – Alcohol can harm your relationship with God. When the Israelites are renewing their covenant-relationship with God at the end of Deuteronomy before entering the promised land God reminds them of how they lived in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy 29:5-6 (NIV) Yet the Lord says, “During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. 6 You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.”
God preserved the people and then didn’t allow them to drink so that they would know he was with them. Alcohol has a way of interfering in our relationship with the Lord (Isaiah 5:11-12, 22). We lose our understanding of what really matters (Hos 4:11). Paul likewise says:
Ephesians 5:18 (NIV) Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
Over-drinking can lead to debauchery (intimacy sins) but seeking the Holy Spirit leads to a relationship with God. So when we drink too much wine, or beer, or alcohol we can easily fall into sin. It’s possible that if you’re prone to drinking too much you might not realize it. If just one person in your life says you drink too much, or even says it as a joke, I’d take that really seriously. When you mess up, confess it, take a break, set up boundaries and get an accountability partner. We can’t risk giving into drunkenness because the stakes are too high. Paul warns drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NIV) Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 5:11; 1 Thess 5:4-11). Some of us should never drink because we or our family are alcoholics. If you’re addicted to alcohol the first step in Alcoholics Anonymous is admitting you’re powerless over alcohol and the second is believing that there’s a God who can help. If you think you might be addicted to alcohol, give AA a try, or Celebrate Recovery, which is a Christ-centered alternative to AA. Noah’ story gives us a lot of hope because Noah sinned but God still saved him and counted him as a righteous man (Gen 6:8-10). God offers grace in failure. If you’ve failed with alcohol, God can forgive you and change you for good.
Notice how I’ve been talking about over-drinking. That’s the wrong way to drink. This implies there is a right way to drink. Now just in case you’re wondering, this does not give anyone under the age of 21 permission to drink, and you should never drink and drive. For those who are old enough…
- The Bible encourages the moderate use of wine. Some of you may be breathing out a sigh of relief. You like wine or beer, you enjoy it, and you try to drink responsibly and never get drunk. Let me encourage you that the second story in the Bible that has wine in it is more positive. In Genesis 14 a man named Abram, who God named Abraham, is coming home from a victory in battle. As he comes home he is greeted by a king who is a priest of the one true God.
Genesis 14:18-19a (NIV) Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram…
Melchizedek is king of “Salem” which is the city that would one day become Jerusalem (Psa 76:2). In Psalm 110 King David prophecies that a king will come who will be “a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4). In the New Testament in Hebrews 7 Jesus is identified as being a priest in the order of Melchizedek (Heb 7:11). What does Melchizedek do? He gives Abram and his men bread and wine after their battle. He cares for them. He refreshes them. He shows us what Christ is going to do one day, also bringing out bread and wine at the last supper, not to just refresh us physically but spiritually.
Clean drinking water could be hard to come by so people often drank wine, which could easily lead to drunkenness. Throughout the Old Testament we see people bringing gifts of wine when they come before kings (1 Sam 16:20; 25:18; 2 Sam 16:1). Bread and wine were a common food and drink (Judges 19:19). The Nazarites wouldn’t drink wine, but only for the duration of their vows (Num 6:3, 20). It was very unusual for people to completely abstain from alcohol. We know of Samson in the Old Testament and John in the New Testament (Judges 13:4, 7, 14; Luke 7:33). Jesus’ very first miracle was turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-12). The Bible seems to encourage the moderate use of wine.
Psalms – Wine can make the heart glad. Did you know Tolkien and C.S. Lewis met at The Eagle and Child Pub in Oxford to discuss their writings? We watched a video a couple months ago of a church-planter who is going to the local bar to do a ministry called “Theology on Tap” where they drink beer and talk about God. Wine can open you up, yes in bad ways, but also in good ways. It can be emotionally and mentally good for the heart to enjoy a beer or a glass of wine (Prov 31:6).
Psalm 104:15 (NIV) [The Lord makes…] wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts.
Have you ever met someone who transformed from a grouchy person into a rather pleasant person when they had a glass of wine? One photographer did a photo study of people before a glass of wine, and then after one, two, and three glasses of wine. You can tell that just one glass can change someone’s attitude. Now it’s not healthy if you always need a glass of wine to be happy, and yet wine can make the heart glad.
Israel – Lack of wine was a sign of God’s judgment. Throughout the Old Testament one of the ways God judges is by not allowing people to enjoy the fruit of their vineyards (Isa 24:9, 11). For example the Moabites are judged this way by God for their sin (Isa 16:10).
Jeremiah 48:33 (NIV) Joy and gladness are gone from the orchards and fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy. Although there are shouts, they are not shouts of joy.
In the Bible a lack of wine can symbolize God’s judgment. Does this mean that if you don’t have wine God is judging you? Not at all, but it shows that a vineyard and wine was in general considered a blessing.
Solomon – Love is like wine. The poet Solomon uses wine to describe and contrast with love (Song of Songs 1:2-4; 2:4; 4:10; 7:9; 8:2).
Song of Songs 5:1 (NIV)
He
I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk.
Friends
Eat, friends, and drink; drink your fill of love.
Solomon uses wine as an illustration for love because wine is good. Love is like wine.
Did you know the original temperance movement was about not drinking hard liquors. Many thought it was fine to drink beer, wine, and cider. Some decided you couldn’t drink any alcohol at all, and these people became known as “teetotalers”—as in totally abstain. The teetotalers eventually won out. Should we totally abstain? Although Paul tells the young pastor Timothy to take a little wine for his upset stomach and health, he does give reasons to abstain (1 Tim 5:23).
Paul – We need to be mindful of others. Paul says to graciously care for those “whose faith is weak” (Rom 14:1). I think these could be brothers and sisters in Christ who think it’s wrong to drink or who are struggling with an addiction.
Romans 14:21 (NIV) It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.
If our drinking will cause a brother or sister in Christ to fall into sin, we shouldn’t do it around them. We don’t want them to wrongly judge us and so sin, or to go against their own convictions and start drinking against their conscience. We want them to have a pure conscience as they abstain and for us to have a pure conscience as we enjoy. The Bible encourages the moderate use of wine but we need to be mindful of others.
We’ve looked at the negative side of wine, and the positive. Now I want to finish with the redemptive.
- Wine points us to Jesus. At the very end of Genesis Jacob blesses his twelve sons. As he is blessing Judah, who will become the royal tribe through whom the Messiah (God’s special eternal king) will come, he talks about wine.
Genesis 49:10-11 (NIV) 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. 11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.
We see this prophecy fulfilled by Jesus. In John 15 Jesus identifies himself as the true vine.
John 15:5 (NIV) “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Genesis 49 also says “he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.” The last book of the Bible, Revelation, tells us Jesus will return in a “robe dipped in blood” (Rev 19:11-13). If we go back back to the Old Testament we see wine being identified with blood.
When God gave the Israelite people the sacrificial system he prescribed the priests make a daily offering. Every morning and evening they were to sacrifice a year-old lamb with flour, olive oil, and wine (Exod 29:38-41). The poured out wine was called a drink offering. The drink offering was an important part of the sacrificial system. In the New Testament Jesus speaks of the drink offering, but applies it to himself in the Last Supper.
Luke 22:20 (NIV) In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Jesus is claiming his blood is the wine of the drink offering. When he is crucified and the soldier’s spear pierces his side his blood pours out as the true and final drink offering (John 19:34). Paul also identifies his life as a drink offering as he sacrifices himself to tell others about Christ (Phil 2:17; 2 Tim 4:6).
Wine points us to Jesus. This Holiday season as you go to office Christmas parties and have opportunities to drink beer, wine, cider, and other strong drinks, remember how the Bible warns against the overuse of wine and strong drink just as it encourages the moderate use of wine; but most of all remember how wine tells us about redemption through Christ. Wine is a picture of something greater, the blood of Jesus. At the cross this wine was poured out to make you whole. Will you take this wine? This wine can make you new again and it can make your heart glad, forever. Wine points us to Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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Here’s a link to the original church service via Facebook. Here’s a link to only the sermon on YouTube.
Some of my favorite memories from Christmas growing up are going to Toys “R” Us (may you rest in peace) and picking out a Christmas gift to buy my brother. One Christmas my brother Nathanael went into the store and bought his gift for me. Then I went into the store and picked out a gift for him. When we unwrapped our gifts on Christmas day we had each picked out the exact same Lego set for each other. For
Some of my favorite memories from Christmas growing up are going to Toys “R” Us (may you rest in peace) and picking out a Christmas gift to buy my brother. One Christmas my brother Nathanael went into the store and bought his gift for me. Then I went into the store and picked out a gift for him. When we unwrapped our gifts on Christmas day we had each picked out the exact same Lego set for each other.
For some people you love buying gifts. It’s fun to give to others. You love to see their face light up with a smile. You love thinking and planning about what to get them. For others maybe gift-giving or gift-receiving causes anxiety and worry. When someone sends you a gift on the outside you look happy but on the inside you’re like, “Agh! Why? Now what am I going to get them?”
My original plan for this sermon was to preach out of Proverbs on gift-giving but the more I studied Proverbs the more I found it didn’t have a whole lot to say on gifting. It says not to bribe a judge while also admitting that gifts can sometimes soothe anger and facilitate relationships (Prov 17:8, 23; 18:16; 21:14). It doesn’t look kindly on those who say they’re going to give a gift and then never do (Prov 25:14). It seems to say that gifts can complicate relationships and if misused do harm (Prov 19:6; 28:21). So what’s the application? Never give a gift?! I don’t think so. More like, don’t bribe your kids, or your spouse, or your parents, or your friends or whomever this Christmas. Don’t try to purchase their obedience or affection. Rather, give freely. Give genuinely. Give out of love with no strings attached.
What does the rest of the Bible have to say? As I searched the Scriptures I fell on one verse that reminded me of what Christmas and gift-giving is really all about. Let’s read.
John 3:16 (NIV) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
This is probably the most famous verse in the entire Bible. It’s the first verse I can remember memorizing. It’s never really struck me before as being about Christmas. Hear that first line again, “For God so loved the world that he gave…” This verse is about the most important gift ever given but this verse is also about the character of the giver himself. The God of the Bible is a God who gives.
God gave. If you were to crack open the very first pages of the Bible you would find a God who is a giver.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God didn’t need us, but he gave everything to us. In Genesis one alone God gives us light and darkness, day and night, water, dry ground, vegetation, the stars, birds, and animals. He gives human beings life and then who does he give all this stuff to? You and me.
Genesis 1:26 (NIV) Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
God didn’t have to give. He could have created a world without color or without joy unless you believe in him. God didn’t do any of those things. He freely created this world so that we could enjoy it with him. It’s like the dawn of creation is Christmas day. God is the great giver who gives to us freely.
How might you reflect the great giver this Christmas? How might you give freely with no string attached? How might you give out of your creativity and love, expecting nothing in return? That’s the kind of God we believe in. When you and I give, we reflect just a little bit of his goodness and character.
God gave all these wonderful things to us—perfect creation—and what did we do with it? We broke it. Do you ever get a gift and then immediately break it? That’s what we did. God gave and we broke.
The rest of the story of the Bible is a story of God giving and us breaking. He gives to a man he names Abraham and Abraham does his own thing. He gives to to Abraham’s descendants the Israelite people and they do their own thing. The gift God is giving is himself. God gives and the people break the relationship. Gift. Broken. Gift. Broken. Gift. Broken. God gave and we broke.
I want you to imagine that you’re a knitter. Guys you love knitting too! It’s not just the ladies. You’ve been spending weeks and weeks knitting a beautiful sweater for a friend. It has an intricate pattern and all their favorite colors and your friend is big and tall so you’ve been spending a lot of time knitting this sweater. It’s Christmas and your friend unwraps the gift and says, “How lovely! Thank you.” But you can tell there isn’t really a sparkle in their eyes. But you figure they’ll put it on for the first snow and then they’ll realize how great it is. A few weeks go by and you go over to see your friend. As you’re hanging out you notice a Saver’s box in the corner. And you think, “My friend would never do that. Would they? They know how much time I spent on that sweater. Weeks and weeks, how I made it just for them.” So what’s the harm in looking? You make an excuse to get up and as you’re passing by the box you casually glance in… and you see the sweater! Your friend is going to donate it your gift to Savers!
That’s like what we did to God. God gave and we broke. God gave creation and we ravage the planet. God gave us marriage and we get divorced. God gives us parenthood and we neglect our children. God gave us minds and we’d rather be entertained. God gives and we break.
There’s more than one way to break what God has given us. When we worship and appreciate the gifts more than the giver it also breaks the gifts. When we love our marriage more than God it breaks them, or our children, or our minds, or our planet, our whatever… The things we idolize and worship tend to be good things—family, homes, jobs, education, toys, and on and on—but if we love those things more than God we’re committing the first sin Adam and Eve committed. We’re worshipping the gift and not the giver. The gift can’t stand under that pressure. It will break.
As we go into Christmas this year let’s remember the God who gave. “For God so loved the world that he gave…” Let’s appreciate the giver and the relationship we can have with him and not just his gifts. Let’s worship him and not the things he gives us. God has been giving and giving of himself and John tells us that God gave us something even more precious than creation.
God gave his Son. God has a better gift in store—the gift of his Son, Christ Jesus. John 3:16a says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” God gave humanity—God gave us—the best gift imaginable. And we as humanity received this gift with open arms. We loved this gift and accepted him as being from God. That’s how the story should have gone, right?! But how did it actually go?
Jesus told a parable of a man who planted a vineyard (Matt 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19). He put a lot of time and effort into the vineyard. He built a wall, dug a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he rented out the vineyard to some tenants and moved away. When it was time for harvest the owner sent his servants to collect some of the fruit but the tenants beat his servants and send them away. The owner sent another servant and another. They struck the first and killed the second. Then this happened:
Luke 20:13 (NIV) “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’
Did we receive the Son?
Luke 20:14 (NIV) “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
When Jesus told this parable he spoke it against the teachers of the law and the chief priests. They were the religious leaders who had the opportunity to receive the gift but rejected it. By doing so they rejected not only the gift but the gift–giver. God gave his Son and we broke him.
I want to take a moment and talk about disappointment. Inevitably, we’re all going to feel disappointment at some point during the Holidays. For some of us it will be because we didn’t receive the thing we wanted. For others it will be because what we gave isn’t well received. Perhaps disappointment will come not in the shape of a gift but in a relationship—a relationship that is still on the rocks or is no longer due to distance or even death. When that feeling of sadness or grief washes over you don’t push it away. Redirect it. Pause and think for a moment of the great sadness and grief the Father must have felt when we rejected his Son. He knew we would but sent his Son anyways. God gave his Son and we broke him.
But John 3:16 tells us there’s hope. It tells us God gave his Son out of “love.” That means God didn’t send his Son to condemn us but to rescue us. God gave his Son…
God gave his Son for us. God doesn’t want us to be stuck forever in this broken gift of a world. He wants to restore the gift.
John 3:16 (NIV) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
What this is saying is that God gave us his Son so that if we believe in him we will receive eternal life. What is eternal life? Eternal life is knowing and experiencing God himself.
John 17:3 (NIV) Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
This gift doesn’t just get us back to a perfect creation before the sin and brokenness. This gift gets us back to God himself. Eternal life is having a relationship with the living God. We can have a relationship with God through believing in Christ Jesus. How is this possible? How did Jesus do this?
2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
The Son of God gave away the wealth of heaven. He made himself nothing. He took on human flesh. He humbled himself. He became impoverished and poor, not just economically poor, but spiritually poor as he hung on the cross separated from his Father’s love. He died (Phil 2:6-8). The Son of God didn’t just give some away. He gave it all away. He gave his everything. God gave his Son for us and the Son gave his all for us and now the question is…
What will you give? What will you give to God? There are only two options—the first is nothing. If your answer is nothing, if you like life your way, if you prefer the gifts to the giver, although this may be one option, it ends in heartbreak. Giving God nothing leads to being cast out of the vineyard.
The second option is to give yourself to God. God wants to know you. God gave his son out of love for you. That means he wants to be in a loving relationship with you. I think there’s a temptation in Christianity that God wants something out of you. God wants our worship and God wants our work. Those things are true. God does deserve our worship and he deserves our service to him, in whatever form of work he calls us too. But before he ever calls us to those things he calls us to know him, to love him… That’s true worship. That’s our first work. We give these things not because we have to but because we get to.
Part of giving yourself to God is reflecting him in all that you do; including how you give gifts. When we give this Christmas, root your gift-giving in relationship. What I’m saying is that whatever you give needs to be motivated by love, not by a check list, in a desire to express care. If we are giving out of love then we’re reflecting the gift–giver himself. Let’s root our gift-giving in something greater, relationship. What will you give? Things? Or yourself?
God gave his Son for us. Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Dave Astolfi is a second career pastor, having earned an M.Div from Bethel Seminary of the East. He retired early from a 35 year career in science research to devote more time and energy to pastoral ministry. Dave was ordained at Grace Community Church in Chelmsford, while serving as Pastor of Care. He is enjoying semi-retirement, serving God through pulpit supply, interim ministry, mentoring and volunteering at a community pantry … Oh, and he also keeps busy playing with his four grandsons.
Dave Astolfi is a second career pastor, having earned an M.Div from Bethel Seminary of the East. He retired early from a 35 year career in science research to devote more time and energy to pastoral ministry. Dave was ordained at Grace Community Church in Chelmsford, while serving as Pastor of Care. He is enjoying semi-retirement, serving God through pulpit supply, interim ministry, mentoring and volunteering at a community pantry … Oh, and he also keeps busy playing with
Does education matter? Most of probably think, “Of course!” In Westford alone an estimated 45% of the population has a four-year college degree or higher. At the very least we live in a community that values education. Maybe I should rephrase the question. Does education matter… to God? A Pharisee, one who was “an expert in the last” asked Jesus a similar question (Matt 22:35). Matthew 22:36-37 (NIV) 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied:
Does education matter? Most of probably think, “Of course!” In Westford alone an estimated 45% of the population has a four-year college degree or higher. At the very least we live in a community that values education. Maybe I should rephrase the question. Does education matter… to God? A Pharisee, one who was “an expert in the last” asked Jesus a similar question (Matt 22:35).
Matthew 22:36-37 (NIV) 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
Jesus calls us to love God with our minds. This means we are to employ thinking and learning and education in our worship of God. The more we develop our minds the more we can love God.
Jesus’ answer comes from the Shema in Deuteronomy. Shema means “listen” but not just “hear” but “hear” and “obey.” The Shema was a prayer the Jewish people said twice daily, morning and evening. Jesus probably prayed the Shema twice a day every day. In the Shema we find a close connection between loving God and education.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV) 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
God wants us to love him with everything we are, which Jesus says includes our minds. He wants his commandments to go deep into our hearts. But how do we do that? Through teaching.
7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
The way God intended for his people to know the faith and grow is for one generation to teach it to the next (Psalm 78:5-7). This means that God values education.
Education matters to God. This doesn’t mean God loves educated people more than non-educated people or that he can only use people with a degree. Rather, God values Christian Education, the time parents and teachers in the church teach the Scriptures and God also values non-Christian education, not having to directly do with Scripture. God cares about Bible studies, and community groups, and theology books, but God also values math, biology, chemistry, engineering, technology, art, writing, communication, theater, education, and the list goes on and on. The poet David wrote:
Psalm 19:1-2 (NIV) 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
That means if we study nature we can learn something about God. When you sit under a good teacher, and that teacher helps you learn science or the nuances of a foreign language or how to solve a complex math equation, while it might seem you’re just learning a subject, you’re also learning about the type of God who created that subject. You’re learning that God is endlessly creative and good.
I’d like to take a moment and speak to our educators. If you are an educator—a homeschool teacher, a private school teacher, a public school teacher, a university teacher, a tutor, if you are one of our Christian Education hour teachers, or in any other area of education—would you please stand? Let’s acknowledge them with a round of applause.
We need good teachers because good teachers and educators help us see how everything God has created has value and worth. Christian and Bible things matter to God. It’s not just those things that matter to God but everything. I appreciate this quote from a poet who wrestled with this concept.
“I was brought up in a Christian environment where, because God had to be given pre-eminence, nothing else was allowed to be important. I have broken through to the position that because God exists, everything has significance.” – Evangeline Paterson, Irish Poet
Because God created everything, everything has significance (Acts 14:15). To believe only Christian things matter to God, or spiritual things is actually a form of early church heresy called gnosticism. The gnostics believed the body was bad and the spirit was good. But the Bible says everything God created is good. Education matters to God. This means…
All truth is God’s truth. It doesn’t matter whether truth comes in the form of a Bible study or a classroom lecture, if it’s true, it’s good. The very nature of truth reflects God’s character as a God of truth.
James 1:17 (NIV) Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Every truthful thing comes from the one who is true. We see truth most clearly embodied in Jesus himself.
John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
As Christians, we are to love truth, whether it comes to us from the revelation of God’s Word, the Bible, or the chemistry lab science experiment. Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin all affirmed this. But maybe some of you are thinking, “What happens when those things conflict? What happens when the truth of the Bible seems to conflict with what we see and experience in learning? There are two options: either the science is wrong or our interpretation of the Bible is wrong. In other words, how we’re reading the Bible is incorrect.
For example, how old is the earth? Is it around 6,000 years as the Creationists say based on the genealogies in the Old Testament and the seven-day creation account in Genesis one? Or is it 4.5 billion years old like the scientists say based on their study of geology and the fossil record?
As part of the Ockenga Program we read the book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mindby Mark A. Noll. I highly recommend it and would love to sit down and talk it over with anyone interested in reading this book. I learned a couple really interesting things.
Ellen White (1827-1915), the founder of Seventh-Day Adventism, originated the idea of a young earth, which means contrary to popular opinion it’s not part of traditional Christian beliefs. Up until the middle of the 1950-60s most conservative Protestants believed in an old earth and that God filled our world through a series of creative acts.
For some of you this may concern and worry you. You love the Bible and want to take it seriously. For others you might feel a sense of relief, like you might actually be able to believe science and the Bible. But if you’re like me, you probably have more questions. So I suggest you pick up a book copy or audiobook of the The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind and read it for yourself. Educate yourself.
All truth is God’s truth. Even as we highlight the mind we need to humbly heed this warning.
Knowledge is not an end in itself. We want more knowledge because we want to know God better. But it’s easy for it to become an idol.
Ecclesiastes 12:12b-13 (NIV) 12 …Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
Studying can wear you out, especially if our study is not rooted in a relationship with God. To “fear God” means to know, love, and honor him. If we pursue learning for ourselves and not God we’re in trouble.
1 Corinthians 8:1b (NIV) …But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
More education, if done for self, creates a “big head.” You can learn a lot of amazing things, but if they’re separate from the fear of the Lord, you’ll miss who it reveals. Paul warns Timothy of those who are…
2 Timothy 3:7 (NIV) always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Knowledge is not an end in itself. We educate ourselves and grow and learn in order to more clearly know our creator. Education is spiritual formation. It can help us love God more or it can lead us astray.
As part of the Ockenga program we toured Boston College. I learned it is a Jesuit school, so it’s Catholic, founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. They have three driving questions they want every teacher and student to live by. “What are you good at? What do you love? What does the world need of you?” If a student says, “I just want to get the best degree I can so I can make as much money as I can,” they say, “That’s not enough. That won’t make you happy. You need your life to be about something more.” You don’t have to be Christian or Catholic to go there, and they don’t force their beliefs on anyone, but they do bring the way of Christ into everything they do. It helps them make education about something more.
Education matters to God. All truth is God’s truth. Knowledge is not an end in itself. God worked through education to provide leadership to Israel and the church.
Many of God’s chosen leaders were highly educated. This does not mean every one of God’s chosen leaders was learned but many of them were.
Moses – Acts 7:22 (NIV) Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, & Abednego – Daniel 1:4 (NIV) young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. Ezra – Ezra 7:6a (NIV) this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given.
How about in the New Testament?
Jesus – Luke 2:40 (NIV) And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.
Jesus himself was a bit of an intellectual prodigy when his parents found him talking with the most learned minds in the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:46-47). What about Jesus’ twelve disciples? Weren’t they a bunch of uneducated men who launched the most successful missionary effort in the world?
The disciples likely spoke two or three different languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Several of them were small business owners (fishermen) and at least one of them was a tax collector. All of them sat under the Rabbi Jesus’ teachings for about three years. That’s practically a three-year M.Div. What I like about the disciples is they show Jesus can use both the intellectual and the simple to grow his kingdom. Elsewhere in the New Testament Luke was a doctor (Col 4:14) and Paul was highly educated.
Paul – Acts 22:3b (NIV) “…I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors…
If we study further Paul’s life we find a clear example of how his education helped his mission to reach the Gentiles (the non-Jewish people) with the good news of Christ Jesus, the gospel.
Education matters for the gospel. The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ came to save anyone who repents of their sins and believes in him. This is a simple message, but not always simple to communicate in a winsome way. This is where education can help. Education matters for the gospel.
It helps us reach our neighbor. When the Apostle Paul arrived in Athens he saw a city full of idols (Acts 17:16). He was so bothered by them that he went into the synagogue and into the marketplace and began telling Jews and Greeks about the gospel message—that Jesus died and rose again. As he was doing this he encountered a group of “Epicurean and Stoic philosophers” (Acts 17:18). They invite Paul to speak at a rock formation called the Areopagus (or Mars Hill) where the learned met to discuss the newest ideas (Acts 17:21).
As Paul addresses them he uses religious beliefs familiar to them to explain the actual truth. He talks about their altar “to an unknown God” and how he knows this God—the one and only God (Acts 17:23). He then explains how this God isn’t like their idols. His God doesn’t need anything from them. He then quotes some of their Athenian poets to explain how God is not far from us yet also different than us.
Acts 17:28-30 (NIV) 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
Paul is saying, “Your poets seem to understand that God created us. Well they’re right, but they’re also wrong. God isn’t like your idols. He’s so much greater. Repent and come to Christ.” What’s the result? A group of those listening believe and become believers (Acts 17:34).
Education is worthwhile in and of itself as it helps us know God and his character better. The better we know creation the better we can understand the Creator. But education can also help us reach our neighbor with the gospel message. It’s not just a means to an end, but it can aid our mission. Education matters for the gospel. It helps us reach our neighbor.
It helps us love our neighbor. Let’s go back to our passage in Matthew, the great commandment. Loving God with all of our mind can actually help us love our neighbor better.
Matthew 22:37 (NIV) Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
If we’re to love our neighbor “like” we love God that means we’re also to love them with minds. It’s by using the mind that we can love our neighbors better, more thoughtfully, more carefully. The more we understand science, math, sociology, psychology, economics, writing, politics, and the arts the better we will know how to care for each other. Education can help us love our neighbor better. Education matters.
I want to close today’s sermon by playing a video we watched as part of the Ockenga Fellows program. It shows how three churches are partnering with a middle school in Boston through a program called the Boston Education Collaborative through the Emmanuel Gospel Center. In it the churches are demonstrating how education matters to God and how it matters for the gospel. I’ll say a closing prayer after the video.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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What would you do if you discovered you were royalty? How would you react if you took a DNA test and when you got the results it said you were a prince or princess? Well that actually happened to a man named Jay Speights. Jay is the descendent of African American slaves. His family was brought to America on a slave ship so he didn’t know his ancestry.
Using modern technology he took DNA tests that showed he had “royal DNA” from the West African country of Benin. Jay met a man who gave him the phone number of the king of Benin but when he called the king hung up on him. Then he talked with the king’s wife who confirmed he was a prince. She told him he was the descendent of king Deka “who ruled from 1746 to 1765” and she invited him to come and visit.
Jay flew from Virginia to Benin and when he got off the plane his family photos “were plastered on big blue posters hung throughout the airport.” The Washington Post reported that when Jay exited the airport, “he saw what looked like a festival, hundreds of people dancing and playing instruments and singing. It took him several minutes to realize it was a welcome party — for him.”
What would you do if you discovered you were royalty? Would you get on a plane and fly across the world like Jay? All that he knew up until that point was that he was the descendent of slaves but then he discovered he was the descendent of a king. Discovering his identity made all the difference.
Today I want you to take a DNA test. I want you to discover your spiritual identity. What if you took a spiritual DNA test and discovered you were the child of God, a child of the king of the universe? Wouldn’t that be amazing? But how can you know for sure? To find out we need to look at some history.
Discover your heritage. Just like Jay went back to his roots as Christians today we have to go back to our roots, which starts at the beginning. God places Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to rule over all creation (Gen 1:26-28). They were the first king and queen. But they messed up pretty quickly by obeying the serpent, God’s enemy, instead of God himself (Gen 2:17). When they did this they and all of humanity were thrown out of God’s presence and plunged into sin. Humankind still ruled creation but our rule was broken and corrupt.
God promises to send a new king who will defeat the serpent (Gen 3:15). His plans really start to ramp up after Noah’s flood when God makes a covenant (a promise) with the man Abraham (whose wife is named Sarah, which means “princess”). God promises to make him the father (a type of king) of a great nation.
Genesis 12:2-3 (NIV) 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
God is going to bless the whole world through Abraham’s descendants. Abraham’s children are going to be God’s children. Abraham has a son named Isaac who has a son named Jacob who has twelve sons. They become the twelve tribes of Israel. But because of a famine these twelve tribes move to Egypt where they come under the rule of the evil king Pharaoh. God sends a leader named Moses to lead his people out of captivity. Here’s what God says to Moses.
Exodus 4:22-23a (NIV) Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” …
This identity as the children of God really begins to define the nation of Israel here. God wants them to be distinct from the rest of the world, a holy people (Deut 14:1). But instead of being holy they rebel and worship idols and do whatever they want (Isa 1:2). So much so that after God delivers Israel out of Egypt and takes them to the promised land, they end up losing the land and going into exile in Babylon. We don’t really understand what it’s like to go into exile, into slavery, but Jay got a sense of it on his visit home.
In Benin, a tree once stood near the city’s historic slave port from which more than a million people were shipped to the Americas. Before they departed, West African men and women would walk around the trunk up to nine times to shed the life they were leaving behind and accept the bondage into which they had been sold. It was called the “tree of forgetting.”
Going into exile was massively devastating for Jay’s ancestors and the people of Israel’s identity as the children of God. It must have felt like Israel had lost their heritage, that God had abandoned them, and they weren’t God’s children anymore. It was like they too were walking around their “tree of forgetting.”
Is it possible that you too might be forgetting? Is it possible that this initial loss in the garden was still effecting the Israelites and it’s still effecting you? That maybe why they and we turn to sin is because we’ve forgotten God and our homeland? Jay had to go back through a process of remembrance.
Today, the tree [of forgetting] is gone, but a historic marker remains.
As his newfound relatives watched, Speights walked around the marker nine times in reverse.
With each turn, he thought about his father, who died never knowing the truth of his family’s history. He thought about his grandfather, who grew up in the segregated South. He thought about his ancestors, who were chained and beaten, carried to a foreign place and sold as property.
He was angry, he said. And hurt.
When he finished his walk, he felt something else, too. A sense of healing.
This man had to come home from exile. Israel had to come home from exile. We have to come home from exile. But we can’t undo the sin of Eden by walking around a tree of remembrance. No. But one man did it by hanging on a tree of redemption. God knew the people of Israel were never going to be the child he needed them to be. So God sent his Son to do what Israel couldn’t do. This is what God the Father said of Jesus at the start of his ministry.
Matthew 3:17 (NIV) And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Jesus is the true and complete Son of God. He’s the biological child of God who doesn’t sin or rebel and lives life the way God intended. He’s who Adam and Abraham and the nation of Israel and you and I should have been. And you know what he did to win you salvation? You know what he did so that fallen people can once more have a Heavenly Father? At the cross he was abandoned by his Father so we can find our Father. Hear what Jesus cried as he hung on the tree.
Matthew 27:46 (NIV) About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
The Son is forsaken by the Father, abandoned, cursed. For the first time in all of time the Son doesn’t feel his Father’s love, but desolation. Through this sacrifice on the tree of redemption, Jesus opens up a way to the Father. That means through Jesus you and I can come into God’s family. Come and…
Join the family. This is the most important invitation you will ever receive. Jesus died so you can come home.
Anyone can become a child of God through faith in Christ. Although the nation of Israel was called the children of God it was never about biology or blood. It was always about faith (1 Kings 19:18). In Galatians 3 the Apostle Paul points back to Abraham’s faith as the kind of faith needed for salvation and the kind of faith anyone can have.
Galatians 3:6-8 (NIV) 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (ref Genesis 15:6)
7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” (ref Genesis 12:3)
Remember how God promised to bless the whole world through Abraham and how his children were the children of God? That promise has become a reality through Christ Jesus. But it’s not biological descendants who are God’s children but faith descendants. To be a child of God you don’t have to be Jewish or an Israelite but have to believe in Jesus. What you had to take a blood test and only O+ get to go to heaven? It just so happens I’m O+. But are you? Good things God doesn’t judge you by your blood type. This is what our passage is about.
John 1:12-13 (NIV) 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Do you believe in Jesus? And I don’t mean you theoretically agree that we should sing about Jesus at Christmas or he is the real meaning behind Easter. I don’t mean you name drop him in your prayers when you need something. I mean do you really believe in him? Are you staking your whole life on him? If the answer is yes, then you’re a child of God. But if the answer is no then you’re not (yet) a child of God.
See when people say “We’re all God’s children” that’s simply not true. The Bible calls some people “the children of the devil” (1 John 3:10). But we don’t have to be. You can be a child of God, a child of the King. That’s why we need God’s help. John 1:13 says we become children of God not by “natural descent” (being Jewish) or by our will but by his will.
We need the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts to Jesus. One night a Pharisee named Nicodemus snuck out by night to talk with Jesus. A Pharisee is someone who is supposed to have it all figured out but he didn’t. If anyone was a child of God it was them. They had the right blood type, they studied the Scriptures, and they tried their best to obey. But Jesus said that wasn’t enough. He said everyone who comes to God must be “born again” (John 3:3).
John 3:4 (NIV) “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
But Jesus wasn’t speaking of a biological reality. He was speaking of a spiritual reality.
John 3:5 (NIV) Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
Do you want to be spiritually reborn? Do you want a fresh start so those things you said and did don’t count anymore? You need God’s Holy Spirit to come and open your heart and mind to the Bible and to the conviction that God is real and sent his Son Jesus to rescue you. You don’t have to be a Christian to pray this prayer, “God, if you’re real, please reveal yourself to me.” Then join a church and start studying your Bible with others. We need the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts to Jesus.
You know your heritage and you’ve joined the family. Now what? You got to learn how to live as a child of the King. Jay Speights had to learn what it meant to be a prince. This is what happened after he arrived:
He spent the next week in what he calls “prince school,” learning local customs and visiting various sites and dignitaries. He was enthroned by the king, given white lace robes to signal he is a holy man, and several crowns. At night, an armed guard kept watch outside his hotel door. During the day, local journalists followed him around with cameras.
Here he is decked out in a royal sash, crown, and holding a scepter. When he discovered his family he transformed from a normal man in Virginia to a royal prince in West Africa. When he found out who he really was, it changed him. When you discover you’re a child of the king, it should change you too. Discover your heritage. Join the family. And…
Live as His child. To live as a child of God (of the king) means:
We get to relate to God as our Father.
Since we’ve been born into God’s family, we can pray in a special way. Romans 8:15b says, “…And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” (NIV) This week I reviewed Russell Moore’s book, Adopted for Life. Maybe you’ve heard that Abba means “daddy” or “papa” and is a sweet term of affection—according to him that’s not exactly right. Instead, “The Abba cry is a scream. It’s less the sound of a baby giggling up into his father’s face, and more the sound of a child screaming “Daddy!”… – Adopted for Life (p. 46). Moore tells this story:
Once at a gathering with several friends, I stopped listening to the person talking to me and crooked my head to overhear a conversation that another (much older and wiser) man was having with others. He was speaking of ancient Jewish patterns of prayer and how different they are from contemporary patterns. Our Jewish and early Christian forefathers, he said, would rarely have prayed silently with heads bowed. Instead, they prayed noisily, with their arms outstretched to the heavens. We know this from the Old Testament Scriptures as well as from early Christian catacomb art.
I knew this, but what made the hair stand up on my arms was the older man’s characterization of the physicality of this stance. He stood with his arms stretched upward and asked, “Does this not look like a toddler, in virtually every human culture, crying out to his parents for food or attention?” He continued, “And is it not also cruciform? How is it our Lord Jesus would have cried out, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me’? Was it not with arms stretched out to the heavens, as a child to his father?” – Adopted for Life (pp. 48-49)
What do you need to scream out to God about? What’s hurting you? What do you need to lift up your hands in prayer over? If you’re his child, he’s not going to turn away from you. He may not answer you right away or the way you want but like a good Father he hears you and he loves you. We can relate to (and pray to) God as our Father.
We get to live holy lives.
Part of being a Christian is acting like our Father. My son likes to say the things I say and do the things I do and eat the food I eat (even when I’m eating it). 1 John 3:8-10 tells us that children of God obey their Father. We turn away from our old lives and to a life of righteousness (1 John 2:29).This doesn’t mean we’ll be perfect, not at all, but it does mean others will be able to see the a change in our lives. If you are living for yourself, your Heavenly Father invites you home. What does a loving parent do with disobedient children? Disciplines them, not out of spite, but love (Deut 8:5). Is God disciplining you? Is he trying to get your attention? Children of God get to live holy lives.
We get to invite others to join the family.
When Jay claimed his title as prince he was also given a mission. He is to find other lost princes like himself and is to help bring water and electricity to his country. We’re also given a mission. We get to invite others to join the family (2 Cor 5:20). There’s a lot of ways to do this, like sharing the gospel with others and serving the least of these, but since today is Orphan Sunday and it lines up with our theme I want to focus on one specific way to share Christ’s kingdom—adoption.
What better way to share Christ’s kingdom than by adoption? In Romans the Apostle Paul say you’ve been adopted into God’s family. So then why not adopt (Rom 8:14-17)? One of the fellow pastors in my Ockenga program shared the story of a Christian man from the UK going to China to look into the adoption and foster program in Mongolia. He met a local government official at the train station and they got to talking on the way up. The man from the UK shared about his faith but was guarded.
When they got to the region where a lot of adoptions were taking place they hosted a banquet for a dozen or so families who had either adopted or were doing longterm foster care. At the banquet the government official introduced the man from the UK as a Christian but he apologized because he said there weren’t any Christians in his town. He told it like a joke but no one laughed. Then a woman raised her hand and said, “We’re Christians.” The overwhelming majority of families who had adopted were Christians.
On the train ride back the government official asked the Christian man from the UK why so many Christians were adopting. He opened up the Scriptures and explained. It’s not weird but completely natural when Christians adopt. Why? Because we’re adopted by our Heavenly Father. Maybe you can’t adopt but you can give money or support to a family who wants to adopt. SafeFamiliesis another great short-term option for those who can’t adopt but want to help children in need.
We get to relate to God as our Father. We get to live holy lives. And we get to invite others to join the family. Live as His child.
Live as a child of God. The article closes by saying that on his departure the king of Benin “gave him a new name: Videkon Deka.” Deka was his royal family’s name. Videkon Deka “means the child who came back.” If you think you’re a child of God but have been running far away from God it’s time to come home. Come home and receive a new name, child of the King. Live as child of God. If you’ve been a child for a long time, and maybe you’re worn out from the mission, just stop and focus on your Father. Abba loves you. Live as child of God.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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What would you do if you discovered you were royalty? How would you react if you took a DNA test and when you got the results it said you were a prince or princess? Well that actually happened to a man named Jay Speights. Jay is the descendent of African American slaves. His family was brought to America on a slave ship so he didn’t know his ancestry. Using modern technology he took DNA tests that showed he had “royal
Emotions are everywhere! You have the ability to express what you are feeling perhaps more easily now than any other period in human history. When I was growing up we had texting, but you had to create the smiley face at the end of your sentence. For example
I hope you have a great weekend. 🙂
The person receiving this text was encouraged by your happy little smile. But you could also write this:
I hope you have a great weekend. 🙁
A frowning face implies the exact opposite feeling. You’re not wishing them happiness. You’re telling them you’re upset for leaving you out or doing their thing instead of yours. But today?
I hope you have a great weekend.
Emojis: clapping, party popper, star, unicorn, face with tears of joy, fireworks, and creepy clown. That is going to be one exciting weekend! As of October 2019 there are 3,178 emojis. Did you know that “5 billion emojis are sent daily on Facebook Messenger”?
On the news feed Facebook encourages us to “react” to what we read or see posted. They’ve even given us six different ways to express our reaction: like, love, haha, wow, sad, and angry.
Facebook needs a react option that symbolizes a carefully thought out and non-reactionary response, like a little emoji of the thinker. It’ll mean, “I haven’t done the research necessary to respond to this post in a thoughtful way, but I want to communicate to you that I engaged with your ideas.”
It’s not wrong to feel emotion. God created emotions. He created feelings. But it is wrong to be ruled by our emotions. All around us we are told our emotions are what matters most. The book of Proverbs, which contains our Creator’s plan, has a different perspective.
It’s easy but foolish to let your emotions rule you. Here again we find a contrast between the way of the foolish and the way of the wise. Proverbs contrasts these two paths over and over again, continually encouraging us to walk in the way of wisdom.
Proverbs 12:16 (NIV) Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.
It’s easy to “react.” It’s much harder to patiently respond and yet that’s what the prudent do. As we learned in our sermon on prudence, prudence means “thinking through all the options and their potential outcomes.” Stopping and thinking requires energy, effort, and wisdom.
It’s hard but wise to reign over your emotions. My first two points go together. It’s easy but foolish to let your emotions rule you… and it’s hard but wise to reign over your emotions. What I want to do now is go through the emotions Proverbs touches on and contrast foolish emotions with wise ones. Proverbs encourages:
Not anger but patience. Proverbs warns us against anger, against hostility towards others.
Proverbs 29:22 (NIV) An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins.
The Bible does tell us elsewhere that it is possible to be angry and not sin.
Ephesians 4:26a “In your anger do not sin”… (NIV)
So there are some things that we perhaps have the right to get angry over, things like murder, greed, social injustice, and brokenness in our world. But we need to read the second half of the verse.
Ephesians 4:26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, (NIV)
Proverbs gives a short window for acceptable anger (one night).Why? What’s the harm to holding onto anger? Read the next verse.
Ephesians 4:26-27 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. (NIV)
Satan uses anger to get a foothold in our life. How many of us have felt anger for days, weeks, or even months? I know I have. Anger is addictive. After a while you almost don’t want to let it go because it keeps you going. Every day we hold onto our anger is another opportunity for Satan to gain ground in our heart. Anger turns into bitterness and rots away at our souls.
Proverbs 14:30 (NIV) A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
On a podcast I heard the story of how anger and bitterness destroyed Richard Nixon. For those of you who haven’t studied Nixon yet he was the President of the United States but he did some really questionable things that ended in his resignation. The one being interviewed, Stephen Mansfield, said this:
The soul has a memory like an elephant. It remembers everything. Unless you deal with the offenses against you, unless you deal with the things that make you bitter, your soul will hang onto it. […] Richard Nixon is there, he’s in his sixties, and he’s in the White House and he is going through Watergate, but he get’s down on his hands and knees and starts beating on the floor with Henry Kissinger in the room and what’s he talking about? The Democrats? The FBI? Something going on in Watergate? Oh no! The way his Quaker family was treated back in California when he was a little boy. He’s still bitter. He’s still ticked. It’s still shaping his soul. And when you feel bitterness, you begin to allow yourself to feel entitled, you begin to want to medicate. […] If I’m bitter against you, it doesn’t really matter how I treat you. […] In Nixon’s case the attitude was a kind of paranoia. They’re coming for me and they’re wrong because that’s what they were in his childhood. They were wrong to treat his family that way. But the Democrats or the other side or the FBI or the special prosecutor, […] they were not wrong. But that had been coded into Nixon’s soul so he dealt with every enemy as though they were coming to destroy him and they were wrong, morally wrong, wrong before God, and that’s why he responded the way that he did, and it destroyed him. (EntreLeadership Podcast #218)
Anger turns to bitterness turns to self destruction. Who are you angry with right now? Anyone? Have you sent an angry email or text or made an angry phone call recently? For your own sake bring your anger to Jesus. If he can bear God’s wrath he can handle your anger.
Is it possible to be angry and yet not sin? Yes. But is it likely? No. James warns us.
James 1:19-20 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. (NIV)
Our anger stirs up trouble, but God provides an alternative. Patience calms the storm (Prov 29:11).
Proverbs 19:11 (NIV) A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.
It is your glory, your honor, to overlook an offense. Our culture tells us it’s our glory to “clapback.” A couple weeks ago I taught you “spilling tea” is the new hip phrase for gossip. To clapback is the new hip word for a comeback. When you have a strong comeback you’re clapping-back. Well, just like the Bible says to resist spilling tea it says to resist clapbacks and instead practice patience. Not anger but patience.
Not pride but humility. Pride is when we see ourselves as more important than God. The opposite of this is the fear of the Lord.
Proverbs 3:7 (NIV) Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.
Pride is also anytime we see ourselves as more important than others. The opposite of this is a teachable heart (1 Pet 5:5).
Proverbs 26:12 (NIV) Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them.
Most of us aren’t going to say we’re more important than God or others, but we implicitly say it when we go to the Bible to prove it agrees with our pre-formed opinions or when we surround ourselves with friends and people we know agree with us and affirm our point of view. That’s pride. What we need is a teachable heart. We need the humility to come to God’s Word caring more about what it actually says than what we think it should say. We need the humility to hear others out who have a different perspective on life, not judging them in our hearts, but listening for wisdom, wherever it may be. The Bible tells us humility and a teachable heart leads to honor (Prov 11:2; 16:5).
Proverbs 18:12 (NIV) Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.
Olympic athletes still need coaches. Famous movie stars still need directors. Bestselling authors still need editors. Humility comes before gold (Prov 16:18; James 4:6). It’s hard but wise to reign over your emotions. Notanger but patience. Notpride but humility.
Not anxiety but joy. This point is a little different than the previous two because anxiety, fear, and depression are all different than anger and pride. When Proverbs talks about anger or pride it speaks of our ability to restrain those emotions, but when it talks about depression and darkness it talks less about control and more about their reality and power, their crushing presence.
Proverbs 18:14 (NIV) The human spirit can endure in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?
Physical sickness can be very bad, but so can sickness of the mind and heart, depression. I take great comfort in knowing that Proverbs does not underestimate the power of mental illness. This is God’s Word and God is saying depression is real and it is serious.
Proverbs does have some wisdom for how to deal with the darkness on the inside. It describes how we often keep to ourselves what’s really going on and that’s not helpful (Prov 14:13; 15:13).
Proverbs 14:10 (NIV) Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.
This Proverb speaks of isolation and loneliness. That rings true. It doesn’t matter who you are. You can have a sadness inside that you’re not telling anyone. Can I encourage you to open up? Share what you’re going through with someone? Not Facebook because Facebook will just tell you what you want to hear (it’s an echo chamber) but a real living-breathing face-to-face person who can encourage and challenge you.
Proverbs doesn’t say we can easily replace our fears, anxieties, and depression with joy. But something we can do is let others have the opportunity to speak joy into our lives.
Proverbs 12:25 (NIV) Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.
Remember a time when you were feeling down and someone you love was able to speak a word of life into your heart at just the right moment. If you’re not an anxious person, be that person.
Did you know that cats can’t taste the flavor of sweetness? That’s right. Felines cannot taste sweet. It’s like their tongues are color blind to sugar. No wonder cats are so grumpy all the time! They can taste sour and bitter and saltiness and meatiness but not sweetness. Are you a cat? Maybe you should get a dog in your life. Maybe when dogs are barking at cats they’re just trying to cheer them up! If you’re a dog, use your bark to cheer up a cat. And if you’re a cat who struggles to taste the sweet things in life, find a dog to be your friend. I know dogs can be really annoying but they’re good for your soul.
It’s easy but foolish to let your emotions rule you. It’s hard but wise to reign over your emotions. Not anger, but patience. Not pride, but humility. Not anxiety, but joy. But why? Why do we care?
Wise emotions are good for your body and good for your soul. Today it seems like common knowledge that how we are feeling can have a direct effect on our bodily health. For example, chronic stress can cause “high blood pressure (and subsequently heart disease), damage to muscle tissue, inhibition of growth, suppression of the immune system, and damage to mental health.” (wikipedia) But long before we ever figured out the connection between healthy emotions and a healthy body the authors of Proverbs understood.
Proverbs 3:7-8 (NIV) 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
To live humbly before your God and humbly with your fellow person can lead to good health.
Proverbs 17:22 (NIV) A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Good emotions are like good medicine. Not only are wise emotions good for your body, they’re good for your soul. For example, humility, not pride, leads to honor (Prov 15:33).
Proverbs 22:4 (NIV) Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.
The way of wisdom and wise emotions leads to praise before God, but the way of the foolish and being controlled by your emotions leads to shame (Prov 3:35). Wise emotions are good for your body and good for your soul.
But here’s the problem. Isn’t it kind of difficult to do all these things? Isn’t it harder for some than others to rule over their own emotions? This is why we need the Holy Spirit.
We need the Holy Spirit to shape our emotions. In the New Testament book of Galatians we find the fruit of the Spirit. Just by its very name the “fruit of the Spirit” implies that the fruit is from the work of the Holy Spirit, not the work of the tree.
Galatians 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (ESV)
One of the ways we know we’re saved by Christ is through the Holy Spirit developing wise emotions in our lives (love, joy, peace, patience, etc.). But does this mean we do nothing? See the next two verses.
Galatians 5:24-25 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (ESV)
We recognize the Holy Spirit bears fruits in us even as he calls us to keep up with him (Phil 2:12-13). If the Lord is giving us opportunities to learn patience, and not get angry, let’s try to embrace those opportunities, and not run away from them. If the Lord is giving us opportunities to learn humility and not pride, let’s embrace the humility. If the Lord is giving us joy through brothers and sisters in Christ speaking words of encouragement, let’s accept that joy. We need the Holy Spirit to shape our emotions.
The word for Spirit in both the Old Testament and New Testament is the same word for breath. This week when you feel a strong emotion you know will lead nowhere good, take a big breath and as you breathe in ask the Holy Spirit to fill your lungs with his peace and guide your response.
Let’s take a moment and be honest with ourselves. We all have emotions, emotions aren’t bad, but we can all think of times, maybe even this week, when we let our emotions get the best of us. That’s sin. Let’s call it what it is. Lets repent and receive forgiveness afresh. God sees our sin but he doesn’t condemn us. Because of Christ Jesus’ death on the cross God doesn’t pour out his anger on you but his love and compassion. Jesus knows what it’s like to get angry, he experienced the full range of human emotion, but he managed to do so without sin. That both validates having emotions and challenges us to not let them control us. Jesus felt but he didn’t let his feelings didn’t rule him. That means Jesus has the power to deliver you and me out of our emotions that threaten to run away with us.
This week when you’re tempted to “react”—to get angry, or prideful, or anxious—remember Jesus, remember the cross, and may the Holy Spirit fill you with his peace.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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Emotions are everywhere! You have the ability to express what you are feeling perhaps more easily now than any other period in human history. When I was growing up we had texting, but you had to create the smiley face at the end of your sentence. For example I hope you have a great weekend. 🙂 The person receiving this text was encouraged by your happy little smile. But you could also write this: I hope you have a great
Last Saturday Joe, Jennie, John and myself went to a conference in Millis Mass. Millis is southwest of Boston near Medway. The conference was on frontline ministry. Maybe you’re new to Cornerstone and our use of the word “frontline” is new to you. We define our frontline this way: “Your Frontline is the place where you spend the majority of your time outside the church, where you are in contact with non-Christians.” – Life on the Frontline So our frontlines
Last Saturday Joe, Jennie, John and myself went to a conference in Millis Mass. Millis is southwest of Boston near Medway. The conference was on frontline ministry. Maybe you’re new to Cornerstone and our use of the word “frontline” is new to you. We define our frontline this way:
“Your Frontline is the place where you spend the majority of your time outside the church, where you are in contact with non-Christians.” – Life on the Frontline
So our frontlines are not a physical or religious battlefield, but a spiritual rescue. God calls each one of us to be out in our own contexts bringing the healing power of Christ tothose around us. Our speaker, the author and pastor Neil Hudson, defined a disciple of Jesus this way.
A disciple: learning to live the way of Jesus in their context at this moment. – Neil Hudson
To be a disciple is to be learning how to live Christ’s way wherever you are and in whatever you’re doing. As I was listening it struck me that today’s sermon theme, wise influence, is frontline ministry.
The book of Proverbs encourages us to show wisdom and discernment with those we influence and those who influence us. I want to read our verse for today’s passage, but in the English Standard Version (ESV).
Proverbs 12:26 (ESV) One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
If you know Christ, you are a guide to your neighbor, the people you are around everyday. Why do they need a guide? Because as the second half of the Proverb says—they’ve gone astray, they’re lost. So our encouragement from Proverbs today is for each one of us to become an influence, an ambassador, a field–medic for Christ, on our frontlines.
In our conference we were reminded of six ways—six Ms—for how we can influence our frontlines. These six Ms, which come from the book Fruitfulness on the Frontline, all appear in Proverbs. The first three of the Six Ms of Frontline Influence demonstrate consistency:
…Modeling Godly character …Making good work …Ministering grace and love
The second three demonstrate courage:
…Molding culture …a Messenger of the gospel …a Mouthpiece for truth and justice
Hopefully this is familiar. I’ve preached on these six Ms before. If you’ve heard this already I hope it will act as a good review of the material and a good encouragement to keep living it out. But if they’re new to you, great! This concept of frontline ministry is so important to us we are encoding it into our DNA. We want everyone to know the six Ms! The best part is it all comes from Scripture. Proverbs tells us the same thing about how to influence others.
Influence #1 – Modeling Godly character (Prov 8:12-13) The first way we influence others is through who we are as people, our character, the way we live and talk. Just like we influence others we are also influenced. The metaphor of lady wisdom is one of those big recurring themes in Proverbs. Look at who she allows and doesn’t allow to influence her.
Proverbs 8:12-13 (NIV) 12 “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. 13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.
In order to be able to influence others through our Godly character we need to have wisdom, prudence, knowledge and discretion while at the same time turning away from pride, arrogance, evil behavior, and perverse speech. What we allow into our hearts is what will come out of our hearts.
Reading elsewhere in Proverbs might lead us to the conclusion that we should only form friendships and relationships with well mannered fellow Christians. After all, we don’t want to be negatively influenced.
Proverbs 13:20 (NIV) Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.
This is why we have to read individual Proverbs in light of the whole Bible. For example, let’s look to Jesus and see what he did. I didn’t know it until I preached this series on Proverbs but in the book of Matthew Jesus actually claims to be the fulfillment of lady wisdom. In the same verse he does this he talks about how he spent time, lots of time, with people who others thought were foolish.
Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” (NIV)
Jesus is claiming to be lady wisdom, and yet, who did he spend time with? Jesus spent time with tax collectors and sinners, those everyone thought was the worst of that society. He wasn’t worried by their foolishness. Instead, he modeled God’s character of love and compassion to them. In the very next chapter he calls the Pharisees, the squeaky clean religious people, a “brood of vipers.”
Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (NIV)
Foolishness is much more a state of the heart than outward appearances. The more wisdom we have the more we should spend time with the foolish. But on the other hand, the less wisdom we have the more we need to spend time with the wise. We influence others by modeling Godly character.
When I joined CrossFit one of the coaches made a comment about me to another student that I was a Christian or clergy or something along those lines and couldn’t they tell because I never swore likethem. Now the way he said it wasn’t necessarily a “congratulations!” But shortly after that this coach asked me some pointed theological questions and I got to share the gospel with him. He knew I was a pastor, a Christian, and that I was different, and that gave rise to questions. Now I can think of other times at the gym or in my own life when I have not modeled Godly character and I’ve sworn. As you live your life to influence others for Christ you are going to make mistakes and sin, but that’s why we need the gospel. We do not operate out of perfection but out of forgiveness. Godlycharacter is not about goodbehavior, it’s about gospelbehavior, which is a lifetransformedbyJesus. Influence #1 – Modeling Godly character.
Influence #2 – Making good work (Prov 29:2) Your frontline is the place where you spend the majority of your time. For many of us that’s our places of work, whether that’s an engineering firm, a medical device company, or the high school, library, or grocery store. It can be tempting to just clock in and clock out, but Proverbs encourages working with excellence (see Prov 16:3 ESV).
Proverbs 29:2 (NIV) Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.
The principle is simple. As we make good work others will take notice and we may rise in responsibility and opportunity, giving us more opportunity to influence. But what if we never rise in the ranks? What if we do good work wherever God has us and never get promoted? In his book To Change the World James Davidson Hunter writes of a woman who bagged groceries.
And last, not least, is a woman who rang up and bagged groceries and whose sphere of influence was only six square feet. Every day she greeted her customers with genuine enthusiasm, remembering customers’ names and asking about their families. She would end every conversation by saying that she was going to pray for their family. Over time, this caused problems, for people wanted to get in her aisle, which resulted in large lines. People would wait, though, because they enjoyed being with her, encouraged just by her presence. At her funeral, years after she retired, the church was packed to standing-room-only capacity, and she was eulogized again and again by people whom she had encouraged for years.” – To Change the World (pp. 268-269)
Stop and think of what making good work looks like in your context. As you write that report, or turn in that test, or send that email, or make that meal, are you making good work?
Influence #3 – Ministering grace and love (Prov 3:3-4) Proverbs highlights the importance of ministering grace and love to others (Prov 22:11).
Proverbs 3:3-4 (NIV) 3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
When I first preached these verses I highlighted how it echos the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, “…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength…” (NIV) This is first a reminder to love God and his Word, the Scriptures. But it’s also a reminder to love others. In Fruitfulness on the Frontline the author Mark Greene shares this story:
David’s frontline was his office, and for some time he’d been disappointed by the lack of any real opportunities to talk about Jesus directly. He’d prayed, he’d asked advice, but nothing seemed to happen. […] one Monday, one of his colleagues, James, failed to turn up to work.
No-one thought much about it – probably just a spectacular weekend – but when he didn’t turn up the following day, David called him, even though he wasn’t a particular friend of his.
‘Are you OK?’
‘No, I’m feeling terrible. I haven’t been able to get out of bed for three days.’
‘Is anyone looking after you?’
‘No, I live alone and my family are miles away.’
‘Have you got the right medicine?’
‘I haven’t even got any food.’
Anyways, to cut a long conversation short, David went round to see James that evening, got him into the shower, changed his linen, took him to the doctor, got the medicine, bought food and went to see him every evening for a week. During that week, James never asked David a single question about why he was doing all he was doing for him.
However, within a week of James’s return to work, David found himself inundated with opportunities to talk about the gospel. James had told everyone what David had done. And he found himself accosted in the lifts, in the corridors, in the cafeteria; his colleagues simply couldn’t understand why he’d done it. […] ’David replied carefully and humbly to all who asked, “It is nothing I did; I have chosen to model my life on the life and teachings of Jesus and I think what I did is the kind of thing he would have done. […]” (pp. 109-111)
We’re to act consistentlyChristlike as a way of influencing those around us by: Influence #1 – Modeling Godly character; Influence #2 – Making good work; Influence #3 – Ministering grace and love. But there are other ways we can influence others, isn’t there? There’s three more Ms, and eachrequires courage.
Influence #4 – Molding culture (Prov 20:7) To mold culture means to use your wisdom to influence your environment and the people in it, to change how the institutions and organizations you’re apart of operate. So this could be the culture of your family, workplace, parent group, city, etc. For example, you can use your wisdom to mold your family’s culture.
Proverbs 20:7 (NIV) The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.
But you can also use your wisdom to bless large organizations and institutions, like the culture of your workplace, church, or town.
Proverbs 11:11 (NIV) Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.
We will most effectively mold culture when we are faithful and present wherever God has us. At the conference the speaker Neil Hudson told us the story of a a church in the city of Coleraine in Northern Ireland. They are a church plant that’s grown to 2,500 people and they haven’t done it by pandering or giving a cheap gospel. Instead, they have encouraged people to live for Christ in their everyday spheres of influence. In 2014 they estimated that 2% of the city worshipped with them on a Sunday, that 10% comes through their doors in a week; and that when they scatter they come into contact with 70% of Coleraine. I bet we as a small church of 80 people come in contact with thousands during our week. How might you mold culture among the people you come across on your frontline this week?
Influence #5 – a Messenger of the gospel (Prov 25:25) Maybe you’ve realized from this sermon but there are a variety of ways to influence others for Christ. There’s been a message in Christian culture that the only thing God really wants is evangelism. That flipped to God doesn’t really care about evangelism as long as you live for him. Our Heavenly Father wants us to live for him and to tell others about his Son, Jesus (Prov 15:30).
Proverbs 25:25 (NIV) Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.
As believers we have the good news. Romans says something similar.
Romans 10:14-15 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (NIV)
What is the good news? What is the gospel? It’s that Jesus lived a holy life, and was wrongly put to death on the cross. But… all was not lost, as God used the death of Christ to pay the penalty for our sins. He became a sacrifice so that we might live. And we don’t just get to live forever because of what Jesus did, we get to live forever in right relationship with God.
Who are you supposed to share the good news with? Who is God putting on your heart, even now?Pray the Lord would give you courage to share the gospel with them in his timing.
Influence #6 – a Mouthpiece for truth and justice (Prov 17:23) The book of Proverbs cries out against social and economic injustices.
Proverbs 17:23 (NIV) The wicked accept bribes in secret to pervert the course of justice.
God promises to defend the most economically and socially at risk.
Proverbs 23:10-11 (NIV) 10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, 11 for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.
Likewise we are to speak for truth and justice on our frontlines. James Davison Hunter gives an example:
A group of business leaders in Houston generated the funds to establish a private, faith-based school in the most poverty-and crime-ridden part of the city. The school exclusively serves children from low-income families with a program designed to provide them the educational, spiritual, social, and practical resources they need in life. Partnering with FORGE for Families, the school reaches out to address the needs of the families as well by providing counseling, life-skills training, an anti-addiction program, and the like. In its own words, the school “exists to promote human flourishing among Houston’s poorest families.” – To Change the World (p. 268)
How might you speak up for truth and justice on your frontline or in your community?
Proverbs encourages us to influence others. Of the Six Ms of Frontline Influence the first three show consistency: Influence #1 – Modeling Godly character; Influence #2 – Making good work; Influence #3 – Ministering grace and love. The second three show courage: Influence #4 – Molding culture; Influence #5 – a Messenger of the gospel; Influence #6 – a Mouthpiece for truth and justice.
So my question for you is will you become a wise influence for Christ on your frontline? I want you to pick 1-2 of these Ms and pray for God to help you live them out this week. Maybe you just pray for the Holy Spirit to help you model Godly character with your family or coworkers or there’s a situation at work into which you know you need to speak truth and justice. Whatever it is, Christ is with you. Now go with Jesus and influence the everyday places he has you.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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Prudence is married, she has three children, and lives in a suburb of Boston. Her oldest boy is a freshman in high school and is doing great. Her youngest is in elementary school and loves it; but her middle child is in middle school and isn’t doing well. She’s hasn’t made any friends, sometimes gets picked on, is bored and uninterested with her education, and she’s begun acting out more at home. Prudence is worried about her daughter’s education as
Prudence is married, she has three children, and lives in a suburb of Boston. Her oldest boy is a freshman in high school and is doing great. Her youngest is in elementary school and loves it; but her middle child is in middle school and isn’t doing well. She’s hasn’t made any friends, sometimes gets picked on, is bored and uninterested with her education, and she’s begun acting out more at home. Prudence is worried about her daughter’s education as well as her mental and emotional wellbeing.
Prudence has talked with her husband about her concerns and he supports finding the best education possible where their daughter can flourish, so Prudence is prayerfully researching and thinking through all their options. Her name, “Prudence,” means thinking through all the options and their potential outcomes. She intends to live up to her name. She lists her possible choices.
Current School: She could keep her daughter in her current school but lobby for more attention from her teachers or pay a tutor. She’d also have to talk with the administration about bullying. Different Public School: She could try and transfer her daughter to another public middle school in town but there’s no guarantees that could happen or would be any better. Charter School: Although she’s not as familiar with charter schools there is one nearby. She would have to do research to fully understand this option. Private School: The youth pastor gives chapel talks at a local Christian school. Several families from the church go there. There’s also a non-Christian private school nearby, but both are pricey. Homeschool: Several families in her church also homeschool and speak positively of it. She likes the specialized focus it offers but isn’t sure she has the time or talent to make it happen. Online School: One teenage boy in the church is trying to become a professional golfer and is going to school online. She didn’t have that option when she was a kid.
These are the options she lists but she knows there are others. Her head is spinning with all the possibilities and the potential pros and cons of each. Most of all she wants to make the right decision for her daughter, whatever that may be. Her pastor happens to be preaching a sermon series on Proverbs (what a coincidence!) and she wonders if she can apply some of what she is learning to this decision. Her pastor recently preached on the Proverbs 31 woman and this woman’s diligence really inspired her.
Proverbs 31:27 (NIV) She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
She’s going to be proactive and make the best choice possible for her daughter. She opens up to the book of Proverbs and begins to review the notes she scribbled down.
“Make a good decision within the boundaries of Scripture.” She remembers the first thing her pastor taught while preaching on wise decision making in the book of Proverbs. The Bible often doesn’t tell us what exactly to do. Instead, the Bible gives us boundaries of what not to do and what types of good things to do. It lets us use our wisdom as we prayerfully follow any promptings of the Holy Spirit. One verse warns of staying away from evil and pursuing good.
Proverbs 14:22 (NIV) Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.
In other words, whatever we choose we shouldn’t disobey God or commit a sin. That’s not an option. Thankfully the Bible (God’s special revelation) helps her figure out right and wrong.
Proverbs 29:18 (NIV) Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.
As far as she can tell there’s no scriptural mandate for how exactly to school yourkids outside of discipling them to follow Christ (Deut 6:4-9). So none of these options are an immoral choice but neither is one option prescribed. This feels freeing, allowing her the space to investigate what’s best for her daughter. Now to figure out which one to take. She reads another note.
“Talk to trusted mentors and friends.” It makes sense to Prudence to talk to people she trusts, and as she flips to the verses in Proverbs she finds that this book, a book of practical everyday wisdom, recommends asking for guidance from others.
Proverbs 24:6 (NIV) Surely you need guidance to wage war, and victory is won through many advisers.
Choosing the best education does feel a little like war. She wonders how many people she should contact.
Proverbs 15:22 (NIV) Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
(See also Proverbs 1:5; 11:14; 20:18)
Proverbs encourages her to talk with not just one adviser but many. So she thinks of a few parents she knows who have their children in each option. She wants to hear from each one what they think the strengths and weaknesses of their current educational choices are. But Prudence knows that when you read one Proverb you should see what other similar Proverbs have to say. The next note says:
“Avoid getting advice from foolish people.” While she can think of a list of helpful people who have navigated the school system already, she can also think of several people she’s not so certain would offer helpful advice.
Proverbs 12:5 (NIV) The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.
(See also Proverbs 6:18; 12:20; 15:26)
Prudence decides that although in the past she’s gotten helpful recommendations through Facebook, for this particular decision she’s not going to post anything publicly. Why? Because it might draw out some of her more opinionated Facebook friends and it may embarrass her daughter, neither of which she wants.
To make the best choice possible she begins to talk to trusted mentors and friends and avoid getting advice from foolish people. As she does her research she finds that it takes way more time than she expected. She’s spending hours and hours pouring over school websites and talking with program administrators and families who are currently in each of the options. Her daughter isn’t doing well and she feels like she’s getting nowhere. But then she remembers another point.
“Don’t rush it. Take your time to make the wise choice.” Prudence feels as if the Lord has brought this to mind at just the right moment.
Proverbs 21:5 (NIV) The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.
“Haste leads to poverty.” She doesn’t want to rush it. She calls up another mom in the church for encouragement and she agrees to meet up to talk and pray. Prudence tell her how she’s been trying to apply Proverbs and the sermon series but she’s also feeling anxious. This other mom remembers another lesson from Proverbs that really stuck out to her.
“Examine your heart.” Together they flip to Proverbs 16. Here Prudence finds a call to examine her own heart and motives.
Proverbs 16:1-2 (NIV) 1 To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue. 2 All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.
Her friend asks her a question, “Why do you want to make this change?”
“Because I want my daughter to have the best schooling possible” she says.
“Yes, but this passage seems to say there might be something deeper going on in your heart. What are you feeling? What are your motives? Why is good schooling important?”
Prudence takes a moment to think it over before answering, “When my kids aren’t doing well in school or at home or with their friends I feel like a failure as a mom. I want my daughter to do well in school because I really do care about her education but also because I want to feel like a good parent.”
The other mom nods. She feels it too. They talk about how easy it is to base their identity as a parent on the success of their child and they commit to encouraging each other to find their acceptance in our Heavenly Father’s love for them. Prudence realizes this decision isn’t only about her own heart, it’s also about her daughter’s heart. She remembers the foundation verse her church family has been memorizing during this sermon series (maybe together we can help Prudence remember this verse).
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
That evening she sits down to have a heart–to–heart with her daughter. She asks her why she’s feeling uninterested in her classes and why has she been acting differently recently. Is it the teachers? Is it the relationships? Her daughter in a moment of openness tells her that she’s always felt like the other kids are smarter than her. They just seem to “get it” faster and better, which makes her feel embarrassed and depressed. It doesn’t help when they joke about her. Prudence tells her daughter she loves her and is proud of her and they’re going to work it out. They pray over what her daughter is feeling.
Prudence walks away from the conversation feeling encouraged and now more than ever wanting to make the right choice for her daughter. That evening her husband brings up a lesson that has resonated with him from Proverbs along with one of his favorite verses.
“Trust in the Lord and his plans.” The next verse after Proverbs 16:1-2 says how to deal with anxiety of the heart, by trusting in the Lord.
Proverbs 16:3 (NIV) Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Prudence and her husband remember Proverbs are not promises but principles. It’s not as if they pray hard and dedicate their daughter to the Lord that she will then end up at the very best of schools, but she does feel reassured that the Lord will work through this choice for her daughter’s spiritual good.
She is beginning to sense the Lord is more interested in “how” she makes this decision than in making the “right” decision. Prudence and her husband commit to trusting the Lord no matter what they decide. A few verses later they read another reminder of God’s sovereignty over everything.
Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
(See also Proverbs 19:21; 20:24; 27:1)
Prudence remembers her own education. She thinks back to her college years when she wasn’t sure what degree she should choose, but eventually decided on nursing. It led to her meeting her husband. She remembers all the nights before that decision to pursue nursing when she tossed and turned wondering if she was making the right choice. And yet God was present all along working everything out through her normal everyday choices. Prudence felt at peace as she thought about the Lord’s plans for her daughter. His plans for her may not be easy but they would be good. He would work it out.
Prudence finally feels like it’s time to make the choice. It seems like Proverbs approves of prudence but not of procrastination.
“It’s time to make a decision without fear or pride.” Prudence turns once again to the Proverbs 31 woman.
Proverbs 31:25 (NIV) She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
(See also Proverbs 31:28)
Here she finds a strong, wise, capable woman who makes her decisions with joy and without fear. That’s the kind of woman she wants to be and the kind of woman she wants to model for her daughters and son. But at the same time she wants to be careful not to act arrogant or prideful.
Proverbs 27:1 (NIV) Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
Prudence and her husband take the time to pray for a humble heart and to make the decision without fear or anxiety but trusting in the Lord. Even if the next choice doesn’t go well they have faith the Lord will work it out. They’re grateful he has brought them this far.
Prudence reviews with her husband everything she’s learned:
“Make a good decision within the boundaries of Scripture.” “Talk to trusted mentors and friends.” “Avoid getting advice from foolish people.” “Don’t rush it. Take your time to make the wise choice.” “Examine your heart.” “Trust in the Lord and his plans.” “It’s time to make a decision without fear or pride.”
She feels she can use this advice to apply to other decisions. In fact, she sees how these principles could be helpful in just about any situation, for her family, at work, on her frontline (the place where she naturally spends the most time with people who don’t know Jesus yet). But she remembers how her pastor is never done preaching until he talks about Jesus and the gospel. She adds one more point.
“No matter what happens, remember the gospel.” They remember a gospel–verse from Proverbs from the previous Sunday’s message.
Proverbs 16:6 (NIV) Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.
Prudence and her husband are reminded not of their own love and faithfulness, but of Christ’s and how he atoned for sin. Atone means to pay for something, to make amends. Christ Jesus made amends for their sin by his death on the cross. Now, through the fear of the Lord, which means a humble relationship of trust in him, they can turn away from evil and turn to God. No matter what happens, they are forgiven.
If the decision goes well and their daughter succeeds, Prudence is not going to find her value, worth and identify in the success but in Christ. And… If the decision goes poorly and her daughter does just as bad after all this work, she’s not going to beat herself up or feel shame but instead remember her Heavenly Father’s love. Because of the gospel she knows she should stand before God guilty but instead she stands before God forgiven. Now that’s wise decision making.
You may be wondering which option Prudence chose. What matters more ishow she chose it. Let’s pray.
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On a Podcast I listened to recently one of the speakers talked about barnacles. Did you know that the U.S. Navy reports Barnacles can slow down nuclear-powered ships by as much as 40%? Barnacles diminish the arrow-dynamics of boats, get inside engines, add weight on the hull, and can even crack the hull with smaller vessels. Barnacles expand and breed constantly and the navy spends $500 million a year to scrape barnacles off ships. Are your words the nuclear energy
On a Podcast I listened to recently one of the speakers talked about barnacles. Did you know that the U.S. Navy reports Barnacles can slow down nuclear-powered ships by as much as 40%? Barnacles diminish the arrow-dynamics of boats, get inside engines, add weight on the hull, and can even crack the hull with smaller vessels. Barnacles expand and breed constantly and the navy spends $500 million a year to scrape barnacles off ships. Are your words the nuclear energy that gives your family, friends, workplace, and church power? Or are they barnacles? Words can give us life or slow us down.
Proverbs 18:21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. (NIV)
Your tongue can help grow healthy life-giving fruit, or it can burn down the forest (James 3:5-6). In our series on Proverbs we’ve encountered lady wisdom who speaks what is good and true. Hear what she says.
Proverbs 8:6-8 6 Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. 7 My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. 8 All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. (NIV)
Lady wisdom is a metaphor for God himself one day fulfilled in Jesus (Matt 11:19). The words she speaks are the words God speaks, inviting us to speak words that mirror Christ’s goodness and character. This stands in stark contrast to lady folly.
Proverbs 9:13 Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing. (NIV)
Lady folly represents Satan, sin, and his powers, which are completely different than God’s goodness. When we speak Godly words we pump Godly power and goodness into those around us. But when we use the words of his enemy, we become like barnacles, multiplying and spreading and causing destruction. So how can you know if your words are of God or in opposition to him? How can you know if your words are nuclear power or a barnacle slowing down the ship?
Foolish words cause harm. When we say the wrong things it can destroy a relationship.
Proverbs 25:23 Like a north wind that brings unexpected rain is a sly tongue—which provokes a horrified look. (NIV)
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will always crush my spirit.” Words can destroy relationships, but also institutions, like a business, government, or church.
Proverbs 11:11 Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed. (NIV)
When Director J.J. Abrams was filming Star Wars Episode VII he put up a poster at Pinewood Studios that said “Loose lips bring down starships” referencing posters from WWII. Darth Vader’s hand is muffling the mouth of the officer who shared the plans to the Death Star. Abrams had a lot of visitors while filming the first movie and he made them all sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). If they told people what they saw, it could spoil everything. What we do with our words can bring our starship down too.
So what type of words am I talking about? What are foolish words?
Lies A lie is anytime we intentionally say something that isn’t true. I don’t feel comfortable calling something a lie if it was completely unintentional. I think a better word for that is “misspoken.” Even worse than a lie is deceit. Deceit is when we intentionally mislead someone, with or without a lie. But where do lies and deceit come from? Proverbs tell us they are symptoms of a sick heart.
Proverbs 26:24-26 24 Enemies disguise themselves with their lips, but in their hearts they harbor deceit. 25 Though their speech is charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts. 26 Their malice may be concealed by deception, but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. (NIV)
If you’re someone who lies or distorts the truth, it’s time to get your heart checked. I was reading Tremper Longman III’s commentary on Proverbs as I prepared again this week and he said that Proverbs warns us not only to not lie but also to not be too quick to believe what others say, to use discernment (Proverbs p. 562). Lying leads to consequences.
Proverbs 19:5 A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will not go free. (NIV)
Not only might you end up guilty in a court-of-law but before God himself. Lying doesn’t reflect the heart of God. It reflects the heart of Satan. Jesus said this about the devil.
John 8:44b He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (NIV)
Lies and deception are foolish words. Foolish words cause harm. Trust is the foundation of relationship and when you don’t have trust relationship breaks down. What other foolish words are there?
Gossip Gossip is what other people do… and let me tell you about it. There’s something about gossip that makes it easier to identify when others are doing it, but incredibly difficult to admit when I’m doing it. Maybe even when you saw the words “gossip” on the screen a face popped into your mind, someone you think is a gossip. Well I want to take that face and replace it with your own and ask yourself, “Do I gossip?” and “How do I gossip?” It helps to define gossip.
Gossip: saying something negative about anyone or anything to someone who can’t do anything about it. (Stephen Mansfield – The EntreLeadership Podcast #303)
Inevitably you’re going to have a conversation sometime soon that you will think might be gossip. When that happens here’s what you should do. Say, “Can we pause this conversation? I recently heard a sermon about gossip and I’ve felt convicted to try not to do it anymore. Before we talk further can we run what we’re about to talk about through my definition of gossip?” I doubt they’ll say “no.” Then you say, “My definition of gossip is saying something negative about anyone or anything to someone who can’t do anything about it. What do you think?” Hopefully this will spark a conversation without accusing anyone.
This isn’t the perfect definition, but Proverbs helps us think it out one step further. I’ve taken what I’ve learned from Proverbs about gossip and summarized it with Four Questions to Identify Gossip:
- Is it juicy?
Proverbs 18:8 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts. (NIV)
Gossip can be a lie, a made-up or twisted story, it can also be true, but it’s always something “juicy.” It’s sweet. It’s interesting. Your ears perk up. Oh, I can’t believe that happened! Tell me more. It’s almost always something negative (and I’d add personal). We don’t tend to gossip about positive things.
- Is it secretive?
Proverbs 20:19 A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much. (NIV)
Gossip is when we tell information to people who can’t do anything about it (or shouldn’t do anything about it). It’s secretive in nature. The information is secretive and the act of telling is private. It’s said behind closed doors or in hushed voices. Apparently “spilling tea” is slang for gossip these days. That’s what gossip is, a spilling of secrets (Prov 11:13). Proverbs warns us to avoid those who spill tea.
- Does it stir up trouble?
Proverbs 16:28 A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. (NIV)
At first it might seem like gossip doesn’t hurt anyone but it sows seeds of resentment. So if it is juicy, secretive, or stirs up trouble, it’s probably gossip. But the best way to tell if something is gossip is to examine the heart.
- Where’s your heart?
Proverbs 26:23 Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart. (NIV)
We gossip to put others down and make ourselves feel big. Gossip reflects a heart-attitude of restlessness and dissatisfaction with what God has given us. Although it’s not good it makes sense that the world loves gossip. They don’t know God. But we do. So if you’re prone to gossip, the cure is loving God and finding your satisfaction in him. Gossip is found in the heart and poisons the heart. Don’t play with poison.
Proverbs 26:20 Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down. (NIV)
Norman Rockwell was probably the most famous American illustrator who created covers for the Saturday Evening Post. He depicted normal scenes in everyday life. One of his most famous paintings is “The Gossips.” The painting starts at the top left with the gossip who shares her juicy tidbit, and you can watch as the news passes from one person to the next through a game of “telephone.” See how it takes two to gossip. These are paintings of actual people who lived in Stockton Massachusetts, Norman Rockwell’s friends and neighbors. He painted his wife in the third row in the second and third columns. She’s the woman with brown hair and a telephone. He painted himself too. He’s the brunt of the gossip in the bottom right hand corner. You can see him getting upset at the woman who started it all. That woman was actually hurt by being painted this way. See! Even a painting of gossip can hurt a real relationship! When this picture was originally published thousands of people wrote letters asking what the gossip was. Foolish words cause harm. This painting recently sold for $8.5 million. Gossip is juicy.
Slander Slander is when we intentionally say things to not just deceive but to actually harm others.
Proverbs 10:18 Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool. (NIV)
Today you can get sued for defamation, for hurting a reputation. Slander is like gossip on steroids. But maybe you don’t lie or gossip or slander, but you do talk too much and you’re not a good listener.
Speaking Hastily / Not Listening Talking too much and never stopping to listen is also foolishness.
Proverbs 29:20 Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for them. (NIV)
You’re more likely to lie or misspeak or gossip if you’re not listening and talking too much. So what can we do? Talk less. Listen more. Speak words of life! Foolish words cause harm but…
Wise words give life. Wise words also spring forth from the heart (Prov 16:23).
Proverbs 15:28 The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil. (NIV)
What’s on the inside will come out and hopefully it’s good. When our hearts are in the right place we’re going to talk differently. Our words are going to give life. So what type of words will we say?
Truthful Truthful words are words that accurately reflect reality—no distortion, no lies, no misrepresentation, no making yourself look better than you actually are, just a real picture of what’s really going on (Prov 14:25).
Proverbs 12:19 Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment. (NIV)
As one poster said, “Speak with integrity” and “Say only what you mean.” If Satan is the father of lies who is the truth? Jesus!
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (NIV)
With Jesus there’s no shadow, no deceit, no gossip, just truth (James 1:17). It’s through Jesus that we can know ultimate truth, ultimate reality. It’s through him that we can have a true relationship with God. It’s through him that we can change from gossips and liars to people that speak truth.
Wise words are not just about being truthful. We also need to speak truth when others can hear it.
Timely Tremper writes, “A wise word is one that is spoken at the right time. Good words are not inherently good; they must be spoken at the appropriate time.” (Proverbs p. 571)
Proverbs 15:23 A person finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word! (NIV)
If you yell “I love you!” at your spouse at 5am it might be true but it’s not going to go over well (Prov 27:14). Sometimes we need to speak truth to someone but can’t do so right away. This might be the most tempting time to gossip. It takes wisdom to know when to speak and to know when to be quiet and listen (Prov 19:20; 26:9). Listening can earn the opportunity to be heard. Wise words are timely and…
Trustworthy (person) It’s about character. Wise people speak words that are true and are themselves trustworthy people.
Proverbs 11:13 A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret. (NIV)
When you need private advice who do you go to that you know will keep your confidence? Be that person. Wise words are truthful, timely, trustworthy, and…
Encouraging We have so many ways we can speak life into each other’s lives.
Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up. (NIV)
As a new church we have the opportunity to create a new culture, a new DNA. Let’s create a culture of encouragement. Let’s make visitors sense our love and support for each other (Eph 4:29; Titus 3:2). One of the ways we can encourage each other is by sharing good news.
Proverbs 15:30 Light in a messenger’s eyes brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones. (NIV)
As Christians we have the opportunity to be the most encouraging people on planet earth because we have the best news of all, the news about Jesus, the gospel. We have the good news that Jesus died and rose again and whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Jesus is God’s Word given for us. If it’s the heart that produces foolish words or the heart that produces wise words how can we change our hearts so we speak wise words? Well… we can’t. But Jesus can! Jesus is God’s word come to rescue us.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV)
This means the things Jesus spoke are the things God spoke. This is so because Jesus is the revelation (or word) of God. It’s through Jesus that we can know and talk to God. It’s through Jesus that we can hear God. Even though Jesus is the word of God, and had every right to speak and shout God’s truth, what did he do for us? Jesus, the Word of God, became silent.
Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (NIV)
Jesus, the Son of God, the only one who has the right to speak, didn’t protest as he was lead to the cross, crucified, and died. He died quietly to forgive us for all our noise. If you say a prayer, you don’t even have to say it out-loud, of repentance and faith in him, if you tell him you believe him and everything written about him, he will come and rescue you, give you eternal life, and begin to change you from the inside out. Christ came to save the liars and gossips and slanderers and those who speak too much and have trouble listening. But he won’t leave us that way. He came to change us. If you need changing, let’s take a moment to silently pray to receive Christ’s forgiveness… amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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I want to kick of today’s sermon in Proverbs by reading you a verse from the gospel of Matthew. Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NIV) These are Jesus’ words. They come from the Sermon on the Mount. He taught us to not store up treasurer on earth, where it can be destroyed, but to store it up in heaven, where it’s safe. And then he says, “For where your treasure is…. there
I want to kick of today’s sermon in Proverbs by reading you a verse from the gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NIV)
These are Jesus’ words. They come from the Sermon on the Mount. He taught us to not store up treasurer on earth, where it can be destroyed, but to store it up in heaven, where it’s safe. And then he says, “For where your treasure is…. there your heart will be also.”
Where is your heart? You ever heard the phrase “Follow the money?” Just follow your money. It’ll lead somewhere, probably to your family, church, hobbies and passions, maybe even your anxieties or health problems. If you were to walk backward from your purchases through your decisions, thoughts, and feelings you’d eventually get back to your heart, the very core of who you are. Our foundation verse says:
Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (NIV)
So today’s sermon on wealth isn’t just a sermon on money. It’s a sermon for your soul. What you do with your money and wealth (or lack thereof) displays your heart. Today I want to show where a love of wealth leads and compare it to where a love of God leads. So where do these two paths lead?
Love of wealth leads to: 1. Wealth If you idolize wealth, you may actually acquire more wealth. You don’t have to love God to do well.
Psalm 73:3-43 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. (NIV)
That’s a cynical Psalm, where a man named Asaph complains about the wicked doing well. Proverbs shows positive outcomes for those who seek God but it also sometimes shows the other side (Prov 11:28).
Proverbs 15:16 Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil. (NIV)
To fear the Lord means to love and respect him. You can not care the least bit about God and still have “great wealth.” But will you be happy? Ecclesiastes also highlights the wicked getting ahead.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. (NIV)
If you’ve ever watched Shark Tank you know the millionaire and billionaire investors always want to make more money. One of the investors, Kevin O’Leary, says “Here’s how I think of my money, as soldiers, I send them out to war everyday. I want them to take prisoners and come home, so there’s more of them.” I kind of like the quote but when is enough enough? The American Dream is a pretty hollow dream. Love of wealth may lead to wealth but also to…
2. Poverty I already preached on laziness in Proverbs, which can lead to poverty(Prov 10:4; 21:17; 22:13) but the actual love of wealth can lead to poverty too (Prov 21:6).
Proverbs 20:21 An inheritance claimed too soon will not be blessed at the end. (NIV)
I wonder if Jesus was thinking of this Proverb when he told the story of the Prodigal Son. That story is about a young man who asks his father to give him his inheritance early so he can travel and party and live for himself. His father gives him his inheritance and his son goes off and spends it all on wild living in a foreign land. He wastes his wealth and becomes so poor he has to work feeding pigs in the mud. Thankfully that’s not how the story ends, but we’ll come back to that.
Love of wealth can lead to wealth or to poverty, but if your heart is taken with an idol, if you love money more than God, then that will begin to reflect in your character and actions. Love of wealth leads to…
3. Greed The love of wealth is greed. Greed leads nowhere good (Prov 11:24).
Proverbs 28:27 Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. (NIV)
Proverbs warns leaders to especially be mindful of greed.
Proverbs 28:16 A tyrannical ruler practices extortion, but one who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long reign. (NIV)
Those in authority have more opportunity to line their own pockets. Wisdom says to resist this. Greed leads to poor leadership and oppression of those under your authority. Love of wealth leads to greed, which results in injustice.
4. Injustice Proverbs has a lot to say about the connection between money and justice. Did you know that justice in much of the Bible is not about personal rights so much as it is about caring for the needy and oppressed?
“…the modern ideal of justice […] is, in fact, rooted in Jewish and Christian sources that understood justice not as the claims that could be made by an aggrieved party (as it is in contemporary rights language) but rather in the obligations we owe to all those who are aggrieved and in need.” To Change the World by James Davidson Hunter (p. 262)
Christian justice is not about being harmed and seeking retribution but about preemptively insuring no one is harmed—that we owe an obligation just by the very presence of the poor. So the concept of “social justice”—caring for the poor, marginalized, and oppressed—is exactly what the Bible means by justice. Proverbs warns us that the love of wealth can lead to injustice.
Proverbs 18:23 The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly. (NIV)
Although poverty can be due to laziness it can also be due to systemic injustice.
Proverbs 13:23 An unplowed field produces food for the poor, but injustice sweeps it away. (NIV)
That means people and systems beyond the poor’s control keeps them in poverty. God promises that he will deal with this injustice. Ultimately the love of money, which produces injustice, leads to death (Prov 20:17).
5. Death It can lead to physical death. The rich are more likely to be kidnapped for a ransom while a poor person doesn’t have to worry so much.
Proverbs 13:8 A person’s riches may ransom their life, but the poor cannot respond to threatening rebukes. (NIV)
But in the end a love of wealth leads to eternal spiritual death.
Proverbs 11:4 Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. (NIV)
Your treasure matters. What you do with it reflects your heart and whether you know God. Love of wealth leads to death. Thankfully, the Bible doesn’t leave us there. It provides a different path, the love of God. Let’s look at where loving God leads.
Love of God leads to: 1. Wealth Our previous verses showed this other way as each verse gave us a negative and a positive. I want to look at a few more verses that show God’s way. The love of God leads to developing wisdom, which may lead (key word may) to wealth.
Proverbs 3:9-109Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. (NIV)
Seek God and wisdom and you may become wealthy.
Proverbs 3:15-16 15 [Wisdom] is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. (NIV)
If you’ve ever been involved in a church that told you God wants to make you rich you can see how you could find this taught in the Scriptures, especially in the book of Proverbs. But that’s really not what Proverbs is saying. It’s saying you “may” become rich through wisdom, but it’s not a promise.
Proverbs 22:2 Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all. (NIV)
God decides who is rich and poor, not us. This isn’t an excuse for laziness but a call to trust God no matter our circumstances. You may be wise, work hard, and still be poor because of medical bills or lack of opportunity. Love of God (may) lead to wealth but it can also lead to poverty.
2. Poverty God doesn’t promise wealth, even to the wisest and most righteous of us.
Proverbs 16:8 Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. (NIV)
It’s better to be poor and have a right relationship with God than to be rich and greedy (Prov 16:19). God does say he will take care of those who trust him.
Proverbs 10:3 The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked. (NIV)
Jesus likewise tells us he’ll take care of us in the New Testament.
Matthew 6:25-26 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (NIV)
God will take care of all our needs. Followers of Christ shouldn’t be surprised by poverty, which may come from serving him (1 Cor 4:11). I recently watched a documentary called American Gospel on the prosperity gospel, or *word of faith* movement. A guy named Sean DeMars shared his story. When he became a Christian the first person he met who taught him how to read the Bible was a guy who believed in the prosperity gospel, which is if you just have enough faith and give enough money God will make you wealthy and heal you. When he got mercury poisoning the prosperity gospel almost killed him. Instead of going to the doctors he tried to have enough faith in God. Eventually he stumbled onto a sermon by John Piper preaching against the prosperity gospel and that pulled him out of it. He and his wife became missionaries in Peru. They used a barrel of water to shower. They forsook everything to share the real gospel. Their love of God actually lead them into poverty. It’s comfortable living in Westford. What if God called you to Peru? The love of God may lead to wealth or poverty but it should always lead to generosity.
3. Generosity A heart that has experienced God’s goodness and grace will overflow with generosity to others (Prov 29:7).
Proverbs 19:17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done. (NIV)
If you give your money to the poor it’s like you’re giving a loan to God who is going to pay you back in eternity with a rich reward, himself. You will find that as you give you will be blessed too.
Proverbs 22:9 The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. (NIV)
Proverbs even encourages us that those who give will receive even more.
Proverbs 11:24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. (NIV)
The author Henri Nouwen (he wrote a lot on Christian spirituality) was speaking at a conference when he had to run out on an errand to help the bookseller. While he was out he met a young man who asked him for money to help him get home to France. Henri Nouwen didn’t just hand him cash but invited him to ride along with him on his errands and they talked about the young man’s life. He learned that the young man had tried to get a job in Canada, but it hadn’t worked out. He had enough money to get home to Paris but not where he lived in Southern France. Henri Nouwen ended up giving the man $200 to get home. Later that evening at the conference the bookseller he’d helped earlier gave him $200 as a thank you. He got back what he gave. Love of God leads to generosity and justice.
4. Justice To mistreat the poor is to mock God but to care for them (justice) is a blessing to God (Prov 17:5).
Proverbs 14:31 Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. (NIV)
There was a split in Christian history that lead to evangelical Christians caring mostly about evangelism and non–evangelical Christians caring mostly about social justice. That split should have never happened because the Bible says we are all supposed to evangelize AND care for the poor. God wants both.
Last week our Missions Team unveiled our missions funding plan. What I liked about it is that it includes opportunities for us to support justice paired with gospel. We’re funding a local prison ministry through Vision New England and a ministry called Safe Families for single moms in times of great need. The missions team invited us to give above and beyond our normal giving by giving to missions. I want to challenge each one of us to examine our hearts, examine where we’re investing and spending, and to consider giving above and beyond to the missions fund. Love of God may lead to wealth or poverty, but it should always lead to generosity and justice, and one day it will lead to eternal life.
5. Life Proverbs tells us that righteousness (which comes by knowing and seeking God) leads to life.
Proverbs 10:2 Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value, but righteousness delivers from death. (NIV)
Righteousness through a right relationship with God changes our futures from death to life.
Proverbs 22:4 Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life. (NIV)
The fear of the Lord (the love of God) may lead to material blessing in this life but it absolutely leads to riches, honor, and eternal life in the life to come. The only reason these riches are possible is because God set aside his riches and honor and made his life among us through Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (NIV)
I want to tell you how the story of the prodigal son ends (Luke 15:11-32). The son repents. The son goes home. And when he does, his father runs to him, hugs him, and throws a party. Maybe you’re the prodigal son or daughter who loves money or material things or want them and are unhappy because you can’t afford them. Our Heavenly Father invites you to come home from that far away land. Stop playing in the mud with the pigs. Christ, our eldest brother, became poor, to bring you home to your Father. It’s with our Heavenly Father that your heart will finally be safe and satisfied. Make Christ your heart’s greatesttreasure.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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Today I’m preaching on politics. I was just at my fourth Ockenga retreat at Gordon-Conwell and this was our topic. My goal today is not to convince you to vote for a candidate or issue or to review this week’s news but to help us all process how the Bible calls believers to think about politics. Today’s sermon is not comprehensive, but hopefully you’ll find it helpful, or at least thought-provoking. If you want to have a friendly conversation about my sermon, come with me to get lunch at Panera after the service. If you can’t make that, come next Sunday to our Christian Education hour to talk about it.
In preparation for the Ockenga retreat our 14 pastors and ministers read the book To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World by James Davidson Hunter. Many of the things I’ll be sharing come from his writing. Now I don’t want today’s sermon to be just a book review, so today we’ll also be looking at Jeremiah 29:4-14. Hunter unpacks this passage in To Change the World and I’m going to share many of the same points he makes. But before we dive in let me pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for politics. You give us rulers and leaders and systems of government to help us live ordered and prosperous lives. May today’s sermon not divide but provide a Godly and Biblical perspective on a difficult topic. Open our ears and guide my words. In Jesus name, amen.
How should Christians live in exile? An exile is someone who isn’t living in their home country. Exiles live somewhere foreign. The Bible calls believers exiles. Hear what Peter says to the early believers:
1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, [and Westford MA…] (See also 1 Peter 1:17; 2:11)
The book of Hebrews calls the heroes of our faith “foreigners and strangers on earth.” (Heb 11:13b) If you belong to Jesus, you belong to his kingdom, which is not of this earth. We are citizens of Christ’s kingdom.
Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, (NIV)
We are spiritual exiles. In our passage the Israelite people were literal exiles. In 606, 597, and 586 BC the nation of Babylon deported the people of Jerusalem and Judah back to Babylon, about a thousand miles journey (2 Kings 24:15). A prophet named Jeremiah wrote them a letter around the second deportation telling the Jewish exiles in Babylon how to live in exile. This is my big idea and the big idea of the book.
God calls exiles to “faithful presence.” (Jer 29:4-7) I’ve put “faithful presence” in quotes because this is Hunter’s name for the posture we find Jeremiah telling the Israelites to take. Lets read the first couple verses.
Jeremiah 29:4-7 4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
God doesn’t say Babylon carried Jerusalem into exile but that he did it. He carried his people into a foreign land. This implies that as exiles of God’s kingdom he puts us exactly where he wants us. Wherever you are, your political environment, workplace, family, community, gym, school, that’s where God has carried you. Where has God carried you? Do you see how he has carried you there?
5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.
God wants his people to be present where he puts them. He doesn’t want them to try and get back to Jerusalem. He doesn’t want them to try and take over Babylon. He simply wants his people to be faithful to him and live life where they are. They’re to hold onto their faith in him and live where he has them. Are you faithful to Christ where you are? Are you investing your life in the people around you?
7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (NIV)
The word for “peace and prosperity” here is the Hebrew word “shalom.”
“[Shalom] is a vision of order and harmony, fruitfulness and abundance, wholeness, beauty, joy, and well-being.” – To Change the World (p. 228)
So “seek the (order and harmony, fruitfulness and abundance, wholeness and beauty, joy and well-being) of the city to which I have carried you into exile…” Did you know that our word “politic” comes from the Greek word “polis,” which just means “city.” Are you cultivating shalom in the city (the polis) where God has you? Are you politicking for peace?
Ask yourself, “How can I cultivate harmony in my workplace or town?” “How can I foster a fruitful relationship with those who hold different views than me politically?” “How can I work for wholeness?” “How can I help create beauty, joy, and wellbeing where I go?” So often we Christians are known more for what we are against when we should be known by what we are for. Before we ever point out what’s wrong with our culture lets point out what’s right with it. God calls exiles to “faithful presence.”
I’m assuming I haven’t said anything most of us disagree with all that much. We want to be faithful and present where God has us. Sometimes defining what something should be includes saying what it’s not, which is what Hunter does. He lays out three positions that differ from faithful presence. I want to introduce you to these with this next quote. Speaking about the Babylonian exile Hunter writes:
Clearly it would have been justifiable for the Jews to be hostile to their captors. It also would have been natural enough for them to withdraw from engaging the world around them. By the same token, it would have been easy for them to simply assimilate with the culture that surrounded them. Any of these three options made sense in human terms. But God was calling them to something different—not to be defensive against, isolated from, or absorbed into the dominant culture, but to be faithfully present within it…
On the face of it, this was not a posture of radical and prophetic challenge to the powers that be, but neither was it a passive acceptance of the established order. The people of Israel were being called to enter the culture in which they were placed as God’s people—reflecting in their daily practices their distinct identity as those chosen by God. He was calling them to maintain their distinctiveness as a community but in ways that served the common good. – To Change the World (pp. 277-278)
God calls exiles to faithful presence, but that excludes defensiveness, absorption, or isolation. Let’s look at each one of these other responses to culture and politics a little more closely.
God doesn’t call exiles to be “defensive against.” (Jer 28:1-4; 29:8-10) During the exile to Babylon a false prophet named Hananiah prophesied that the people would all get to go home within two years and that God would destroy their captors.
Jeremiah 28:1-4 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. 4 I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’” (NIV)
Hananiah is lying that God will punish their enemies, get back the culture they lost, and they’ll all be able to go home soon. But what does Jeremiah prophesy?
Jeremiah 29:8-10 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. (NIV)
“Get comfortable in exile. Make this your home. Be faithful and present where God has you because you’re going to be here a while, 70 years.” It’s hard to make a foreign country your home if you’re fighting against its government or people.
Hunter explains the “defensive against” posture much better than I do but I’ve tried to take the gist of what he says and summarize it with the objective of each posture, the challenges it faces, the strategy it uses, and the outcome it has had. There’s always exceptions, and this position could be true of either side of the political aisle, but in Hunter’s opinion the “defensive against” posture is generally true of political and theological conservatives. We’re a theologically conservative church (CCCC) and some of us may hold conservative political opinions, but let’s just hear him out. Defensive against:
Objective: retain right belief and right actions within the world. Challenges: try to preserve the nation and Christian faith in the midst of secularization. Strategy: call for national repentance and faith while confronting opposition. Outcome: creation of walls between self and world, self protection; creation of parallel institutions (music, education, media); anxiety and alienation.
If you’re like me you’re probably thinking, “But aren’t there things we should confront like abortion or systemic racism? Shouldn’t we stand up and say ‘that’s not right!’” During our retreat several of my African American brothers and sisters in Christ noted the importance of the prophetic voice. This is something the black church does well—speaks truth to power. So where’s our prophetical call? I’m not sure. There may be times and seasons for us to speak prophetically, but if that’s all we do we can miss the opportunity for faithful presence. Jeremiah didn’t call his people to speak prophetically to Babylon. God raised up specific people to do that—Daniel, Esther, and others—but all did so humbly and faithfully where God placed them. God doesn’t call exiles to be “defensive against” but to “faithful presence.”
God doesn’t call exiles to be “relevant to.” (Jer 29:11) God doesn’t call the exiles to take their future into their own hands, but instead he’ll be faithful to them.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (NIV)
The “relevant to” posture is when believers adopt the culture without reservation. This happens when churches forsake the Bible because it hinders their growth or cultural impact. In Hunter’s opinion the “relevant to” posture tends to be true of political and theological liberals. Relevant to:
Objective: connect with the world, people and issues of the day. Challenges: try to impose ethical restrains and changes on a society that resists. Strategy: focus on relevance and felt needs but neglect right beliefs. Outcome: loss of distinctiveness and historic Christian faith, creeds and confessions; alienation.
If God promises to take care of his people in exile, and to even bless them, we don’t have to create our own blessing. We are called to seek the shalom of the city, we’re not called to look just like the city. God doesn’t call exiles to be “relevant to” but to “faithful presence.” And thirdly…
God doesn’t call exiles to “purity from.” (Jer 29:12-14) In our last few verses God says he will be with his people in exile. He says their job is to seek God and God will take care of bringing them out of exile.
Jeremiah 29:12-14 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” (NIV)
God will bring us out of exile, not us. In Hunter’s opinion the “purity from” posture tends to be true of any group of people who withdraw or separate from culture or society. Purity from:
Objective: preserve the historic Christian faith and witness.
Although “purity from” is similar to “defensive against” the difference is in the response.
Challenges: the world is so broken we can’t do anything for it. Strategy: withdraw from world and culture to restore true witness. Outcome: disengagement with world; closed communities; feelings of “us-against-them;” alienation.
All three postures lead to the same outcome, alienation. God doesn’t call exiles to be “defensive against” or “relevant to” or to “purity from” but to “faithful presence.”
God calls exiles to faithful presence. I’d fall short if I didn’t try to offer what Hunter’s understanding of “faithful presence” might be a little bit more. He calls for the following to be true of followers of Jesus. He hopes this other way can become true of citizens of heaven, of exiles, of the church. So if you’re not living like this, and you fall into one of those other postures, consider this other way. Faithful presence:
Objective: be faithful and present wherever God calls us.
This is a call to love God and love your neighbor, even if your neighbor is different politically.
Challenges: temptation to fight back, forsake beliefs, or disengage.
When you’re next tempted to criticize someone who sees politics different than you stop and pray for them.
Strategy: the great commission—go and make disciples in every level of society; incarnate the Christian faith; be in the world but not of it.
If God calls you to be a school teacher, teach for him, or drive the dump trunk, take out the trash for him. If he calls you into government, govern to the best of your ability for him. Live for Jesus where he has you.
Outcome: shalom; hope and joy; patient endurance; finding the common good; reconciliation.
Faithful presence leads not to alienation but reconciliation. The gospel is that God himself became an exile for us. The Son of God exiled himself from heaven so that he could come and be faithful and present among us. He didn’t let our sins and ugliness and politics drive him away. Instead, he loved us, and spent time with us, and taught us the way of forgiveness and eternal life. And what did we do? We crucified him. But God used Christ’s innocent death to pay the penalty for our sins so that anyone who repents and believes in Jesus will be saved. Through Jesus you and I can now experience God’s faithful presence. We can be reconciled to God. Now what does Jesus call us to do? “Go and do likewise. Go and be a faithful and present exile in a world that needs me.” God calls exiles to faithful presence. 1
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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For a recent sermon series on politics, listen to Faith & Flourishing in Politics.
Several other pastors and teachers have given great sermons or lectures on politics. Check them out: Jon Tyson: The Controversial Jesus – Jesus and Politics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1En37ldKvlU&t=1s Tim Mackie (founder of The Bible Project): Lecture on the Early Church & Politics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXcSJVW8rg4 ↩
Today I’m preaching on politics. I was just at my fourth Ockenga retreat at Gordon-Conwell and this was our topic. My goal today is not to convince you to vote for a candidate or issue or to review this week’s news but to help us all process how the Bible calls believers to think about politics. Today’s sermon is not comprehensive, but hopefully you’ll find it helpful, or at least thought-provoking. If you want to have a friendly conversation about
Introduction A few weeks ago, Jonathan presented in his sermon the Dunning-Kruger Effect. I had never heard of this before, but it resonated with me. It felt true. Then he showed this graphic, and because of this typo, I knew I had to do more research on my own on this topic. I like this graphic is a little better. However, when it comes to the Dunning-Kruger effect, I have done just enough research to end up in the valley of despair. I feel like I understand it less well than I did after Jonathan’s sermon.
Since 2008, I think it is fair to say God has been teaching me a lot about my faith through missions, seminary, adoptions, church planting, etc. Over that same time, have been learning a lot about parenting too. It is definitely true for me that as I have learned, studied, researched, read, listened, and experienced things about Christianity and parenting, the less I feel like I actually know. Of course, there are some things that I am certain about, but there are a lot of things I used to be certain about I now have uncertainty about.
When it comes to faith and parenting, I think I am probably slowly climbing the slope of enlightenment having passed through the valley of despair. And, I don’t think these kinds of doubts and uncertainties are a bad thing for our faith. They help us ask questions and grow. The help us realize we don’t know everything, and we have a lot to learn. As Andy Mineo says in his song Clarity, “The opposite of faith ain’t doubt, it’s when I get it all figured out”.
So, suffice to say, I stand here before you this morning not an expert in parenting or godliness, but as someone climbing the slope of enlightenment and hoping that wherever you are on your journey, something I offer will encourage you forward in yours. Preaching on parenting with some of your kids in the room, is dangerous, and I assure you that they think I am firmly planted on the summit of mount stupid.
Now, when it comes to the sermon passage for today, there are a lot of opinions out there on what it means. Let’s read it again, but this time from the ESV. “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” You can see on my slide that there is very little difference between the ESV, NASB, KJV, and the old NIV. Any of us who grew up in the church were probably familiar with the verse in this format.
Ten plus years ago, I became a member of the pastoral search committee at Immanuel Church. We scoured through resumes and cover letters, narrowed the field, listened to sermons, and conducted interviews; it was a very thorough process. Inevitably, at least for me, but I know I was not alone, a candidate that had three kids all serving the Lord as missionaries and pastors was seen as better than one whose kids were just “regular” Christians, and both beat the pastor who told of us a child who left the faith. We even had one candidate with multiple kids living like the prodigal son before his return. Was that fair?
I was thinking of asking people to stand or raise hands about certain things, but realizing this may be too personal a topic, so I decided to present some recent research. David Kinnaman works for Barna and he wrote a new book with results of research from 2004 to present on young people and faith. He identified four groups of 18-29 year olds who were raised in Christian homes. The groups were:
Prodigals – Loss of faith – 22% Nomads – Loss of connection to the church – 30% Habitual church goers – Superficial connection to the church – 38% Resilient disciples – Disciple – 10%
To summarize simply, the prodigals no longer identified as Christians, the nomads identified as Christians but no longer attended church, the habitual church goers went to church at least once a month but were not really involved, and resilient disciples are those who are deeply involved in church and have a personal relationship with Jesus. Of course, these numbers can be spun in different ways, and depending on your definition of a Christian, can be argued about. You have about a 50/50 chance as a Christian parent of raising a kid who continues to go to church regularly from 18-29. Or, if we drop out the messy middle categories, you are more than twice as likely to raise a prodigal as you are a disciple. But, I know, these stats are for average parents, and you all are way above average. One piece of good news is that there is usually a lot of life after 29 for prodigals to come home, and God is there when they do.
I know all of us know people raised in a Christian home with good parents who no longer identify as Christians. Or, maybe they say they love Jesus but not religion, and they haven’t been to church in years, and there life doesn’t show the fruit of the Spirit.
So, is our passage talking about training a child in their faith or other things like a vocation or cultural rituals? Is it a promise or is it just generally true? There are a ton of opinions out there on this passage. It is still really easy to find respected evangelical organizations that explain this passage a promise of God to Godly parents. You do your part and your kids will follow God.
It seems clear to me from what we all observe every day and this research, that Proverbs 22:6 cannot be a promise. Could it really promise that if you do a good enough job as a parent, your kids will become and stay devoted to God. I see two major problems with this, but I am sure there are more.
If this verse is taught as a promise and a child turns away from God, it must be the parents’ fault. This could be very damaging to a parent’s psyche. In addition, whether you are heavier on election or on freewill, this interpretation would seem to me to oppose both. Parents can save their kids? It isn’t God that saves them and/or they have no agency in the process?
Yet, as I shared in my story about the pastoral search team, I was this judgmental person 10 years ago. What then are we going to do with the rest of our time? Well, I am not going to dive into the Hebrew and try to provide my take on the proper understanding of this verse. Maybe next week during the education hour, we can all come prepared to discuss that. Instead, we are going to take a survey through some of the things the Bible does teach us about parenting, and we are going to look at God as the perfect parent.
What does Proverbs say about parenting?
Since we are studying proverbs, let’s first take a look at what Proverbs has to say about parenting. Proverbs is largely a father imparting wisdom to his son. So, I think it is fair to say that the first, and largest theme of parenting in Proverbs is that parents should teach their children and pass on wisdom.
This clearly starts with teaching children about God as “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10
Selections from Proverbs on discipline:
Proverbs 13:24 Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them. Proverbs 19:18 Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death. Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away. Proverbs 23:13-14 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die. Punish them with the rod and save them from death. Proverbs 29:15 A rod and a reprimand impart wisdom, but a child left undisciplined disgraces its mother. Proverbs 29:17 Discipline your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights you desire.
Proverbs seems to tell us that the most important things for a parent to do is to teach our children the way of the Lord and what is right (impart knowledge) and discipline them for doing wrong. However, there must be more.
What else does the Bible say to parents?
Like proverbs, the Bible is clear that we must teach our children about God and his laws.
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deut 6:6-9 We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. Psalm 78:4-7
Like Proverbs, the Bible is clear that we must discipline our kids, but we begin to see in the New Testament further instruction with the discipline.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4 (ESV)
Scripture also commands that we provide for our family.
Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8
Scripture at large backs up what we see in Proverbs that we are to train our children, to teach them, impart wisdom, which means primarily teaching them about God and his laws. Secondly, Scripture backs up that discipline is a part of parenting, but includes a reminder not to exasperate or provoke our children to anger. Third, Scripture adds a command to care for the physical needs of our children.
What can we learn from the Character of God, the perfect Father/parent about being a parent?
Teaching and imparting wisdom. God does this through his word in the Scriptures. He has also done this in the person of Jesus Christ modeling for us wisdom in the flesh. What could be better as a parent in addition to providing instruction than perfectly modeling the behavior you expect from your children?
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ii. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. John 13:12-15
Discipline: God disciplines his children because he loves them and desires them to be made holy. Yet, he does it perfectly without exasperating his children.
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:7-11 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Revelation 3:19 When the punishment would be too much, he took it himself. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 This is both grace and mercy. God is perfect. He knows when to discipline and when to offer grace or mercy. For earthly parents it is tough to know when to discipline and when to offer grace or mercy. And, if you are fortunate enough to parent with the help of another parent, it gets even harder. In our house, I can tell you that there are many times when I feel it is time for mercy and Keri feels it is time for discipline. And, there are times when those roles are reversed. Both can be important in raising children. Both reflect the character of God. Probably the only thing we can all agree on is that a parent that has zero mercy or zero discipline would not be a good parent.
God provides for his children. But if we look further at those passages, he doesn’t want us to just look for him to give us stuff or even worry about it. He wants us to seek relationship with him and trust he will provide everything we need. Isn’t that what parents want from their children too?
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:9-11 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Matthew 6:28-30 Now we can move beyond the three things that matched up with specific parenting passages in scripture to see how else the character of God makes him the perfect parent.
God is patient (2 Pet. 3:9) , good/kind (Ps. 34:8), loving (1 John 4:7-8), gentle (Is. 40:11 & Matt. 11:28-30), unchanging (Mal. 3:6 & Rom. 8:35-39), always there (Ps. 139:7-10), wise (Rom. 11:33), faithful (2 Tim. 2:13), just (Deut. 32:4), merciful (Rom 9:15-16), gracious (Ps. 145:8)
Imagine if we were all these things as parents without ever failing? So, how do we become better parents? We need to become more like God.
The more we become like God, the better parent we will become. Conclusion: Parenting isn’t always an easy task. We need wisdom. God’s wisdom.
James 1:2-5 says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
My conclusion is that the only way to become a better parent is to become more like God. How do we do that? Ask God. Pray. Pray more. Read the Bible. Read more. Understand how God has treated you as his child and seek to treat your children the same way. I am not saying we should neglect our children and devote ourselves solely to praying, reading our Bible, etc., but I am saying that we need to make sure we have enough time set aside for that each day, and if we do, it will reflect in our parenting.
Look at 1 Corinthians 13 and put in parents for love. Parents are patient, parents are kind. You get the idea. And, with just two listed so far, I can tell you I am not always patient, and I am not always kind. I have a lot to work on.
The more we become like God, the better parent we will become. Please pray with me. Prayer, and don’t forget the offering. Benediction: Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”
Andy Bradshaw preached this sermon at Cornerstone Congregational Church on Sunday, September 22nd, 2019. You can read Andy’s faith story here.
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Introduction A few weeks ago, Jonathan presented in his sermon the Dunning-Kruger Effect. I had never heard of this before, but it resonated with me. It felt true. Then he showed this graphic, and because of this typo, I knew I had to do more research on my own on this topic. I like this graphic is a little better. However, when it comes to the Dunning-Kruger effect, I have done just enough research to end up in the valley
Do you remember when the movie Wonder Woman came out in 2017? Wonder Woman featured a strong, noble, courageous, sometimes insecure, but ultimately heroic female super hero, the Amazon warrior Diana Prince. When this movie came out it inspired little girls everywhere. Right after this movie released in June 2017 this little girl was dressing up as Wonder Woman with a huge grin. She didn’t care it wasn’t Halloween or that it was summer. She was Wonder Woman! This little
Do you remember when the movie Wonder Woman came out in 2017? Wonder Woman featured a strong, noble, courageous, sometimes insecure, but ultimately heroic female super hero, the Amazon warrior Diana Prince. When this movie came out it inspired little girls everywhere.
Right after this movie released in June 2017 this little girl was dressing up as Wonder Womanwith a huge grin. She didn’t care it wasn’t Halloween or that it was summer. She was Wonder Woman! This little girl named Milah dressed up as Wonder Woman and her mom took pictures of her on “the streets of New York City like a true superhero.” One dad actually recreated some of the Wonder Woman scenes with his “three-year-old daughter Nellee.” His daughter “was so obsessed [with the costume] she couldn’t take it off.” But my favorite picture is of last year’s Trunk or Treat when Elijah was so inspired he asked Monica if he could dress up like Superman and her Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman has had a powerful effect on women and girls in our culture. They’ve walked away from the film feeling inspired and empowered. I think that’s how we’re supposed to feel when we encounter the Wise Woman in Proverbs 31, the original Wonder Woman.
At first she can make us feel like we’ll never measure up or be as perfect as her, but I don’t think that’s how we’re supposed to feel. We’re supposed to see her as an inspiration, as the best of us. The wise woman of Proverbs 31 is meant to move us to take everything we’ve learned in the book of Proverbs and live it out. The Wise Woman:
She is the woman we all should be. The wise woman is the Wonder Woman (or wonder man) we should all emulate, try to be like. Proverbs is mostly written from the perspective of a father to his son. Remember how the book opened?
Proverbs 1:8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. (NIV)
Then the father began to paint wisdom as a strong, attractive, intelligent, God-fearing woman (Prov 1:20-33). As we read the first nine chapters we discovered woman wisdom to be a metaphor for God, and ultimately for Christ Jesus himself (Prov 8:22-31; Col 1:15-17). So the call is for young men (and women) to pursue God and his wisdom.
Now women and girls are usually the ones who go to Proverbs 31 and say, “Here’s the kind of woman I’m supposed to be.” But this text is first written to teenage boys about the kind of girl they should find and marry. It’s written from the perspective of a mother speaking to her son (King Lemuel’s mom speaking to Lemuel). How often do you hear about a boy’s youth retreat studying the Proverbs 31 woman? Never! But that’s who it’s primarily for. With that in mind I do think women are the secondary audience and it’s good for girls to aspire to be like this woman as the. So there’s two ways we should hear this passage:
Guys, this is the kind of girl you should look to find and marry. Girls, this is the kind of girl you should want to be like.
But I want to take a moment and reverse that because if we were to flip over to Psalm 112 we would find a matching Psalm very much like Proverbs 31 describing the ideal man and husband. I’m not going to read it but with that in mind I want to say:
Guys, this is the kind of girl you should want to be like. Girls, this is the kind of guy you should want to marry.
She is the woman we all should be. Now with all that in mind what kind of woman is she? She is:
1) Valorous (v10) This Hebrew word for “noble” is often used in the Old Testament as a military term. It’s used to describe valiant warriors (Joshua 1:14). She is courageous and determined and doesn’t run away in fear. So she is like a female superhero or the Disney princess Mulan. If you’re not familiar with Mulan, it’s starts when the Huns invade China and a man from every family is conscripted into the army. But Mulan’s father is older and feeble and can’t fight so Mulan disguises herself as a man and joins the army in his place. She’s courageous, noble, and a mighty warrior. A Proverbs 31 woman is valorous. She is also…
2) Trustworthy (v11-12) Tremper Longman III translates v11, “Her husband entrusts his heart to her…” Then he adds, “The heart stands for one’s core personality and not specifically emotions… it means that the husband is confident to make himself totally vulnerable to her. He trusts her to follow through and take care of him and the household.” Find a wife (or a husband) who is completely trustworthy, in the big things and small. She is…
3) Diligent (v13-19) Before I go any further I want to point out that Proverbs 31:10-31 is an acrostic poem based on the Hebrew alphabet. In our training for the upcoming intergenerational outreach program we created an acrostic poem based on our names. So for example Doreen’s name created this acrostic poem:
D – dependable O – organized R – reliable E – empathetic E – endearing N – neat
Doreen is all those things! The reason I’m not sharing my own acrostic was that I was so bad at this that for “o” in Jonathan I wrote Oreo… If you were to read Proverbs 31 in Hebrew it would go something like this:
An awesome wife, who can find her? A blessed lady, her husband trusts her. A caring woman, she does him good all her life. A diligent worker, she is skillful with her hands. (Exalting Jesus in Proverbs by Jonathan Akin)
In verses 13-19 each acrostic inspires us to be a diligent woman or man and to look for a diligent spouse.
This woman really is hard working and industrious. Verse 12 says she works with her hands to process wool and flax. Although wool is relatively easy to process flax is difficult and hard work. You have to plant and grow the flax, pull it up at harvest (if you cut it you shorten your fiber), bundle and dry the flax linen, comb the dried flax to collect its seeds, rot the inside of the plant with bacteria to free the fibers from the stalk, beat the wood fragments off the stalks, scrape away any remaining shives, pull the fibers through a hackle, which is like a comb made of nails, spin the fiber, weave it, and finally bleach it. It’s a long process but the end result is the “strongest natural fiber in the world.” It lasts a long time (is often given as an heirloom) and has “Antibacterial properties” because “it wicks moisture and dries out much faster than cotton.” To process flax you have to be a pretty hard working and industrious person.
The Proverbs 31 woman (or man) is entrepreneurial and financially responsible, trading with others and providing food. She gets up before the break of dawn to prepare food for her family and servants. I’ve heard that most CEOs and executives wake up before 6am, around 90%. We should all be diligent and that may mean getting up. I’d also like to point out that she does have servants to help her, which is perhaps why she can accomplish so much. She is diligent and also…
4) Compassionate (v20) She’s benevolent and kind. She goes out of her way to show care for the least of these.
Proverbs 31:20 She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. (NIV)
Men, we’re also called to do this. The matching text in Psalm 112 says:
Psalm 112:9 He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor. (ESV)
In the movie Wonder Woman, Diana hears about World War I and believes the evil god Ares, the god of war, is manipulating humankind to fight each other, both British and Germans. She sets out to stop him and end the war. As one reviewer wrote, “Diana’s mission is fueled not by revenge or selfish gain, but by compassion.” Chances are none of us are going to have to fight Ares the god of war but we can all stand against oppression and injustice in the places God has called us, in our family and at school or at work, and we can go out of our way to show compassion to those in need.
5) Prudent (v21-22, 24-25) That means she can predict what might happen in the future and plan accordingly. When it snows, her and her family aren’t cold because she made them clothes or paid the heating bill (v21). Verse 25 literally says, “she laughs at the future.” She’s not afraid. She’s prepared. She looks into the future, get’s out her planner, and writes down what needs to be done. At our house we have a monthly calendar that’s on a whiteboard in our kitchen. Maybe your family has a group calendar through google or apple. We should all plan for the futurelike the wise woman.
6) Honorable (v23, 28, 31) The way this woman carries herself and supports her family brings respect to her husband. People look at him and say, “Wow! You married up. You chose wisely.” Her husband recognizes how great she is, and praises her with words of affirmation, but so do her children, they recognize how great their mom is.
Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: (NIV)
Everything said about this woman can be true of a man. He can also bring honor to his family.
Psalm 112:2 His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. (ESV)
The wise man or woman is honorable. And the most important quality, she…
7) Loves the Lord (v26, 30) She knows the Lord and his word.
Proverbs 31:26 She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. (NIV)
This isn’t just that this woman is good at giving advice but that she is good at pointing her husband and son to the Scriptures and what God says. Remember how the book of Proverbs opened?
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (NIV)
The father told the son to find the “fear of the Lord,” which is a reverent awe for who God is. One of the ways we can develop this good fear of God is if the Lord calls us into marriage by finding a woman (or if you’re a girl finding a man) who loves the Lord. Your spouse has a huge impact on your walk with God.
Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. (NIV)
It’s not about outward beauty or strength but about an inward love for the Lord. The wise woman is valorous, trustworthy, diligent, compassionate, prudent, honorable, and she loves the Lord. Sounds easy, right? This woman in Proverbs 31 is meant to be an inspiration, a model of something greater, of something we should become, something we can aspire to. But in the end no matter how hard we try she is also something we can’t really become.
She is the woman we all can’t be. The reason Wonder Woman is so amazing is because she’s fiction. And even if she wasn’t fiction, she’d be a Greek Goddess, and none of us are that, except for maybe Andrew…
We are to aspire to becoming like her, but ultimately we need to recognize that we can’t. We all fall short. This is because lady wisdom is ultimately a metaphor for God, and is embodied by Christ Jesus himself. Jesus had this to say about himself and lady wisdom.
Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” (NIV)
The wise woman is the person we should all be, but can’t be, but Christ could be. Christ embodied valor as he went to the cross to win the battle between heaven and hell. Christ was trustworthy and diligent and compassionate, healing the blind and the lame and caring for the least of these. Christ was prudent. He saw his path would lead him to the cross and he walked it anyway. He died the most shameful death to honor his Father in heaven, who then honored him (Phil 2:9-11). Christ did it all because he loved his Father and he loves us.
In the movie WonderWoman does finally meet up with Ares, the god of war, a type of Satan figure. But to her surprise Ares reveals that he’s not the one who caused the war. It was people themselves. All he did was whisper in humankind’s ears ideas of war and wickedness. We chose evil because we’re “inherently corrupt.” What does Wonder Woman do? She saves a corrupt and broken humankind. Sounds a little like the gospel story, doesn’t it? But Wonder Woman is fiction. Jesus is real. He died to save corrupt and broken people and make us new. Will you accept his free offer of salvation?
The wise woman is the woman we all should be but can’t be… But because of Christ…
She is the woman we are all becoming. If you repent of your sins and believe in Jesus, if you confess you’re not Wonder Woman or Superman and in fact rather broken and that you need savior Jesus, he will rescue you. The Bible tells us that everyone who knows Christ is a part of his bride, the church, the noble bride.
I think the last chapter of Proverbs paints a picture of not only who we should become but who we will become. Remember how the wise woman clothes herself with “fine linen?” (Prov 31:22) In Revelation 19 the prophet John gives us a glimpse of what the people of God will be when we’re finally united with Christ, a bride clothed in… fine linen.1
Revelation 19:6-8
Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) (NIV)
The noble wife has become the noble bride. The wise woman of Proverbs 31, our Wonder Woman, is the kind of person each one of us will become when Christ finally brings us home. By God’s grace, and Christ’s victory on the cross, we can begin to become a little like her, like Jesus, in this lifetime. We can become strong, noble, and courageous, but every time we fall short and feel insecure we remember our hero, Christ Jesus. Jesus defeated Satan (Ares) and our sins and offers us eternal life with him.
When the little boy and little girl in your hearts wishes you could be Wonder Woman for a day, remember that Christ Jesus is making you into the wise woman for eternity.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or listen to it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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The word for “fine linen” in the LXX (Proverbs 31:22) is βύσσος. The word for “fine linen” in the Greek New Testament (Rev 19:8) is βύσσινος. The Proverbs 31 woman is also a ruby or jewell to her husband (Prov 31:1). When Christ finally comes the New Jerusalem, the city of God, is also called the bride (Rev 21:2). The city itself, which is another picture of all God’s people, is called a jewel. Revelation 21:19 says, “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…” (NIV) Proverbs 31:31 in the ESV also talks about fruit. Revelation 22:1-2 talks about the fruit from the tree of life. These are all small hints, perhaps, that John is helping us make this connection between woman wisdom in Proverbs 31:10-31 and the bride of Christ, the people of God, us, in Revelation 19-22. ↩
Alan can’t for the life of him see why God still has him in this organization. It’s a [cold] place — this big bank — and he’s been thinking about leaving for a while. He’s been brought in to a team that’s being led by a much younger man who right now needs an older [leader] to steady the ship. Alan is that older [leader]. There are 130 in the team, their profitability is plummeting, and their employee engagement numbers are plummeting faster than their profitability. And apart from that, their technology belongs in a museum.
This is a true story in Mark Green’s little book The one about… 8 stories about God in our everyday (www.licc.org.uk). I’m going to share this story with you as we look at our passage today because it is a beautiful example of wise leadership. Proverbs 31:1-9 is about a king named Lemuel. Some think Lemuel was an Arabian ruler from outside Israel. As leader of the nation he wants his son, the future king, to lead wisely. Most of us aren’t kings or queens but we do provide leadership in some part of our life, at home, at work, at school, at church, so there’s something we can learn and apply here.
And if you’re not a leader that’s okay. Not everyone should be a leader. We need followers. But if you’re a follower, you still need to know what good leadership looks like, and if the Lord calls you into leadership, you need to be ready. Thankfully, we have Lemuel and the book of Proverbs to teach us how to lead well.
After next week we’re looking more closely at Proverbs 10-29, which is much more topical and random than what we’ve been studying (Proverbs 1-9; 30-31). It’s here we’ll find what we normally think of as proverbs. which are short pithy statements meant to teach us wisdom. Today I want to give you a taste of that as we look at not only what Lemuel teaches about leadership but the book of Proverbs as a whole.
As I looked at what Proverbs has to say about kings, authority figures, and leadership I distilled what I found into 7 Leadership Lessons. These aren’t just lessons on what it means to be a good leader but a Godly leader, someone who truly honors God in how they lead. Let’s begin with the first lesson.
1) Godly leaders seek Godly wisdom. Look at the first two verses of chapter 31. In them we find an implied call to seek wisdom.
Proverbs 31:1-2 1 The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him.
Inspired here doesn’t mean Lemuel’s mom was in a really creative mood and taught him something great, but that God somehow empowered her words. What does she tell him to do? Listen.
2 Listen, my son! Listen, son of my womb! Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers! (NIV)
To be a wise leader Lemuel needs to listen to God’s wisdom, which his mother is teaching him. That’s what we need to do too. We need to seek and listen to Godly wisdom. Alan listens in his story…
When [Alan] arrives his boss tells him, “Your work space isn’t quite ready, so let me take you round to where you’ll be sitting for now and introduce you to your No. 2.”
“Great. I’d like to meet the other people there too,” Alan replies.
“Why? You’ll never need to talk to them” the young boss says.
“But they will be working for me.”
“But… well, okay then,” his boss responds with a hint of […] frustration in his voice, “I’ll introduce you to your No. 2 and he can introduce you to the others.”
What kind of culture is this? What kind of man is this? Alan wonders. And quickly discovers. He is immediately asked to restructure the whole team and ensure that he “restructures” a particular person, Keith, out, for reasons unnamed. Alan wonders, “What am I doing in a place like this? Where’s God in this?”
“Where’s God in this?” We can only answer that question if we seek and listen to wisdom. Wisdom is more than making the right decision. Wisdom is becoming the kind of person who makes the right decision. There’s only one way we can become that kind of person, through a relationship with God. Remember this call back in chapter 8?
Proverbs 8:15-17 15 By me (wisdom) kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just; 16 by me princes govern, and nobles—all who rule on earth. 17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. (NIV)
This isn’t just an abstract call to get wisdom. Wisdom is a metaphor for God. Come and be in relationship with God. Wisdom is not so much a what but a who. If we read the rest of Proverbs 8:22-31 in light of Colossians 1:15-17 we find Jesus is the fulfillment of wisdom. Jesus is wisdom in the flesh. As Christians we first seek Christ and God will add wisdom to us. So how are you seeking wisdom? How are you seeking a relationship with God and Christ Jesus? 1) Godly leaders seek Godly wisdom (through Christ).
2) Godly leaders surrounds themselves with wise counsel. In verse 3 Lemuel’s mother warns him against inappropriate relationships. The first principle is to flee temptation but the second is to surround ourselves with those who are wise (Prov 17:7; 25:4-5; 29:12).
Proverbs 14:35 A king delights in a wise servant, but a shameful servant arouses his fury. (NIV)
Proverbs 16:13 Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value the one who speaks what is right. (NIV)
We need people who will gently speak truth with love into our lives. We all need a coach, mentor, or friend with experience to help us navigate life. We need to hire wise employees and find wise coworkers. We can all use wise counsel. In our story Alan listens to the wisdom in the office but he is also the older leader who shares wisdom with others.
About a month into his new role he offers everyone in his team half an hour of his time. They can, he tells them, talk about anything — career, family, hopes, ambition, God. Most of the workers, he discovers, aren’t happy in their work — the leadership is poor, the politicking rife, the appreciation non-existent, genuine interest or care for people absent… Alan’s “half hour” opens the floodgates for genuine communication: “People told me all kinds of things. One man, John, was an outstanding performer, on the cusp of being given more responsibility. He told me that he’d been divorced, that his daughter lived with his ex-wife, was suffering from a severe case of anorexia nervosa, and wanted to live with him… He was in tears in my office. Actually over 50% of the people told me really quite personal things. None of them had ever had a conversation like that with a manager.”
Alan becomes the source of wise counsel for others. Who are you surrounding yourself with, wise counsel or foolish counsel? Godly leaders surround themselves with wise counsel.
3) Godly leaders show self control. Lemuel tells us that if you can’t lead yourself you can’t lead others.
Proverbs 31:4-5 4 It is not for kings, Lemuel— it is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, 5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. (NIV)
The Bible doesn’t prohibit drinking wine or beer. Paul tells Timothy to take a little wine (1 Tim 5:23) but he also writes to the Ephesians not to be drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph 5:18). The principle is for leaders to have self-control and lead themselves first. Is there somewhere in your life that you need to ask God to give you more self control? It’s okay to bring these shortcomings to God in prayer. He doesn’t judge us. He loves us. If we don’t deal with our lack of self control it can lead to injustice.
4) Godly leaders pursue justice. Lemuel’s mother encourages him to pursue justice for the most at risk.
Proverbs 31:8-9 8 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. 9 Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. (NIV)
Justice also means not using your leadership position to get ahead.
Proverbs 29:4 By justice a king gives a country stability, but those who are greedy for bribes tear it down. (NIV)
There is great reward for just leadership.
Proverbs 29:14 If a king judges the poor with fairness, his throne will be established forever. (NIV)
King Lemuel had the political and legal power to bring about justice in his nation (Prov 28:2). If you are in politics, great! Use your position to protect the poor and weak and don’t let those with wealth control you. Most of us aren’t in politics but we can still find ways to bring about justice on our frontlines, the everyday places God has placed us. Alan did in his story.
And then he tells me about Keith, the man his boss wanted to “restructure” out. “I knew Keith had applied for my job and hadn’t got it. He’d also applied for my boss’ job and hadn’t got that either. He told me that he’s been divorced. He’d had a very tough year. He was in tears. I could see he was a man of substance, so I told him that we would look at why he hadn’t got those two jobs and figure out how he could work towards the next promotion. Keith was flabbergasted.”
Alan also discovered that Keith was the only person in his sub-team who was client-facing. He had all the relationships. If Keith was “restructured” out, he’d go to another bank and take his clients with him, at a potential future loss of 185 million pounds (almost 230 million dollars). […]
Well, when it came time for Alan to see his boss, Alan told him that unless they wanted to risk losing 185 million pounds to other banks it would be unwise to get rid of Keith. As for John (the outstanding worker with the daughter who was struggling), Alan asked him whether, given the difficult situation with his daughter, he would prefer, if it were possible, to be made redundant (to be let go). To Alan’s surprise, John leapt at the prospect. Then Alan set about the hard and detailed task of seeing if there was a business case for such a move.
Interestingly, the organizational structure that emerged turned out to be the optimal solution for the overall business. Good for John, good for the bank. As Alan commented, “That’s usually the case, do right by the employees, and it will be good for all.” When Alan informed John that it would all go through he prefaced it by outlining his own priorities in life: God, family, people, community, work. John was hugely grateful, and as it turned out, his daughter’s situation improved dramatically.
Alan pursued justice in his workplace. How might you pursue justice on your frontline? Who might you need to speak up for or go out of your way to help? Godly leaders pursue justice.
5) Godly leaders recognize God’s sovereign lordship. At the end of the day we can create the best plans in the world but God is the one who is ultimately in control (Prov 16:9).
Proverbs 21:1 In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that he channels toward all who please him. (NIV)
A sovereign is a king. If God is sovereign that means he is ruling over all things, leading all things, orchestrating all things to turn out how he wants. As leaders we can create our best plans but must still lay them before God and pray, “Thy will be done.” At a couple different times in Alan’s story that I didn’t read he pauses and recognizes that maybe this is God’s plan for him. He doesn’t really want to be working in this part of the bank but if it’s the Lord’s will for him he’s willing to stay. Are you laying your plans in God’s hands? Are you recognizing his sovereignty? Godly leaders recognize God’s sovereign lordship.
6) Godly leaders remember God’s grace given to them. Several passages in Proverbs warn against the king’s wrath and anger against those who disobey him.
Proverbs 19:12 A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass. (NIV)
Proverbs 20:2 A king’s wrath strikes terror like the roar of a lion; those who anger him forfeit their lives. (NIV)
These verses don’t model the type of leadership we’re supposed to have (Prov 24:21-22). We’re not supposed to lead by rage or anger. But they do warn us not to disobey our king, the Lord Almighty. We have a king who feels rage against our sins and disobedience. He has every right to pull down his punishment and judgment upon us. Our lives should be forfeit but they’re not because God shows us mercy. God doesn’t give us the punishment we deserve because he took the punishment upon himself through his son Christ Jesus.
1 Peter 2:24 “He himself (Jesus) bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (NIV)
To receive God’s grace, forgiveness and righteousness, all you need to do is repent and believe in Jesus. If you haven’t done that yet, I invite you to do it today. Let God lead your life. He’s the very best of leaders. As leaders we need to operate out of the same mercy and grace God has given us, extending it to others even when they fall short. How can you extend God’s grace to those who answer to you? To your children, your coworkers, employees, neighbors, family members, church family, whoever? When they deserve your anger will you show them grace like Christ has shown you grace? Mark Green continues Alan’s story:
A few months later, Alan tells me, “Last week my team did five deals. Five deals is outstanding by any measure. Outstanding.” And the employee engagement numbers in the team of 45 that directly reports to him are soaring. The HR department can’t understand it. Alan tells them, “I just talk to people.” They still don’t understand.
It’s not surprising really. There’s an assumption in some companies that caring about your staff is a nice luxury if you can afford it, but not really essential. The only things that really count are professional competencies and drive. Increasingly, research is showing this to be false. Still, as ever, old attitudes die hard. Doing the best thing for a business, or indeed any organization, ought to include “doing the loving thing”, the thing that humanizes, the thing that honors the other person as created in the image of God, the thing that seeks the best for them in the context they’re in, tries to understand their talents, their hopes, their situation.
Godly leaders remember God’s grace given to them. And finally, number seven…
7) Godly leaders lead out of love. You might not expect to find a call to love in Proverbs but it’s there.
Proverbs 20:28 Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure. (NIV)
This love is God’s special “loyal love”—the Hebrew word “hesed.” This is God’s love for the king and for his people. God calls us to lead out of love, especially his love for us. It’s more natural to lead out of gifting or talent or power or position, but just like Christ led us out of his love for us we are to do the same. Christ loved us so much he laid down his life for us (John 15:13). Everything we do must be out of a love for the ones we lead, our children, family, employees, friends, church members. If we don’t have love, we have nothing (1 Cor 13).
Yes, Alan has formidable international banking knowledge and outstanding problem-solving insight, but they only take you so far. It was Alan’s abounding love, his soul-deep, authentic care for his people, his deep desire to know what they were good at and what would help them be their best at this point in their lives, that shaped the knowledge he sought to acquire and the range of insight he brought to the challenges they were facing.
Maybe that’s why God has Alan there: to demonstrate that you really can bank on love.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or share it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
Alan can’t for the life of him see why God still has him in this organization. It’s a [cold] place — this big bank — and he’s been thinking about leaving for a while. He’s been brought in to a team that’s being led by a much younger man who right now needs an older [leader] to steady the ship. Alan is that older [leader]. There are 130 in the team, their profitability is plummeting, and their employee engagement numbers
A man walked into a bank with no mask or hat or sunglasses and robbed the bank at gunpoint in broad daylight. Then he did it again that same day at another bank, still with no mask or hat or sunglasses or disguise of any kind. The year was 1995 and there were security cameras. When the police came they examined the footage and showed a nice picture of the robber on the nightly news. They got tips right away, which lead them to the door of a one MacArthur Wheeler.
When the police arrived the robber was completely floored they had found him. He couldn’t believe it. Why? Because as he put it, “I wore the juice.” MacArthur had learned that you can use lemon juice as invisible ink. He figured that you could then rub lemon juice all over your face and you would appear invisible to security cameras. He’d even taken a picture of himself to test the idea, and apparently it worked, or at least he thought it had. Actually the juice stung his eyes so much it made it harder to rob the bank.
Now why share this story? Well MacArthur inspired two researchers named Dunning and Kruger to discover something now called the Dunning-Kruger effect. They found that those people who know little to nothing about a subject can be completely confident in their expertise of the subject. They also found that the more people knew about an actual subject the less confident they became, up to a certain point, and then they regain some of their confidence. This graph shows their theory. Less knowledge can lead to more confidence while more knowledge can lead to less confidence.
I’m sure we’ve all met people who think they know it all but actually know very little. We’ve probably met people who know a great deal but are incredibly humble. Would you rather be a know it all (who knows nothing) or a humble learner? In the book of Proverbs we encounter several types of people we could become:
The wise – Loves and obeys God (Prov 9:10)
This is someone who is in relationship with God, who wants to know God and follow his laws and decrees. This person is wise because they are humble learners. Proverbs calls them other names like, the “righteous, upright, diligent, [those who show] understanding, prudent). They are the wise. How about?
The simple – They don’t care (Prov 14:15)
This is someone who you and I might call lukewarm. They’re apathetic. They’re not that bad but neither are they good. They don’t really care one way or the other. How about?
The fool – Actively oppose God (Prov 1:7)
This is someone who has received God’s message and rejects it. Not only do they decide not to live life God’s way, but they intentionally choose to live life for themselves. They’re fools. Proverbs calls them other names, like “wicked, lazy, [sluggard,] lacking sense.” But there are types even worse than a fool.
The scoffer – Arrogant and unteachable (Prov 15:12, 21:24)
This is someone who likes quarreling and is prideful. They like to argue and exert their dominance.
Wise in his own eyes – A know it all who knows nothing (Prov 26:12)
Proverbs 26:12 Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them. (NIV)
These are the people who Dunning and Kruger would say think they know a lot and yet know very little. They’re the people with the lemon juice in their eyes. They’re the opposite of humble learners.
But here’s the Catch 22 (an impossible situation to get out of). The problem is that those people who think they know it all actually know very little and so don’t study to learn more, because if they did, they would become a humble learner and soon discover they know very little.
So here’s my question. What kind of person are you? Wise or simple? A fool or scoffer or wise in your own eyes? Or maybe a better question is not what kind of person are you but what kind of person do you want to become? I want to become a humble learner. Let’s turn to Proverbs 30 where we find what it means to be a humble learner through the example of a man named Agur. A humble learner has:
1) A low view of self (Prov 30:1-3) Proverbs 30:1-3 1 The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh—an inspired utterance.
This man’s utterance to Ithiel:
“I am weary, God, but I can prevail. 2 Surely I am only a brute, not a man; I do not have human understanding. 3 I have not learned wisdom, nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One. (NIV)
Agur is a model of true humility and wisdom. He’s a nobody but he’s also a somebody. He’s a nobody because this is the only place in the Bible his name and his father’s name are mentioned. Some think he was a foreigner but we don’t know for sure. But even though he’s a nobody he’s also a somebody. He’s a prophet. He speaks an oracle. He can speak things God has put in him to speak. But that doesn’t inflate his ego. Rather, the more he knows God the more he realizes he doesn’t know. He calls himself “a brute, not a man; I do not have human understanding. I have not learned wisdom…” Agur has a low view of himself.
I watched a TED Talk on the Dunning-Kruger effect and learned that people that have a moderate amount of knowledge on a topic tend to realize just how much they don’t know. Actual experts in the field have a better self-perception but tend to think others know more than they actually do. The more wise you become the more you realize your own lack of wisdom and have a low view of yourself. But this shouldn’t stop here because a humble learner has…
2) A high view of God (Prov 30:4) Wisdom requires we grasp not only how small we are but how big God is. Agur is amazed by two things: God’s creative power and God’s ultimate plan.
Proverbs 30:4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know! (NIV)
Agur is amazed by God’s power over creation, to make the waters and sea like we find in Genesis 1 (Proverbs 8:22-31). But Agur is also amazed by God’s plan. Remember Agur is a prophet? He speaks oracles. Here he prophesies that the “Holy One” of verse 3 has a “son” (v4b What is his name, and what is the name of his son?). God has a big plan. That plan has everything to do with God the Father’s Son, Christ Jesus, rescuing us from our sins and restoring creation to how it’s supposed to be. When we realize how great God is and how big his plan is it can’t help but give us humility of heart, which leads to wisdom.
If you think about it, the gospel itself is pretty foolish (1 Corinthians 1:23). The gospel is that the wisest of all men (the Holy One’s son) let himself be murdered for something he didn’t do. That’s incredibly foolish… unless by his sacrifice he paid the penalty for the sins of those who could not pay for themselves. Then it would be incredibly wise. Jesus is the wise son who died for anyone who is willing to repent of their sins and put their faith and trust in him. Is that you? Do you want to have a high view of God’s plan? Then humble yourself, confess your sins, and believe in Jesus. Believe in the son, the same one Agur believed in.
It’s not easy. Our pride says we don’t need to deal with our sins—that there’s nothing wrong with us. Verse 13 warns us of “haughty eyes.” Haughty eyes come from a haughty heart that doesn’t think it needs God. Haughty eyes and hearts lead to pain and hurt, to injustice and wrongdoing. A humble learner has: 1) a low view of self; 2) a high view of God.
I’ve been reading the book The Death of a Guru. It’s the story of a Hindu boy named Rabi born in India who becomes a Brahmin priest and eventually becomes a Christian (although I’m not there yet). As a teenager he understood Hinduism teaches everything is God. Now so as not to overestimate my knowledge of Hinduism I’m just telling you what I read in this book. He believed if everything was God, the cows, bugs, nature, people, it meant he also was God. So he sat in front of a mirror and worshiped himself.
As far as I know none of us practice Hinduism here but how many of us treat ourselves like God? How many of us practice some form of mirror-worship by constantly thinking about ourselves, doing what’s best for ourselves, achieving our goals at the expense of others, not taking the time to listen to those with different opinions than ourselves? As God got ahold of Rabi’s heart he began to realize he wasn’t the big-G God, or even a little-g god. He wasn’t divine. As he saw his own flaws he began to recognize that God must be something wholly different than himself.
During my third year in high school I experienced an increasingly deep inner conflict. My awareness of God as the Creator, separate and distinct from the universe he had made, an awareness that had been part of me even as a small boy, contradicted the concept given to me by Hinduism that God was everything, that the Creator and the creation were one and the same. I felt torn between these two irreconcilable views. (pg. 97)
Rabi was developing true wisdom by discovering a low view of self and a high view of God. But he didn’t know the God of the Bible yet. But he needed to. This leads me to point three. A humble learner has:
3) Trust in what God says (Prov 30:5-6) Listen to how Agur describes God’s word.
Proverbs 30:5-6 5 “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him 6 Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar. (NIV)
Agur trusts God by trusting the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament today. These are God’s words and we can bet our life on them. It warns us not do add to God’s word because it’s perfect (Gal 1:8; Rev 22:18-19). If God speaks through his word, then his word is complete just as it is (“flawless”). If you want wisdom, trust what God says through the Bible and through the Holy Spirit and don’t trust yourself.
When I was in high school I went to a Christian camp and I don’t remember a lot of what the speaker said but I remember one of the stories he told. I’m going to do my best to retell it to you. The speaker told us about the time in his college years when he and his friends were driving on a hot summer day and they saw a bridge with a cool river below it. And of course they thought this would be the perfect place to jump into the water and go for a swim. They got up to the bridge and there was a sign that said, “Warning. No jumping off the bridge.” They totally ignored it and began to get ready to jump in. Then a police officer pulled up, rolled down his window, and said, “We’ve already pulled several bodies out of the water this year.” And then he drove away. Turns out there were power lines under the bridge. They didn’t jump in!
We choose whether to trust words all the time. Words can save us, like a “Stop” sign, or “cook to 165 degrees” or “No jumping off the bridge.” But the words that matter the most are God’s words. If we trust them, they will save us. They hold eternal life for those who will believe. A humble learner has: 1) a low view of self, 2) a high view of God, 3) trust in what God says. And fourth…
4) A prayer for contentment (Prov 30:7-10) Here we find the only prayer in the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 30:7-10 7 “Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: 8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. 9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
10 “Do not slander a servant to their master, or they will curse you, and you will pay for it. (NIV)
The first thing he prays for is to keep falsehood and lies far from him. Why do we lie to get ahead or lie about others to make them look bad and ourselves good (v10)? Because we’re not content. Something about our situation isn’t what we want it to be so we lie to get what we want or lie to cover up a truth. You know what that really is? Idolatry. I want that thing more than I want God. If you want to be a humble learner, ask God to satisfy you so you don’t want something more than him but want God himself.
The second thing Agur prays for is for God to give him just what he needs, “Don’t give me more than I need because I don’t want to feel like I don’t need you. But also don’t give me too little so that I steal and dishonor you.” Do you ever think, “It would be really nice to have a little more money?” Would you want that money if you knew it might lead you away from God, from depending on him? Pray that God will only give you that raise, or even take away your money, if it would help you love him more.
Christianity.com tells the story of a cricket player in the late 1800s. The player, C.T. Studd, became a Christian but it wasn’t till six-years later when he heard Dwight L. Moody preach that he gave his all to Christ. He became a missionary and worked with Hudson Taylor in China. He’s famous for saying, “Some wish to live within the sound of Church or Chapel bell; I want to run a Rescue Shop within a yard of hell.”
When he turned twenty-five years old in 1885 he inherited in pounds about $145,000. I used one of those website calculators and it said that’s almost $4 million today. He decided that instead of keeping it he would give it all away. He said, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” His words echo Jesus words in Mark 8:35, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (NIV)
He gave money to Dwight L. Moody who used it to start Moody Bible Institute. He gave money to George Mueller who used some of it for his orphanage. He gave money to the Salvation Army. And he gave money to Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Mission. He and his wife gave all their money away and became full-time missionaries dependent on God for everything. That doesn’t seem very wise, does it?
It’s not very wise if God isn’t real. But if God is real and calls us to lose ourselves to find him, then it’s incredibly wise. God may not be calling you to give $4 million dollars away, but he is calling you to give your whole life to him. What does that look like for you? What do you need to give to him? Maybe it’s all your money, or your time, or your career, or something else. Most of all he wants you, all of you! It might be painful and hard to give yourself to God, and it’s not quick (it takes a lifetime), but it will be the wisest decision you ever make.
So what’s the solution to the Dunning-Kruger effect? An Agur heart—to become a humble learner. Follow Agur’s example. He models being a humble learner for us. We follow Agur as he follows the son. Together we follow Christ who by his grace makes it possible for us to become humble learners. A humble learner has: 1) a low view of self, 2) a high view of God, 3) trust in what God says, and 4) a prayer for contentment.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes endnotes and references, or listen to it through Apple podcasts or Google Play Music. Read the story of our church here.
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A man walked into a bank with no mask or hat or sunglasses and robbed the bank at gunpoint in broad daylight. Then he did it again that same day at another bank, still with no mask or hat or sunglasses or disguise of any kind. The year was 1995 and there were security cameras. When the police came they examined the footage and showed a nice picture of the robber on the nightly news. They got tips right away,
Sometimes it all comes down to a single choice. You ever watch that old gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? It finally got cancelled this summer but the concept was pretty simple. The original gameshow host Regis Philbin would ask a contestant trivia questions. The questions were pretty easy at first but they got progressively harder and harder. But that also meant that each question was worth more and more, ranging from $100 to $1,000,000. If you answered all
Sometimes it all comes down to a single choice. You ever watch that old gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?It finally got cancelled this summer but the concept was pretty simple. The original gameshow host Regis Philbin would ask a contestant trivia questions. The questions were pretty easy at first but they got progressively harder and harder. But that also meant that each question was worth more and more, ranging from $100 to $1,000,000. If you answered all fifteen questions right you won a million dollars, but if you missed a single question you lost most of your money.
Now I didn’t watch this show very often but I recently watched a clip of a contestant, a guy named John Carpenter, who made it all the way to the million dollar question. He still had all three of his lifelines. He could ask the audience, take a 50:50 (reduce the answers down from 4 to 2), and he could phone a friend. So he got all the way to the end and he got this question (and if you know the answer don’t shout it out):
Which of these U.S. Presidents appeared on the television series “Laugh-In”?
A) Lyndon Johnson; B) Richard Nixon; C) Jimmy Carter; D) Gerald Ford.
By show of hands who here thinks it was Johnson? Nixon? Carter? or Ford? Or who is wondering “what’s Laugh-In?” This is a million dollar question. And the answer is… we’ll be right back! We’re going to come back to the answer because today I want to ask you a question that has even higher stakes than a million dollars. What’s at stake is heaven and hell. What’s at stake is your and my eternal destination.
Which path will you take?
A) The way of wisdom; B) The way of folly.
Today we’re coming to the end of the first nine-chapters of the book of Proverbs. It’s a natural close to the first part of the book. Next week we’re going to pick up in Proverbs 30 as we look the end of the book, and then after that we’ll jump into some of the center, more topical passages. Throughout the first nine chapters we’ve been given a choice again and again between two paths, the wise path and the foolish path. Today I want to expand on each of those choices a bit more. The first option is…
A) The way of wisdom (Proverbs 9:1-12) By way or path I mean not one singular choice but a lifetime of decisions and choices. Are you heading down one path or the other? The way of wisdom…
It begins with a relationship with God. Let’s look more closely at the first four verses.
Proverbs 9:1-4a 1 Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars. 2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. 3 She has sent out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city, 4 “Let all who are simple come to my house!” (NIV)
Here we find lady wisdom, a metaphor for God, calling out for anyone who is simple to come and eat with her. In this culture for a woman to invite a man to dinner was not like grabbing a bite to eat at Panera. No this is more like a candlelight dinner with steak. Meat was rare because meat was expensive and hard to store (no refrigeration). Wisdom is inviting him to enter into an intimate relationship with her.
Her house may also be built on the high point of the city (v1,3). If you think back to the author Solomon you realize he was writing from Jerusalem and the high point in Jerusalem is the temple mount where God’s presence dwells. God is inviting simple people to come to his temple and enter into relationship with him and let him grow them and give them his wisdom. God invites us to seek him (Prov 8:17; Rom 3:11; James 1:5). Just like Proverbs 1:7 opened by calling us to “fear the Lord” chapter 9 closes the same way.
Proverbs 9:10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (NIV)
Remember last week how Christ Jesus embodies wisdom and actual identifies himself with lady wisdom (Prov 8:22-31; Mat 11:19; Col 1:15-17)? So often when we think about wisdom we think of it as a set of facts or knowledge we can acquire to improve our lives. That’s part of what wisdom is. It’s the skill of living. But that’s not all it is. Wisdom is not just a what but also a who. Wisdom is not a thing but a person. Jesus is wisdom. Jesus is wisdom in the flesh. If you want to get wise, get to know Jesus. If you want to get wise, get real with God. Go deep in your relationship with him. God wants us to seek him.
Imagine you’re on Who Wants To Be A Millionaireand you decide to use a lifeline. Regis calls your best friend who is waiting for your phone call and you read the question and your friend pauses and says, “That’s a great question! I have no idea. Good luck!” Or what if they just don’t pick up? Our lifeline to God, our Heavenly Father,isn’t like that. We can call on him day or night, when times are good or when times are hard, and no matter what he’ll pick up. We can call on Jesus through prayer at any time. Whenever we need to make a decision we can ask him for his wisdom and guidance. God always answers. He speaks to us through his Word, the Bible, as we read it and hear it preached and he speaks to us through his Holy Spirit applying God’s Word to our lives. He often doesn’t give us the answer we want to be true, sometimes he says yes, other times no, sometimes maybe, and other times wait. But he always gives us the right answer. The way of wisdom begins with a relationship with God and…
It displays the character of God. Wisdom is one of God’s character qualities. To be wise then is to reflect God’s character. How does developing wisdom help us reflect the character of our God?
Wisdom is creative and works hard. (v1 She built a large house.) God is creative/works hard. Wisdom is generous. (v2-6 She offers food and wine.) God is generous. Wisdom is teachable. (v7-9 The wise learn from her.) Jesus grew in wisdom.
As we become wise through a relationship with God we too will display his creativity, his work ethic, his generosity, his wisdom, and a relationship with him leads to eternal life (v10-12 Your days will be many). To be a Christian is not just to have good character or to hold Christian values. You can be someone who is creative, or generous, or teachable, but not have eternal life. This is why wisdom begins and ends with a relationship with God (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). It’s a genuine relationship with God that will then bear the fruit of a character that displays God’s character. The way of wisdom begins with a relationship with God and displays the character of God.
If lady wisdom is option A there’s still another option. You can choose option B, the way of folly, the foolish woman, but she is a tricky lady.
B) The way of folly (Proverbs 9:13-18) Proverbs 9:13 Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing.
Tremper Longman III translates this, “Woman Folly is boisterous; she is simpleminded but does not even know it.” The problem with foolish men and women, boys and girls, is that they often don’t know they’re foolish and aren’t humble enough to take correction. Lady folly is the complete opposite of lady wisdom.
Folly is naive. (v13 She knows nothing.) Folly is lazy. (v14 She sits at the door of her house.) Folly is greedy and deceptive. (v17 Stolen water is sweet.)
Do you know where folly leads? The pits of hell (v18 her guests are deep in the realm of the dead). If you choose a life of foolishness and live to satisfy yourself, as Bernie Michaud says, it’s like going to dine in a morgue. You’re surrounded by the dead. The way of folly leads to death.
So maybe you’re someone who doesn’t want to choose the way of folly, but neither do you want to choose the way of wisdom. You don’t want to be in a relationship with God but you’re no fool. Well…
You have to choose one way or the other. You have to choose the way of wisdom through a relationshipwithGod if you want eternallife. To not choose is to choose the way of folly that leads to death. There is no middle ground. There are not four choices like our gameshow but only two and only one is right. There is no border zone or neutral Switzerland or “kinda Christianity”. There’s only the way of wisdom and the way of folly.
I’ve been thinking about how the Bible itself presents these two paths throughout the big story of the Bible. It doesn’t always appear in the same language as wisdom and folly but it’s still there, presenting each of us with a choice. Which will you choose?
Way of Wisdom Way of Folly
Tree of life Tree of the knowledge of good and evil
Abel (Seth) Cain
Abraham/Isaac/Jacob Lot/Ishmael/Esau
Israel Egypt, Canaan, Babylon
King David Saul, Absalom
Jesus Christ Self/world
Narrow gate Wide gate
The lamb The dragon
God Satan
New heavens and new earth Hell
When we choose the way of self or foolishness we’re not just making a bad decision. We’re choosing the way of Satan over the way of God. All of the proverbs in the center of our book, which seem so topical and disorganized, are all unified by this one idea. You can either choose God and his ways or you can choose Satan and his. Most proverbs will show this contrast and encourage us to choose God’s ways.
So what’s my big idea? Choose the way of wisdom. Choose Christ. Choose to be in relationship with God. Choose him today, tomorrow, and the next day and the next.
But here’s the real kicker. Over and over again when God’s people Israel can choose the way of wisdom or the way of folly they choose the way of folly. They choose to wander. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King David all represent the way of wisdom and their lives were messed up. Why is that? We actually read the reason why all the way back in Proverbs 4.
Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (NIV)
See what we do shows what’s in our heart. Our behavior displays what’s really true on the inside. What’s really true is that all human beings, even the best humans, are bent towards sin. We’re professionals at sin. We love it. We like it. It’s fun. And that’s why God himself had to walk the way of wisdom for us. God entered into this world through Christ Jesus, through wisdom embodied, and walked down that path of wisdom, never swerving to the right or to the left. When we place our faith in him through repentance and belief he grants us his track record. He gives us his wisdom and takes the consequence of our folly.
Through the cross Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. It cost Jesus his life to rescue us from the way of folly. But he rose from the grave and now he rescues us any who believe. Although at times we will stumble back towards the way of folly we are forever forgiven and forever secure in Christ. Through Christ we can begin to walk the right way. We can now begin to show the fruit of a holy and wise life.
Choose the way of wisdom. Choose Christ. Maybe you want to know what happened with the million dollar question? When Regis read the question to John Carpenter he said he’d like to call his parents. He asked to use his lifeline to call his father. Regis gets his dad on the line and says, “We got your son John with us right now. He’s doing pretty well. He’s won a half million dollars and he’s going for a million dollars.” John’s dad laughs. He must have been pretty pleased. Regis adds, “And he needs your help to get there. So he’s going to come on the line, read four possible answers, and one of them is the right answer, and the next voice you hear will be John’s. You’ve got thirty seconds. Starts right now.”
The 30-seconds countdown clock begins and John says, “Hi dad, I don’t really need your help. I just wanted to let you know that I’m gonna win the million dollars.” The audience goes wild. Regis smiles and John says, “Because the U.S. President who appeared on “Laugh In” is Richard Nixon. That’s my final answer.” He was the first player to ever win the million and he used only one lifeline to tell his father he had won. He made the right choice and I hope you will too.
Every time we choose the path of wisdom we are choosing a prize much more valuable than a million dollars. We’re choosing God himself and eternal life with him through his son, Christ Jesus. I think that pleases our father. If you haven’t called your Heavenly Father up recently call him up today and tell him you choose him and his ways. He’d love to hear from you. Choose the way of wisdom. Choose Christ.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon, which includes endnotes and references. Read our story here.
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Christ-centered gospel sermon on Proverbs 8:22-31, Colossians 1:15-17, and Proverbs 30:3-4 explaining Jesus relation to woman wisdom and the son.
Anyone who doesn’t know Jesus is either a simpleton or a fool. I know that’s a shocking statement but I mean it. You cannot be wise without knowing Jesus. You have to know Jesus to be wise. My big idea is this… To know Jesus is to know wisdom. So if you want to be wise, if you want to walk through life making wise decisions, if you don’t want to be a fool or a simpleton, you need to know Christ Jesus.
Maybe you’re thinking, “But I know plenty of people who aren’t Christians who are wise. They make wise decisions. They’re not stupid.” I agree that anyone can make a smart, intelligent, or savvy decisions but the way the Bible defines wisdom means that true wisdom is only possible through a relationship with God. That’s what our previous foundation verse says. Let’s review it together. Would you say it with me?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7 (NIV)
Proverbs is saying that wisdom begins with seeking to understand who God is (the Fear of the Lord). In this series I’ve defined wisdom as:
The skill of living (God’s way) The words and ways of God
I’ve been equating wisdom with knowing and obeying God’s Word (Psalm 19:7-8; Proverbs 3:1-2). Today I want to add one more way to define wisdom.
Knowing and obeying Jesus
The people who first heard the book of Proverbs were called to be in relationship with the Lord, with Yahweh. But we have the rest of the story. We’re called to be in relationship with Jesus. It’s through being in relationship with him that we become wise and grow in wisdom.
Today we find a call to be in relationship with Yahweh that looks forward to our call to be in relationship with Christ Jesus. To examine this call I want to look at how Jesus fulfills wisdom, embodies wisdom, is the way to wisdom, and grants wisdom.
Jesus fulfills wisdom. Today many of the points I’m preaching come from Tremper Longman III’s commentary on Proverbs and his great book How To Read Proverbs. One of the points he starts with is how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament.
Jesus fulfills the Scriptures. In other words, when we read Scriptures, even in the Old Testament, somehow, it’s pointing to Christ Jesus. Maybe it’s pointing to our need for him or that he’s coming, or that only he can perfectly live out what the Scripture requires. Jesus affirms this.
Luke 24:44-45 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. (NIV)
Here Jesus is telling two disciples on the Road to Emmaus that all of Scripture whispers his name. Once we read about Jesus in the New Testament, we can never read the Old Testament the same way.
I recently watched the 1985 cult-classic movie, Clue. It’s based on the board game Clue. It stars Tim Curry as the butler and Christopher Lloyd as Professor Plumb. There’s a murder (Mr. Body dies) and characters go back and forth between rooms trying to figure out who did it and how they did it. By the end of the movie I had no idea who did it. But that’s when Tim Curry the butler stops the story and explains how it happened, not once, but three different ways. When this movie was originally released there was a different ending depending on which movie theater you went to. But if you watch it on Amazon Prime you get to see all three. But you can imagine why it’s become a cult classic, right? People want to go back and watch it again to see if they can follow the story and see for themselves who did it. I bet if I were to go back and watch the movie I would see it very differently. I would see the small hints. I would see the clues. I would recognize who did it. I wouldn’t be as confused or surprised by the big reveal.
We know the ending of our story. We know it’s all about Jesus and what he did on the cross. Now as we read back through the Old Testament and books like Proverbs we can’t help but see clues of Jesus, clues of his coming, clues of his suffering, clues of his divinity, clues of his sonship.
Jesus is the wise Son. We’ve seen the theme of sonship over and over again in Proverbs as the father-figure instructs his son to walk in the path of wisdom. Well… Jesus is the wise son walking the path of wisdom. After Jesus is dedicated at the temple as a baby we encounter these words.
Luke 2:40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him. (NIV)
But the author Luke doesn’t stop there. Right after this he tells a story to illustrate Jesus’ wisdom. When Jesus turned twelve Mary, Joseph, and him go to a festival in Jerusalem. But when it’s time to go home Jesus stays behind. Mary and Joseph thought he was traveling with company but after they traveled for a day they realized their mistake. Have you ever left your kids at school or church and had to rush back to get them? Imagine traveling a whole days journey and then having to turn around and go back.
Luke 2:46-47 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. (NIV)
What is Jesus doing here? He’s sitting, asking questions, and showing God-given wisdom. His parents tell him to come home and he does and the story ends by saying this.
Luke 2:52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. (NIV) (see also Mark 6:2; Luke 11:31)
Jesus grew in wisdom. I want you to stop and imagine for a moment that King Solomon, the author for much of Proverbs, wrote Proverbs at least in part to help his own son who would be king grow in wisdom. So Solomon writes Proverbs for his son Rehoboam. But he doesn’t turn out to be very wise. In fact, he’s foolish. But maybe his son Abijah will be the wise son. But he’s not either. He’s actually pretty bad. But then his son Asa comes along, and he’s better, but not perfect. And then another son comes and goes and then another son and another and another. They are a lot of foolish sons and a handful of wise sons but all of them are foolish in some way. They all fall short. But then one day, a son in this family line is born who doesn’t fall short. His name is King Jesus. Jesus is the wise son. To know Jesus is to know wisdom.
Jesus is so much the wise son that he doesn’t just fulfill wisdom he actually becomes wisdom.
Jesus embodies wisdom. This means that Jesus is wisdom. As we read several key verses in Proverbs 8 they speak of God’s wisdom that Jesus fully embodies in the New Testament. Back in Proverbs 3:18-20 it said that God made all of creation through wisdom. This theme is expanded in Proverbs 8. Paul then identifies the creation-wisdom of Proverbs 8 with the wisdom of Jesus in Colossians 1.
Proverbs 8:22-23 22 “The Lord brought me (wisdom) forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; 23 I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. (NIV)
Then Paul writes in Colossians 1 how Jesus was also there at the beginning of creation.
Colossians 1:15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (NIV) (see also Revelation 3:14)
When a guy named Arius read this passage in Colossians at around AD 300 he saw this passage’s similarity with Proverbs 8 and concluded that if God created wisdom, and Jesus is wisdom, then Jesus is created. So Jesus hasn’t been God forever and isn’t equal with God the Father. Arius launched Arianism which the council of Nicea in 325 declared to be a heresy (false teaching) and in response created the Nicene Creed:
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made…
You can hear the echos of Proverbs 8 and Colossians 1 in the Nicene Creed. Mormons, Unitarians, and Jehovah’s Witnesses all hold to some form of Arianism. So if a Jehovah’s Witness knocks on your door and tells you “Jesus was created, just look at Proverbs 8,” how do you answer them? An apologetics organization called Stand To Reason taught me two reasons why they’re wrong:
God didn’t create wisdom because it’s always been a part of him.
If God created wisdom, what was he before he created wisdom? Stupid? Did he create wisdom through non-wisdom? No. One of God’s attributes, which are all eternally there, is wisdom.
We should interpret unclear Scriptures through clear Scriptures (not the other way around).
Proverbs 8 is a highly poetic and metaphorical passage. It’s full of beautiful imagery and mystery but both imagery and mystery can create confusion. That’s why we need to look to other passages that clearly tell us who Jesus is to understand that he is God and not created. We can look to passages like:
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (NIV) (see also Hebrews 1:3a)
Jesus is the wisdom Proverbs 8 speaks of, but he’s not created. He was always present as the eternal son of God. Paul continues to make this connection between wisdom in Proverbs 8 and Christ in Colossians 1.
Proverbs 8:26-27 26 before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth. 27 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, (NIV)
Proverbs 8 says God created the earth and the heavens through wisdom, and what does Paul say?
Colossians 1:16a For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… (NIV)
The heavens and the earth were created through the wisdom of God’s eternal Son, one day revealed as Jesus. And if you go back just a few verses earlier in Proverbs 8 we find wisdom’s rule over kings.
Proverbs 8:15-16 15 By me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just; 16 by me princes govern, and nobles—all who rule on earth. (NIV)
And what does Paul add about Christ?
Colossians 1:16b-17 …whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (NIV) (see also 1 Corinthians 1:30; Colossians 2:3)
Tremper writes, “The message is clear: Jesus is Wisdom herself.” I glanced at one blog that didn’t feel comfortable calling Jesus lady wisdom, so it called him “wisdom itself.” But did you know that Jesus equates himself with lady wisdom?
Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” (NIV)
Jesus fully embodies the wisdom of lady wisdom. Jesus embodies the wisdom of God, the rule of God, the power of God. Jesus is wisdom in the flesh. He is wisdom incarnate. It’s baseball season and I know some of you love the Red Sox. Have any of you ever met an actual Red Sox player? What was it like? There’s a difference between watching the Red Sox on TV or going to game and watching the players from a far, and actually shaking hands with a Red Sox player in person. Now you’re meeting the Red Sox in the flesh. This is the Red Sox incarnate. Likewise, you can hear about God’s wisdom from afar, you can read about wisdom in the book of Proverbs, you can talk about it, but to actually encounter wisdom itself you have to encounter Jesus. To know Jesus is to know wisdom. Jesus fulfills wisdom. Jesus embodies wisdom. And…
Jesus is the way to wisdom. You have to know Jesus if you want to be wise. The big picture of Proverbs actually points to this. To see how Proverbs points to Christ we need to read Proverbs 8 in light of the macrostructure of the book of Proverbs (Terry Iles showed me this). At a very basic level Proverbs is divided up into three parts.
Proverbs 1-9 / Wisdom Stories Proverbs 10-29 / Wisdom Sayings Proverbs 30-31 / Wisdom Stories
This means in some ways chapters 1-9 and 30-31 match each other. Have you ever played the matching card game where all the cards are flipped over and you can flip two cards on your turn? The point is to flip over two matching cards. The goal is to match the shark card with the shark card, the tiger card with the tiger, the penguin with the penguin and so on. In the Bible first we flip over a card that says lady wisdom in Proverbs 1-9 and if we want to find the matching card we have to turn over the wise woman in Proverbs 31. Next we turn over a card that talks about God creating the world from Proverbs 3:18-20 and in today’s text Proverbs 8:22-31. If we want to find the matching card we have to turn over Proverbs 30 in the other wisdom stories, which is also about God creating the world through wisdom.
Proverbs 30:3-4 3 I have not learned wisdom, nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One.
To know wisdom is to know the Holy One himself (to know God!). Then here comes creation…
4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth?
Doesn’t that sound like creation? God created everything through his own wisdom. But wait… There’s more.
What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know! (NIV)
I thought we were talking about God and wisdom? But suddenly Proverbs is talking about the “son” of the Holy One. The author, a guy named Agur, divinely inspired by God, wrote about the Son of God, the promised Messiah. He wrote that the way to wisdom is through God and his Son (see also Psalm 2:6-7, 10-12). Jesus fulfills wisdom. Jesus embodies wisdom. Jesus is the way to wisdom. And finally…
Jesus grants wisdom. Do you want wisdom in your business relationships? Do you want wisdom for how to deal with your aging parents? Do you want wisdom for parenting your young children or your teenagers? Do you want wisdom for what to study in school or what to pursue as a career? Do you want wisdom for finding a husband or wife? Then seek Jesus. Jesus invites you to himself and he will give you wisdom. He calls all fools and all simpletons to come and confess their sins and believe in him. He’ll forgive us and grant us his wisdom. Over time he transforms foolish or simple people into wise people through a relationship with him. Jesus won’t turn you away. Wisdom in Proverbs 8 says:
Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. (NIV)
In the New Testament God again extends this offer to us.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (NIV)
If you want wisdom just ask God for it. But you can’t ask for wisdom apart from Jesus. Wisdom begins with a relationship with Christ Jesus. Jesus fulfills wisdom. Jesus embodies wisdom. Jesus is the way to wisdom. Jesus grants wisdom. To know Jesus is to know wisdom.
I met with a pastor friend recently and at the end of our time we exchanged prayer requests. I shared my requests and when I asked him how I could pray for him he said, “Would you pray that I love Jesus more deeply?” That struck me. That’s what we need. We need to love Jesus more and more. So often we pray for wisdom, for how to make the right decision or what to do next, but what if we started praying for each other to know and experience Christ Jesus more every day? I think if we we seek him, he’ll also give us wisdom. To know Jesus is to know wisdom.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon, which includes endnotes and references. Read our story here.
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Before I was born, my parents bought a small chicken farm. The people before us might have been successful at this but my father grew up in the city. He didn’t have a clue. But, that didn’t stop him. He figured that if those simple people could do it, he could do it better. So, he bought 500 baby chicks and the fun began. Anyone remember the program, “Green Acres?” That was my father, a city businessman who moved to the country. Out in the chicken coop in his suit and tie.
By the time that I was 4 or 5 he had begun to figure it out. The main lesson to learn is that healthy chickens produce health eggs. The best product that you can get from unhealthy weak chickens is manure. Eggs fetch a good profit while manure, not so much.
As we have studied Proverbs, we have seen the difference between the wise and the unwise. The ones who follow instruction and the foolish.
We have seen that there are so many benefits to taking the path of wisdom. And that there are many disadvantages to going the way of the fool.
In the same way as healthy chickens produce healthy eggs, Healthy Christians produce wise speech. Your speech is the by product of what you are. Your speech comes out of you and lets others know what is on the inside.
In Proverbs, we are told over and over again to value wisdom. In chapter 4 we are told that wisdom is supreme. We are to look for wisdom and cry out to her. In chapter 3:13-18 we are told that blessed is the one who finds wisdom and understanding. Wisdom is more valuable that silver and gold. More precious than rubies. Nothing can compare to her. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her. This is the same wisdom that God used to lay the foundations of the Earth, And to put the heavens in their place.
Wisdom leads us on to the paths of righteousness and as I always say, “All of God’s blessings are found on the path of righteousness.” Proverbs 12:28; In the way of the righteous there is life, along that path is immortality.
The path of sin and foolishness leads to many troubles at best and its end is death. And, eventually, hell.
Wise speech is a product of righteousness. Proverbs 18:4 says that wise words flow out of the mouth of the wise. Proverbs 10:20 says that the tongue or speech of the righteous is as choice silver, But, the heart of the wicked is of little value.
Many who preach on this subject will outline all of the benefits of wise speech and try to convince you to change your ways. They would challenge you to watch each word that you say and to try your hardest to improve. Many preach this way. Many believe that you can try harder and that by doing so you will become better. Many also preach week after week about sin. Their message is, “just stop sinning.” But, the book of Proverbs doesn’t teach us that we can just decide to change our speech. In fact, the Bible doesn’t teach us that we can overcome our sin.
Have you ever become discouraged over the fact that after being a follower of Jesus for so long, that you still sin? Sin is what sinners do! As long as you are a sinner you will sin. The only hope that you have is that God will save you from your sin. And, the good news is that God has saved you.
My point here is that you can’t just wish your way into wise speech. What is on the inside will soon be reveled by our words.
Read proverbs 26:24-26: Enemies disguise themselves with their lips, but in their hearts they harbor deceit. Though their speech is charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts.
Proverbs 12:23 says that the wise man can keep his knowledge to himself, he can hold his tongue, But, the heart of a fool blurts out foolishness. In other words, a foolish person can’t wait to say something stupid.
Proverbs 18:13 teaches that the unwise speak before listening. And, by doing so they show others just who unwise they really are.
When you listen to yourself, what do you hear coming out of your mouth? Is your speech benefiting you? Does your speech help you to get what you want? Does your speech build up others? Or, do you build yourself up by tearing others down?
Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up others according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
Remember our last study of the book of Micah. Micah 6:8, He has shown you oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
So, is there any hope for the one who doesn’t have wise speech? Yes, there is hope for everyone. It took my father time to figure out how to get his chickens healthy, But, when the chickens got healthy, the eggs got healthy. At one point, our chickens got so healthy that they began to lay double yoked eggs. Just like my father, you can also learn.
Wise speech is like a healthy egg. Having wisdom is like being a healthy chicken.
There is one more lesson to be learned here. A chicken can’t just decide to become healthy. They might be able to run around and spend more time out in the yard, But most of what benefits them is out of their control. A chicken’s health is dependent on the one who raises them. Each day they need someone to bring them food and clean water. Each week they need someone to clean up after them.
This whole study of Proverbs has been teaching us that we need to value wisdom. That we need to follow God’s instructions and stay far from the paths and ways of Satan. We need to become more and more dependent on God. We need to seek Him each day and all day. We need to follow Him around as a chicken follows the one who feeds her.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.” He will make straight your paths and He will lead you in paths of righteousness, Where wise speech flows freely.
A healthy Christian is one that understands that they need God at each step of their lives. They recognize that God provides for them and without God they have nothing. They follow God’s laws and keep themselves pure. They walk with God and seek Him both day and night. And, by doing so, they reap all of the benefits and blessings that God has for them. They become filled with peace and that peace brings life to their bodies. They become spiritually healthy. And out of that comes wise speech.
Each of us needs to depend on God fully with our lives.
A chicken will always be a chicken and a sinner will always need a savior. But, God has a plan to save even the worst of sinners. God has sent His only Son Jesus to live among us. He knows what it’s like to be cooped up here. He knows how broken we are. But, in His love He died on the cross for each of us. He became sin that we might become spiritually healthy.
God is calling out to you today to give your life to Him. In return, He will give you more life that you could ever have imagined. He is more precious than gold.
Read Proverbs 3:13-18
Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who find understanding. For she is more profitable than silver, and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand, in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed.
Wise speech is the by product of a wise healthy person who walks with God. The benefits of walking with God are great. Wise speech is just one of many. The greatest is a relationship with God now and for eternity.
Before I was born, my parents bought a small chicken farm. The people before us might have been successful at this but my father grew up in the city. He didn’t have a clue. But, that didn’t stop him. He figured that if those simple people could do it, he could do it better. So, he bought 500 baby chicks and the fun began. Anyone remember the program, “Green Acres?” That was my
Loans (Prov 6:1-5) As I studied today’s passage, Proverbs 6:1-19, I realized it can feel a bit disjointed. Last week we looked at Proverbs 5, the second half of chapter 6, and chapter 7, all of which was about adultery. And here in chapter 6 we encounter loans, laziness, and what God hates. It feels out of place. Trying to force them into one common theme felt a bit like trying to fit a square block through a circle or a triangle. So instead of doing that we’re breaking today’s passage up into three smaller messages, giving us a chance to reflect on each one a little more individually.
Now this doesn’t mean that the author Solomon made a mistake or these Proverbs are in the wrong place. Solomon put them here for a reason, but it can be challenging to understand why. Bernie and I are both writing sermons on Proverbs, he in Worcester and me here. And we’re both listening to Dr. Bruce Waltke’s lectures on Proverbs from BiblicalTraining.org. One of the things Dr. Bruce Waltke did was help translate the book of Proverbs into the New International Version of the Bible, the NIV. So he knows his stuff.
He thinks that just like adultery can lead to financial loss these topics in the first half of chapter six (loans and laziness) can also lead to financial loss (and I think spiritual loss as well). So Solomon put them here “by way of association.” He’s saying not to commit adultery, because that can ruin you, but also don’t give out a loan or be lazy because that can ruin you as well. Now before we jump into our passage let me pray.
Heavenly Father, help us to understand what you have to say in all three sections of Proverbs 6:1-19 today. As we look at our first topic of loans it seems like they could be something that trap us and ensnare us and we know that you are a God of freedom. Would you grant freedom to our minds and hearts to hear and apply your Word today. Grant us a greater love for you. Amen.
Our first three verses talk about obligation and risk. They warn us not to enable someone else’s debt.
Proverbs 6:1-3 1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, 2 you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. 3 So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go—to the point of exhaustion— and give your neighbor no rest! (NIV)
The argument is simple. If you have backed or guaranteed someone else’s debt, a friend, neighbor, or stranger, get out! Backing a loan means that you pledge that if they don’t repay it on time you will pay for them. Maybe some of us have done this. We’ve helped a family member purchase a car or house by co-signing their loan or we’ve guaranteed debt as part of a business opportunity. Either way you’ve put up something valuable like your house for collateral. So if they don’t pay the bank has the right to take it.
By putting ourselves at risk we have caught ourselves like a wild animal in a trap and we should do everything we can to get free. Go to the one who wrote the loan, the bank or car-dealership or whoever else, and negotiate with them to let you out of the contract. Why get out of guaranteeing their debt?
1. Your reputation is on the line. Notice the second half of verse one, “…if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger…” Why do we shake hands? For the same reason they shook hands. It’s an agreement based on mutual trust. I’ve bought and sold some items on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and I often find that people want to shake hands. Although co-signing for someone else’s loan might feel like just an act of paperwork we are actually putting our name on the line for someone else. If that person doesn’t pay our reputations are hurt.
Dr. Waltke told the story of co-signing a loan for a young woman who wanted to purchase a car. He co-signed but later found out she didn’t know that you have to make payments. Her not making payments wrecked his credit score. It impacted his financial reputation.
Now I do want to add that we can put this Proverb into practice in ways that have nothing to do with a loan. If you’re putting your name or reputation on the line for anyone, vouching for someone to get a job, supplying a reference, or anything like that, proceed with caution. Today we assume that if someone asks us for a reference we have to give it, but we don’t. Why do our reputations matter? As Christians we represent Christ in everything we do. So really, his reputation is on the line. Why else?
2. God repeats himself. Proverbs is the Word of God. That means God himself is serious about this rule, so serious he repeats himself five more times in the book of Proverbs about not putting up security for a neighbor or stranger.
Proverbs 22:26-2726 Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts; 27 if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you. (NIV) (Proverbs 11:15; 17:18; 20:16; 27:13)
What’s the reason here? You shouldn’t put anything at risk that you can’t afford to lose. So if you can’t afford to lose the money or your own car or home or business then stay away. You also don’t want to lose the relationship with your family member or friend if they can’t pay and default. Money can quickly become an obstacle to loving others like God calls us to do. God repeats himself.
3. Proverbs are weighty principles. Remember that Proverbs are principles, not absolutes. That means that although this is the standard you might be able to make a case for offering collateral for someone else’s loan in a specific situation or circumstance after much prayer and discernment. One author I read said the only reason you would back a stranger’s loan is if you were trying to make money off of them, kind of like gambling. So this passage might not be prohibiting all types of pledges, but risky or greedy investments on someone else’s debt. Now our verse doesn’t name family members but neighbors or strangers, so you could make a case that in certain circumstances guaranteeing a family-member’s debt is acceptable. But even if that’s the case I think it’s fair to say that Proverbs warns against guaranteeing someone else’s debt, no matter the situation. So if you’ve already co-signed for a business opportunity, or a family member, or you’re thinking about doing this or something similar, really pray about it. I don’t think it’s necessarily a sin to co-sign someone’s debt, but it is a matter of wisdom, and it could become a sin if done so foolishly or because of greed. Proverbs are weighty principles that we shouldn’t ignore or bypass easily.
4. God provides other ways to help those in need. Within Israel the people were allowed to give interest-free loans to each other (Exod 22:25). They could only charge interest on loans made to foreigners outside of the covenant community, not to each other (Deut 23:20). In the New Testament Jesus actually says to lend to anyone who wants to borrow from you, even your enemies (Matt 5:42; Luke 6:35). But again, you should only loan the money if you can afford to lose the money. And another option God provides is for us to simply give our money as a gift to those in need. God provides other ways to help those in need.
The Bible has a lot to say about money, even lending and co-signing. But it’s all centered around loving our neighbor well. We don’t want anything to prevent us from loving others the way God intends, freely and wholeheartedly, just like God loves us. Let’s continue in worship.
Laziness (Prov 6:6-11) Our next section is a warning not be to be lazy because laziness leads to financial ruin. Solomon drew some of his wisdom from what he saw in nature. He tells the sluggard, someone who is lazy like a slug, to consider the hard-working ant. To be fair I don’t know if slugs are lazy but they are slow and slimy which does sound like laziness. Now I can honestly say I feel like ants are a bit of a nuisance. We had ants all over our house earlier this spring and had to get pest control to come out and spray twice to get rid of them.
But did you know that ants are actually amazing creatures? According to National Geographic:
- “There are over 12,000 ant species worldwide”
One commentary said the type of ants Solomon saw were the harvester ant, which were common in Israel.
- “Ants are the longest living insects”
They report “the queen ant of one particular species […] can live up to 30 years”.
- “Ants hold the record for the fastest movement in the animal kingdom”
The “trap jaw ant” can close its jaws at 140 miles per hour. These ants are not lazy!
- “The ant is one of the world’s strongest creatures in relation to its size”
They report, “A single ant can carry 50 times its own bodyweight, and they’ll even work together to move bigger objects as a group!” There was a science photography contest and one scientist took a picture of an ant holding a weight 100 times its own weight while hanging upside–down from glass. Ants are incredibly hard workers. The BBC reports:
On average, a single worker ant would take 250 naps each day, with each one lasting just over a minute. That equates to 4 hours and 48 minutes of sleep each day. That also meant that 80 percent of the workforce was awake and active at any one time. – BBC Earth News
Solomon didn’t know any of these facts, but he could look at the ground and see how ants were always at work, going here and there and caring bits of leaves and other food to their colonies. Solomon’s message is simple. If you’re a slug, be an ant. Let me say that again. If you’re a slug, be an ant. Don’t sleep your life away. Work hard. Don’t be lazy. Be diligent. Don’t waste your life.
It’s a real temptation to entertain your life away on Netflix or Youtube or social media. It might not feel like laziness but it can be. In the New Testament Paul talks about the importance of work.
1 Thessalonians 4:11b …make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, (NIV)
The Thessalonians must have struggled with their work ethic because Paul writes them again.
2 Thessalonians 3:10-13 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” 11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. (NIV)
That last verse says we’re called to work because work itself is good. So a refusal to work is actually a rejection of what is good. We work because we want to do good.
Now what this is not saying is that it’s never appropriate to take a break. God gave us a day of Sabbath rest before the fall of humanity just like he gave us six-days of work before the fall, which means both work and rest are good, and we should take a day to rest each week just as we work each week.
Although our Proverb is warning us that if you’re lazy you’ll probably become poor it’s not saying that if you are poor you must be lazy. Some of the hardest working people I know, and I’m sure you know as well, are poor. Christ Jesus himself worked just the right amount, rested just the right amount, and was poor. Why would he do that? Why would he work so hard and yet embrace poverty? For us.
2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (NIV)
The hardest work of all that Christ did was the work of the cross. By his labors he took away our sin and gave us his perfect work record. So if you confess your laziness (physical and spiritual) and believe in Jesus he will save you. He will also begin to change you from the inside out into someone who wants to work because good work glorifies God. By his grace Christ can change you from a slug into an ant.
God’s Heart (Prov 6:12-19) Our final passage today reveals God’s heart. Have you ever heard someone say, “I hate that!” Like, “I hate cats!” Usually when you hear someone say something like that it implies that they are not a cat person but a dog person. “I hate cats but I love dogs.” Here we catch a glimpse of what God loves by what he hates.
God hates troublemakers. He hates people who go around and lie and cause problems. Our Proverb calls them “troublemakers” and “villains.” Today we might call them busybodies, liars or gossips, con-artists, bullies or… troublemakers. Something is in their heart that they just can’t help but complain and turn people against each other. God promises that his judgment is going to come upon them in an instant unless they repent. He will destroy the troublemakers. But if God hates trouble makers what does he love?
God loves peacemakers. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 5:9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (NIV)
God hates troublemakers but loves peacemakers. He wants people who aren’t trouble–makers but grace–makers, who aren’t busybodies, but hard–working bodies, who aren’t liars or gossips, but open and honest truth–tellers, who aren’t con–artists but artists of beauty, who aren’t bullies but show compassion and mercy, who aren’t troublemakers but peacemakers. God hates troublemakers but loves peacemakers.
Verses 16-19 are a poem that tells us six, no seven things God hates. And when it says the “Lord” here it means Yahweh himself, the special covenant name of God. What does Yahweh hate?
Proverbs 6:16-19 16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. (NIV)
But even as we read this we’re supposed to remember back to Proverbs 4:20-27 when the father figure used the body as an object lesson to teach his son to seek the good.
Proverbs 4:20-27 20 My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. 21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. 24 Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. 26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. 27 Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. (NIV)
God loves those who want to see his face. God loves those who speak the truth. God loves caring and kind hands. God loves the heart that loves God and neighbor. God loves those who want to walk the path of wisdom. God loves an honest witness. God loves a peacemaker.
Do you think God loves you? If this is his standard then he can’t love me because as much as I try to do these things I fail. That’s why we need Jesus. So God can love us. Jesus shows the heart of God. His heart is that troublemakers would be transformed into peacemakers through the blood of Jesus Christ. Christ transformers troublemakers into peacemakers.
The gospel is that troublemakers like you and me can have a relationship with God because he has made peace with us through his Son. Jesus is the great peacemaker and he invites you and me to repent and believe in him and by his grace become peacemakers too. Christ transformers troublemakers into peacemakers. Let’s pray.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon, which includes endnotes and references. Read our story here.
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Loans (Prov 6:1-5) As I studied today’s passage, Proverbs 6:1-19, I realized it can feel a bit disjointed. Last week we looked at Proverbs 5, the second half of chapter 6, and chapter 7, all of which was about adultery. And here in chapter 6 we encounter loans, laziness, and what God hates. It feels out of place. Trying to force them into one common theme felt a bit like trying to fit a square block through a circle or
Adultery may feel right but it leads to terrible consequences. Understand whats so tempting about it, how we can avoid it, and why we can be forgiven through Jesus Christ.
Proverbs has presented us all with a choice between two different paths. Path #1 is the way of the foolish and Path #2 is the way of the wise. Over and over again through the first four chapters the father-figure has told his son to choose the way of the wise. But today the father invites his son and us to imagine what it would be like to try the way of the foolish.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to give yourself over to living for yourself? Just saying, “I’m going to stop trying to live God’s way and I’m gonna live my way. I’m gonna do what I want to do when I want to do it.” Sounds intriguing, right? I think if we’re honest with ourselves most of us in a moment of weakness have imagined what that would be like and how good it might feel.
Today the father takes one temptation many men face and follows that temptation to its final conclusion. It takes the temptation of adultery. Adultery is the act of having sex with someone you’re not married to and either you’remarried, or they’re married, or you’re both married, but not to each other. I know this is a temptation for men because you can have the best marriage in the world and still think, “What if…” I’m not sure if this is as much a temptation for women, but I also don’t want to discount that it could be. All of us—no matter male or female, no matter old or young, no matter how godly—could commit adultery.
This is such a serious temptation the father writes not one, or two, but three discourses telling his son how bad this sin is. His son is already married even though he’s probably a teenager. If you’re not married you shouldn’t ignore these passages because adultery is not that much different than fornication. Fornication is sex–outside of marriage. Fornication may not be the exact same thing as adultery but it’s still a step down the same path, the way of the foolish.
When I lived in Colorado you could drive 15-20 minutes from my house and go on a beautiful hike up a valley or into the mountains. At the trailhead the Park Rangers posted useful information like a map that showed how to get to the different destinations. If you wanted to hike to the Rabbit Ears Campsite you took this trail and if you wanted to get to the Peregrine Campsite you took that trail. If you want to get to Bridal Veil Falls you followed the trail to the end. Bridal Veil Falls is a beautiful 20-foot waterfall that looks misty white like a wedding veil as it falls down.
At the beginning of our trail our Park Ranger, the father, has posted a map. In fact, he starts all three discourses by saying pretty much the same thing, “Pay attention to my commands, God’s Word. Stay on the right path by obeying my words which are the very words of God.” This is not self–righteous or authoritarian. The father is simply passing along the laws of God in his own vocabulary.
Proverbs 7:1-2 1 My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. 2 Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. (NIV) (see also 5:1-2; 6:20-23; 7:3-5)
If there’s one thing I feel like I’m hammering home in this sermon series is that we all need to get serious about God’s Word. We need to get serious about reading, studying, understanding, and applying the Bible because that’s our map for the Christian life. We don’t just read the Bible like we might read a classic in literature class. We read the Bible because we want to know the author, God himself.
At the trailheads the Park Rangers sometimes post serious signs like “Warning Mountain Lions.” When I was a kid a mountain lion killed a hiker outside of the town I grew up in. Those signs made me nervous and a little bit more watchful. But our predator in Proverbs isn’t a feline but a female. Proverbs identifies her as the “forbidden woman” or the “adulteress.” She is married and she is off limits.
The father warns his son that if he goes after the forbidden woman he will encounter two temptations:
Words of affirmation (5:3; 6:24; 7:21)
In all three speeches the father warns his son not just about her beauty or dress but her words.
Proverbs 5:3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; (NIV) (see also 6:24; 7:21)
Are any of you familiar with the five-love languages? One of the ways people feel loved is when others tell them how wonderful they are (“You’re so nice!”). This can be a great encouragement in marriage and a devastating tool outside of it. That doesn’t mean we should all stop complimenting each other, but if our spouse isn’t affirming us we need to be careful we don’t go looking for it in another man or woman.
Maybe some of you ladies feel like this passage is a little–one sided. In your experience it’s been smooth–talking men who are the problem. That’s true. Proverbs is written with young men as its audience but young women can apply it to their lives just as easily.
Proverbs 7:21 With persuasive words he led her astray; he seduced her with his smooth talk. (adapted from NIV)
Women, if you encounter a guy like this run the other way! If he wants to break up your marriage or wants the benefits of marriage without the commitment get out of there. Second temptation…
Culture of acceptance (7:10-20)
The woman in chapter seven uses her beauty and dress and kisses to seduce the young man (those are part of the temptation) but verse 12 tells us she does it in the “streets” and “market” and “every corner.” Part of what can make it so hard to resist the seduction of sexual immorality is that it’s everywhere. We see adultery and fornication on television, in the movies, in the news, in elected officials, in schools, in business, and on and on. Eventually we think, “Maybe I should try that.” It’s hard to resist a crowd when they’re telling us to “Go for it!” She even says she’s offered her sacrifices (7:14). She’s religious. She’s spiritual. But she doesn’t take God’s commands seriously. Some churches don’t want to offend or come across judgmental and so when you do sleep around they say it’s no big deal. The two temptations are words of affirmation and a culture of acceptance. Butwhat if you give in? There are five consequences:
Fleeting pleasure (5:3-4)
Her lips are like honey but they soon turn bitter. Honey is good. It’s sweet. I like honey. But would you want honey you knew would give you botulism? No. Sweetness turns bitter. The second consequence…
Financial and bodily ruin (5:10-11; 6:30-31)
As Bernie told me, “Marriage is grand. But divorce is a hundred grand.” He doesn’t take credit for that saying. I thought I might tell a story of how adultery ruined someone financially but you probably can think of your own examples of people you know whose affair has cost them their jobs, or their homes, or their kids, and so they began to drink, or sleep around, and that led to alcoholism or depression.
Disgrace (5:9; 6:33)
There’s nothing but shame down this path. Fourth consequence…
Angry spouse (6:34-35)
An angry husband or an angry wife may exact revenge through divorce, taking the kids, taking your motorcycle, and your golf clubs, and whatever else you loved more than her. When I was in seminary there was a shooting at the local Starbucks. One police officer shot another officer because he thought the man was having an affair with his wife. One of my classmates was at the Starbucks when it happened and he saw the victim bleeding. The victim didn’t die but the shooter took his own life. I don’t know if there actually was an affair but just the very perception of adultery can lead to loss of life. And yet these consequences dim in comparison to the final consequence.
God’s punishment (6:29) / Death (5:5, 23; 6:26; 7:23, 27)
The ultimate consequence of adultery or fornication is God’s judgment, which leads to eternal death. You might not have to deal with financial or bodily ruin, or disgrace, or an angry spouse in this life, but anyone who commits these things will have to deal with God’s justice in the next.
Our five consequences are fleeting pleasure, financial and bodily ruin, disgrace, an angry spouse, and God’s punishment, which is eternal death. That sounds bad. But we have three rules to stay safe:
Rule #1 – Stay away. (5:8; 7:7-8)
If you want to stay safe from mountain lions don’t go anywhere near where you think a mountain lion might be. This applies to the forbidden woman or forbidden man too. Take a different path. The tragedy of the story the father tells is that in chapter 5 what does the father say?
Proverbs 5:8 Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, (NIV)
And then what does the father watch a young man do in chapter 7?
Proverbs 7:7-8 7 I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense. 8 He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house (NIV)
The easiest way to fall off the cliff of temptation is to hike to the edge. Proximity. So often we say to ourselves, “How close can I get to the edge? How far is too far? How emotionally invested can I become in this relationship without actually committing adultery?” That’s emotional adultery.
Now I do not think this means that men and women can’t be friends. I am not a proponent of the Billy Graham rule where a man can never be alone with a woman who is not his wife. I think that rule objectifies women and discards the blessing of male-female friendships. There’s a big difference between staying away from the opposite gender and staying away from the temptation of adultery. If you know someone does tempt you or you tempt them then absolutely set up boundaries, but otherwise use wisdom and discernment and keep your spouse informed. That leads me to rule #2 for staying safe.
Rule #2 – Take a friend. (5:15-20)
There was a man recently who was running and got attacked by a juvenile mountain lion in Colorado. It weighed between 35-40 pounds and could have killed him. But like Chuck Norris he actually killed it instead. He plans to go running again but next time he’s going to bring a friend. God has given anyone who is married a partner, and Lord-willing a friend, their spouse to help them fight temptation. And what’s the number one tool God has given married couples to fight sexual temptation? Sex!
Proverbs 5:15-20 15 Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.
He’s not talking about a literal well here. It’s a poem. It’s a metaphor.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? 17 Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
Treasure the gift of sex in marriage and don’t share it with anyone else.
18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. 19 A loving doe, a graceful deer— may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. 20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
Sometimes as the church we can be a bit squeamish about sex. Talking about it can make us feel uncomfortable. But do you know what the Bible right here is telling husbands and wives to do? To have sex and to have lots of it! This is the wrong week to skip church. But in all seriousness a Christian married couple can have a far better sex-life than anything the world has to offer because it’s built not just on love for each other, but love for God, and on a marriage commitment that God himself created and affirms.
But what about if you’re single? How can you fight temptation? Marriage is not always the answer. God can give you Godly-Christian friends to encourage you and help hold you accountable. Take a friend.
Now there’s a temptation here as Pastor Bryan Chapell says to either feel prideful or condemned. You might walk away prideful because you’ve never committed adultery, so you’re good to go. Or you might walk away condemned because you have committed adultery. Well this is why we need the gospel because I want us all to walk away convicted and forgiven. The problem is worse than we thought. Jesus said:
Matthew 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (NIV)
Are you saying that for me to even imagine a “what if…” with that other person I’ve committed adultery? Yes. Being tempted is not sin. But giving into the temptation and accepting it and dwelling on it and thinking about it is lust and lust is sin. Do you know what that means? Every single one of us in this room is guilty of adultery. Do you know what God says the penalty for adultery is? Death.
Deuteronomy 22:22 If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. (NIV)
Because of the lust in our hearts it’s as if we’ve committed adultery and every single one of us deserves death and hell. That’s why Jesus had to die. That’s why Jesus had to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross. The law required a life and we can either pay with our own or let Christ pay for us. Maybe you’re thinking that you would never let anyone pay for your sins—that it’s better to pay for your own mistakes.
I would agree with you except for one thing. You can’t pay. You don’t have enough capital. In fact, you don’t have any capital. The Bible says “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isa 64:6). That’s like you having zero dollars and owing a billion dollars. You’ll forever try to repay what you can never pay. That’s hell. You need someone who can actually pay, who has enough capital. This brings me to…
Rule #3 (what matters most) – Believe in Jesus. (John 3:16)
Jesus has the capital required to pay for your and my adultery of the heart. He never sinned and always obeyed his Father. His whole life he never committed adultery or lusted in his heart. He was alone with women and men and he was just fine. He was perfectly good and holy and used his capital to pay our debt. He took our death penalty on the cross. He died to save us from our sin.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)
If you want to be forgiven for the adultery in your heart or the adultery you’ve actually committed believe in Jesus. Three days after his crucifixion Jesus rose from the dead so that whoever repents of their sin—admits their wrongdoing—and believes in him will receive complete forgiveness. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). Believe in Jesus.
This path is different than the other paths. There’s still dangers and mountain lions lurking nearby. But you’ve brought a friend, your spouse, and the Park Ranger is showing you the way, Christ Jesus. He promises us if we keep trusting him he’ll lead us to Bridal Veil Falls. Believe in Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon, which includes endnotes and references. Read our story here.
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My college pastor, Andrew Davies, took an interest in my spiritual growth. He met up with me for lunch, we did a Bible study together with some other guys, he listened to my concerns and prayed for me, he lead me on a missions trip to Chinle Arizona, and he paid for my plane ticket to go to a Christian conference in Seattle. He invested in me and he mentored me. He became one of my spiritual fathers. A spiritual
My college pastor, Andrew Davies, took an interest in my spiritual growth. He met up with me for lunch, we did a Bible study together with some other guys, he listened to my concerns and prayed for me, he lead me on a missions trip to Chinle Arizona, and he paid for my plane ticket to go to a Christian conference in Seattle. He invested in me and he mentored me. He became one of my spiritual fathers. A spiritual father or mother is someone who comes alongside you and walks with you in your faith, helping you study the Bible and pray, and encouraging you in your walk with Jesus. Andrew discipled me.
If you could have that would you want it? Would you want a more mature man or woman in the faith to come and mentor and disciple you? This could be someone older, or younger, but the key is that they have walked this path before, it’s not that they have it mastered, but they can help you on your way and maybe you can teach them something too. This is discipleship.
Today in Proverbs 4 we find a biological father who is also the spiritual father to his son. Now this is not always the case. You can have a spiritual father or spiritual mother who is not your biological parent. But in today’s Proverb we find a father who is both. The reason he turned out this way is because he too had a spiritual father who discipled him, his actual biological father.
Proverbs 4:1-3 1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. 2 I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. 3 For I too was a son to my father, still tender, and cherished by my mother. (NIV)
Discipleship is when one person pours God’s words and ways (God’s wisdom) into another person to help them know and follow Christ and that person pours into a third person and so on and so on. Here we see it beautifully illustrated in a family. A father is teaching his sons what his father taught him. That’s three generations of discipleship. That’s three generation of studying God’s Word and living God’s ways.
Do you want a spiritual father or spiritual mother? Do you want to be discipled? This isn’t a theoretical question. Pray about it this week and if you want one come back next week and we will find you one. Maybe someone comes to mind. Go talk to them. Ask them, “Will you meet with me regularly to pray, study God’s Word, and talk about life?” The point is. We all need discipleship.
We all need a spiritual father or spiritual mother. (v1-9) Our pattern in Proverbs has been a father writing to his “son” but in verse one he’s writing to his “sons.” It’s plural. Maybe we shouldn’t make too much of it but at the very least this father is expecting his teaching to multiply. He’s expecting his teaching to go to all his sons or his son’s sons, his grandchildren. He expects his teachings to form his sons and daughters and that they too would become spiritual fathers and mothers to their biological and spiritual children (aka. anyone else they disciple).
Now as I broaden the scope of what it means to be a disciple-maker I also don’t want to be too quick to downplay the family mandate Proverbs 4 is laying out for dads and moms. Remember chapter one?
Proverbs 1:8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. (NIV)
God has called dads and moms to be the first ones to teach their kids the Word of God and the ways of Christ Jesus (Eph 6:4). In January the Elders and myself introduced a discipleship pathway—which is a way we can all try to make sure we’re growing in our faith. One of the key elements of our discipleship pathway, which you can learn more about on our website, is “Prayer & Bible Study” but the pathway explains that one element further by adding this is both “personal” and “family.” In other words, we should all be spending time in prayer and studying the Scriptures personally and as families.
What’s really cool is that this lines up exactly with our Children’s Ministry Team’s mission. Let me read to you what the Children’s team put together as their mission statement.
The Children’s Ministry of Cornerstone Congregational Church is tasked with coming alongside parents and families as they strive to raise, teach, and disciple the children God has graciously given them. Our church feels the weighty responsibility of supporting families, teaching truth, and providing opportunities for children and families to serve in our congregation and community. (Children’s Ministry Team)
The children’s team recognizes that you are the first person God has called to disciple your child. He may have also called your youth leader, or kid’s Sunday School teacher, but none of them have as much time with your children as you do. Look what the results are for those parents who really take serious their child’s knowledge of God. One day your child will pass on their faith to their children.
Proverbs 4:4-5 4 Then he (my father) taught me, and he said to me, “Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live. 5 Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. (NIV)
This father is quoting what his father told him. When we’re deciding how to live out our faith the first person we’re going to naturally copy is the ones who had the biggest affect on our lives, our parents. As parents that should strike the fear of the Lord in our hearts. If we’re not reading the word with our kids and praying with them who will? “Do what I say but not what I do?” No. “Do what I say and what I do.” If you’re a parent, God has called you to actively teach your child wisdom (God’s Word and God’s ways).
Proverbs 4:6-9 6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. 7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. 8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. 9 She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown.” (NIV)
The message his father told him was simple. Seek to understand the Scriptures and live your life that way. Wisdom will keep you out of trouble. Wisdom will lead you on the right path and reward you. And now he’s passing this message along to his sons.
For some of us we may have kids who have decided not to walk in the way of wisdom. We tried really hard to share our faith with them but they’ve done their own thing and all we can do is watch. Proverbs are principles not promises. You’ve done your part. It’s up to your son or daughter to decide. All we can do is pray and offer wisdom when God gives us the opportunity.
But what about those of us who don’t have Christian parents or whose parents are gone or who just won’t do this? No matter what age you are God can provide you with a spiritual parent or mentor to guide you on your way. Think to the New Testament and the Apostle Paul’s relationship with Timothy. Timothy had a Christian mother and grandmother who taught him the faith (2 Tim 1:5) but he also needed Paul.
2 Timothy 2:1-2 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (NIV)
Paul became a spiritual father to Timothy but he expected Timothy to become a spiritual father to the men and women of his church—to pass along the teachings of Christ Jesus. Whose your Paul? And whose your Timothy? We should get one of each. Whose discipling you and who are you discipling? Who can you receive from and who can you pour God’s Word into? We all need a spiritual father or spiritual mother.
When we went to the Habitat for Humanity work day in June Bill from Billerica oversaw our job that day. Bill had lots of experience working in construction. He was retired and volunteered with Habitat to help build houses. He showed me how to drill a hole in the cement flooring in the basement so they could install a sump pump. First he showed me, and then I got on the power drill, and then I did it. He left me and I worked for a couple hours on it. Then Jared, our old Cornerstone intern who just finished college, finished working on the upstairs and he came to help me. So I showed him exactly what Bill had shown me and then he did it. First Bill learned, then Jonathan, then Jared, and if we’d been there long enough maybe Jared would have shown Bernie how to do it. It’s no different with discipleship. First I learn, then I pass it along, and then the person I pass it along to passes it along to someone else. Andrew Davies poured God’s Word into me and now I’m pouring into Caleb, and Henry, and Jeremy and I hope they’ll pour into others. Instead of drilling down into cement flooring we are drilling God’s Word down deep into our human hearts, which sometimes can be harder than concrete. Discipleship is not easy or clean. It’s messy. It’s about people. How could it be anything else? But as we receive discipleship and give it to others we will grow in what it means to be a follower of Christ. Why is this so important?
We all need a spiritual father or spiritual mother to help us find the way of wisdom. (v10-19) Once again we are given two options for how to live—the way of the foolish or the way of the wise.
Proverbs 4:10-17 10 Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. 11 I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. 12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. 13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. 14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. 15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. 16 For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble. 17 They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. (NIV)
If this passage sounds familiar that’s good because it’s actually a lot like chapter three. Once again the author Solomon is contrasting the two paths, wisdom and folly. He calls his son to listen to and hold onto instruction (v10-11, 13). This isn’t just any instruction, but instruction based on God’s Word. He was to study all the Hebrew Scriptures available at that time and we are to study the whole Bible today. So if you want to walk in the way of wisdom you got to read the book.
I’ve recently learned some basic sign language for the song Jesus Loves Me. Monica and I try to sing it to Elijah. I’m not sure you could call what I do singing or signing. When we sing “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so” the sign for Bible is signing Jesus, which is touching the nail marks and then palms together and then open like opening a book. The Bible is Jesus’ book. But notice when you sign Jesus’ “book” you have to open it for it to be the book. God’s Word will be without power in our lives if we never open it. What would your sign be for the Bible? Is it opened or closed? Let’s open God’s word so we can guide our family, biological or spiritual. The reward is that if our children choose to walk in it they will be protected from wickedness. But not only that. Any who choose the way of wisdom will walk in the light and in the path of righteousness.
Proverbs 4:18-19 18 The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. 19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. (NIV)
The word stumble is used three times to describe the way of the foolish. There’s only pain that way. See there’s a close connection between wisdom and the tangible physical world, which we see next. The way of wisdom may be spiritual but it’s not abstract. It’s not invisible but seen. Wisdom is concrete and real. As we read notice all the different physical body parts.
Proverbs 4:20-27 20 My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. (ear) 21 Do not let them out of your sight, (eyesight) keep them within your heart; (heart) 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. (body) 23 Above all else, guard your heart, (heart) for everything you do flows from it. 24 Keep your mouth free of perversity; (mouth) keep corrupt talk far from your lips. (lips) 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead; (eyesight) fix your gaze directly before you. 26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet (feet) and be steadfast in all your ways. 27 Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. (feet) (NIV)
It’s what we do with our ears and hearts and eyes and mouth and lips and feet that helps us grow more wise or more foolish. It’s not just about keeping the bad out but also bringing the good in.
Ears – I want to protect my ears from gossip. If someone comes up to you and starts talking negatively about someone else say, “Stop! Is this gossip? If so, let’s say something positive about them.” Then you’re not only protecting your ears but filling them up with encouragement. Eyes – I want to guard what entertainment I watch and fill my sight with creation, family, and beauty. So that may mean skipping past that Netflix show or turning the TV off and playing games with your kids. Body – I want to protect myself from laziness and gluttony and fill myself with good foods and diligence. That means not only not laying around all day but getting a job or volunteering so I can serve others. Mouth/lips – I want to prevent my own mouth from speaking gossip or lies and want to fill my mouth and speak grace, truth, and encouragement. Who can you speak an encouraging word to today? Who can you tell “You know I really appreciate this about you?” Feet – I want to not walk myself into tempting situations at the shopping center or work or anywhere else but use my feet to bring a needy person or a friend a meal or share the gospel news. Heart – My heart is the center of my identity. I want to guard the core of who I am by filling myself up with wisdom. Who am I putting into my heart? Christ or the world?
The only reason we can begin to do this is because Jesus laid down his ears and eyes and body and mouth and feet and heart for us. He offered himself up as an exchange. His body for ours. His righteousness for our wickedness. His wisdom for our foolishness (1 Cor 1:30). His death for our life (Col 3:3-4). If you want wisdom don’t walk out of here trying harder. Repent of your sins and invite Christ through the power of his Holy Spirit to come and work on you and then find a spiritual parent to help you grow.
We all need a spiritual father or spiritual mother to help us find the way of wisdom. I’ve had several mentors, spiritual fathers, the last couple years. It’s always been worth it to make the time to meet with them even once a month and reflect on what God is doing in my life and theirs. We pray. We encourage each other. We seek God together. If you get someone to disciple you, you may be surprised by what God does. Pastor Andrew was the first person to encourage me to go to seminary and become a pastor. We all need a spiritual father or spiritual mother to help us find the way of wisdom.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon, which includes endnotes and references. Read our story here.
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Do you sleep well at night? No? Anxious? Worrying over something or someone? We all need peace. We need a peace that lasts. Proverbs connects wisdom with peace, but also something else... the tree of life.
Do you ever have trouble falling asleep? There’s one little boy in our house who doesn’t always want to go to bed. Monica tucks him in but as soon as his head hits the bed he starts making noises telling her how much he doesn’t want to go to sleep yet. He complains a little bit and sometimes he cries a little bit and sometimes he tosses Mr. Froggy out of bed… Monica keeps telling me to act more mature.
The National Sleep Foundation offers a couple tips for falling asleep:
Start winding down 30-minutes early. Read a book. Dim the lights. Stop looking at your cellphone. The light tells you its daytime and keeps you awake. Do a breathing exercise. If you can’t fall asleep after 20 minutes get up and do something relaxing. Get up at the same time every day, even on the weekends.
What keeps you up at night? What are you worrying about? Or who are you worrying about? A child, a parent, a friend, a coworker, yourself? Proverbs tells us how to get a good night’s rest.
Proverbs 3:21, 24 21 My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; […] 24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. (NIV)
One of the benefits of wisdom is sleeping well at night. I’m expanding my definition of wisdom today to believing and obeying God’s words and ways. If we’re filling our minds with God’s words and living his ways we’re much less likely to say or do something we’ll feel anxious about during the middle of the night. That doesn’t mean that wise people never sleep poorly but that a life of wisdom can help you sleep well.
We all need wisdom because we all need peace. We need something more than momentary rest. We need peace and rest that is durable. We need it in our hearts and minds and world. Did you know that we once had this kind of peace?
We had perfect peace in the garden. (Proverbs 3:13-18) There’s a connection between wisdom and peace and we find it in the Garden of Eden.
Proverbs 3:13-18 13 Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed. (NIV)
Did you see the connection between wisdom and peace and the garden? Wisdom is called the “tree of life,” which is found in the Garden of Eden. Not only that, but in verse 13 “blessed are those” in the Hebrew is actually “blessed is the man” or “blessed is the ‘adam…” Blessed is the man who finds wisdom (God’s words and ways) because he has found the paths of peace and the tree of life.
Back in the Garden of Eden before sin entered the world Adam and Eve had perfect peace with God. They lived and ate and walked in God’s paradise but there was one condition. They could eat from any tree, including the tree of life, but they could not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:9, 16-17 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. […] 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (NIV)
So what do Adam and Eve do? Satan enters the garden in the form of a serpent, tempts them, and they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They disobey God, shattering their peace, and enter into a state of restlessness, brokenness, and sin. But there’s a problem. They still have access to the tree of life and if they were to eat of that tree they would live forever in their sins. So what does God do? As an act of mercy God stops them from getting to the tree.
Genesis 3:22, 24 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” […] 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (NIV)
God casts them out so that one day he can redeem them and heal all the brokenness. We had perfect peace in the garden.
Have you ever had a really good dream but something wakes you up midway through it? Like you’re flying or spending time with loved ones, maybe even ones that have passed, but then you wake up. What’s the first thing you try and do? You try and go back to sleep and pick up the dream where you left off. I used to be able to do that when I was a kid, but I can’t anymore. Can any of you pick up on a dream where you left off? When Adam and Eve ate from that tree it woke them up to not a better reality but a nightmare and they and all of humanity have been trying to get back what we lost. We had perfect peace in the garden. There is a way we can recapture a little bit of the dream of Eden.
Wisdom helps restore what we lost there. (Proverbs 3:21-31) When we reject wisdom we reject God and so we reject peace that lasts, and that’s exactly what Adam did. He must have slept terribly that first night. But all was not lost. Solomon, the author of this part of Proverbs, writes that we can once again experience that peace through wisdom. Verses 17-18 say, “Her (Wisdom’s) ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her…” Through wisdom we restore two kinds of peace:
a) The peace we lost inside us (v21-26) When we reject God’s wisdom we lose peace between ourselves and God. That creates unrest and fear in our hearts. But there is a way to restore our relationship with God and get that internal peace back.
Proverbs 3:21-26 21 My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; 22 they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. 23 Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble. 24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. 25 Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, 26 for the Lord will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared. (NIV)
Notice in v26 how “Lord” is in all capitals, “Lord.” This is God’s special covenant name “Yahweh” God gave his people Israel so they could be in relationship with him and call him by his name. We need a relationship with God if we want peace that lasts. Otherwise while getting enough sleep might be helpful in the short term it won’t provide that unshakable peace only God provides. Wisdom helps restore the peace we lost inside us and…
b) The peace we lost all around us (v27-31) When we seek to be in relationship with God and do things God’s way it has the added benefit of restoring relationships with those around us.
Proverbs 3:27 27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.
Verse 27 says that wisdom (God’s words and ways) helps us avoid the “sin of omission.” That’s anytime we know we are supposed to do something good and do not do it. Have any of you said recently, “It’s the thought that counts”? I’ve said it recently too. But that’s not true and we should probably stop saying that. God says we’re actually supposed to do the good thought (James 2:15-16). Wisdom also prevents us from the “sin of commission”—the sin of doing the wrong thing, which we find next.
Proverbs 3:28-31 28 Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”— when you already have it with you. 29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you. 30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason— when they have done you no harm.
31 Do not envy the violent or choose any of their ways. (NIV)
Wisdom helps us not just avoid doing the wrong thing or think about doing the right thing but actually do the right thing. Wisdom helps restore peace with God and peace with others.
I want to give a small but silly illustration of this from my own life. This often happens to me in parking–lots. I see a piece of trash on the ground and I want to leave it there. I didn’t litter why should I pick it up? Littering would be the sin of commission, of doing the wrong thing. But if I just leave the trash there am I missing an opportunity to do good? Am I committing the sin of omission? So sometimes I’ll pick up the trash and throw it away. Now disclaimer—I don’t pick every trash I see up. Otherwise I’d be in the parking lot all day. That’s where wisdom kicks in. How much of my time should I use to do this good thing or maybe that other good thing, like parenting, or studying, or writing, or sharing the gospel or something else? Does picking up that trash help restore the Garden of Eden? In some small way I think it does. I think God takes eternal note of any good thing we do to honor and love him.
But can we by our efforts ever fully restore the Garden of Eden? No. And any pastor or politician or business leader who tells you they can is sadly mistaken. If an angel is guarding the tree of life with a “flaming sword” there’s no way we can get back in. But who can?
The Lord will restore the garden through Christ Jesus. (Proverbs 3:32-35, 19-20) Proverbs 3:32-35 32 For the Lord detests the perverse but takes the upright into his confidence. 33 The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. 34 He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed. 35 The wise inherit honor, but fools get only shame. (NIV)
God promises to bless the righteous. But last time I checked if I’m a descendent of the first man, Adam, then I’m not upright. I’m perverse. I’m not righteous. I’m wicked. I’m not humble. I’m a mocker. I’m not wise. I’m a fool. This is why we need two verses I skipped over earlier and the big story of the Bible.
Proverbs 3:19-20 19 By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; 20 by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.
If you’re not convinced wisdom can lead us back to the garden you should be because God created the world through wisdom itself. Wisdom is an attribute of God, a characteristic or description of who he is. God uniquely crafted all of creation through this aspect of himself. God is wisdom. It’s a metaphor, a word picture. It’s poetry. It’s not that wisdom is God but that God is wisdom just like God is love. Wisdom is part of who God is. Proverbs 3:19-20 is a small snippet of a much more expansive passage in Proverbs 8 describing how God created everything through wisdom.
Proverbs 8:22-31 22 “The Lord brought me (wisdom) forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; 23 I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. 24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water; 25 before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, 26 before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth. 27 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, 28 when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, 29 when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. 30 Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, 31 rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.
God created everything through Wisdom. Paul then identifies who exactly wisdom is.
Colossians 1:15-17 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (NIV)
Do you hear the similarities between Proverbs 3, Proverbs 8, and Colossians 1? Do you know what it’s telling us? Jesus is wisdom! Jesus is the perfect embodiment of the wisdom of God. Jesus perfectly encapsulates God’s attribute of wisdom. Jesus is wisdom incarnate, wisdom in the flesh (John 1:1-4, Heb 1:3). If Jesus is wisdom how does this change how we read Proverbs three?
Proverbs 3:13-18 13 Blessed are those who find Christ, those who gain understanding, 14 for Christ is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. 15 Christ is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with him. 16 Long life is in Christ’s right hand; in his left hand are riches and honor. 17 Christ’s ways are pleasant ways, and all his paths are peace. 18 Christ is a tree of life to those who take hold of him; those who hold Christ fast will be blessed. (NIV) (adapted where italicized)
How is this possible? Christ Jesus, through another tree, the cross, has taken our curse so that we who are wicked can become righteous (reversing v33). Do you want peace that lasts? Christ. Do you want peace with God and peace inside your heart and mind and peace with your neighbors? Christ. Do you want eternal rest? Christ. Repent and believe in Christ. Christ is the second Adam, the last Adam, the final Adam who is taking up back to the garden. The prophet John saw it in his vision of the final day.
Revelation 22:1-2 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (that’s Christ) 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (NIV)
The Lord will restore the garden and peace that lasts through Christ Jesus. I heard this illustration from Timothy Keller and I think it’s a good way to end the sermon. Have you ever had a dream where something bad happens to the ones you love? A parent, or spouse, or child dies and there’s nothing you can do about it? How do you feel? Empty. Sad. Heartbroken. It’s a nightmare. But then you wake up… and you realize your loved ones are alive. You roll over and see the one you love so much sleeping there, or you sneak into the other room and see your child sleeping peacefully in their crib. A wave of relief and peace and thankfulness washes over you. It was just a bad dream. When the final trumpet sounds and Christ comes down that’s the kind of feeling you’re gonna have. You’ll wake up and the people you love who knew Christ will all be there. You’ll be reunited with family and friends. The nightmare will be over and we’ll all have peace that lasts. The Lord will restore the garden and peace that lasts through Christ Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon, which includes endnotes and references. Read our story here.
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Last week we celebrated our high-school graduates Caleb, George, and Mackenna. When I surprised them by asking for one things we could pray for them George asked for prayer that it would all “end well.” Now we weren’t exactly sure what that meant—the end of college, the end of life? But I think he meant successfully wrap up the end of this stage of his life and smoothly transition into the next stage, college.
I remember one of the things I worried about a lot when I was a high school graduate was my future. What was I supposed to do? What should I get a degree in? What did God want me to do? And those of us who are future–oriented people probably worry about similar things like this. What job does God want me to do? Where does he want our family to live? Or maybe how will I pay the bills or where will I go to school?
Today in Proverbs God doesn’t tell us what is going to happen in the detail we might like but he does say that if we trust and obey him with today he will take care of the rest. A wise future is not a worried future but something completely different.
I want to give you my big idea up front. Here it is. Submit your whole life to God and he will take care of the rest. As we we walk through this life God gives us the gift of confidence in him—that if we seek him and his ways he will make it worth it. The first verse of Proverbs 3 introduces us to this future-hope.
1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, 2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.
If we seek to understand and obey God’s teachings and commands found in the Bible one of the benefits God may grant us is a long, peaceful, and prosperous life. But this is different than the prosperity gospel, which promises that you will get what you want if you just have enough faith. This is saying that as we treat others well and live the way God intends natural blessings will result. But Proverbs are not so much promises for this life as they are principles for this life and promises for the life to come. A life lived God’s way will generally result in long-life, peace, and prosperity in this life and will most certainly result in long-life, peace, and prosperity in the life to come with Christ Jesus. While the short-term benefits of Proverbs aren’t guarantees the long–term benefits are. Submit your whole life to God and he will take care of the rest.
Verses 1-2 act as an introduction to verses 3-12, which includes five-admonitions (speaking with authority) that all fall under this umbrella concept of “How to submit your whole life to God:” First, if you want God to take care of your future…
Submit your heart. (v3-4) 3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. (NIV)
What type of love and faithfulness are we to have? As these verses come right after verses 1-2 I think it’s first talking about a love for God and his Word. We find this same thing in a famous passage our verses in Proverbs are echoing, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, the Shema (which is Hebrew for “hear”), which goes like this:
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (NIV)
The Shema ties loving God with loving and knowing God’s words. You can’t love someone without listening to them. We talked about ways we can receive God’s Word last week—by believing it, memorizing it, accepting it. So submit your heart to God by loving his word. Simple, right?
When I talk to most people I find we want to love God’s Word but find it kind of boring. The Bible is super long and can be hard to read. And if that’s what it means, at least partially, to submit your heart to God, then that can be frustratingly difficult. Most of us don’t immediately love the Bible when we pick it up.
I want to share a personal story with you that you might immediately judge me for but I think some parents will be able to relate to. When Elijah was born and I picked him up and I held him for the first time… I did not feel an overwhelming sense of love. I know some people’s story is that the moment they picked up their newborn baby child for the first time they felt their hearts melt, but that wasn’t my story. I was grateful he was here and that he was healthy and I loved him in theory, but I wasn’t crying or overwhelmed by emotions. It took me about 3-4 months to really warm up and begin to develop that feeling of love for him. And now I’m just a mess for him. I love him so much.
My point is that for many of us it takes time to develop love. Mark recently told me “love” is spelled “t-i-m-e… time.” If you want to love to God, if you want to submit your heart to him, spend time with him. Spend time in the Word. If you have trouble doing it alone, then study God’s Word with a friend or in a group. Maybe you won’t love it at first but the longer you spend with God’s words the more you will begin to develop that feeling of love over time.
What’s the reward? The benefit? God will be pleased and others will (Lord willing) see a life well-lived and give you their favor. They’ll respect you and treat you fairly as you treat them with respect and fairness. How do we submit our whole-lives to God? It starts with submitting our hearts. Second…
Submit your will. (v5-6) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (NIV)
This is our next foundation verse because so many people have found it to be an encouragement. What does it mean to not lean on your own understanding? We’re not to separate our will from God’s desired will as expressed in the Scriptures. So if God says to live a certain way (even if we find it hard to understand or difficult to do) we must submit our will to his will. This all comes down to trust. Do we trust God, who made us and created us and knows how we work, or do we trust ourselves?
Remember in my second sermon in Proverbs how I talked about the two paths? God gives each of us the opportunity to walk down path #1 “the way of the foolish” or path #2 “the way of the wise.” Sometimes we think this means God is going to tell us our exact path, like he’s going to map out our lives for us. That doesn’t seem to be how God works or what the Bible says. God rarely tells us what to do but he always tells us how to do it. Let me repeat that. God rarely tells us what to do but he always tells us how to do it—that’s what it means to walk in the way of wisdom.
God rarely tells us what job we are supposed to take but he always tells us to do a good job that is ethical, fair, and just.
Proverbs 22:29 Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank. (NIV)
God rarely tells us where to live but he always tells us to treat our neighbors well.
Proverbs 3:29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you. (NIV)
God rarely tells us who we are supposed to marry but the kind of person we should marry.
Proverbs 12:4 A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones. (NIV)
It’s as we do these things that God will take care of our futures. It’s as we walk down the path of wisdom that we can be confident that it will end well. First, submit your heart and second, submit your will.
Before we move onto the third way to submit your whole life to God I want to play a brief minute and a half video of one businessman describing his love for God’s Word in Proverbs and how he learns to trust God’s ways in them (play video). Submit your whole life to God and he will take care of the rest. First, submit your heart, second, submit your will. Third…
Submit your perspective. (v7-8) 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. (NIV)
Proverbs isn’t like our modern-day self-help books that tell us how great we are and how we can do it. It does just the opposite. It tells us not to think of ourselves too highly but to think of God highly. There’s a parallel here between being “wise in your own eyes” and “shun[ing] evil.” To be wise in your own eyes—to think you have it all figured out—is evil. To be wise in your own eyes is really really bad in the book of Proverbs. It’s worse than being a fool.
Proverbs 26:12 Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them. (NIV)
I was sitting outside the library in Falmouth this week and I looked over at a tree that had red leaves and it was one of the most beautiful trees I’d ever seen. Its leaves were a vivid red, it was full, it was lush. But then I wondered if I was seeing it right because I was wearing sunglasses. I took them off and the tree became a dull dry red. My lenses were distorting reality—making it look better than it actually was. I put my sunglasses back on and it became vivid-red again. Have you ever heard the expression “rose–colored glasses”? Sometimes we see things for better than what they are. Proverbs warns us that this is nowhere more true than when we are looking in the mirror. We don’t see ourselves for who we are but for who we want to be. We all think our reasons and motivations and actions are better than they actually are.
But there is a way we can change our perspective. We need brothers and sisters in Christ who love us enough to tell us what we really look like. It’s as God uses them to change our point of view (POV) that we can walk down the path of wisdom. It’s actually as God is changing our perspective that we can see how he has taken care of our past and have faith he will take care of our future. Submit your whole life to God and he will take care of the rest. First, submit your heart, second, submit your will, third, submit your perspective. Fourth…
Submit your money. (v9-10) 9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. (NIV)
Proverbs is brilliant. Maybe you think it’s going off on a tangent but the author Solomon knows exactly what he’s doing. When we start to worry about the future what’s one of the first things we do, we close up our wallets and our generosity dries up. We cling to our money.
Proverbs 11:24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. (NIV)
If we trust God will provide for all our needs, even in want we can still find ways to be generous and give to the Lord and others. We can give confidently and joyfully that he will take care of us. Submit your whole life to God and he will take care of the rest. First, submit your heart, second, submit your will, third, submit your perspective, fourth, submit your money. Fifth…
Submit your sin. (v11-12) 11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, 12 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. (NIV)
Come to God’s Word and receive your Heavenly Father’s loving correction. We have a Heavenly Father who loves us so much he is willing to correct us. Here’s the Gospel connection. He loves us so much he was willing to discipline his one and only Son in whom he delighted so that you and I can be forgiven. The Father allowed his perfect Son, a Son who had done no wrong, a Son who always submitted to his Father’s will, to be punished as a guilty sinner so that you and I can be counted as righteous. It’s like the Father sees us through rose–colored glasses because of the blood of Jesus. His life was cut short so that you and I can experience an eternally long, completely peaceful, and unimaginably prosperous life to come.
At the end of the day it’s impossible to perfectly submit your heart and will and perspective and money and sin to the Lord. If you walk out of here and try to do it in your own strength you’ll become disenfranchised that Christianity doesn’t work. It’s impossible to perfectly submit to God. But Jesus did. And by doing so he won us eternal life. And now, empowered and lead by the Holy Spirit, you and I can begin to submit our hearts and wills and perspectives and money and sin to the Lord and one day when we’re welcomed into eternity God will finish the job he started—making us perfect like Christ.
Submit your whole life to God and he will take care of the rest. Don’t worry about the future. God will take care of it. Focus today on walking down that path ofwisdom and God will lead you where he wants you. Submit your heart, your will, your perspective, your money, and your sin. Submit your whole life to God and he will take care of the rest.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon, which includes endnotes and references. Read our story here.
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Last week we celebrated our high-school graduates Caleb, George, and Mackenna. When I surprised them by asking for one things we could pray for them George asked for prayer that it would all “end well.” Now we weren’t exactly sure what that meant—the end of college, the end of life? But I think he meant successfully wrap up the end of this stage of his life and smoothly transition into the next stage, college. I remember one of the things
Have you ever had someone try to sell you something? What’s the typical pattern a salesperson uses? First, they tell you all the amazing benefits of their service or product. “Our miracle product…
…will lower cholesterol…” …will help you burn fat and lose weight…” …will keep your information safe and secure…” …will give you better gas mileage…” …will make you happy and content…”
And then once you’re convinced they show you the price tag…
“For only four payments of $999.99…” “If you only eat Subway for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day…” “If you sign up for our monthly never-ending subscription-based service…” “Your monthly car payment can be as low as…” “If you sign your life and soul over we will…”
The typical pattern is—here’s the benefits and then here’s how you get them. Today, I want to reverse that pattern. First, I want to tell you how to get wisdom, and then I want to tell you its benefits. This is the pattern our passage takes and I like it because when I finally tell you the benefits of wisdom you’ll be able to weigh in your own mind if it’s worth it. So first…
How to get wisdom: Wisdom is “skill for living”, but living God’s way instead of our own way. Once again the father-figure in Proverbs is teaching his son (who we can all put ourselves in the place of) how to get wisdom. He tells him four ways to get wisdom (not four different ways). You should do them all if you want to get wisdom.
Proverbs 2:1-5 1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. (NIV)
The first way to get wisdom we find in verse one.
- Belief in God’s Word (v1) The father-figure says, “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you…” The author Solomon is talking about a father’s words found in the book of Proverbs, but he’s also talking about God’s whole Word, the Hebrew Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament today). The word for commands (mitsvah) can also mean the laws God gave his people Israel (Gen 26:5; Exod 26:28). So it’s like Solomon or the father-figure is saying, “My son, if you want wisdom, believe in God’s Word.”
Each one of us comes to a turning point in our lives where we have to decide the final rule for our lives. Is it going to be God’s unchanging perfect words and commands that although they are hard we know they are good, true, and best? Or are we going to choose our own feelings and intuitions and desires and what the world says is best? God’s Word offers us a firm-foundation for our lives, a foundation that won’t let us down. But if we choose anything else we’re choosing something that might say one thing today and a different thing tomorrow. Eggs are good for you. Eggs are bad for you. Drink coffee. Coffee is bad for you. Drink more milk. Drink soy milk. Drink almond milk. How about with the serious things? Divorce is bad. Get a divorce if it makes you happy. Divorce is actually detrimental to society. How many issues can you think of where 10-20 years ago everyone said one things and now today people say just the opposite? That is shifting sands, that’s stormy waters (James 1:5-8). I want to build my life on the rock of God’s Word that never changes. First, we get wisdom by believing in God’s Word.
- Memorization of God’s Word (v1) We’re still in verse one. What does it mean to “store up” something? Did any of you prepare for Y2K? So kids, a long time ago everyone was worried that when the clocks on our computers turned from December 31st 1999 to January 1st 2000 there was going to be a computer meltdown that would cause food shortages and financial errors—the apocalypse. So to prepare people stored up canned food, powdered food, dried food, and water and drinks that wouldn’t go bad. Our family bought powdered peach drink. So by golly if the world failed we were still going to have our powdered peach drink. And when Y2K came and no one but Blockbuster video had problems we still had our peach drink and it tasted good.
We “stored up” to avert disaster. Likewise, God calls us to “store up” his Word within us to avert disaster in our lives. How do we do that? By memorizing the Bible. This is one of the reasons we have a foundation verse at Cornerstone for every sermon series. We want to encourage each other to “store up” God’s Word in our own hearts because God uses it to strengthen us, give us hope, and teach us how to live. Cut the foundation verse out of the bulletin. Put it on your mirror or in your Bible, somewhere you will see it and memorize it. Memorize other verses too, one’s that will remind you of hope and God’s love and promises. Second, we get wisdom by memorizing God’s Word.
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Acceptance of God’s Word (v2) Proverbs 2:2 says to turn our ears to wisdom and apply our hearts to understanding. Do you ever get in a disagreement and the person you’re fighting with says, “You’re not listening to me!” Sometimes that’s true. One person is not paying attention because they’re too busy talking or thinking. But usually that means “You’re not agreeing with me.” Proverbs 2 is saying to get wisdom we need to hear it with our ears and accept it with our hearts and agree to it with our lives. We need to open ourselves up and let God’s Words and ways sink deep into who we are. In Hebrew culture the heart was the core of a person, their true identity. We don’t want God’s Word to go in one ear and out the other, but go in through the ear, through the mind, and down deep into our heart. When I prepare sermons that’s one of the things I think about. I want God’s Word to affect me first but then I want it to affect you all too. We don’t want to just sit here and hear without listing or agreeing. Third, we get wisdom by accepting God’s Word.
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Ask God for it (prayer) (v3-4) This is perhaps the simplest way to get wisdom, ask God for it. Verse 3 tells us to “call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding” (NIV). If you want wisdom, pray that God will give you some. Sometimes prayer is the only step we take. We ask God for wisdom but we don’t try to memorize and understand his Word. Prayer goes hand and hand with God’s Word. It’s like peanut butter and jelly or eggs and bacon or since we’re in New England it’s like fish and chips. God’s Word and prayer together make a delicious wisdom platter. If you want wisdom, ask God for it.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (NIV)
I’ve been listening to teachings on Proverbs by Dr. Bruce Waltke from BiblicalTraining.org. I recommend checking it out if you want to grow in your understanding of the Bible. One of the points Waltke makes is that wisdom isn’t just knowing how to make the right decision, but wisdom is a character quality. When you and I pray for wisdom it’s not only that we would make the right choice (it is that) but it’s also praying that God would make us into the kind of people who would make the right choice. It’s praying God would develop our character so we choose with integrity and discernment.
So how do we get wisdom? First, by believing in God’s Word. Second, by memorizing God’s Word. Third, by accepting God’s Word, and fourth, by asking God for wisdom through prayer. Now I’ve told you how to get wisdom, but what are the benefits of wisdom? What makes it worth doing all those things? What makes it worth signing up?
The benefits of wisdom: The point of these things is not just to do them for the sake of doing them, but for the sake of something greater. Did you ever watch those old Mastercard commercials? A man and woman walk into a gas station. As the gas station attendant rings up their purchases he says:
chips: $3 frozen beverage: $2 gas: $31 starting a new life together: priceless…
But then the woman shakes her head “no” so the gas station attendant tries again.
rekindling a fire that never went out? (she shakes her head again) satisfying a much-needed slushy fix?… Priceless.
So what’s the priceless things we are seeking by pursuing wisdom? God himself.
Knowing God (v5-6) Verse 5 says if we seek wisdom, “then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” The fear of the Lord is believing that God’s “threats are real and his promises are true”. Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the grave shows us that God’s threats are real—that if we don’t deal with our sins he will put us to death—but that his promises are real—that if we put our faith and trust in him he will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It’s as we come to understand who God is through Christ Jesus that we begin to actually know God.
Do you want to know about God or know God? You might know a lot of things about your favorite celebrity or professional sports athlete, you might know what movies they’re in or their batting average, but that doesn’t mean you know them. There’s a simple test for if you know them. Do they know you? If I were to walk up to Tom Cruise or or Tom Brady and if I were to name drop your name what would they say? “Oh yeah. I know him!” Or more likely… “Who?”
Come with me one step further. If I were to walk up to God and to name drop your name what would he say? “Oh yes, I know her. I love her very much.” Or “Who?” We seek wisdom because we’re seeking God. We want to know him. But the next verse tells us this is only possible by God’s grace.
Proverbs 2:6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (NIV)
We can only know God if God wants to know us. We can only acquire wisdom if God wants to give it to us. It’s both an “as we seek” and an “as he gives” kind of exchange. We seek to obey and know God and God gives us a relationship with him. Or put it in the reverse. God gives us a relationship with him and so we obey and know God. What’s the priceless benefit of wisdom? Knowing God himself.
The benefits just keep growing out of this. If you know God you’re part of the family and God protects you.
Proverbs 2:7-8 7 He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 8 for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. (NIV)
God’s protection (v7-19) God’s wisdom grants us protection from potential disasters. I don’t mean natural disasters but rather God’s wisdom protect us from ourselves, from bad things we might do. God’s wisdom protects us from:
Committing injustice (v9-11) – Sinning against others by treating them unfairly. If God gives us his wisdom we will want to treat others with fairness and equity even at cost to ourselves. Wicked men (or women) who love sin (v12-15) – We talked last week about “those who take advantage of others for their own gain.” As God grants us wisdom and character like his we won’t be drawn to them but will recognize them for who they are. Unfaithful women (or men) who break their marriage promise (v16-19) – Verse 16 says that “Wisdom will save you […] from the wayward woman with her seductive words.” (NIV) Sometimes beauty might cause a break in marriage vows but often it is words, words of affirmation and acceptance. It’s a listening ear. Emotional adultery comes before acting it out. God gives us wisdom so we know how to stay away from relationships that lead to this kind of disaster.
But there’s one more benefit to wisdom.
A forever home with God (v20-22) Proverbs 2:21 says, “For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;” (NIV) It’s an interesting way to close this passage in Proverbs because it’s a reminder to the Israelite people that they get to stay in the promised land if they obey God and keep his commandments (Exod 20:12).
But where’s the promise for us? The benefits of wisdom are knowing God, protection from mistakes in this life, and an eternal home with God in the life to come. Hebrews says that the heroes of our faith “were longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (Heb 11:16). If that’s you, if you’re longing for a better home, pursue wisdom. Seek God by believing his Word, memorizing it, accepting it, and prayer.
Last Saturday a team from Cornerstone went and helped build a home for two families in Lowell through Habitat for Humanity. We spent most of our Saturday working on trim in the bedrooms and a sump-pump in the basement. As part of the deal to become homeowners those receiving the homes have to put in 400 hours of labor themselves. It’s not easy. It takes effort. Their house is a gift, but a gift they help work for. Wisdom is a gift, but it’s a gift we help work for. Knowing God is a gift, spending eternity with him is a gift, his protection is a gift, but it’s a gift we seek by seeking wisdom. Seek wisdom and find your forever home with God.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon, which includes endnotes and references. Read our story here.
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Have you ever had someone try to sell you something? What’s the typical pattern a salesperson uses? First, they tell you all the amazing benefits of their service or product. “Our miracle product… …will lower cholesterol…” …will help you burn fat and lose weight…” …will keep your information safe and secure…” …will give you better gas mileage…” …will make you happy and content…” And then once you’re convinced they show you the price tag… “For only four payments of $999.99…”
Have you ever taken a wrong turn? In today’s world if you have a smart phone wrong turns should be less and less common. If you have Google or Apple Maps or Waze you should never miss a turn, and yet sometimes we still do. When I get to the place my GPS says to turn it’s not as clear as my phone says it should be. The off-ramps merge into two lanes going generally the same direction and you
Have you ever taken a wrong turn? In today’s world if you have a smart phone wrong turns should be less and less common. If you have Google or Apple Maps or Waze you should never miss a turn, and yet sometimes we still do. When I get to the place my GPS says to turn it’s not as clear as my phone says it should be. The off-ramps merge into two lanes going generally the same direction and you have to guess which one to take, the left or right. Once when Monica and I were driving on I90 we missed an exit and the next option was ten miles away. A wrong turn can cost you significant time and energy.
Today I want to explain how not to take a wrong turn in your walk with God. I want to tell you about two paths, one that leads to life and the other death, and I’m hoping Lord willing by the end of today’s message you will understand how to take the right turn. I’m hoping there won’t be any confusion about the pathway. God offers each of us a clear way forward that leads to eternal life with him. Now the first seven chapters of the book of Proverbs are written to “my son.” A son figure is being presented with a choice.
“My son” – Presented with a choice. (v8-9) I’ve gone ahead and illustrated “my son” with a small icon in the shape of a man. This does not mean Proverbs is only written to young men. It’s written to whoever wants to read and learn from it. Anyone can pick up and read a copy of the Hunger Games, but it’s young adult fiction. Likewise Proverbs is written with young men in mind. It’s written with an ideal father and mother giving advice to their son. Usually it’s the father who speaks but here we see both fatherandmother offering parental wisdom.
Proverbs 1:8-9 8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. 9 They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. (NIV)
What does the father do? He presents his son with two paths, the way of folly and the way of wisdom. If you keep a two-paths framework in mind as we read the book of Proverbs it will make things simpler as we will often encounter a contrast, “choose this, not that.”
Proverbs 28:10 Whoever leads the upright along an evil path will fall into their own trap, but the blameless will receive a good inheritance. (NIV)
Here we see that contrast between a bad path and good path. Together the father and mother urge their son to stay away from the evil path, the way of the foolish.
Path #1 – The way of the foolish (v10-19) The way of the foolish is a life lived against God and for oneself. Proverbs unashamedly calls anyone who rejects God a “fool” because the final consequence is death. In today’s Proverb the father warns the son of a specific type of fool—the type who is willing to take advantage of others for their own gain.
Proverbs 1:10-11, 15-16, 18-19 10 My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them. 11 If they say, “Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for innocent blood, let’s ambush some harmless soul; […]
15 my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; 16 for their feet rush into evil, they are swift to shed blood. […]
18 These men lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush only themselves! 19 Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the life of those who get it.
So here’s the point our proverb is making. Don’t take advantage of others and avoid those who do. Those who do are sinful men, evil men, and even though in the short-term their decisions seem good in the end their actions will prove harmful, even destructive, to themselves and any who join them.
In Proverbs chapter one the father is essentially warning his son not to join a gang. Now the likelihood of most of us being recruited by the Crips or the Bloods or the Jets or the Sharks is pretty low. But we do regularly encounter a way of thinking that says to take care of “me and my own first” and that way of thinking comes at the expense of others.
Has your friend ever told you to steal that candy or toy or outfit from the store because it’ll be awesome? That’s the way of the fool. Hasyour classmate ever told you to copy their homework or asked if they could copy yours even though that won’t help you learn? That’s the way of the fool. Has your college buddy ever encouraged you to take advantage of that guy or that girl that likes you. That’s the way of the fool. Have you ever been tempted to sell a car or lawnmower on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace and not inform the potential buyer of some of its problems? That’s the way of the fool. (On your frontline) Has your supervisor or coworker ever told you to cover up a mistake at the expense of your company’s client? That’s the way of the fool.
Proverbs is here to guide us like a GPS that never leads us wrong. We’re all presented with choices in this life. Don’t make the wrong turn. Avoid path #1, the way of the foolish. But is there any alternative? Proverbs chapter 2 actually tells us about another path.
Proverbs 2:12-13 12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, 13 who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, (NIV)
God invites us to walk in the way of wisdom, the second path.
Path #2 – The way of the wise (v20-33) Last week I defined wisdom (“hokmah) as “the skill of living.” But it’s not just living any way you want. It’s living “for God.” It’s living life in a way that honors God and is according to his plan and not our own. We live for God by believing in God, respecting him, obeying him, and having a relationship with him. Proverbs calls this “the fear of the Lord.”
Now if you were a father and wanted to have a lengthy conversation with your son about wisdom you might do some creative things to hold your son’s attention on the topic of wisdom. Maybe you would personify wisdom. Maybe you would describe wisdom as a courageous, smart, and engaging woman—just to help hold your teenage boy’s interest. “Son, have I got just the girl for you. Her name is wisdom and she is hot!” And that’s what we see in Proverbs.
Proverbs 1:20-21 20 Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; 21 on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech: (NIV)
This girl is completely different than the way of the wicked. She’s not hiding in ambush. She’s out in the open bravely calling out in the “public square.” The ESV translates “public square” as “markets.” This is the marketplace. This is the broad open plaza where business and government and news happen. Wisdom offers her good path to everyone in every part of life.
Remember how I said the foolish take advantage of others for their own gain. If that’s path number one, then you would expect that path number two, the way of wisdom, offers a positive alternative. I want to play a 2-minute clip highlighting a company and one of its employees that has the opportunity to take advantage of others and is instead choosing path #2 – the way of the wise (play video here). From this video we see a company trying to avoid the way of the foolish and walk in the way of the wise.
What’s one way you can walk in the way of the wise this week? What’s one way you can follow lady wisdom? It might not look like the woman from the clip, but what does it look like in your context?
Lady wisdom does not withdraw out of fear for her own safety but boldly enters into the public square so that any can enter into a relationship with her. That’s just like God, isn’t it? Through Jesus God enters into our world full of brokenness and sin in order to bring us into right relationship with himself. I believe that wisdom is a personification or metaphor for God. A metaphor is figure of speech, a word picture. Wisdom is a picture of God himself entering into our world to bring us closer to him. Why else in the next two verses would we need to repent unless by disobeying wisdom we are disobeying God?
Proverbs 1:22-23 22 “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? 23 Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings. (NIV)
Wisdom is the ideal girl any parent would want their son to marry. But wisdom is also a picture of God. Wisdom can be two things at once because this is poetry. It doesn’t fit perfectly into a neat diagram. But that doesn’t mean there’s no limits. Just because wisdom is a metaphor for God doesn’t mean that wisdom is God. Wisdom is a characteristic or attribute of God. Some people have taken the Greek word for wisdom, “sophia” and said “Sophia is God,” so we can worship and pray and sing to the goddess Sophia, the fourth person of the Trinity. That’s heresy. That’s a lie and that’s not what I am saying. God is not female, but neither is he male. The Bible does use both feminine and masculine imagery to describe God. Wisdom is a symbolic image of God through which we are called to be in relationship with him.
This is serious stuff because there are consequences if we choose to reject wisdom. If we reject wisdom, if we choose not to live the way God designed us to live, we reject God himself and God promises that one day there will come a judgment.
Proverbs 1:24-26 24 But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, 25 since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, 26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you— (NIV)
This isn’t a cruel laugh, but a laugh of goodness defeating evil. It’s the laughter of a child finding a safe and loving forever home. It’s the laughter of an office Christmas party celebrating a record year because they did it right—they served their customers and employees and community well. It’s the laughter of the innocent person declared not guilty at their trial. It’s the laughter of Allied soldiers defeating Hitler and coming home to be with their families. Wisdom and goodness will overthrow sin and it will be good.
Jesus taught there were two paths, one leading to life and the other death.
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (NIV)
If you want to walk the road to life, you need to enter into a relationship with wisdom by entering into a relationship with God. We can only do this through Jesus Christ. None of us can walk the wisdom highway perfectly. We all stumble and fall into the way of the foolish. That’s why we need a Savior. That’s why we need someone who our Heavenly Father calls, “my Son!” Jesus is the Son who actually did all the things Proverbs calls us to do. He was perfectly wise. Perfectly obedient. He was the perfect embodiment of God’s wisdom (Proverbs 8:22-31; Colossians 1:15-17). If you repent of your sins and believe in him, the perfect Son, God will grant you eternal life. When God counts up your life he’ll count Christ’s wise record instead of our foolish records. Listen to how the last verse ends.
Proverbs 1:33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
God offers refuge in himself. There is safety in wisdom because there is safety in God. No one can steal you from him, not even yourself. So which path will you choose? Path #1 – The way of the foolish, which leads to death? Or Path #2 – The way of the wise, which leads to eternal life? Which way have you been living? If you’ve been living the way of the fool, Christ invites you to repent and he will forgive you. God invites. you into a relationship with him through his Son Jesus Christ. I hope you’ll choose the right path. I hope you’ll choose Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon, which includes endnotes and references. Read our story here.
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If you had to choose one proverb to live your life by, what would it be? Would it be? “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” Maybe you’re all about individual responsibility and high quality work. Or how about? “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That’s the golden rule, right? That seems like a pretty good proverb to live by. Or maybe you’ve heard this one? “Good things come to those who
If you had to choose one proverb to live your life by, what would it be? Would it be?
“If you want something done right, do it yourself.” Maybe you’re all about individual responsibility and high quality work. Or how about? “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That’s the golden rule, right? That seems like a pretty good proverb to live by. Or maybe you’ve heard this one? “Good things come to those who wait.” I don’t think I would recommend choosing that one even if that one proves to be true. Some of you may know someone who would choose this proverb. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” On the other side some of you may be thinking… “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” By the way. This is not a Bible verse. Some believe… “Fortune favors the bold.” But others think… “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
What if you choose a proverb from the Bible? Would you live your life by one of those?
Proverbs 15:22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. (NIV)
That one tells us its good to get advice from many people before going forward with your plans. How about?
Proverbs 16:9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. (ESV)
Making this one your life–proverb would bolster your confidence in God, wouldn’t it? But there are other proverbs that might not make so much sense.
Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. (NIV)
So should Christians always pick straws to make decisions? Proverbs are generally true but not true all the time. For example the saying “many hands make light work” is a type of proverb. That’s often true. The more people that chip in on a job the faster it usually goes. But what if those hands belong to babies? Then many hands make more and more work. So we should never read a proverb as a universal truth but try to understand the general truth it is trying to communicate to us. If we don’t they can really confuse us.
Proverbs 26:9 Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. (NIV)
Has anyone ever quoted a proverb at you instead of for you? Proverbs can hurt. It’s easy to misapply them. But I believe there is a Proverb in this book that God is calling us to live by and it’s one that is always good all the time. As I begin to tell you about that Proverb I have four questions I want us to answer. 1) What is a proverb? 2) Why Proverbs? 3) Who is Proverbs for? 4) What’s the big idea of Proverbs? So first…
1. What is a proverb? (v1) The first seven verses of the book of Proverbs are a preamble. Preamble is not a word I use very often but it means an introductory remark or opening statement. So the book of Proverbs introduces itself and explains what a proverb is in the first seven verses. It starts like this…
Proverbs 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: (NIV)
The word “proverb” comes from the Hebrew word “mashal” and means “a short, pithy saying” that’s “easy to remember.” The exact same word in Hebrew can also mean “to rule” or “govern” so you get the idea that proverbs are short, pithy, statements we use to rule or govern our lives. So with that in mind I’d like to propose this definition of what a Proverb is.
Proverbs are brief poetic sayings meant to teach us wisdom.
Have you ever heard someone say something that was both brief and poetic and you thought, “Wow, that was really good!” I short clip went viral recently with Keanu Reeves and Stephen Colbert. Colbert was interviewing Keanu Reeves, the star of the Matrix, and he asked him. “What do you think happens when we die, Keanu Reeves?” Keanu sat back, took a deep breath in and out, and said, “I know that the ones who love us will miss us.” To which Stephen Colbert shook his hand. What he said sounded like a Proverb. It was short, poetic, and meaningful.
But Proverbs are God’s word and they have something special to teach us—wisdom. The Hebrew word for wisdom—“hokmah”—at its most basic level means “the skill of living.” But it’s not just any kind of living, like living for the weekend or for my bank account or for my family, it’s living for God. It’s living the way he designed us to live. Wisdom is living a life that honors God every day in every part of our life.
Wisdom is knowing how to have a good marriage, which God said we can have if we do it his way. Wisdom is knowing how to be a good parent in a way that honors God and is good for your child. Wisdom is using your money thoughtfully and fairly whether you’re rich or poor. Wisdom is a politician or government official who governs justly and won’t let those with the money and power make the rules. Wisdom is knowing the right thing to say and when to say it and how to say it. Wisdom is a business owner who creates a high-quality product and treats her employees and customers well. Wisdom helps us navigate the big important high-stakes decisions, but also the normal choices we encounter everyday.
Verse one attributes these first Proverbs to king Solomon son of David. David was the most famous king of Israel and he made his son Solomon king at an early age. When he became king Solomon offered a great sacrifice to the Lord, “a thousand burnt offerings” (1 Kings 3:4b). Then God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked him what he could give him.
Because he was young he asked God to give him wisdom to rule over God’s people Israel. That pleased God so much so that he gives him wisdom and discernment but also wealth and honor (1 Kings 3:1-15). And then right after this the Bible tells a story demonstrating Solomon’s wisdom. Two women appeared before Solomon fighting over a baby. One woman had rolled on her own baby during the night and accidentally killed it, and she had stolen the other woman’s baby to be her own. But of course she denied the accusation. How was Solomon to know which woman was right? They didn’t have DNA tests back then.
He tells his soldiers to bring him a sword and he says to cut the baby in half and give one half to each woman. The real mother says, “No! Don’t kill him. Give her the baby” but the fake says, “Cut him in two!” And that’s how Solomon figured it out. The real mom would never say such a thing (1 Kings 3:16-28). God had given Solomon supernatural wisdom, and now through the book of Proverbs you and I have an opportunity to receive supernatural wisdom for our lives too. We can learn “The skill of living (for God)” in our everyday lives.
2. Why Proverbs? (v2-4) Why did I choose Proverbs for us? When I was growing up almost every night my dad would come into our boys’ dormitory, sit on the side of my bed, and he would pray that God would give us “wisdom.” You may have heard recently that the President dropped by a big church outside of Washington DC for prayer. That was the church I used to go to when I lived in Falls Church Virginia. And what did the Pastor pray for the President? He prayed for wisdom. It doesn’t matter if you’re a child or the President of the United States. We all need wisdom—we all need to know how to live our life the way God designed it.
In verses 2-6 Proverbs gives us its purpose–statement. It tells us why Solomon and the other authors we’ll encounter later in the book compiled this book of wisdom sayings.
Proverbs 1:2-4 2 for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; 3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; 4 for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— (NIV)
We read and study Proverbs in order to gain wisdom. Verses 2-4 expand our understanding of what wisdom is by using similar words that broaden its definition and add depth.
Instruction (muwsar)
When we think of instruction we think of going to class, but this word has a serious tone to it. It can mean discipline, correction, or punishment. This instruction can include verbal rebukes (Prov 12:1) or physical punishment (Prov 13:24). Like, “My boss gave me firm instruction on how I was wrong” or “my dad instructed me with a swift punishment.” Why Proverbs? Even though it’s never fun sometimes we need correction and the book of Proverbs offers us that correction.
Understanding (biyn)
This word “describes a depth of knowledge beyond mere awareness…” You perceive it. You discern it. See, I understand how to use a tape measure, and hammer, and nails, but my level of understanding is pretty shallow. But if you ask someone like Bruce how to use a tape measure, and hammer, and nails, he can show you a whole lot more because of his years of construction experience. Why Proverbs? We don’t want to be shallow people. We want to get it, we want to have a deep understanding of how life works.
Knowledge (da’at)
This means “to know.” Wisdom is not the exact same thing as knowledge or intelligence. It can include those things, but you don’t have to have a high IQ to be wise. You can be great at Jeopardy but a horrible person. Having a high IQ means you’re great at doing math and thinking logically but that doesn’t mean you know how to live life God’s way. Wisdom is more like having a high EQ, emotional intelligence. You might not have the largest intellect in the room but if you recognize and understand your own emotions, don’t let your emotions control you, and you can recognize what others are feeling and empathize with them, then you have a high EQ. EQ not IQ is more like wisdom. Wisdom does require knowledge of situations and people but you don’t have to be a genius to be wise.
As a church we can have all the Bible knowledge in the world but if we don’t know how to put it into practice in our everyday lives then we’re missing the point. If we know lot’s of Bible trivia but aren’t worshipping God and developing a relationship with him or growing as disciples or if we’re not loving our neighbor or caring for the least of these then we’re missing the point. Paul warns us in the New Testament “… knowledge puffs up while love builds up” (1 Cor 8:1). Everything we learn about God should go right into practice. Why proverbs? Because we want the knowledge necessary to act wisely. What other words describe wisdom?
Righteousness (sedeq), justice (mispat), and fairness (mesarim)
When you understand how to live life God’s way, when you have the knowledge to do it, and when you have friends and family who are willing to correct you, the outcome is going to be right, just, and fair. There’s a social aspect to wisdom. Wisdom helps me treat my neighbor, coworker, and family members with respect and dignity. Wisdom helps me save thoughtfully but also give generously to the poor and homeless (Prov 11:24-25). Wisdom helps me look beyond myself to the needs of others. Why proverbs? It helps us get past surface-level knowledge to real depth and it helps us love our neighbors well.
3. Who is Proverbs for? (v4-6) A better way of asking this question is, “Who is wisdom for?” Do you want wisdom? If you do, if you honestly truly want to know how to live life the way God intends, then Proverbs is for you.
Proverbs 1:4-6 4 for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— 5 let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance— 6 for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
Proverbs is for everyone. It casts a wide net. If you’re simple, so neither foolish nor wise, then Proverbs is for you. If you’re young—in the first nine chapters it’s written like a father giving advice to his son (he says “my son” over and over again)—so if you’re a teenager or young adult, guy or girl, Proverbs is for you. Or if you are wise already, if you are already discerning, so discerning you have your own genre of wisdom (A Bernieism or something…), Proverbs is for you. Proverbs is for everyone.
4. What’s the big idea of Proverbs? (v7) Now at the end of the preamble (introduction) we find the key-verse for the whole of Proverbs. It’s a verse that’s theme is going to come up again and again throughout Proverbs, “the fear of the Lord.”
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
If you had to choose one proverb to live your whole life by, I’d hope that this would be it. Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. What does it mean to fear the Lord? Dr. Bruce Waltke says, “You really believe his promises are secure and his threats are real.” You believe in God (Psalm 19:1) and you take his words in the Scriptures seriously (Psalm 19:7-9). You understand that God designed the world a certain way and that if you live life that way it will go well for you but if you disobey there will be consequences. Another defined it as “reverent obedience.”
It’s not just fear and reverence of any god. It’s a fear of our God. Do you see in your Bible how “Lord” is in upper case? That’s signaling that this is God’s special covenant name, “Yahweh.” That’s a name he gave his people Israel to identify him. So this is fear and reverence but it’s based on relationship. It’s like the fear a young boy has of his loving father. He knows if he does something wrong his Father will correct him but he also knows that his same father wouldn’t hesitate to lay down his life for him. I don’t know which strikes more fear in a young boy’s heart, the correction or the potential sacrifice.
As we think about the God of the whole Bible we remember that he too will correct us when we need it but he has already laid down a life, the life of his Son Christ Jesus for us. That should strike fear—a reverent awe—in our hearts. Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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So I think we all like the idea of rest and when we think of rest, we probably have different things that come to mind. [pics of rest] So I don’t think Jesus is talking about rest like this in our passage today. Jonathan preached a great sermon on Sabbath last year recommend to go back and listen to it.
Think to yourself if you are tired in any of these ways.
tired of just making ends meet,
tired of chasing after happiness, but never being satisfied,
tired of being angry
tired of giving and not receiving
Tired of trying to find real purpose and understand what’s really important in life,
tired of being scared because you don’t know what tomorrow brings.
If you’re tired in ways like this, then the message today is for you. If you enjoy this rest that Jesus talks of, then I urge you to share this message and hope for rest with a world around you that needs it. but before we get to talk about rest there are a couple of statements from Jesus that seem kind of difficult that we should address but that provide some context for his message.
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
So what is Jesus saying here? What “things” is Jesus referring to? Why is He hiding them? The previous verses give us insight – Jesus has just condemned those who had rejected His invitation. He had lovingly reached out to people in the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum – they had seen Him do miracles and heard His messages, but failed to recognize Him and turn to Him. They were “wise” in that in spite of what they saw and heard, they presumed to know better. They were prideful and their pride kept this good news, these things, hidden, because God is looking for the humble in heart – the little children. God has a tendency of flipping the norms of the world – we usually think it’s the wise and learned who have the upper hand, who have success, who have the best path in life. It’s not to say that having an education or great experience is a limiting factor in coming to Christ, but we have to be humble in heart to receive Him and His rule in our lives. Jesus is praising the Father here because His invitation doesn’t require a particular spiritual IQ, attaining some special knowledge or some well checked to do list, but rather the humble and trusting spirit of a child. Any barrier to God through Jesus, the hiddenness Jesus referred to is, not imposed by God, but rather by our own internal deliberation of one question – will we yield to Him? Having a relationship with the Almighty God wasn’t (and isn’t) about the what one knows as much as the Who one knows.
27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
In this verse Jesus highlights His authority as the Son of God. This was a hugely blasphemous and threatening concept to the religious leaders. But this claim highlights that Jesus has all the authority He needs behind His words. And authority not over a house, a church, a state, a country – everything! Everyone! And given to Him by God – a real challenge to the existing order. Pharisees, Rome, temple. We can know the Father through the revelation of Jesus to us. Not just know facts about Him, but to know Him and have a relationship with Him. No one knows the Father except the son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him – Exclusive statement… But remember – He has just shared broadly in Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum – but the lack of revelation is more about the lack of humility on the hearer’s part than keeping something hidden. The Great Commission Matthew 28 Jesus instructs the disciples to go to all nations or in Acts 1:8 to the ends of the earth. But John 14:6 – no one comes to the Father except through Me. The offer is open, but the requirements are not. The good news is that He is knowable, that He is approachable, and that He is welcoming – but just as we don’t get to define God nor can we define the terms by which we approach Him – He is God after all. When we come to God it’s through a humble spirit we talked about in v26, one that confesses sin, that recognizes and embraces what Jesus has done for us on the cross in accepting the penalty for our sin, and submitting to His design for our lives.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Take a moment to appreciate Jesus’s invitation. It is certainly broad.
There is a present and future context to Jesus’s offer of rest that are interrelated. Let’s start with the future context of this rest. In John 6:37 Jesus says “whoever comes to Me I will never drive away.” There is security in a future rest and it is eternal because there is a time to come when those who bend their hearts to Jesus will experience Heaven.
Revelation 21
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
And because of the authority that Jesus has from v27, we can take confidence in His promise. We can look forward with hope and expectation and know that the troubles of this short 80-90 years pale in comparison to the splendor of eternity with Jesus. God knows we need to have hope, a view to a better time ahead – without it, this life can be overwhelming and feel pointless.
So we have this future context of rest, but there is also a present meaning for us. In promising rest, Jesus particularly cited those who are burdened and heavy laden in verse 28. There are a couple of layers to this as well I believe. The first is the burden of religiosity imposed by the spiritual leaders of that day – the wise and learned from V25. Of huge lists of rules to follow…and after trying to follow this list of rules trails a burden of self-doubt and maybe even guilt. Maybe you know what I’m talking about. Doubts of being good enough, of having done enough good things. Jesus’s approach focused on mercy and God’s heart for the people behind the law (which Jesus says a little bit later in Chapter 12). Jesus was actually frustrated by these folks who made so many rules and seemed to create a barrier of do’s and don’ts between the people and their God. This is where that interrelated nature of the future and present rest come together. We can rest from the burden of trying to attain fellowship with God on our merits on our being good enough and at the same time have confidence in our eternity with Him and an eternal rest based on His mercy and grace towards us.
Secondly, there is also a rest that comes from having a life that is viewed and lived through the lens of eternity and relationship with Christ. When we live like this, the things that seemed so important to have, to get lose their place of importance. We realize that our life isn’t defined by what others think of us, or what we have, or what we know, or where we’ve been, or what we’ve experienced, but we’re defined by the fact that God loves us so that He gave His Son for us to forgive our sins and bridge the separation between Him and us. Then we don’t expend our energy chasing after things that don’t mater.
In verse 30 Jesus said take my yoke upon you. He encouraged us to shed the yoke of the religious elite, the yoke of doubt, the yoke of sinful self-centered approach to life and take His yoke. The point is that there is something to be done in following Christ. There is purpose and meaning specific for you. And when we are following Him and empowered by the Holy Spirit it isn’t heavy because it’s out of love and gratitude. And we realize we’re not just making ends meet, we are part an important part of God’s plan.
For those who follow Christ, it’s easy to fall back into mindsets and patterns that resemble a life without peace, without hope, without confidence, without rest – we need to remember this good news in Jesus Christ is not a fleeting emotion, not a one-time transaction, but something we have access to everyday. Have you heard the term “hangry?” It’s a combination of the words hungry and angry to express the condition when we get short tempered, maybe a little snappy when we are really hungry. There is another one I’d like to introduce – “tungry” – doesn’t have the same ring, does it. But maybe you already know what I’m going to say – it’s that sense of hunger you get when you’re really tired but have to keep going. And of course, when we get like that we’re not looking for carrots but for chocolates. And it’s not healthy to eat like that. I think this occurs in our spiritual lives too – when we get tired – we get tired of giving of ourselves, our time, our resources, our heart – and we turn to the wrong thing to keep us going. I don’t think this is captured anywhere explicitly in scripture, but I think it falls under the scope of idolatry. When we need rest and fulfillment from God, but turn to other things to fill what is lacking instead of to God Himself. Maybe this is why David turned to Bathsheba or Moses whacked the rock or why the young prophet in 1st Kings 13 accepted the lie of the older prophet for nourishment. In each of these cases, someone who clearly loved and followed God took a detour and violated the instruction of God and they each were clearly serving the Lord in very demanding ways. I don’t know if this spiritual tungriness applied in these cases, but I clearly see it in my own life and maybe you can too. I become more and more busy – doing good things mostly – and drift in my walk with the Lord (the length or quality of time I spend with him gets less) and I get tired and rundown and start to think, what about me? When am I going to get mine? And instead of resting and dwelling with God, I can look to other things to get mine, to get my back scratched, to get my cup filled. …maybe God would have fed me in those ways anyway, but when I short-circuit God then those things will not be fulfilling, I will still be tired, and even less satisfied. When you look to people or things to give what only God can, you will be disappointed every time. …and that isn’t fair to the people we love because we will treat them like we’re disappointed and they don’t even know what’s going on. We can see many times Jesus withdrew from the crowds to pray and be refreshed by being in His Father’s presence. That is the path I need to take – go to Him the One who can fill my cup until it runs over. Do you remember what God had said to Nathan regarding David’s failure?
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
This is not a prosperity gospel. I don’t think God would have given Bathsheba to David, but the point was and is the same as Jesus’s promise to us in Matthew to “seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.” In verse 25 Jesus invites us to come to Him as children. Ok – moms – how many times a day do you here Mama or mom? A LOT. But as kids get older, that frequency starts to die down (hopefully!) as kids get older and more independent. In a sense that is a sign of success for parents. But I don’t think God wants us to do that – I think He wants to us to come to Him over and over and over and not “mature” out of our need for Him. I think it’s maybe the opposite – the more we grow in our walk with Christ the more we recognize our very big need and dependency on Him. We see that in Paul’s life – he was wholly dependent on his savior.
We all need rest. We all need to be filled. Jesus satisfies both. As you enter into periods of rest whether it’s summer break, vacation, week Sabbath rest, or our period in July of essential services – seek after Him not to be self-indulged and disappointed. Recognize when you’re tungry and turn to Christ.
I encourage you today whether you have walked with Jesus for years or have not been willing to come to Him in childlike humility. Embrace the rest He offers and remember there is a world around us that would be so grateful for this.
So I think we all like the idea of rest and when we think of rest, we probably have different things that come to mind. [pics of rest] So I don’t think Jesus is talking about rest like this in our passage today. Jonathan preached a great sermon on Sabbath last year recommend to go back and listen to it. Think to yourself if you are tired in any of these ways. tired of just making ends meet, tired of
Sermon Colossians 1:21-23 | Living Life after Jesus’ Death: Who Are You?
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Homiletical Idea: The death of Jesus changes who we are.
Introduction
This week I am going to preach a little differently; a little more interactive; a little less formal; I’ll try to keep the attention of the kids too who are upstairs with us now through the summer. It’s a holiday weekend, there aren’t too many of us here, so we may as well push the envelope. And, although it is certainly not the point of a sermon, I am going to try and have my personality come through a little and let you learn about me since my wife tells me I never do that when I preach. Not sure I never do, but I do think preaching is serious business, and I like to have fun with everything I am doing in life, so maybe I don’t look like I am having fun when I preach. I will try to work on that! Also, I probably tend to teach more than preach. This one will be a lot more preaching and a lot less teaching. I also tend to follow a strict outline and formula for preparing a sermon, but not this time. As an aside, today is my wife’s birthday and our wedding anniversary, be sure to congratulate her on being alive and for putting up with me for well over half her life.
I am generally outgoing, fairly gregarious… okay, sometimes I talk a lot. I don’t generally have trouble making friends or keeping the conversation going. I will attend get togethers where I don’t know many of the people. However, l really don’t like it when someone says, “tell me about yourself”. How many of you can relate to this? I was in this position recently when Stephanie and I visited Moody Bible Institute. We were in a small room with the door closed with a student guide from the college. He turns to me and says, “tell me about yourself”. I wasn’t expecting that. I never have as much trouble talking as I do when someone hands the floor over to me preceded by that question. Do I even know who I am if I can’t answer that question?
A little information for those of you who do not know, one thing about me is that I really like the show Seinfeld. The characters in that show are great, and not just the four main characters, but all the characters. One great character is Sid. He has brief appearances in only two shows, and he apparently parks cars for a living, but he immediately came to mind when I was writing this sermon. He is sort of philosophical in his speech. Sid first appears in the episode “The Alternate Side”, a tremendous season three episode I remember for Jerry’s rant at the rental car agency and most people know for the famous line, “these pretzels are making me thirsty”. In this episode, George fills in for Sid moving cars from one side of the street to the other while Sid is on vacation. Of course, George screws it up. Sid is expressing his displeasure with George and he says, “moving cars from one side of the street to the other doesn’t take any more sense than putting on a pair of pants. If you can put on a pair of pants, you could move those cars. So my question to you is, who puts on your pants?” Sid appears in one more episode, “The Parking Space”. In this episode George and Kramer’s friend Mike Moffit are arguing about a parallel parking space. George was backing in while Mike was coming in forward. Well, Sid is not happy that they are messing up the parking situation on his street, and Sid comes over to clear up this mess. Mike had never met Sid before, and this exchange is the clip that immediately came to mind when I was writing this sermon. [PLAY CLIP 1]
So, do you know who you are? That is the question. Sid apparently knows who he is. Do you know who you are?
Well, it only gets worse when the question is asked to a group of people who don’t know each other well, and you go around the room. Has anyone experienced this? What happens? Generally, however the first person answers, everyone else follows suit, right? So, if the first person tells you what they do for work, where they live, and how many kids they have, guess was the second, third, and fourth people are going to tell you. Yup, same information. Only once in my life have I looked back on such an encounter with satisfaction and pride that I answered this question well; I broke the mold. We were in a corporate setting going around the room telling each other something about ourselves. The first person went with typical drivel and the next five people followed suit. Then a weird thing happened, the seventh person started talking about his childhood like he was laying on the couch at his therapist’s office. He obviously valued his rags to riches story and found his identity in it. He talked about his hardscrabble life growing up poor. He ate chili and American chop suey for dinner, packed saltines for a snack at school (and they weren’t even name brand), wore hand-me-down clothes, and on and on. I got to go next. I mustered up a few fake tears and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t do this, I just found out I grew up poor.”
Identity is an interesting thing. How do you define yourself? What defines you? What is your identity, or what gives you your identity? Do you know who you are? Facebook allows you to put a line under your name on your profile that describes you. I read a lot of them this week. Some of you have them. Forget for a moment how we define ourselves, and let’s think about how we define others. I’ll tell you Facebook is not a good place to look for that. And, Twitter is even worse.
Sometimes we don’t know what we want to be, we only know what we don’t want to be as evidenced by Jerry in these clips [PLAY CLIP 2].
What are some of the ways we define ourselves and provide identity?
Gender, Ethnicity, Geography: Male, Female, Black, White, Asian, Chinese, Ethiopian, New Englander, Bostonian, Midwesterner… How many times as Jonathan told us he is from Colorado? We often take pride in these things.
What is often the first question adults ask each other, at least men, when they are forced into social engagement with someone they don’t know?
Occupation: Stay-at-home Mom, Doctor, Lawyer, Electrician, Pastor, Author, Engineer, Carpenter, Accountant, Roofer, Comedian, Cashier
We may devalue, not understand, or not respect each other based on these occupational identities. Role gratuitous Seinfeld Clip [PLAY CLIP 3].
Social and Status Markers: Rich, Poor, Smart, Athletic, Attractive, Creative, Musical, Tall, Short, Fat, Skinny, Married, Single, White Collar, Blue Collar Young, Old.
Hobbies: Hiking, Biking, Woodworking, Reading, Knitting, Running, Writing, CrossFit…
When we know someone a little better, we talk about a little more controversial things we can use to divide us. What are some of these things?
Political: Republican, Democrat, Progressive, Liberal, Conservative
Religious: Methodist, Lutheran, Congregational, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Calvinist, etc.
You know in Acts Chapter 9:13-16 is probably one of the most interesting times someone was asked, who are you? 13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. Talk about akward.
A few weeks ago, on Easter I preached a sermon with a big idea that the death of Jesus should change the way we live. Now, this sermon has a big idea that the death of Jesus changes who we are. Let’s read the sermon passage and look at it more closely.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
This is not the only place Paul presents this. In fact, it is a recurring theme. This is probably Paul’s most succinct presentation. Ephesians 2:1-10 says the same thing. Romans 6:1-14 has it as well, and really the whole book of Romans, particularly chapters 6 through 11 are on this topic.
But, Paul didn’t make this up, Jesus himself preached this message in John 15:1-6, “15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”
Verse 21: Who are we without Christ?
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. Paul is writing to Christians in the Church in Colossae, and in Verse 21 he tells them, and by extension us, about our condition and identity without or before Christ. Because of our sin, without Christ we are alienated from God, separated by sin, and enemies of God. Before Adam and Eve sinned, God told them the punishment for their sin would be death. Sin is rebellion towards God and God cannot be in the presence of sin. Sin is what separates us from God. Apart from God, we cannot live. Look at what happened with Adam and Eve; before the fall, they had communion with God. After the fall, they were exiled from the Garden. Without Christ, the Bible says we are lost, without hope, can do nothing are dead. Jesus said apart from him we can do nothing.
Verse 22: Who are we with (in) Christ?
22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— In Christ we are made holy. 1 Peter 1:16 in most English translations says as it does in the NIV, “Be holy, because I am holy.” This is a quote from three places in Leviticus where our same translations say the same thing. This has been used so many times by so many people to created devotions imploring people to try harder to be holy in their living like God is holy. I want to tell you something I learned that has helped me a lot. It is not that the English translation isn’t good, but our modern thinking causes us to read this as a command when it more accurately intended as an encouragement, a promise. The Lexham English Bible translates the Old Testament occurrences as “You shall be holy, because I am holy” and the New Testament occurrence as “You will be holy, because I am holy”. In order to dwell with God, to be in his presence, we need to be holy. It is not our trying harder that makes us holy, it is the blood of Jesus. We are without blemish and free from accusation. Who is it that likes to accuse us? Revelation 12:10-11a says, 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; We like to believe the accusations of Satan or the people around us. You can’t be a Christian if you did that. God can’t love you now that you did that. You’ve made too many mistakes. You’ll just cause problems. The Bible talks a lot about Jesus setting us free. This is what I believe it means the most. We are free from accusation, free from guilt, free from worrying about past or future mistakes. Another thing you can learn about me, besides how much I enjoy Seinfeld, is how much I enjoy Christian music. I believe listening to God’s truth and being able to remember it in song is powerful. Here is a clip from a song that came to mind on this point [PLAY CLIP 4].
What is our role?
23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. It would have been easier to just preach on verses 21 and 22, but I didn’t want to stop mid-sentence. I think the Bible is clear that our salvation is through faith alone and that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. However, Paul tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, James tells us that faith without works is dead, and Jesus modeled obedience as important. I do not think this verse is talking about losing one’s salvation, but rather how we might be able to discern the faithful Christians among us; those who continue in their faith and hold firm to the hope we have in Christ. We are given other ways to discern true followers of Jesus in Scripture as well such as the fruit of the Spirit and love for one another. In addition, Jesus told a parable about separating the sheep and goats which focused on care for the poor. All of these are different sermons for a different time. I think Paul is exhorting us to stay the course, continue in our faith, and hold on to the hope that we have. Paul also says in verse 23 that this is the gospel, the good news. You were dead in sin, now you are alive in Christ. That is the gospel. And, it truly is good news when presented that way. We can share the gospel with those around us by encouraging them to trade in their identity found in temporary things and take hold of an identity offered to them in Christ that cannot be taken away from them.
The death of Jesus changes who we are.
So back to the opening of the sermon. When I read the blurbs on Facebook, when I talk with people, when I see their discussion, read bumper stickers, observe how people act, etc. I can see what is important to people. You can too. Dan Kasey preached a great sermon on identity at my Mom’s funeral. I didn’t know what his topic would be less than a week before my sermon. Too late for me to change. Some people have the bulk of their identity in their career, some in their family, some in their athletic ability, some in their good looks, some in politics, etc. What happens to those people when they lose their job, lose their family, grow old and are no longer athletic or beautiful, or lose the next election? They are lost; they don’t know who they are. I think in American Christianity, we put a lot of emphasis on family. Family is good, but it is not God. It is a gift from God. You know that a week and a half ago my mom passed away. You might not know that one week ago Keri, Stephanie, and Anna were in a car accident they couldn’t avoid that totaled Keri’s car. Some or all of them really could have been killed if things were just slightly different. Most of you don’t know that just a few days ago Mubeshire was hit by a car while riding his bike home from bringing a flower to my mom’s grave. If a car was traveling east on King Street at that moment, Mubeshire’s accident would have ended up completely differently.
If our identity is in Christ, we are free to live knowing that we are a beloved child of the King of the Universe. And, nothing we do can change that fact if our identity is in Christ. I think the hardest thing is believing it. We are not defined by our actions, but his. We are holy, because he says we are. We are without blemish, because he says we are. We are free of accusation, because he says we are. Steven Curtis Chapman has been one of my favorite singers and songwriters since the late 1980’s. I want to share this song clip with you [PLAY CLIP 5].
Hallelujah, we are who you say we are. Do you believe you are who God says you are? Listen to that song as part of helping you believe it. There is one last song, I am going to share with you. I have been enamored with Lauren Daigle’s voice since I first heard it. And, her song “You Say” immediately came to mind for this sermon too. [PLAY CLIP 6]
Another great song to put on repeat when you are feeling Satan’s accusations that you are not good enough and you want to reinforce your identity and embrace who God says you are.
Not that I am better than any of you, but I want to encourage us to think about what people would conclude about our identity based on our conversations, or Facebook posts, our bumper stickers, how we spend our time, where we spend our money. What would an independent auditor decide your identity is? How can we infuse our lives with conversations, Facebook posts, and other things that will not only tell of our identity in Christ, but point others to him as well? Can we come across as a sinner saved by grace and so thankful for it rather than a Christian that looks down on the world? I have a lot of thoughts if people want to talk about it some other time.
Since my sermon on Easter weekend, I started and finished “Love Does” by Bob Goff. Thirty amazing chapters of stories that happened because he chose to love and live like Jesus. I recommend the book. I might listen to it again and take some notes.
Let me close with this
Early eighteenth-century crowds came to hear George Whitefield by the tens of thousands. When this traveling minister came to town, his meetings were not to be missed. In Philadelphia, a crowd cheered and yelled for George as he stood on a hill outside the central part of the city, mesmerizing the audience with his dynamic message.
“Father Abraham, whom have you in heaven?” he shouted. “Any Episcopalians?”
“No!” the people roared.
“Any Presbyterians?” Whitefield danced around the stage as he spoke, jabbing at the air with his hands.
“No!”
“Any Independents or Seceders. New Sides or Old Sides, any Methodists?”
“No! No! No!” the crowd shouted in reply
He called out, “Whom have you there, then, Father Abraham? We don’t know those names here! All who are here are Christians– believers in Christ, men who have overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony . . . God help me, God help us all, to forget having names and to become Christians in deed and in truth.”
Prayer, and don’t forget the offering.
Benediction: 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.”
Sermon prepared and preached by Andy Bradshaw.
Sermon Colossians 1:21-23 | Living Life after Jesus’ Death: Who Are You? 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is
Now you might have noticed when you walked in today the camera crew taking some footage. That’s because earlier Doreen and I filmed our interviews with Chris Lake from the Vere Institute. You know Chris from when he preached on frontline ministry here at Cornerstone last November. The session we are helping Chris film is about sustaining a whole-life vision in a church over the long haul. In other words, how can we encourage and equip each other to honor and serve God in every part of our lives, especially our frontlines, year after year?
Now each session is centered on a Scripture passage, and since Chris asked me to think about the passage for the video, I thought it made sense to also preach on it and share some of the things I learned. So today we’re looking at two verses that connect how the church can help us on our frontlines.
Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (NIV®)
Chris chose this passage because it does a nice job showing how our gathered church ministry impacts our scattered church ministry. If you’ve never heard the phrases gathered and scattered before the gathered church is anytime Christians get together to do ministry. So gathered ministry can be any part of a church service (the singing, the sermon, communion), it could be a potluck dinner, Cornerstone Kids, community groups, an Outreach event, a Bible study, youth group, anything and anywhere we as Christians get together. That’s gathered church.
Scattered church is you when you’re not with a bunch of Christians. It’s your frontline. It’s our normal everyday places like our jobs, our families, and our neighborhoods. It’s wherever and whenever we’re not surrounded by fellow Christians but are still doing ministry. So it could be you at Market Basket, or Dunkin Donuts, or Choice Fitness, or over the Holidays or on the weekends when you’re spending time with your family or in-laws, or anywhere else that you have relationships with those who don’t believe in Jesus yet.
So often we can unintentionally silo these two. When I’m at church I’m at church and when I’m at work I’m at work and the two have nothing to do with the other. But if we believe that as followers of Christ, as disciples, that we are to give every part of our life to Jesus, then we shouldn’t silo our life. And that’s where the church comes in. The church gathered helps the church scattered follow Christ.
Now before we dive into today’s text I actually want to back up and understand the context of today’s passage. We don’t want to pull a verse out of context but want to understand the passage it’s coming from. So I’m going to give you an overview of the passage leading up to these verses.
v1-18 Christ’s sacrifice is enough to forgive sins. Chapter 10 of Hebrews begins by declaring Jesus was enough. When he died on the cross for our sins we don’t have to offer any more bulls or sheep or goats or pigeons. The Old Testament sacrificial system is satisfied because the perfect sacrifice has been offered, Jesus Christ. It’s kind of like when you go to school you may take out a loan for thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Once you graduate you have to start paying and it can take decades to repay the debt, payment after payment, month after month, year after year. That’s a heavy burden. But what if one day you opened your student-loan account and found your entire bill paid for? Because of sin we all owe God a debt, but it’s too big to ever repay. The good news is Christ has paid our debt in full and his payment pays it all. Imagine never having to make another student loan payment. It might not sink in right away but it would when you get to keep that money every month. Your debt is paid. Christ’s sacrifice is enough to forgive our sins.
v19-21 We can enter God’s presence through Christ. Hebrews 10:19-21 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, (NIV®)
Since Jesus died we can enter into God’s presence, the Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place was the inner room in the temple where God’s presence sat above the ark of the covenant. No one was allowed to enter there except the High Priest, and he could only enter once a year under special circumstances (Lev 16:1-34). On the Day of Atonement the High Priest had to sacrifice a bull for his own sins in order to enter the Most Holy Place. But now by Christ’s blood we can also enter into God’s presence (Heb 7:27).
When verse 20 talks about a way being open through the curtain it’s talking about the veil that separated the Most Holy place from the rest of the temple (Heb 9:1-9). Do you remember what happened when Christ died on the cross?
Matthew 27:50-51a And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom… (NIV®)
Since Christ paid for our sins with his blood we can access to God. But he also acts as our High Priest. You can speak to Jesus and he will speak to the Father on your behalf. A lot of us have electronic key cards and name badges and without those things we can’t get into work. What happens if you show up without it? Someone has to vouch for you. Someone has to let you in. The only way we can get into God’s presence, into his house, is because Christ Jesus has vouched for us. He’s given us his keycard and assured the guard at the gate that we can enter in. We can enter God’s presence through Christ.
Now “since” we have all this through Christ—the word “since” is used twice (v19, 21)—what should we do?
v22 Let us draw near to God’s presence. Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (NIV®)
Since Christ’s sacrifice opens the way to God’s presence, lets enter into God’s presence. The author doesn’t say, “let me draw near” but “let us draw near.” Hebrews is speaking to the whole church. In response to all that Christ Jesus has done on “our” behalf we can together come into God’s presence. We draw near to God by worshipping together, praying together, and going on mission together. We can draw near to God by walking in faith together on our frontlines.
By Christ we’ve been washed clean and can enter into God’s presence. You know when little kids get muddy from playing and before they can come inside their mom has to hose them down? She rinses them off so that she can welcome them in, not so she can leave them shivering in the cold. No. She invites them into the warmth of home. Because Christ has cleansed us let us draw near to God’s presence.
v23 Let us have hope. Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.(NIV®)
Again, as we gather around the one who cleanses us we experience hope, hope in the promises of Christ Jesus. What’s the difference between an employee or coworker who has hope and one that doesn’t? The employee that believes in their product or has hope they can gain standing in the company will do a much better job than the employee who doesn’t believe in the product or that he has no choice but to work there. As believers in Christ we should be more like employees who have hope. This impacts how we treat those around us on our frontlines. If we believe God can do something in their life we’re going to treat them differently and will never lose hope. Let us have hope.
Let’s review. Since Christ’s sacrifice is enough and we can enter into God’s presence through him, let’s draw near to God, let’s have hope, and now our main text…
v24-25 Let us gather together to encourage one another. Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (NIV®)
I think as a church leader when I come to this passage of Scripture it’s really easy to skip verse 24 and go right to verse 25. See the Bible says church attendance is important! That’s true, but why? Why does it matter? That’s why you have to read verse 24 first, because it’s all framed within the context of love and encouragement.
We need to think deeply about how to love God more, love each other better, and how we can encourage each other to do good deeds for God. Then it tells us the best way to do this. You can’t be a long-distance Christian. Have you ever been in a long-distance relationship? You live in one state and your boyfriend or girlfriend lives in another and you have to keep it going over the phone, text message, and the Holidays? Those relationships are hard and they often don’t work out. If we want to encourage each other to love better and do good works we have to be in relationship with each other, we have to gather together regularly, and the primary way we do this is by the gathering of the church.
The church gathered helps the church scattered follow Christ. When this Bible passage talks about love and good deeds, maybe it’s talking about volunteering for church programs but I think it’s first talking about just living your normal everyday life for Jesus. We need to come together to tell each other “You can keep loving your coworker even though it’s hard” or “here are some ways to bless your neighbor” or “I’ll pray for your non-Christian family member with you.”
As Doreen and I were getting ready for our interviews with Chris we were talking with him about how the gathered church at Cornerstone has helped Doreen on her frontline. Two examples:
Community Groups – When Doreen was trying to reach out to a woman and her child through Facebook some of you involved in children’s ministry in her community group gave her suggestions for what children’s Bible she should give. That’s an amazing example of how Children’s ministry helped someone not just by coming to church but by equipping the people of the church to go out and minister in Christ’s name. The church gathered helps the church scattered follow Christ. Sermon – About a month ago I shared a story of how the Lord convicted me to reach out to a past coworker and share the message of Christ Jesus and how difficult that was. I called her and didn’t share, and then had to call her back and say there really was something I wanted to say. Well the very next day something similar happens to Doreen. She’s with family and they start talking about Jesus and why he died. Her family said that he died because the government didn’t like him. True, but that’s not the whole story. Doreen almost let the moment pass her by, but she didn’t because the sermon was fresh on her mind and so she shared that Jesus also died because he loves them and to save them from their sins. How cool is that?! The church gathered helps the church scattered follow Christ.
These two examples just scratch the surface of all the ways we can encourage each other. This week I reviewed all the different ways I could think of that we are trying to emphasize and encourage frontline ministry at Cornerstone.
We ask people about their frontlines in our church membership application. We introduce and discuss the concept of the frontline in our church membership class. Our whole church did a fruitfulness on the frontline small group study and we need to do so again. We encourage our community groups to encourage one another and pray for our frontlines. We have books and DVDs about frontline ministry in the church library. We give away copies of the book Fruitfulness on the Frontline to new attenders. I’ve visited many of you on your frontlines and hope to do so more. The Elders put frontline ministry in my job description. We’ve taken and shared pictures of people on their frontlines. One of the Outreach Team’s goals is to equip people on their frontlines. I’ve preached sermon series and individual sermons on frontline ministry as well as try to mention it regularly in my sermons. We commissioned people for their workplaces and frontlines back in November. We do frontline story interviews a couple times a year like you saw earlier tonight.
And I can think of other ways, but that’s over a dozen right there. Frontline ministry—whole-life discipleship—needs to saturate our church. Lets constantly encourage each other on our frontlines. Let’s pray for each other’s frontlines during the service and ask about them after the service. Along with your small talk ask, “How’s your workplace?” or “How’s your frontline?” And then, “How can I pray for you there?” We need to be intentionally encouraging each other on our frontlines. Let’s do this all the more as we see “the Day” approaching. Christ is coming back. We want to take advantage of every opportunity.
To stay on mission we need to show up for church. That’s why church attendance is so important—it’s not about numbers—it’s about helping us live for Jesus. Imagine a sports team, for example the Red Sox. How well do you think they would play if the players only showed up two times a month for practice? They’d be terrible. If you only show up twice a month to church, then you’re probably not going to see God do much on your frontline. You simply won’t be prepared or training for it. You’ll be out of practice.
But what if you do show up regularly? What if the whole Red Sox team shows up for practice week after week? Each practice the coach gives a speech, talks about strategy, and then the players sit there and talk about Netflix and football and the weather. It’s good that they’re there but they’re still not going to get any better because although they’re hearing the coach they’re not internalizing what he’s saying. How often do we listen to sermons and the moment it ends we never speak of it again? It’s like we’re afraid that if we talk about the sermon we have to do it. Well, yeah… I can preach about frontline ministry till my face is blue but we need to all continually ask each other about our frontlines and workplaces and family members if we want to really see a change. We need to hold each other accountable.
Okay, now we’re showing up to practice regularly, we’re talking about the game of baseball, we have a great practice and we go home but nobody actually shows up to play the real game. We’re still not going to win. The gathered church is a training camp. It’s not where the real game is played. The real game is played on the field not in the locker room. We have to get out there in front of a live audience and play. And when we finally score everyone will yell, “Touchdown!!!” Just kidding…
A church that gathers together to encourage each other and pray for each other and then goes out and tries to put into practice what it is learning is going to be unstoppable. The Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, the 2007 World Series, the 2013 World Series, and the 2018 World Series. They’ve won nine world series in total. Let’s win a frontline world series. How do we do that? The church gathered helps the church scattered follow Christ.
May the Father who loves you, The Son who sends you, The Spirit who empowers you, Be with you and bless you, Wherever you are, whatever you do, whoever you’re with, To his praise and glory.
– Mark Greene
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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Now you might have noticed when you walked in today the camera crew taking some footage. That’s because earlier Doreen and I filmed our interviews with Chris Lake from the Vere Institute. You know Chris from when he preached on frontline ministry here at Cornerstone last November. The session we are helping Chris film is about sustaining a whole-life vision in a church over the long haul. In other words, how can we encourage and equip each other to honor
Today I’m continuing to reflect on what I’m learning at the Gordon-Conwell Ockenga Fellows retreats. Last time I talked about death and dying, but today I want to talk about aging, about growing old. Now obviously I have more years than some of you and less than others. So I’ll do the best I can to teach what the Bible has to say about aging. I’m also going to share some of what others who know better than I have
Today I’m continuing to reflect on what I’m learning at the Gordon-Conwell Ockenga Fellows retreats. Last time I talked about death and dying, but today I want to talk about aging, about growing old. Now obviously I have more years than some of you and less than others. So I’ll do the best I can to teach what the Bible has to say about aging. I’m also going to share some of what others who know better than I have to say about it as well as a few personal experiences.
What counts as old or elderly? We don’t like being called “old” because it’s seen as a negative. NPR reports the preferred phrase is “elderly” or “older adults” or just call people by their names. I define older adults or the elderly as anyone over the age of 70. Now if you’re over 70 and you don’t like that, I’m sorry! My parents who usually listen to my sermons might have something to say about my definition when they listen to it. The Psalms do say we typically get 70 years or 80 if we’re strong (Psalm 90:10) so I think it’s fair.
But today I’m not really talking to the older or elderly. I actually want to primarily address anyone in their youth, so teenagers, those in their 20s or 30s or anyone who considers themselves to be youthful. I’ll even include those who call themselves “young at heart.” I’m including myself here too. Today’s message is for us because today’s passage is for those in their youth. Here’s how the first verse goes.
Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”—
The book of Ecclesiastes addresses us in our youthful years. The author, King Solomon, wrote Ecclesiastes to be a book of wisdom from a more cynical perspective. In this book he challenges young people to remember their Creator before they grow old (aka. “…before the days of trouble come”). Now if you’re a teenager or in your 20s or 30s, growing old is probably the last thing on your mind. If you’re 15, you have another 55 more years before you turn 70. That’s a long time! But what better time is there than now to start preparing for old age? You’ll be so ready (Lord willing) when old age arrives.
Today I want to talk about three things 1) what it’s like to grow old (biologically, mentally, emotionally); 2) how we should treat the elderly (should we respect them or brush them aside?); and 3) how we should live today knowing one day (Lord willing) we’ll grow old. So first…
1) What’s it like to grow old? Now starting in verse 2 Solomon uses metaphors (that is figures of speech, non-literal word pictures) to describe what the body experiences as it ages.
Ecclesiastes 12:2-8 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;
What’s he describing here? He’s describing a loss of sight. Many of us have either heard of or personally experienced cataracts, which is a clouding of vision. According to the National Eye Institute (NEI), “Most cataracts are related to aging. Cataracts are very common in older people. By age 80, more than half of all Americans either have a cataract or have had cataract surgery.”
3 when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim;
As you get older your hands begin to tremble (tremors), and your back begins to hunch over. What are your grinders? Your teeth. Your gums recede, your teeth look longer, and your teetheven fall out. Did you know “By the age of sixty, people in an industrialized country like the United States have lost, on average, a third of their teeth. After eighty–five, almost 40 percent have no teeth at all.” Being Mortal (pp. 29-30).
4 when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when people rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint;
This is talking about a loss of hearing (sound fades) and trouble sleeping (rise at sound of birds). In college I lived with an older couple, Ernest and Evelyn. I think they were in their 80s at the time. Ernest had to wear a hearing aid or he had a lot of trouble hearing. That’s pretty typical for many older adults. Likewise, he was always up before me. Many elderly go to bed later and wake up earlier than most teenagers.
5 when people are afraid of heights (afraid of falling over) and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms (sometimes they turn white, so maybe this is speaking of hair; but the blossoms can also turn pink – some elderly people do die their hair pink) and the grasshopper drags itself along (trouble walking) and desire no longer is stirred. (I think that’s talking about a lack of sexual desire) Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets. (That’s talking about death and dying)
Have you ever heard an elderly person talk about more and more of their friends dying? The next two verses, verses 6-7, really talk about how life is poured out the older you get. Life is coming to an end. It can be really mentally and emotionally discouraging.
6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well, 7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Verse 7 is talking about death. We come from dust and we will return to it (Gen 3:19; Eccle 3:20). So how might we feel about all of this, Solomon asks, especially if you don’t know the Lord?
8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Everything is meaningless!”
Although I’m not there yet the sense we get from the Scriptures and those we watch aging around us is that growing old can be really hard. Life can feel like it went too fast and what was the point of it all? Is it meaningless? What’s it like to grow old? It’s not easy.
As part of the Ockenga program I read a book by an author named Atul Gawande. His parents are from India. He’s a surgeon in Boston and teaches at Harvard. In his book Being Mortal he describes what happens to the body as it ages into these later years. It doesn’t sound pleasant. He writes (page 30):
Even as our bones and teeth soften, the rest of our body hardens. Blood vessels, joints, the muscle and valves of the heart, and even the lungs pick up substantial deposits of calcium and turn stiff. Under a microscope, the vessels and soft tissues display the same form of calcium that you find in bone. When you reach inside an elderly patient during surgery, the aorta and other major vessels can feel crunchy under your fingers. Research has found that loss of bone density may be an even better predictor of death from atherosclerotic disease than cholesterol levels. As we age, it’s as if the calcium seeps out of our skeletons and into our tissues.
To maintain the same volume of blood flow through our narrowed and stiffened blood vessels, the heart has to generate increased pressure. As a result, more than half of us develop hypertension by the age of sixty-five. The heart becomes thicker-walled from having to pump against the pressure, and less able to respond to the demands of exertion. The peak output of the heart therefore decreases steadily from the age of thirty. People become gradually less able to run as far or as fast as they used to or to climb a flight of stairs without becoming short of breath.
As the heart muscle thickens, muscle elsewhere thins. Around age forty, one begins to lose muscle mass and power. By age eighty, one has lost between a quarter and a half of one’s muscle weight.
What’s it like to grow old? It’s not easy. It’s hard on our biology and also mentally and emotionally. So how should we treat people who are much older than us? Should we cart them off to nursing homes? Ernest and Evelyn didn’t have smart phones. Should we ignore them because they’re irrelevant?
2) How should we treat the elderly? The Bible is very clear that we are to treat older adults with respect and honor. The fifth commandment tells us to honor our parents, our moms and dads. Not just when they’re young but elderly too.
Exodus 20:12“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. (NIV)
The book of Proverbs, another book full of God’s wisdom for everyday life, says there’s something special about the elderly—that there’s a kind of glory about them.
Proverbs 16:31 Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness. (NIV)
That doesn’t mean that everyone who has gray hair is good but that gray or white hair may be a sign of a life of wisdom and obedience to God. Another book full of wisdom born out of trial is from the man Job.
Job 12:12Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? (NIV)
Job is saying that those who have seen a lot of years, and made it through, have something to offer us, wisdom (Deut 32:7). He’s saying they deserve our attention. One way we can respect the elderly is by listening to their stories and advice. This is one of the reasons I’ve gotten coaching from some older guys. The more gray hair the better. I want your years of experience and input so that I don’t have to make the same mistakes you’ve made.
This also means just caring about what they have to offer. There’s three women—Barb, Mary, and G’ma Joyce—who are in their 80s and 90s back in my hometown of Estes Park Colorado that I still send email prayer requests to. When I was considering joining the military out of college I asked them to pray for me and they did and I didn’t end up joining. They’ve continued to pray for me and encourage me.
I also go to my parents for their wisdom. They have a lot of it to offer. One of the ways we can show respect to our elders and embrace the concept of aging is by celebrating age. When you turn 50, celebrate 50, not 29. It’s a major accomplishment. When we pretend to not grow older we imply that aging is bad, but it’s not. The side-affects may be bad but age itself is something to celebrate.
How might God be calling you personally to be in relationship with the Elderly? When I lived with Ernest and Evelyn it gave me a chance to be in relationship with them. I mowed their lawn, vacuumed, and got free rent, but I also ate dinner with them sometimes and talked with them. Again during seminary I lived with another older lady named Jane. But sometimes we can fail to honor the elderly like we should. Jane had an allergy to perfumes and scents. I wasn’t supposed to have scented deodorant or shampoo, and you know what, I didn’t listen. I didn’t take her seriously. Was it because she was old? It was so serious she had her doctor write me a note about her sensitivities. I wasn’t as thoughtful as I should have been. We need to listen to the elderly, we need to care what they think. Jane loved me too. I performed a funeral for her cat but I could have done a better job respecting her. If you’re Elderly, how might God be calling you to be in relationship with teenagers and those younger than you? How can you show them respect?
How might God be calling us corporately to be in relationship with the Elderly? If we’ve been ignoring them so we could focus on others I think it’s time for us to repent of this and begin to treat them as the valuable and worthwhile people they are. Both the young and the old are equally made in the image of God.
God does seems to be doing something at Cornerstone to reach out to the elderly. When I came back from this Ockenga retreat on healthcare and aging I interviewed the director of the Housing Authority and out of that we put up Rides for Residents posters at their facilities to give a ride to church to anyone who wants one. We haven’t had any takers yet but God still seems to be working. Not long after this my wife Monica’s previous boss before Bradford Christian Academy, a non-profit called Bridges Together, called Monica and asked her if she would be willing to apply for a grant to run an intergenerational program connecting older adults with kids, a program that she’s familiar with and has run before. Maybe just maybe we can have some of our church kids get to know some of the older adults at the Housing Authority and some of us who have a few years can come help too. Or maybe we can run Christianity Explored there or the Lord will give us some other opportunity.
God has given us such a gift through the elderly. They’re just as valuable as anyone else. How should we treat the elderly? With respect, care, and by being in relationship with them. And finally…
3) How should we live today knowing one day (Lord willing) we’ll grow old? I actually want to go back to the first verse.
Ecclesiastes 12:1a Remember your Creator in the days of your youth… (NIV)
God invites us to be in relationship with him because if he’s our Creator he knows how to walk through every part of life the right way, even aging. This doesn’t mean it will be easy. When God originally created humankind (Adam and Eve in the garden) he didn’t make it so that we’d fall apart like we do today. People disobeyed God by choosing a piece of fruit instead of him and that messed everything up. Now aging feels more like a curse than a blessing. That’s not how it’s supposed to be. We are supposed to grow old without our teeth falling out and veins hardening. That’s a result of the fall, a consequence of our sin.
God has solved the problem of dying from old age. He did it by sending his son Christ Jesus into this world to take on our sin. But in order to redeem our lives his life was cut short. He died young so that you and I can live forever with God. He gave up his old age so that you and I won’t be stopped by our old age.
But the good news is that death only stopped him briefly. We just celebrated Christ’s resurrection at Easter—that he rose from the grave conquering sin and death and any who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus will receive eternal life. That means that one day although we may feel the affects of sin and growing old, and we may even die from it, death won’t have the last word. How should we live today knowing that one day (Lord willing) we’ll grow old? Have a relationship with Christ Jesus. He has conquered death and freely offers you eternal life.
When I was in college my roommate died. M roommate was in her late 70s and had dementia. After a year of living with Ernest and Evelyn, at the beginning of my senior year, Evelyn died. Her old age killed her. I was one of the pole bearers carrying her casket to her grave. But she knew Jesus Christ. That means death isn’t the end of her story. That means old age and dementia won’t have the final word. She remembered her Creator in the days of her youth, but also in her mid-life, and in her elder years, and now she’s with Jesus, and one day she’ll be resurrected from the grave and given her old body back, but it will be brand new, as good as ever. Ernest just died a couple months ago and although I couldn’t be there I wrote the eulogy for his funeral which his grandson read. I look forward to one day being in relationship with them both either in heaven or at the resurrection. Until then I’m grateful I got to be in relationship with them, to love them, and respect them, and I want to challenge us all and as a church to go out and find our Ernests and our Evelyns and go and love them and be in relationship with them. Let me pray.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
In 2009 the retired minister of the First Unitarian Church of Portland Oregon, Marilyn Sewell, interviewed one of the most famous atheists of her day, Christopher Hitchens. Unitarians do not believe in the Trinity or that anyone goes to hell but that God is love and all go to heaven. They are considered theologically liberal while a church like Cornerstone is much more theologically conservative. We believe in the Trinity and that you must trust in Christ Jesus in order
In 2009 the retired minister of the First Unitarian Church of Portland Oregon, Marilyn Sewell, interviewed one of the most famous atheists of her day, Christopher Hitchens. Unitarians do not believe in the Trinity or that anyone goes to hell but that God is love and all go to heaven. They are considered theologically liberal while a church like Cornerstone is much more theologically conservative. We believe in the Trinity and that you must trust in Christ Jesus in order to be saved.
But Christopher Hitchens didn’t believe in any of these things. He was an atheist. He didn’t believe in God or an afterlife. When you’re gone you’re gone. Hitchens died of cancer in December 2011 but at the time of the interview he was riding a wave of popularity from his best selling book God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. So this interview is especially interesting because it’s between a very popular atheist and a liberal minister, not your typical reporter. In this interview she asked this question.
The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make any distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?
In other words, she doesn’t believe in things like the resurrection, so would he a skeptic of all religions treat her and her belief system any differently. Hitchens answered:
I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.
Christopher Hitchens understood the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ to Christianity. His is one type of response to the resurrection—disbelief. Marilyn’s is the same. But how do you respond? Do you think it’s true? Do you think Jesus really rose from the grave? And if so, should we have more of a response than just that? Today I want to explain the four responses we can have to Jesus’ resurrection.
The eleven disciples have received the news that Jesus is alive. Peter even claimed to have seen him earlier that day (Luke 24:34); and the two men on the road to Emmaus saw him as well (Luke 24:13-35). But the other ten remaining disciples haven’t seen him yet, but they are about too, and how they respond teaches us about how we can respond. In our passage today we find four responses to the resurrection of Jesus:
1) Peace not fear (v36-39) When we hear the resurrection of Jesus, we can respond in peace not fear. What’s the first thing Jesus says when he appears to his followers ? “Peace be with you.” Jesus is offering peace to a group of men who are really scared. John’s gospel tells us they were hiding behind locked doors because they were so frightened (Luke 20:19). We lock our homes at night to feel safe, but their fear is even more real. They’re afraid of suffering a similar fate as Jesus.
Luke says, “37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?” (NIV®) They feel fear, anxiety, and doubt—all normal responses to hearing that someone has risen from the dead. These feelings are especially relatable if you’re seeing that person you saw die standing right in front of you.
In the face of all of this Jesus offers his disciples and us today true and lasting peace. The Bible’s understanding of peace is based on the Old Testament word “Shalom” which isn’ just the absence of conflict, but the presence of blessing. It is wholeness, virtue, and flourishing throughout all of life. As one author writes, “Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.” It’s the way things ought to be with God and those around us. Shalom is the opposite of hiding behind a locked door.
What door are you hiding behind? What key have you thrown away because life is just too much? It’s too scary. It’s too hard. You can’t take it any more. You’ve locked away your heart from God and others. You’ve had enough. If one more thing happens, you’re gonna break down. Tonight Jesus wants to appear to you behind your locked door. He wants to show up with the power of his resurrection—with shalom, with peace. If there’s anyone who can bring life to your situation no matter how it feels it’s Jesus. Our first response to the resurrection of Jesus is peace not fear. What’s our second response?
2) Belief not doubt (v40-43) Jesus sets out to conquer their fear by inviting his followers to look at his hands and feet and to touch him (v39). But at first they don’t believe. They’re too overwhelmed. It’s too good to be true. So to prove he’s not a ghost he eats some food. “They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.” (v42-43) When the disciples experienced the reality of the resurrection they believe. But can we trust their witness? Can we trust this account? Can we believe?
Back in January 2009 I attended an Atheism versus religion debate at CU Boulder and guess who the guest speaker was arguing for atheism? Christopher Hitchens. There were about 600 people in the audience so it was pretty big. The debate started and at one point that Hitchens argued that people will oftentimes believe an illusion because they think it is true. He used the example of Christians, Muslims, and Mormons. We believe and do all sorts of things because we think we have the truth. But believing in something doesn’t make it true. He gave the example of suicide bombers.
There was a question and answer session at the end and I thought it would be cool to ask Hitchens a question. So I got in line and when my turn came to ask him a question I said, “You said it is not unusual for people to die for a myth, an illusion; however, historians agree that the twelve disciples were either maimed or killed for their beliefs. How then, being first generation believers, would they willing die and be tortured for something they knew to be a lie?”
The point I was trying to to make was that it makes sense for someone to suffer and even die for something that they think is true, but don’t really know if it’s not. But it doesn’t make sense for someone to willingly suffer and die for something they know to be false, especially if it doesn’t benefit them with wealth, power, or fame. If the disciples made the whole thing up their life of suffering wouldn’t make sense. Lee Strobel writes in The Case For Christ, “People will die for their religious beliefs if they sincerely believe they’re true, but people won’t die for their religious beliefs if they know their beliefs are false.” (Chapter 14 – Page 247) You can pick up a free copy of this book at our Welcome Center if you’d like.
Hitchens answered by saying historians do not generally agree the twelve disciples were martyrs and left it at that. I didn’t argue with him. I just went and sat down. I didn’t know the early external witnesses off the top of my head (people from outside of the Bible). Clement of Rome wrote in the first century that Peter suffered and died:
1 Clement 5:4 “Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labours; and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him.” (AD 96~)
Another early writer is Ignatius of Antioch who reported at the start of the second century that the eleven also suffered and died.
Smyrnaens 3:2 And when [Jesus] came unto them who were with Peter he said unto them, Take, handle me, and see that I am not a spirit without a body; and straightway they touched him and believed, being convinced by his flesh and his spirit. On this account also they despised death, and were found superior to death. (AD 107~)
In the debate the Christian speaker arguing for the truth of Christianity added the real question was why the disciples, or the early Christians, would spread false rumors they knew were lies if they knew the rumors would cost them their lives. Agitated, Hitchens spread his arms and said, “I don’t know why they did that. I don’t know what was going through their heads. How should I know what they were thinking?”
The three main possibilities for why the disciples preached Jesus was alive and were willing to die for it is: 1) A group hallucinations took place (which is impossible). 2) They made it up and were lying (but then their suffering doesn’t make sense). 3) Their story is true (sometimes the simplest explanation is the best).
So the fact that Jesus appeared to his eleven disciples and they were willing to leave the safety of locked doors and go out and suffer and die for Jesus tells us what they saw was real. Jesus did rise from the dead. Our first response to the resurrection is peace not fear and our second is belief not doubt. What’s the third?
3) Sharing not silence (v44-49) Jesus again reminds his disciples like he did on the road to Emmaus of why the Scriptures matter (Luke 24:27). Verse 44 says, “He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’” But you can study your Bible your whole life and never really get it. This is why verse 45 is key, “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”
In order for us to share the Scriptures and the message of Jesus we need the Holy Spirit to open our minds and hearts so we can first understand them. This doesn’t mean that we have to understand them perfectly, but we need to understand them well enough to see our need for Christ.
It’s here in the text that Luke gives us his great commission. Maybe you’re familiar with the Great Commission in the gospel of Matthew (“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”), which is perhaps more well recognized than Luke’s. But Luke’s is just as good. Here’s Luke’s Great Commission:
Luke 24:46-48 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (NIV®)
Matthew’s Great Commission centers on “going” and “making disciples” but Luke’s has five key points:
The importance of Christ’s resurrection – If there’s no resurrection there’s no point, but if it’s true it changes everything we know and makes any hardship worth it. The call to repentance and offer of forgiveness – The heart of the gospel is an invitation to receive forgiveness for your sins and mistakes. The gospel is for “all nations” (πάντα τὰ ἔθνη) – Christ sends us to all ethnicities and peoples. So every tribe and tongue that hasn’t even heard about Jesus needs to hear. Christ sends his followers out – Christ is sending us out to share the gospel with the people he’s placed us in and around – our frontlines. We each have a place God has placed us so that we can share. We need the Holy Spirit to empower us – Luke’s commission is entirely dependent on the Holy Spirit. We can’t spread the message of Christ without the Holy Spirit working through us.
As followers of Jesus we are called to share, not be silent. My sense (based on my own life) is that silence is our normal mode of operation. After a while we get so comfortable not sharing Jesus it becomes difficult to imagine sharing him. I want to challenge us each to get uncomfortable with our own silence. Pray Christ will help you truly believe in his resurrection so that you will share.
So our first three three responses to the resurrection are peace not fear, belief not doubt, and sharing not silence. This all leads to our final response…
4) Praise, praise, and more praise (v50-53) Forty days after his resurrection Jesus takes his disciples to the Mount of Olives just outside the town of Bethany near Jerusalem (Acts 1:3, 12). He blesses them and the ascends into heaven to rule and reign until he comes again. The only proper response is worship and praise.
Luke 24:52-53 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. (NIV®)
As we think about our responses to the resurrection I hope it will fill us with peace not fear, belief not doubt, sharing not silence, and praise, praise, and more praise. When I’d finished writing all but the end of my sermon I stumbled upon this story on preachingtoday.com and I thought it made for a really nice conclusion.
The publicist for the late author and debater Christopher Hitchens asked Christian author Larry Taunton to arrange a series of debates between Hitchens, an outspoken atheist, and Christian thinkers. Over the ensuing years, Hitchens and Taunton developed an unlikely friendship. Hitchens stayed in Taunton’s home, and prior to Hitchens’ death from cancer, the two friends took two long road trips across America. Here’s how Taunton describes what happened on one of those trips:
My mind goes back to the Shenandoah. The skies are clear, the autumn leaves are translucent in the early afternoon sun, and the road ahead of us is open … In a strong, clear voice, Christopher is reading from the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John. Reaching the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth verses, his face lights up with recognition.
John 11:25-26 says, “Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”” (NIV®)
[Hitchens] stops [reading]. “I know this one too,” he says. “I did not recall its connection with the resurrection of Lazarus.”
“It’s a great verse,” I add, sensing we have reached a defining moment. “Yes, Dickens thought so,” Christopher says, and then, taking his reading glasses off, he turns to me and asks: “Do you believest thou this, Larry Taunton?” His sarcasm is evident, but it lacks its customary force.
“I do. But you already knew that I did. The question is, do you believest thou this, Christopher Hitchens?” As if searching for a clever riposte, he hesitates and speaks with unexpected transparency: “I’ll admit that it is not without appeal to a dying man.”
(Christopher Hitchens Considers Christ’s Resurrection. Copyright Christianity Today 2016. Date accessed 5/2/2019.)
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
Picture of Christopher Hitchens – By Fri Tanke – http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/images/christopher-hitchens-29854, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45188781
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Have you ever had that experience when you can’t see something and it’s right in front of you? This week I needed to give Elijah his milk and I knew Monica had put some in the fridge but I couldn’t find it. When I opened the fridge it wasn’t there and when I moved some of the food and other items it wasn’t there either. So I called Monica and I asked her if she had put the milk in
Have you ever had that experience when you can’t see something and it’s right in front of you? This week I needed to give Elijah his milk and I knew Monica had put some in the fridge but I couldn’t find it. When I opened the fridge it wasn’t there and when I moved some of the food and other items it wasn’t there either. So I called Monica and I asked her if she had put the milk in the fridge and she said she had and I told her I couldn’t find it. I looked again but nothing. When she came home she found it in less than 5 seconds.
I think what happened is that when I looked in one part of the fridge, the bottle ran to a different part of the fridge. It’s frustrating when you can’t see something but you’re told it’s there. Now a baby’s milk bottle matters for our family, but in the overall scheme of things it’s not a big deal. Does this ever happen to us with the big things in life? Where we’re looking for something important but just can’t see it?
How about when you look for God but can’t sense his presence? We look for him, and we’re told by our pastors and more spiritually attuned friends that “he’s right there!” but we just can’t see him for ourselves. Instead of sensing God you feel like he’s gone or like he’ll talk to anyone but you. When you can’t see God or sense Christ’s presence what should you do? That’s a dark place to be at but it’s similar to where some of Jesus’ followers found themselves Sunday after his crucifixion.
The last time they saw Jesus he was dead. He was gone. They thought he was never coming back. They’d made it through the last couple days, but are sad and depressed. But now they’ve heard word from several women who followed Jesus that his body wasn’t in the tomb and that angels had appeared to them telling them Jesus is alive. They don’t believe and just feel more confusion and darkness. They’d come to Jerusalem for the Passover feast and now it’s time for them to go home.
Luke 24:13-16 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him. (NIV®)
So these two friends are walking home from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. It’s about 7 miles from Jerusalem, or 10 kilometers. When we were in France our European GPS pronounced it “kilo-meters.” And as they’re talking about the crucifixion and empty tomb Jesus himself comes up to them and begins to walk alongside them. This is actually the first time in Luke 24 where we see Jesus alive. The angels announced it in the first 12 verses, but this is the first time Luke shows the living-breathing Jesus to his readers, and he does it in the most unassuming way. Jesus just starts walking alongside them.
The Greek literally says “their eyes were kept from recognizing him”. It’s like when you’re walking your dog and she sees a squirrel and lunges for it. You have to restrain her and hold her back. Their eyes wanted to see Jesus but God restrains recognition. He holds them back. Why would God do that? Because God wants them, and us, to see Jesus, but not yet with our eyes. He wants us to first see Jesus a different way.
Luke 24:17-18 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” (NIV®)
Luke gives us the name Cleopas because he’s citing his source. He’s showing us this account is reliable.
Luke 24:19-21 “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. (NIV®)
They call Jesus a prophet. They no longer say Jesus was the “Messiah” or “Christ.” They’ve lost faith. They’re finding it too hard to believe. It’s too dark. Jesus is dead he must have just been a prophet like the prophets of old who died. He can’t possibly be the Messiah chosen by God. The Messiah is supposed to come and liberate his people, and Jesus is dead. When things get dark in our life, when we lose our jobs or a loved one dies or a tragedy happens, and our hearts don’t sense Christ, it’s easy to say, “Maybe he’s not God, maybe Jesus is not as powerful as I thought.” But they were wrong and so are we if we think that way.
Luke 24:22-24 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” (NIV®)
In Israel at that time Jewish rabbis disagreed over whether or not women could testify in court. Many thought their witness was unreliable, so if you’re going to make up a story this isn’t the best way to do it. But this is a proof the Bible’s account is true. Instead of being written in a way so as to appear real in its culture and time, having men be the first witnesses, it’s a historical account of what actually happened. But Cleopas and his traveling companion don’t know about that. They have trouble believing the women, citing the other disciples who didn’t see Jesus. But their memories are selective because in just a few verses (v34) they’re going to remember that Jesus already appeared to Simon (Peter), which outside of this mention isn’t shown in the gospel accounts.
When we’re struggling, maybe fatigued or frustrated, and can’t see Jesus and can only think of everything wrong with our lives, we should pause and check our memories and ask, “Am I being selective in what I am remembering?” How has Jesus done good things for me and shown himself to me in ways in the past. If he has been good for years and years why would I assume he would stop now? Lord, may we not have selective memories but memories full of the goodness of Christ.
But now it’s time for Jesus to answer them. And he actually begins to open their eyes to him, but not yet in the visible way they would prefer, and we would too. Instead he points to himself in the Old Testament.
Luke 22:25-26 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”
Jesus scolds them for not having hope and not realizing what has really happened. They thought the Messiah was going to be a political liberator but Jesus shows them this isn’t what the Messiah was going to do. He didn’t come to be victorious like a military leader, but to achieve victory another kind of way, through his own suffering. Now this is a confusing concept to them and all Jews because it doesn’t clearly say in the Old Testament that the Messiah is going to suffer. But if we were to look at two passages, Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, they tell us about one who is chosen by God and will suffer, especially the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. So although the suffering Messiah isn’t clearly stated it is implied throughout the Scriptures.
Just like our Messiah suffered so too Christians will suffer. God doesn’t promise us pain free lives where we always feel his presence near us. We will go through trial and darkness and sometimes feel alone (James 1:2-4). It’s actually pretty normal to go through times when you struggle to see Christ because of everything going on in your life, but God can use this time to draw you nearer to Christ. One of the ways we draw near to Christ is by meditating on and reading the Scriptures.
Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (NIV®)
Jesus goes through a bird’s eye view of the Old Testament to say that it’s all pointing towards him. It’s not that every word is about Jesus but that they tell us about our sins and so our need for Jesus and a coming savior. Many passages even prefigure Christ—tell us about him without telling us exactly.
The opening chapters of Genesis talk about the descendent of Eve who is going to crush the serpent. (Gen 3:15) Noah’s ark shows us what God’s judgment is like against sin and we need rescue only he can provide. Abraham shows us the type of faith we need to have in God and his promises. Abraham’s son Isaac carries firewood (a tree) up a mountain so he can be a sacrifice just like Christ carries the cross. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and Jesus was betrayed by his disciples. Moses was almost killed by an evil king at his birth and so was Jesus. The whole sacrificial system of sheep and cows points to the need for a lasting sacrifice. Samson gave his life to rescue his people and so did Jesus. King David, a good but imperfect king, prefigures Jesus, the perfect king.
And the list goes on and on and on as we think about all the ways the Scriptures point to Christ Jesus. He is the fulfillment of it all. So what’s the application here? When you can’t see Jesus, look to the Scriptures. When you can’t see what Jesus is doing in your life or can’t hear him speaking to you, look to the Scriptures. Go to your Bible. See him there. Hear him there.
Honestly, I get a bit frustrated when people ask me if God talks to me. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard Jesus audibly speak to me. I get strong impressions and thoughts through prayer that seem from him and the Holy Spirit, but does that count? But at the same time he does talk to me through his Word. If you want to hear God’s voice, read his words, read the Scriptures. I do believe that as we read and meditate on the Bible the Holy Spirit takes what we are reading and helps apply it to our hearts and lives. So as you’re reading Scripture and sensing the way you should apply it to your life that’s perhaps the Holy Spirit and in that way Jesus does speak to us. When you can’t see Jesus (or hear him), look to the Scriptures.
As the two travelers listen to Jesus talking they begin to realize they’ve missed something. Jesus had come to liberate his people, but not as a mighty warrior but as a sacrificial lamb. But still they don’t recognize the one standing in front of them is Jesus. But now they’ve seen him in the Scriptures and so they’re ready.
Luke 24:28-31 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. (NIV®)
Jesus pretends to keep going but like good hosts they invite Jesus in to stay with them the night. And when he breaks the bread, much like he did at the feeding of the 5,000 and the Last Supper (Luke 9:16; 22:19), then finally he stops restraining their eyes and they recognize him for who he is as he hands them the bread. Then he’s gone. And what do they immediately marvel at—the Scriptures!
Luke 24:32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (NIV®)
But we don’t yet get to see Jesus like they did. Luke knows that we his contemporary audience won’t be able to see Jesus so he wants us to go to the Scriptures to see him. The more we understand God’s word the more our hearts will burn for God. You want to sense God’s presence? You want to know Jesus is alive? Dive into God’s word! When you can’t see Jesus, look to the Scriptures. But they don’t stop with the Scriptures because they focus specifically on the resurrection—Jesus rising from the dead.
Luke 24:33-35 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. (NIV®)
Once they understand how all of Scriptures points to the Messiah needing to suffer and die and rise again it changes everything. They believe! Of course the descendent of Eve would be struck by the serpent, of course it was the Father’s will to crush him for our iniquities, of course Jesus is the one and final sacrificial lamb that takes away the sins of the world. Of course the resurrection happened because that was the plan all along. When you can’t see Jesus, look to the Scriptures and to his resurrection.
When Terry preached two weeks ago he suggested I might love quoting Timothy Keller. I can’t remember who told me this story or if it’s an urban legend but I once heard that a church was going through a hiring process and when they interviewed a pastor they asked him if he liked Lord of the Rings and he said yes. They said that if he came to their church he could never quote Lord of the Rings because the previous pastor brought up Lord of the Rings every single week. So it could be worse!
Tim Keller talks about the movie The Sixth Sense. He said you can only see that movie twice because once you know the ending it changes how you see the whole thing. The ending is shocking. I heard about the ending before I ever saw it and if you don’t know the ending or have not seen the movie, I’m sorry but it came out in 1999. You’ve had your chance. To quote Keller, “I don’t want to spoil the ending for you but Bruce Willis is dead.” Bruce Willis, a child psychologist (super believable), is trying to help a young boy who sees dead people and it turns out Bruce Willis is one of the people who is dead. And if you go back through the movie it’s so obvious he is dead. His wife doesn’t look at him or interact with him. No one really talks to him except for the young boy. You can’t help but watch the whole movie in light of the ending.
But the the story of Jesus is the exact opposite of The Sixth Sense. When you get to the end Jesus isn’t dead but alive. The gospel is the good news that the hero of the story is alive and well. And now as you go back through the Scriptures you can’t help but read them in light of that good news. It’s all about him. It’s all pointing to our need for him. It’s all about this coming savior who is going to pay the ultimate sacrifice. It’s all about Jesus, his suffering, his death, and his life-giving resurrection so that anyone who repents of their sins and puts their faith and trust in him will one day rise again too. And when we’re frustrated and discouraged and can’t sense God’s presence that’s exactly what we need to focus on—the Bible and how he rose again from the dead. When you can’t see Jesus, look to the Scriptures and to his resurrection.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
Church Service You can find the full church service on our Facebook Page or watch just the sermon on YouTube.
Sources The Sixth Sense sermon illustration also appears on page 103 of Tremper Longman III’s How to Read Proverbs.
Painting by Fritz von Uhde – 1. kunstkopie.de2./3. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33827191
“I want to tell you about the night I killed Ted Morris.” Tommy Pigage opened his court-mandated appearance at the Trigg County High School MADD meeting with those trembling words. Standing in the back of the gym was Elizabeth Morris, Ted’s grieving mother. In time she would find it in herself not simply to forgive but to unofficially adopt the young man who had collided with her son while driving drunk. Her husband, Frank, a part-time preacher and a driver for UPS, would baptize Tommy with his own hands. Years later, Tommy still called his new parents every day between 4 and 5 p.m. Though Tommy had no right to expect anything from them, Ted’s parents opened the door of their life to Tommy. In the process, everything changed.
We have had a great opportunity this year leading up to Easter to look more closely at passages of Scripture that often get rushed through. Often times the week before Easter will focus on the Triumphal Entry and then the arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus are condensed into an Easter sermon focusing on the resurrection. This year we had a sermon on the night in the Garden of Gethsemane, a sermon on Jesus’ trial, a sermon last week by Terry on the crucifixion, and now a sermon on the death of Jesus. If you can make the sunrise service tomorrow, Terry will be speaking on the resurrection.
The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:10-11 “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Paul wants to know Christ, but he doesn’t stop at his resurrection. Paul wants to participate in his suffering. Think of his betrayal, trial, beating, and crucifixion. He wants to become like him in his death. I think often times we want to stop with Philippians 3:10a “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection.” I think it is good to study how Jesus suffered and how he died so we too can learn from it and agree with Paul on all of Philippians 3:10-11.
Context/Background: I probably do not need to do much in the way of refreshing your memories or setting the stage for Jesus’ death. We remember that Jesus went to pray the night of his arrest and he asked the disciples that were with him to pray too. Jesus prayed so hard drops of blood mixed with his sweat; his disciples fell asleep. Then one of his disciples, Judas, betrayed him, and Jesus was arrested. After his arrest, Jesus is denied by another disciple, Peter. Often, we forget to count these things among Jesus’ suffering, but think how devastating it would be if this is how your friends supported you in a tough time. Jesus then endures mocking, multiple trials, beatings, humiliation, nakedness, and ultimately crucifixion. Now, as his death is imminent, Jesus must face separation from the Father for the first time in all eternity.
As we look at the death of Jesus, I want to answer 4 questions that I think, to varying degrees, many Christians do not think deeply enough to answer well. After looking at these questions, I hope to encourage all of us that the truth about the death of Jesus ought to change the way we live. As I studied these questions, it became apparent that whole sermons, or multiple sermons, could be preached on them. And, entire books have been written on them. So, forgive me for being brief on each topic, and perhaps long overall, but please talk to me after, or anytime, if you want to discuss anything more.
Why did Jesus have to die?
Perhaps the simplest of the four questions, but not without controversy. I am sure we have all heard someone argue that God can’t be loving if he would murder his own son. Or perhaps you have heard someone say that there must have been a better way. Scripture tells us God’s ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9) and he is perfect and just (Dt. 34:2). We cannot judge his plan for redemption using human understanding. Before Adam and Eve sinned, God told them the punishment for their sin would be death. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. A holy God and a just judge cannot neither accept sin nor waive the punishment. Sin is rebellion towards God and God cannot be in the presence of sin, so death has to be the punishment. Death is separation from God. Sin is what separates us from God. Therefore, sin brings about death. Throughout the Old Testament we see a sacrificial system involving innocent lambs and other animals being slaughtered to pay for the sins of the people. Hebrews 9:22 tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. Hebrews 9 also details how the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies once a year cleansed with blood that was not his own and contrasts that to Jesus entering into God’s presence once for all cleansed by his own blood. Jesus sacrificed himself one time for the sins of many. Jesus had to die because the only way to redeem sinful people and allow them to enter God’s presence was through paying the price of sin. The wages of sin is death, which is separation from God. When people pay the price for their sin, they are separated from God for eternity. For the relationship between God and man, even God and creation, to be restored for eternity, someone needed to take the punishment we couldn’t take. Only one was worthy and able to pay that price, Jesus.
Who did Jesus die for?
This is another fairly straightforward question, but again not without controversy. The controversy usually revolves around whether Jesus died for the sins of the whole world or just some of the people, those who are often referred to as the elect. In Calvinism, if you are familiar with it, this is referred to as limited atonement, and it is one of the five points of Calvinism. However, this is not the question I am asking, and I am not going to spend any time on it. What I am asking is for whom, as in what kind of people, did Jesus die. Who did Jesus die for?
Jesus died for the ungodly; for sinners. Romans 5:6-8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus died for those who were dead in their sins. Colossians 2:13-15 “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Jesus died for his enemies. Romans 5:10-11 “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
We can debate if Jesus’ atonement is limited in scope, but make no mistake, Jesus’ atonement is unlimited in power. There is no person to bad, no sin too big, no point in life too late for Jesus. No matter who you are, what you’ve done, or how long you’ve lived that way, Jesus has covered that debt.
Where did Jesus go when he died?
So perhaps now we are entertaining a more controversial question. I am going to give you multiple choice on this one, but do not yell it out or raise your hand. I am going to present a point of view I believe to be defensible, but it is definitely a secondary issue believers disagree about. It is also an issue with many sides, secondary questions, and debates. I mentioned death being separation from God. Death being the separation of two things meant to be together, physical death is the separation of the soul from the body. We know from our text that Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb cut into the rock that had not been used before that belonged to Joseph of Arimathea. Before he dies, Jesus says in verse 46 “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” But, where did Jesus’ spirit/soul go?
Here are the options:
Jesus went to Heaven Jesus went to Hell Jesus went to Hades Jesus waited in the tomb None of the above / Never thought about it
Option 1 gets some votes in most groups. After all, shouldn’t Jesus go to Heaven and didn’t he tell the repentant thief that he would be with him that day in paradise? That may depend on the definition of paradise. The words of Jesus himself do not well support that he went to heaven. In John 20:17, the morning of the resurrection, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene. Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Option 2 gets some votes in most groups too. Probably this is due to the Apostles creed (and other creeds) which says he descended into hell. However, this is also not well supported by Scripture where hell is described as the place prepared for Satan and his angels as well as those who reject God, but only after the final judgment. This could also be the result of some level of confusion about the difference between Hell and Hades.
Option 3, Jesus went to Hades, seems to align best with Scripture, and when understood, changes our view of Jesus death and resurrection. A chunk of the information I will present on this view came from an article by Joe Rigney, a Professor at Bethlehem College & Seminary, that I found very helpful. I want to give him credit for helping me understand and explain it, but, I will take all the blame if you don’t follow me.
David says in Psalm 16:9-10 “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.” Peter explains this in Acts 2:29-3229 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.”
“In the Old Testament, Sheol is the place of the souls of the dead, both the righteous (like Jacob, Genesis 37:35, and Samuel, 1 Samuel 28:13–14) and the wicked (Psalm 31:17). In the New Testament, the Hebrew word Sheol is translated as Hades, and the description of Sheol in the Old and New Testaments bears some resemblance to the Hades of Greek mythology. It is under the earth (Numbers 16:30–33), and it is like a city with gates (Isaiah 38:10) and bars (Job 17:16). It is a land of darkness — a place where shades, the shadowy souls of men, dwell (Isaiah 14:9; 26:14). It is the land of forgetfulness (Psalm 88:12), where no work is done and no wisdom exists (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Most significantly, Sheol is a place where no one praises God (Psalm 6:5; 88:10–11; 115:17; Isaiah 38:18).” – Joe Rigney
Probably the best description in the New Testament comes from the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus. Luke 16:19-24 “‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’”
That is not the end of the parable, but that gives us the glimpse of Hades. We learned that, like the Hades of Greek mythology, the biblical Hades has two compartments: Hades proper where the rich man is sent and “Abraham’s bosom” where the angels carry Lazarus. Hades proper is a place of torment, where fire causes anguish to the souls imprisoned there. Abraham’s bosom, on the other hand, while within shouting distance of Hades, is separated from it by “a great chasm” (Luke 16:26) and is a place of comfort and rest.
“While much mystery remains, the picture begins to take shape. All dead souls go down to Sheol/Hades, but Sheol is divided into two distinct sides, one for the righteous and one for the wicked. The righteous who died prior to Christ dwelt in Sheol with Abraham, and though they were cut off from the land of the living (and therefore from the worship of Yahweh on earth), they were not tormented as the wicked were.” – Joe Rigney
“Following his death for sin, then, Jesus journeys to Hades, to the City of Death, and rips its gates off the hinges. He liberates Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, John the Baptist, and the rest of the Old Testament faithful, ransoming them from the power of Sheol (Psalm 49:15; 86:13; 89:48).” – Joe Rigney
Why spend so much time on a controversial and uncertain item? Because I want to remind us that Jesus didn’t just die for mysins as we often like to say. Of course, that is true, but it is incomplete. Jesus rescued the souls of all the righteous from eternity past. He ended the needed separation between God and man. He died for the sins of all people of all times that accept his offer to take their place and pay their debt. Jesus defeated death.
What did Jesus’ death accomplish?
As discussed in the first question, why did Jesus have to die, Jesus paid the price for the sins of all who accept his offer to do so. This is the gospel. Jesus’ death, his shedding of blood, accomplished what we could not. When people pay the price for their sin, they are separated from God for eternity. Accept Jesus’ offer to pay the price for you. As 1 Peter 3:18 tells us “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” Secondly, Jesus made us spiritually alive. Jesus removed the required separation between a holy God and sinful man. In Jesus we are no longer dead in sin. Colossians 2 13-15 “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Third, Jesus allows us access to the God the Father.
Remember the discussion about the high priest entering the Holy of Holies? Luke 23:45b “And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” No longer do we need an earthly mediator. No longer do we need to be separated from God. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” No longer do we need to be afraid when entering God’s presence like the high priests of old wondering if we are worthy. Well, we know we’re not worthy, but we know we are covered by one who is.
Finally, Jesus rescued the souls of the righteous from Hades ushering them into Heaven to be with God and worship him forever. This is good news, gospel, for those who are in Christ, who skip the land of forgetfulness, where no one praises God. Instead, when Christians die, they join with the angelic choir and the saints of old to sing praises to Jesus. Jesus’ death paid the price we could not pay, made us spiritually alive, allows us to commune with God now, and enter Heaven when we die. But, don’t forget that offer is available to those you may least expect to accept it.
The death of Jesus should change the way we live.
So, how should all this information change the way we live? Perhaps it makes us a little better at understanding or sharing the gospel. But, I think there is more. If I ended the sermon without trying to push past our heads and into our hearts, to change the way we live, I think I would only do half the job. Some people complain that those who claim Christ but lead sinful lives (as if there are any who don’t, but you know what I mean) cheapen God’s grace, love, or forgiveness; that they make a mockery of it. I am not sure if that is true or not, but I have been convicted that the Christians who really cheapen God’s grace, love, and forgiveness, make a mockery of it, are the ones who don’t even give a whole lot of effort to these commands:
John 13:34-35 “‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another’.”
How are we doing at loving those around us. How are we doing at loving like Jesus did. How are we doing at loving sinners, people who are dead in their sins, our enemies, the annoying person at work (or church), the bad driver making us late, etc?
Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Do we forgive those who wrong us, or do we hold grudges? Do we stop to think about how much God has forgiven us from?
The Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor reminds me how quickly we can forget about the debt that has been canceled on our behalf. But Jesus takes this very seriously. Matthew 18:32-35 “‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Bob Goff has written two books about loving people that I have on my list to read, they are Love Does and Everybody Always. Michael Card has a new book out explaining God’s love (as best anyone can) called Inexpressible: Hesed and the Mystery of God’s Lovingkindness. I only preach 2 or 3 times a year, but God worked it out that I preached on our core value of love. I preached on John 13:34-35. And, now I preached on the death of Jesus, probably the greatest act of love in history. I am certain that God did this because I needed the messages I preached. I hope and pray they were not for me alone and that they also edified some of those who heard them. But, here is my encouragement this Easter. Love because God loves you. Forgive because God forgives you. Start every day thankful for what Jesus’ death has done for you.
Conclusion:
The older I get, the longer I am a Christian, the more I study the Bible, the more I see the kind of thing Jesus was teaching in so many of his parables. The Parable of Prodigal Son reminds me not to be like the older brother who resented his younger brother coming home, refused to celebrate his reconciliation, refused to forgive his brother. The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard reminds me that the thief on the cross deserves what he got just as much as I do if I spend a lifetime working for God; neither of us deserve it.
Remember the story I opened with. How love and forgiveness for Tommy changed his life. Not only is this a picture of the love and forgiveness God gives us, when we have no right to expect anything, but it is one of thousands of stories like it that impact the world when followers of Christ take Jesus’ example and commands seriously. The death of Jesus allows us and compels us to live this way.
Love because God loves you. Forgive because God forgives you. Start every day thankful for what Jesus’ death has done for you. Please pray with me.
Benediction: 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.”
Introduction: Jesus active at his death We have come tonight to meditate on the crucifixion of Jesus, which I am calling history’s darkest day. We are so familiar with the symbol of the cross. See the cross on wall, jewelry, etc. This familiarity often keeps us from seeing the cross for what it is. A. The horrors of crucifixion i. Physical aspect: flogging, carrying cross beam, tied or nailed to cross beam, cross beam fastened to an upright stake, hang for days until death suffocation. ii. Public aspect: took place on roadsides, deterrents. iii. Social aspect: a slave or violent criminal’s death, Roman citizens not crucified. iv. Spiritual aspect: In early Judaism, a person who died by crucifixion was considered cursed by God, based on Deut 21:23 (“cursed is anyone who is hanged on a tree”). v. Crucifixion is nothing short of the cruelest, basest form of torture/execution that existed in the ancient world. vi. This is the darkest day in history. However, this is not because of the practice of crucifixion but because of the person who is being crucified. B. The privileged position of the reader i. Thought experiment: Memory erasure + time travel to the day of Jesus’s crucifixion. What you could tell and what you couldn’t. ii. You could see the crucifixion but its meaning/significance for you would not be self-evident. iii. As readers of the Bible, we have a more privileged position than that of passersby in Jerusalem on that dark day. iv. We see the event and also get its meaning. C. Surprise! i. Jesus, an innocent man, being crucified brings two things to my mind: (a) passive, (b) victim. ii. These things are true, but this is not where Luke places the accent. iii. We see Jesus as active and in control…in surprising ways. D. Framing question: Whom do we see at the epicenter of history’s darkest day?
Forecast structure: (1) walk through the text, (2) meditate on the presentation of Jesus in this passage. 1. Text Walkthrough Background: Jesus has been falsely accused and sentenced to death. The people have chosen to have a notorious murderer freed and Jesus, an innocent man, condemned to execution by crucifixion. A. Act 1: On the way to the cross: vv. 26–31. i. 26: Jesus is too weakened to carry his own crossbeam. ii. 27: Women are beating their chests and wailing. iii. 28–31: a. Jesus’s compassion (recall that earlier in Luke’s gospel, Jesus himself wept over the city of Jerusalem and the disaster coming). b. What is that fate? Luke 19:41–44 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” This refers to the brutal destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans in 70 AD. c. v. 29: Childlessness better than children. Typical: What do you say to someone who has just had a new baby born? What do you say to someone you find out is struggling with infertility? or has had a miscarriage? The disaster Jesus is describing is so horrifying, that the situation is flipped on its head. d. Death better than life. Quote from Hosea 10:8. The coming judgment will be so terrifying that it would be better for a mountain to fall and kill you than to endure it. -Even in the face of tremendous suffering, we have a general agreement that death is preferable to life. Not so here. e. The fire will burn hotter than that of Jesus’s own crucifixion. B. Act 2: Setting the scene at the cross: vv. 32–34. i. OT imagery a. Luke is taking pains to make sure that you know that Jesus is literally surrounded by criminals at his crucifixion. I believe that this is due to the prophecy about suffering servant of the Lord in Isa 53:12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. b. Note also that the soldiers are dividing up and gambling for his clothes. This also is OT imagery, here from a psalm about King David that is understood to refer to the Messianic king from David’s line. Psalm 22:18 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. c. This is very, very important bc it shows that Jesus’s death was not an accident on God’s part; this is the plan from the beginning and had been promised and foreshadowed for centuries beforehand. iii. Excursus: textual variation in v. 34. a. Pause and move to different subject. b. Would someone read aloud the footnote on v. 34? “Some early manuscripts do not have this sentence.” c. What this means: Many manuscripts lack Jesus’s prayer here. d. Presenting P75. Composition, Content, Discovery, Institution, Images. One of the earliest manuscripts of the Gospels we have. Lacks Jesus’s prayer in v. 34. e. How do we process something like this? TC: How we compare ancient manuscripts of the biblical text and evaluate the differences between them in order to establish the earliest version of the text. Caveat: I am not a NT text critic; I do dabble in OT TC. f. Thoughts: i. TC is consistent with our statement of faith. Motivated by love for God and his word. ii. Multiplicity of manuscripts and variants gives us a more accurate understanding of the earliest version of the text. Larger data set yields more accurate results. iii. Some exaggerate the extent and theological impact of textual variants for sensational effect. No version of Luke in which Jesus is not God’s son, death, resurrection, etc. These kinds of textual variants are rare; most are mundane; translations give important variants in your footnote. I love a good conspiracy theory, but textual variants in biblical manuscripts just aren’t one. iv. Conclusion: The text of the Bible is secure; you can have confidence in the Bible you’re holding—I’d love to talk more about this if you’re interested. C. Act 3: 4 commentaries on Jesus’s crucifixion: i. Scene 1: The Jewish leaders (v. 35) Explain what “Christ,” “Messiah” means. Crucifixion is the proof the Jesus’s claim to be the Messiah is false. ii. Scene 2: The Roman soldiers (vv. 36–38) Double meaning of “wine vinegar”: (1) Ps 69:21 [compared with poison]; (2) mean, base drink given to one mocked as a king. Crucifixion as proof that Jesus is not king. iii. Interlude: Jesus is King of the Jews. iv. Scene 3: Thief #1 (v. 39) Save yourself and us! Crucifixion as proof that Jesus is not the Messiah/Christ/King. v. Scene 4: Inversion: Thief #2 (vv. 40–42) Contrasts their guilt with Jesus’s innocence. Profound profession of faith: contrast to the three preceding scenes: Jesus is King. Remembrance is the language of salvation. Not mental awareness but remembrance unto saving action. Ex.: Ps 25:7 Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good. D. Jesus’s reply to Thief #2 (v. 43) i. “Surely” ii. “Paradise” Zoom out—Act I – Quotation includes context – thorns + thistles = Genesis 3. Paradise = the Garden of Eden! Paradise lost and paradise restored! What is the key difference? How one responds to Jesus! With all of these references to Genesis 1–3, I think that it is no accident that Luke wants you to know that Jesus was crucified at the place of the skull—Recall Genesis 3, after this terrible sin that God promised one would come who would crush the skull of the serpent. At the crucifixion, we do not encounter a helpless victim. In the most surprising way, we see in the suffering Jesus the hope of all humanity. One who by means of his suffering crushes the serpent’s head. One whose kingdom undoes the effects of sin and replaces the thorn and thistle-filled realm of our kingdoms with paradise God originally intended for us. At the crucifixion we encounter a victorious savior and a reigning king. iii. “With me” If you find it difficult to imagine what paradise might be— it’s where Jesus is. This is our hope—we will be with him! Greatest loss à Greatest gain. Home is where your loved ones are—childhome home is no longer my home. Brandi Carlile: “Wherever is your heart I call home.” In Christ’s kingdom, we find home—because it’s where God is. iv. “Today” What do we see at the epicenter of history’s darkest day? The beautiful brightness of Jesus, our savior and our king. Meditations: How do we encounter Jesus at his crucifixion? 2. At his crucifixion, we encounter Jesus as: A. Prophet. i. Scope of judgment While Jesus’s warning to the people of Jerusalem has specific reference to the destruction of the city and temple in 70 AD, I believe it has continuing significance for us as well. Just as he understood Hosea’s words to extend beyond that of Israel in the 8th century BC, so also I believe that we should understand his words to refer to an even greater day of judgment beyond 70 AD. Revelation 6:15–17 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” A day of wrath is coming—when all will have to account to God of their sins. Tonight Jesus turns to you and says “Do not weep for me— weep for yourselves. This is the burning of the green wood—how terrible must be the day of the burning of the dry wood!” Jesus describes nothing less than the judgment of God and an eternal hell and says — take heed! ii. What is the purpose of announcements of judgment in the Bible? Implies that disaster can still be averted. You only warn someone if there is hope that they may heed your warning. Jesus’s warning is meant to sober us up and to bring us to repent of our rebellion against God. iii. Heed Jesus’s prophetic warning! iv. If you do not have a relationship with Jesus: You will have to give account to God for your life—you are in rebellion against him. Jesus warns you—Repent! Lay down your arms! Do not go to war with God! Turn to him! Find salvation! v. If you do have a relationship with Jesus: We never outgrow our need to hear Jesus’s prophetic voice. We cannot claim to be in Christ and to live in open rebellion against him. Consider judgment day. Ask God to search your heart and uncover pockets of remaining resistance in your heart. Martin Luther, in his first of 95 theses, said that the whole of the Christian life is repentance. B. Savior. i. Endured the cross Not helpless; It is precisely because Jesus does not save himself that he saves others. Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross and despised its shame! Irony: The one mocked as lacking the ability to save himself is, in fact, working the world’s salvation. ii. The Great Exchange As Jonathan described last week, Jesus’s crucifixion is a picture of the great exchange that he accomplished for us. He is innocent yet suffers as a criminal. We know that, in fact, Jesus is dying as a sacrifice for our sins. He is taking our penalty. We receive forgiveness through his sacrifice. We are credited with the righteous life of Christ. “Because the sinless savior died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me.” iii. Faith: God is not looking for us to provide a sacrifice of our own—he himself has provided the sacrifice. He asks only that we trust in Jesus’s provision, that we believe. iv. Outside of Christ: The message of Christianity is not that you need to live right – you haven’t – but that Jesus lived right and then turned around and took your penalty so that you could be forgiven and could know God and be with him. A relationship with God is not a paycheck we earn; it is a gift we receive. It is free, but not cheap. It was purchased with precious blood of Jesus. Offer of response. v. Those in Christ: We never move beyond this. ABC – A—Z. Rejoice in your salvation! C. King. i. Irony: the one mocked as king really is king (D.A. Carson) ii. Jesus demands our allegiance, our submission. Is he your king? iii. Hope in his kingdom — paradise restored, restored to his presence. How do we encounter Jesus? Prophet—repent; Savior—trust; King—bow. How will you respond to Jesus? No neutral. Moment of silence: reflect. Ask God, which aspect of who Jesus is do you need to respond to tonight. I will close this time of silent reflection with prayer.
We live in a culture based on exchange and trade. We all do it from a young age till we’re elderly. You learn this system when you’re just starting out.
As an infant your parents reward good behavior with a smile or maybe a treat or your favorite toy. A few years in you learn that you can trade your toys for other kids toys. Like I’ll give you this cool-shaped rock if you’ll give me your Nintendo. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. When you get into school you begin to trade time and effort for grades but hopefully for learning and growth as well. You learn things like a rock for a Nintendo is not a good deal. When you get your first job you trade hours stocking the shelf or bagging items for an hourly wage. In college you trade class-time, homework, and money for a degree that enables you to live a better life. If you get married you give up some of the freedoms of single life for the blessings and responsibilities of married life. As you work you trade hours commuting and going to your job to earn a paycheck, progress in your profession, and support your family and others.
All throughout our life we are taught the importance of trade, of exchanging one thing for another. Sometimes when we trade we come out ahead. I chose a great degree and have a really great job. Other times we don’t come out ahead. I got this cool rock and he got my Nintendo.
But what if I could tell you about the greatest trade every offered to mankind. It’s called the great exchange. The author Paul writes in the New Testament about the great exchange in his letter to the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (NIV®)
At first glance this verse can seem kind of confusing, but it’s talking about a trade. God the Father directed Jesus, who didn’t have any sin—sin is wrongdoing before God—to take on our sin so that we can take on his righteousness—right standing before God. In other words Jesus will trade you his innocence for our guilt.
Some illustrate this great exchange with book covers. It’s like Jesus’ book cover is placed on your book, your life. Then your cover is placed on his life. He pays for your sin and you get his goodness. When God opens up your book cover he finds the life of Christ. Others have illustrated this using a movie. Imagine that your life, every moment of every day, is played on a big projector for the whole world to see. You would have parts you’d like and be proud of but many parts that you would feel great shame over. But Jesus always did the right thing. He always obeyed God. Imagine if instead of playing your life for all to see you could play Jesus’ life for all to see. That would feel really good and it’s possible through the great exchange. But this comes at a high cost. Jesus has to die so that you can live. He has to pay the ultimate price to make this trade.
Maybe you’re thinking, “I don’t want any of that. That sounds like an unfair trade.” Well you’re right. It’s incredibly unfair, but it’s also our only hope. It’s our only way to redemption. It’s our only way out of this mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. You and I are so broken and so sinful in our hearts that we stand guilty and condemned before God unless Jesus trades himself for us.
In today’s passage we see Jesus play this story out. He stands before soldiers and rulers and crowds condemned, but completely innocent, and then trades his life for one who is actually guilty. Jesus is a willing victim of violence as he chooses to lay down his life for those he loves.
Jesus willingly chooses to lay down his life for us. (Luke 22:66-71) Jesus just spent the evening praying in the Garden of Gethsemane for his Father’s will to be done. Judas comes with a band of soldiers and takes him away to be tried by those in power in Jerusalem.
66 At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. 67 “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”
God promised a king called the Messiah (in the Greek “Christ”) who would liberate his people. They think he will free them from political bondage but the Messiah actually liberates from spiritual bondage first. So when they ask if he’s the Messiah Jesus doesn’t answer them directly.
Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, 68 and if I asked you, you would not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
Instead of claiming to be the Messiah, Jesus calls himself the Son of Man, a label he’s given himself before. It identifies him not just with all of humanity but with a special prophecy found in the book of Daniel.
Daniel 7:13-14 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (NIV®)
The elders and chief priests know that Son of Man can can stand for more than humanity so they ask him a clarifying question. They want to know if he is claiming to be divine, to be equal with God.
70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”
He replied, “You say that I am.”
71 Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”
Jesus pretty much says, “You said it.” They think this is blasphemy—that Jesus profaned God’s name, like he has almost cursed God. But it’s only blasphemy if Jesus isn’t God, which he is. Do you see who is in control of this conversation? Jesus is. He gives them the ammo they need to condemn him. Jesus is intentionally giving up his life. This lines up with what Jesus tells us elsewhere (John 10:15, 15:13).
John 10:17-18a The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again…” (NIV®)
Jesus willingly chooses to lay down his life for us. What’s the most amazing thing anyone has done for you? Maybe you think of your parents raising you and giving you an education or your spouse agreeing to marry you. Those are examples of people laying down their lives for you. I mentioned this story in January but it’s worth giving again because it’s such a clear example of what Jesus did for us. Last year a French Police Officer exchanged himself for a female hostage and she lived but he died. What if there was someone out there who laid down his life for you? Who died so that you could live? And they didn’t do it because someone forced them but willingly out of choice because they love you? That would be pretty amazing, wouldn’t it? Well Jesus has done that for us and we don’t deserve it.
Jesus is completely innocent but we are not. (Luke 23:1-5) Once the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law have enough evidence to condemn Jesus according to the law they lead him away to be judged by Pilate, the Governor of Judea (Matt 27:2). But when they bring charges against Jesus they don’t bring up their religious accusations because they know Pilate won’t take those accusations seriously. So they lie and make up three false charges.
1 Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”
The first charge isn’t true. Jesus isn’t leading a rebellion against Caesar. He has come in peace but he is subverting the religious leader’s power and false teaching. The second charge isn’t true either. That very week they tried to trap Jesus by asking if it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, but Jesus had asked for one of their coins and asked whose image was on it. They said Caesar and Jesus said, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Luke 20:20-26) But there’s something about the third charge that rings true— Jesus is the Messiah. He is a king.
3 So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
Jesus answers like before, “You said it.” He is the king of the Jews, but not just the Jewish people, all people, the whole world, the whole universe. But he’s a different kind of king than they expect, not a military conquerer but one who brings grace and forgiveness for sins—peace with God.
4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
5 But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”
Jesus is innocent but those who accuse him are not. They’re willing to lie to condemn him so they can regain power. Have you ever lied or said something that wasn’t quite true to make you look good and the other person bad? We might not have wrongly condemned a man to death but Romans tell us we’ve all sinned.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (NIV®)
Anytime we say, think, or do anything that is contrary to God’s good character we’re sinning. This includes anytime we know we should do something good but don’t do it. That’s sin too. A pastor friend of mine shared an article, “Most Sinful States in America.” According to the article, “WalletHub compared the 50 states across seven key dimensions: 1) Anger & Hatred, 2) Jealousy, 3) Excesses & Vices, 4) Greed, 5) Lust, 6) Vanity and 7) Laziness.” They studied things like murder rates, thefts per capita, obesity, and more.
They found that Mississippi, Minnesota, Kansas, and New Jersey all have the worst gambling problem but Michigan much less so (8x less). New Mexico, Alaska, and Louisiana have the most jealousy—problems with theft—while New England suffers from that the least. But even though New York might not be very jealous they are number one for vanity, which is measured by most beauty salons per capita. The top four most sinful states are Nevada, Florida, California, and Texas and the least two are Maine and Vermont. Massachusetts is 33rd.
But here’s the thing about this study. Every state is on this list. No state is innocent. We’re all sinful in some way, whether it’s clear to others or not. None of us are innocent. We’ve all sinned and elsewhere the Bible warns us the consequence for sin is eternal spiritual death (Romans 6:23). We each need to receive forgiveness and only Jesus can offer it because only Jesus is innocent. He’s the only human who wouldn’t register on this chart because he never sinned once but he can also forgive because he is God too.
What happens next is that when Pilate hears Jesus is from Galilee he sends him to Herod who rules that region, but Herod finds him to be innocent as well despite the intense accusations of the religious leaders (Luke 23:6-12). Jesus doesn’t even say anything because he is intentionally laying down his life (Isa 53:7).
Jesus allows himself to be condemned to set us free. (Luke 23:13-25) Pilate tries to do the right thing and set Jesus free but only until he meets resistance.
13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. 15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16 Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”
18 But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” 19 (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)
Now it’s not just the chief priests, and the rulers, but the people too. The crowd that welcomed him in on Palm Sunday now begins to shout “Crucify him!” And instead of asking Jesus to be released they ask for Barabbas, a murderer and a rebel, the one who is actually guilty of those earlier charges. It’s incredibly unfair and unjust. The Gospel of Matthew tells us it was Pilate’s practice to release a prisoner during the Passover festival (Matt 27:15), but instead of setting Jesus free they set free the worst of criminals. It’s like setting the Boston Marathon Bomber free but condemning your favorite elementary school teacher. Pilate can hardly believe his ears.
20 Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. 21 But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
22 For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”
23 But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. 24 So Pilate decided to grant their demand. 25 He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will. (NIV®)
This is the great exchange. Jesus is condemned and Barabbas is set free. This is the exact same thing Jesus does for you and me. Jesus allows himself to be condemned to set us free. Today Jesus offers you his righteousness and holiness for your guilt and sin and shame. That’s why Jesus went to the cross, so that if you repent of your sin and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ you’ll receive his holiness and he’ll pay the penalty for your wrongdoing. You’re right, it’s not fair, it’s mercy.
Jesus allows himself to be condemned to set us free. Jesus traded his life for ours and he never regrets it. He did it intentionally, willingly, graciously. He died to set us free. Will you accept this gift? Will you believe and be saved? There are so many ways to get ripped off in life and so many ways to come out ahead, but there’s only one trade that will get you eternal life. Come before Jesus and ask him to exchange his life for yours. And if you take him up on the offer you become innocent just like him. This doesn’t mean you won’t ever sin but that God will see you as holy and pure like Jesus and will give you the gift of eternal life. Jesus allows himself to be condemned to set us free.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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We live in a culture based on exchange and trade. We all do it from a young age till we’re elderly. You learn this system when you’re just starting out. As an infant your parents reward good behavior with a smile or maybe a treat or your favorite toy. A few years in you learn that you can trade your toys for other kids toys. Like I’ll give you this cool-shaped rock if you’ll give me your Nintendo. Sometimes it
Jesus can turn the worst of deniers into the best of disciples. Let’s think about denial for a moment. Denial means “to declare that something is untrue.” We tend to think of denial as a bad thing. I recently watched the Netflix Documentary Behind The Curve. There is a growing movement of people who believe the earth is flat. They believe the earth is not a round globe but a flat disk surrounded by a barrier of ice. Some believe
Jesus can turn the worst of deniers into the best of disciples. Let’s think about denial for a moment. Denial means “to declare that something is untrue.” We tend to think of denial as a bad thing. I recently watched the Netflix Documentary Behind The Curve. There is a growing movement of people who believe the earth is flat. They believe the earth is not a round globe but a flat disk surrounded by a barrier of ice. Some believe a dome covers the earth. If you’ve ever seen the Truman Show a dome covers his town. Others believe there is no dome but we stare up into infinite space. It’s hotly debated.
Now how big of a denial is it to deny that the earth is round? It’s huge. You have to ignore much of modern science as well as believe there’s some sort of conspiracy that makes it worth it for someone to cover up that the earth is flat. You and I—I hope—would never deny the earth is round. But what if I were to tell you that this is not the worst denial we can commit? In fact, there’s a much worse denial we often commit.
Each one of us struggles with denying Jesus. We struggle to be faithful disciples. We do this when we don’t give every part of our life to him or we don’t tell others about him because we’re embarrassed. That’s denying Jesus. It’s actually much worse than denying the earth is round because what you believe and do about Jesus has eternal weight. If we’re denying Jesus, the Lord of the universe, the Lord who created a beautiful round earth and all that lives and breathes on it, we need to change. In our text today we encounter two forms of denying Jesus:
Judas – Rejection of the heart (Luke 22:47-53) We find the first denial in Judas who rejects Jesus in his heart. This is the week of Jesus’ crucifixion and death. At the beginning of this week Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to happy crowds who believed he had come to overthrow the Romans. We call this the Triumphant Entry. Only the religious leaders are rejecting Jesus. Throughout that week leading up to Passover they try to find a way to catch Jesus, but they can’t so they hire Judas to betray him. Luke 22:3 says “Satan entered Judas” and then he betrays Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Luke 22:47-48 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (NIV®)
We find our first case of denial in Judas. He is one of Jesus’ twelve disciples and agrees to betray Jesus for “thirty pieces of silver” (Zech 11:12-13; Matt 26:15; c.f., Luke 22:1-6). Although the Bible doesn’t tell us exactly why Judas did it it seems like he loved money more than Jesus (Matt 6:21). His heart didn’t belong to Christ, but to other things he wanted more than Christ. He lived and traveled with Jesus for three years. He listened to his teachings, helped out, volunteered, but his heart was far from him and it was disastrous.
Matthew 26:24b “…But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” (NIV®)
When Jesus prayed for his disciples earlier that night after Passover he said this about his disciples.
John 17:12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. (NIV®)
The Bible goes on to tell us that Judas hanged himself (Matt 27:5; Acts 1:18-19). He didn’t believe in Jesus or forgiveness. Rejecting Jesus in your heart is the worst mistake a person can make. You can go through all the right motions, looking and acting like a Christian or a good person, volunteering at church and helping out with outreach or the worship team or serving as a greeter, but if your heart isn’t with Jesus you’ve rejected him. Judas kissed Jesus, a warm sign of greeting, but he didn’t love him. We can lift our hands in worship and song and say the most amazing prayers but if our hearts don’t belong to Jesus it’s like we’re a foreign spy living among God’s people. One day we will be caught and brought to trial. Judas continued on this path and it destroyed him. Don’t let that be you. Don’t just be religious or go through the motions. Really love Jesus. Give him your heart.
Even at the end Jesus gives Judas the opportunity to repent by asking him “if” he is betraying him. Judas could have said “No, I’m not going to betray you! I’m sorry!” but he didn’t. But you can admit you’ve betrayed Jesus and receive his complete and total forgiveness and come and be one of his disciples. The first form of denial of Jesus we encounter we find in Judas, which is a rejection of the heart.
The next person we encounter does not deny Jesus from the heart. His heart is all in, sometimes even in the wrong way. When the the soldiers come to take Jesus away Peter strikes “the high priest’s servant, cutting off his ear” (John 18:10). Jesus says “no more of this!” and he heals the man (Luke 22:51). And then they lead Jesus away. Peter was going to be brave and courageous and fight them all off, but now his entire plan is dashed to pieces so he follows Jesus.
Luke 22:54-57 Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. 55 And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. 56 A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”
57 But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said. (NIV®)
Peter – Denial from fear and shame (Luke 22:54-62) We find the second denial in Peter who denies Jesus due to fear and shame. You can imagine the situation where Peter works up his courage to follow Jesus so that if Jesus decides to fight back he’ll be ready to assist. But then he encounters the “servant girl” and she’s just too intimidating a foe.
Luke 22:58-60a A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” “Man, I am not!” Peter replied. 59 About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.” 60 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” (NIV®)
All four gospels include Peter’s denial of Jesus (Matt 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 22:54-62; John 18:15-18, 25-27). All of them start with a lowly servant girl asking Peter if he was one of Jesus’ disciples. Just a short time prior he was drawing his sword and cutting off a man’s ear, and now he is cowering under a little girl’s lie-detector test. He must be afraid to tell the truth might lead to the cross for him too.
But Peter is relatable. His heart is not in question. He believes Jesus is the Messiah (Matt 16:16). He doesn’t quite understand what that means but he’s very much a disciple of Jesus. He doesn’t want to betray him like Judas, but he’s easily ashamed, easily afraid. For most of us I think we’re just like Peter. We believe in Jesus but it’s difficult for us to talk about him because we are easily ashamed. How many of us will admit we are Christians or go to church to our coworkers but won’t tell them the gospel? An author once said, “Walk in line with your prayers.” That means pray and then act on your prayer. Pray about your coworker’s need for Christ and then go tell them about Christ. Jesus said this earlier in Luke.
Luke 12:8-9 “I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God. (NIV®)
Peter knew how serious it is to deny Jesus. Earlier that evening Jesus prophesied Peter would deny Jesus three times but Peter denied that too.
Luke 22:31-34 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 33 But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” 34 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” (NIV®)
Satan laid claim to both Judas and Peter, but Peter’s heart belonged to Jesus and Satan couldn’t enter him. Peter belongs to Christ and here Christ is already prophesying Peter’s restoration after his denial in verse 32, “And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” It doesn’t say Satan entered Peter, only Judas. Peter belongs to Jesus and it wounds him when he realizes what he’s done.
Luke 22:60-62 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly. (NIV®)
Peter’s tears are the mark of a true disciple. Judas was remorseful. He tried to give the money back (Matt 27:3-4) but he doesn’t repent from the heart. Instead he tries to atone for his own sin by taking his own life. Peter repents. Peter weeps from a broken heart. Peter gets he can’t atone for his own sin.
Three days later when he hears Jesus isn’t in the tomb he runs to it (Luke 24:12; John 20:4). But even after Jesus appears to the disciples, including Peter in a locked room (John 20:19), Peter doesn’t seem to feel forgiven. John’s gospel tells us Peter goes back to fishing in Galilee and that’s where Jesus finds him.
John 21:15-17 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. (NIV®)
Jesus – Offers restoration (John 21:15-19) Jesus offers restoration to any disciple who denies him. Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. Jesus is walking Peter back through his three denials. He is given him three opportunities to repent and follow him. Jesus can turn the worst of deniers into the best of disciples. I don’t care if you’ve put your faith in him and haven’t told a soul, or maybe you’ve even pretended like you don’t know Jesus or he’s not Lord of this world, Jesus can forgive you and restore you and turn you into the best disciple. I don’t think Jesus is going to magically take away our fear and shame but by his grace and Holy Spirit we can work through it.
Jesus can turn the worst of deniers into a reasonably okay disciple. What’s your story? Who do you need to talk to? Where have you denied Jesus in your own life and need to walk that path again? Are you thinking of someone? It’s time to walk that path with Jesus.
On the beach near the Sea of Galilee Jesus walked Peter back through his denials but he also promised that one day he would give Peter another opportunity to walk with Jesus to the cross, to face his same fears from the night of the Passover and this time prevail.
John 21:18-19 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” (NIV®)
Jesus is prophesying Peter too will die on a cross. Church history tells us that Peter died by crucifixion. He became a bold disciple of Jesus. He shared the gospel and saw God work and we can too. Pick up your cross and follow Jesus (Matt 16:24).
Jesus can turn the worst of deniers into the best of disciples. Jesus can do this because he also was tempted to deny God’s plan. Satan tried to get him to turn on his Heavenly Father but he wouldn’t. Jesus walked down the path God planned for him and he never stumbled and never fell. If you repent of your sins and put your faith and trust in Jesus you get Jesus’ unfaltering record on your account. We’re not saved by being bold for Jesus. We’re saved by God’s grace. There are some people we still have time to share with and this is an encouragement to go share with them. But there are others who have died who we can no longer share with. We can’t hold that over ourselves but can let it drive us to God’s grace and to obedience. Peter failed but Jesus still loved him and restored him. We’re saved by belonging to Jesus. It’s only as we realize this and let the Holy Spirit leads that we will share Christ with those who need him most. Jesus can turn the worst of deniers into the best of disciples.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
Painting by Gerard Seghers – Google Art Project, Public Domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41101879
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Tonight we are going to talk about death. At the Ockenga Fellows Retreat last week we discussed “Science, Technology, and Healthcare.” I’m going to cover technology in May but tonight I want to discuss how to die well. By show of hands, who here thought about death this week, either your death or that of a loved one, family member, or friend? A lot of us thought about death this week. Our culture doesn’t like to talk about death but
Tonight we are going to talk about death. At the Ockenga Fellows Retreat last week we discussed “Science, Technology, and Healthcare.” I’m going to cover technology in May but tonight I want to discuss how to die well. By show of hands, who here thought about death this week, either your death or that of a loved one, family member, or friend? A lot of us thought about death this week. Our culture doesn’t like to talk about death but what I like about Psalm 90 is that it freely admits we are all going to die one day.
Psalm 90:3-6 3 You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.” 4 A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. 5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death— they are like the new grass of the morning: 6 In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered. (NIV®)
These verses contrast our very brief and human lives with that of God who lives forever. In comparison to him we are like grass that looks fresh and new in the morning but by the time the midday sun shines we’ve withered and become brown. Even the strongest of us who watch our diets and exercise live a brief span. Death comes not only for the old and the sick but for the young and the busy. Car accidents, the flu, a freak accident—we’re all at risk of sudden and unexpected death. As one biochemist said, “The human body has so many things that could go wrong that it’s amazing that we are even alive.” So as Christians, what should we do about our approaching death? What’s the right perspective on death? Is there a way to live and die well? Tonight I want to give you four characteristics of a good and faithful death.
Trust In the first two verses of our Psalm we find the Psalmist Moses expressing a deep trust in the Lord.
Psalm 90:1-2 1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. (NIV®)
Moses saw a lot of death as one generation passed away in the wilderness because of their sins and another rose up. He also wrote about the generations that had come before when he crafted the genealogies in the Pentateuch (all those different times he said “son of” or “begats”). As he did these things he marveled at God’s goodness and that God is our “dwelling place” even in the midst of death. You know that saying “home is where the heart is?” Moses is saying, “home is where God is.” Life after life you’ve been there for us. Why don’t we want to die? Because we don’t want to leave family and friends, our home, our life. But our true home, our true life, is with God. He’s always been there for us and he always will be, even in death.
On Thursday of the retreat we went down to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and met the chaplain there, Dr. Walter Moczynski. As he was talking about end of life care for terminally ill patients (patients that are going to die) he mentioned a study by Michael and Tracy Balboni. What the Balbonis found was that patients who were dying and who believed in “religious practices (e.g., prayer) and theological beliefs (i.e., a loving God)” pursued more radical treatment at the end of their life. Pursuing these radical treatments actually decreased the quality of life they had at the end and took away precious time with family members. In other words, something about their faith didn’t help them die well.
They were six-times more likely to try “life-prolonging measures at the end of life.” They were “less likely to have a living will, a health care proxy, or a do-not resuscitate order.” They “were three times more likely to receive intensive life-prolonging care (e.g., mechanical ventilation and resuscitation).” They were “nearly two times more likely to die in an intensive care unit” (ICU).
Those drastic end-of-life procedures cost a lot of money and they also hurt those we leave behind.
Likewise, other studies have shown that aggressive care at life’s end is associated with poorer patient quality of death and higher rates of patients’ family members experiencing pathologic bereavement after their death, including greater rates of major depression disorder, ongoing regrets, and feeling unprepared for the loss. (Reintegrating Care for the Dying, Body and Soul).
You would think that people who are religious and believe in God, Christians, would be the first to trust God and be willing to go to him in heaven, but actually we resist the most. In fact, “patients with advanced cancer who are well supported by their religious communities choose hospice care less and aggressive medical measures more when they’re near death.” In other words, people who are sick and have a supportive faith-based community, when they’re given the opportunity to go to hospice, which is a home for the sick and terminally ill that makes dying as comfortable as possible, instead choose to stay in the hospital and seek treatment. This actually prolongs their suffering. They give five reasons why this happens:
We believe and expect God to perform a miracle. One dying patient put it this way, “Jesus said that if you have belief the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains. I find myself asking, ‘Why not me? Why can’t I be like the masses that were healed?’” We interpret giving into death as “abandoning faith or hope in God.” Through prayer and support the community adds social pressure to the patient to keep fighting. We preach that God values life (like in difficult topics like abortion and euthanasia) which creates confusion about whether or not it’s okay to die. We separate the needs of our body from the needs of our soul. The doctor tells me how to get well and my pastor tells me how to get right with God. But really body and soul go together.
As part of the study they found that when a medical staff provided spiritual care and not their normal faith community, terminal patients who believed in God accepted hospice much sooner. That’s not how it should be. Myself as a pastor and we as the community should be able to walk with each other through death. When her brother Lazarus died Jesus asked Martha an important question that we should ask ourselves.
John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”” (NIV®)
If we as a church community truly believe that Christ Jesus is the resurrection, then a miraculous healing is not the most important thing, but going to be with Jesus is. And one day we know we will live again. For the Ockenga Program we were assigned to read and bring a quote from the book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the Endby Atul Gawande. I highly recommend reading it if you have aging parents, are aging yourself, or are going to die one day. In the book he contrasted those who accept they are going to die and so go to hospice or end of life “pallative” care and those who don’t. This is the quote I read.
“In one [medical study], researchers followed 4,493 Medicare patients with either terminal cancer or end-stage congestive heart failure. For the patients with breast cancer, prostate cancer, or colon cancer, the researchers found no difference in survival time between those who went into hospice and those who didn’t. And curiously, for some conditions, hospice care seemed to extend survival. Those with pancreatic cancer gained an average of three weeks, those with lung cancer gained six weeks, and those with congestive heart failure gained three months. The lesson seems almost Zen: you live longer only when you stop trying to live longer.”
The author isn’t a Christian. He doesn’t know the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He doesn’t know a God who is a “dwelling place” for generations and generations. But we do. So as Christians, and as part of a Christian community, let’s not only trust that God “can” heal us with a miracle but also that it may be our time to die trusting God. When we go to visit each other at the end of life we shouldn’t rush in saying “God will heal you!” But rather let’s encourage each other to trust God in life and in death. The first characteristic of a good and faithful death is trust. The second?
Reconciliation This Psalm calls us to be reconciled to God and to each other.
Psalm 90:7-9 7 We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. (NIV®)
When Moses encounters God he is confronted by all of his sins and it’s terrifying. God reveals all the things in our hearts, all the things we hold onto. During the Q&A time with the chaplain one of our cohort leaders, Dr. Kenneth Barnes asked, “What’s the most common regret you hear from people?” The chaplain who has served for 25-years at Dana Farber said this, “I wish I would have reconciled with others sooner.” He hears from people all the time that it’s such a relief to be reconciled from a bad divorce or a strained relationship with siblings and they wish they had done it a year earlier.
If you want to die well, no, if you want to live well, get reconciled. Get reconciled first to God. One of people’s biggest concerns when dying is making sure they’re right with God. We actually know the right way to do this, the only way. Confess your sins to Christ Jesus and receive his forgiveness. He’s the only one who can forgive you and reconcile you to God because the only one to truly have a good and faithful death.
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (NIV®)
And then once you’re reconciled to God get reconciled to your family member or church member or friend who you have a broken relationship with. Life’s just too short not to. We shouldn’t wait till the end. The Bible calls us to get reconciled today. The first and second characteristics of a good and faithful death are trust and reconciliation. What’s the third?
Preparation Psalm 90:10-12 10 Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. 11 If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. 12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (NIV®)
My old pastor called anything past 70 years a “bonus round.” God wants us to number our days. He wants us to get ready for death. Moses lived 120 years but he still had to face it and so do we. As we prepare to meet God it helps us use our time in this world wisely. That doesn’t mean do as much as you can for the Lord. The next couple verses admit how hopeless that can feel.
But notice that verse 11 talks about the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is a theme that pops up all throughout the Old Testament. The fear of the Lord is a healthy reverence for him and his commandments. When we realize our lives are short it helps us realize that obeying God’s commandments is what matters most. And Jesus tells us the two greatest commandments—love God and love others (Matthew 22:33-40). We prepare for death by focusing on loving God and loving others every day and leaving the rest up to him.
I think there are two very practical ways we can prepare for death and both love God and love others as part of it. The first is to take the time this week to map out your funeral. Dr. Jason McConnel, one of our cohort leaders, said it makes a world of difference when a loved one has died but they’ve said what they want for the funeral beforehand. I’ve printed and put out forms in the bulletin that you can fill out tonight. We’ll keep a file on hand here at church with them. It asks these questions:
How do you want to be buried? Coffin, cremation, green burial? Where do you want to be buried? And if you have a specific location, have you paid for it? What’s the goal of your funeral? As Christians it should be to share the gospel and glorify God. What Bible passages would you like read or preached on? What hymns or songs would you like sung or played? We will not be playing I did it my way. Who do you want to do your funeral? Believe me. I won’t be offended if you would prefer someone besides me. Bernie is great. Any of our elders would do a fantastic job. Maybe you have a pastor in your family or a longtime friend who should do it. I’d list a couple options. Are there any other specifics? Who else would you like to participate?
That’s a way you can both love God and love others when you pass. The second way I hesitate to mention but Jason thought it was important so I’m going to pass it along. If you are able, purchase life insurance. He told us the story of a 27 year old married man who was a father and one day when he was driving home he was killed by a drunk driver. This young man had two million dollars in life insurance and his wife said something to Jason like, “You know. It won’t bring their father back but it will sure make things easier.” Life insurance can be a way you love your family if the Lord takes you home suddenly. The characteristics of a good and faithful death are trust, reconciliation, preparation and finally…
Joy Psalm 90:13-17 13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. 16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.
17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands. (NIV®)
I’ve always kind of thought this Psalm ended in a sad way, but as I look at it now I’m not so sure. It seems to me that Moses is saying that he sees just how brief life is but he finds joy and gladness and hope in his relationship with God. He’s choosing to trust God that he doesn’t have to have everything finished or figured out, but God will complete the work Moses started. That’s a reason to celebrate.
We can resist and fight death because of a sense of responsibility. I need to finish the ministry or the work I started. I need to parent and care for my children. I need to be there for my husband or wife. But what this verse tells us is that if God loves us, he will take care of us and our work. He will take care of our children if we can’t be there for them. He will take care of our unfinished dreams and hopes. He will take care of it. That doesn’t mean it will necessarily get done, but that God will take it where he wants it. He will accomplish his will. We get to be happy and joyful and to go meet our Savior.
Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (NIV®)
As Christians we can die differently because of the hope we have in Christ. When we die, if we know Christ, we get to go be with him and there’s nothing more joyful than that. Pastor David Coons of Jericho Vermont who is in the Ockenga Fellows Program with me in our closing session shared the story of a lady who was a part of their church family whom he witnessed die. He said it was just a different experience. She was at her home in their living room on a bed surrounded by 15-20 friends and family who were singings and praying and saying goodbye. After a while she drifted off and died and instead of everyone leaving they had dinner together and stayed and talked and celebrated for three hours. As the evening went along closer to 30 people gathered. It gave them each the opportunity to go in and say goodbye. Don’t you want to die like that? I do. The four characteristics of a good and faithful death are trust, reconciliation, preparation, and joy. As Christians we can die differently because of the hope we have in Christ.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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Meditation #1 – Prayer defeats temptation by connecting us with Christ and each other. (Luke 22:39-41, 45-46) Tonight I have three meditations on Jesus’ time in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion (Matt 26:36; Mark 14:32). After each meditation you will have a chance to pray and reflect and respond in song. We’re doing this with the hopes that this passage will sink in deeper and be more life-changing. We don’t want to come to church and go home unchanged. We don’t want to observe Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection like a detached observer in an operating room who doesn’t know the name of the person on the table. No, we want Jesus to do open-heart surgery on us. We want to walk away changed by the cross and all Jesus gave for us. Let me pray.
Last week in Luke 19:28-44 Jesus paraded into Jerusalem at the Triumphant Entry. Immediately upon entering into Jerusalem he cleared out the temple of those selling and declared “My house will be a house of prayer but you have made it a den of robbers.” (Luke 19:46) When the chief priests and teachers and leaders saw this it just made them want to kill Jesus all the more. Jesus was in Jerusalem for Passover. During the week leading up to it they tried to catch him in traps as he taught in the temple courts (Luke 20:1, 19-20, 27). But they failed over and over again. So they try a different approach. They hire his disciple Judas to hand Jesus over when the crowds aren’t present (Luke 22:1-6).
The night before Jesus’ crucifixion he and his disciples celebrate Passover, the same meal the Hebrew slaves in Egypt ate the night God rescued them from captivity. During this meal Jesus says, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:15b) The disciples know something is coming but they don’t get it. It’s like they have earplugs in. As they eat they argue over who is going to be the greatest in his kingdom (Luke 22:24). They still think Jesus has come to overthrow the Romans and set up an earthly rule. They even offer him their swords, but Jesus doesn’t want that (Luke 22:38).
It’s easy to judge the disciples but what they’re thinking and experiencing may not be so different from us. They were just thinking about their plans, and that’s what we do. We get wrapped up with building our own kingdoms when Christ is doing something so much better. Sometimes we don’t get it or understand. Tonight, Jesus is inviting us like he did the disciples to just be with him, to resist the temptation of all those other things and just be present with him. Don’t worry. Just be with him.
Would you do that? Would you just be with Jesus tonight as we sing and worship and pray? Don’t be with your plans. Don’t be with your busy life. Don’t be with your kingdom. Be with Jesus right here, right now. I believe Jesus has something to say to you tonight through his Word but you have to be present to hear it.
Jesus leads his disciples out of Jerusalem to the garden of Gethsemane at the base of the Mount of Olives. When Jesus get’s there he turns to them and says, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” (Luke 22:40) And then he goes a little way away from them, kneels down, and begins to pray.
What does Jesus mean when he says, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation”? He means that prayer defeats temptation… Prayer defeats temptation! Jesus is looking into the future to what they are about to face—Judas’ betrayal and his trial and crucifixion. They need to pray so that when it happens they stay strong. They seem to grasp that something bad is about to happen because it says they were “exhausted from sorrow” in verse 45, but still they sleep. They don’t understand.
Have you ever faced a trial or temptation or test that you didn’t understand? “Why God are you putting me through this? Why are you letting Satan do this to me?” When this happens we can either withdraw from God or press into God. Prayer is pressing into God. Prayer is going towards Christ instead of away from him. We can draw near to Jesus through prayer or push him away with silence.
Why do you think God tests us? Why do you think God allows us to be tempted? He already knows what’s inside us. He can see exactly who we are and our hearts without testing us. God tests us so that we will know what is in our own hearts. God allows for temptation so that we will draw near to him. We can try to face temptation on our own, but we’re simply not strong enough. We need God’s power. That’s why we pray. Prayer defeats temptation with Christ’s presence.
Earlier in Luke Jesus tells the parable of the sower throwing the gospel message on different types of soil—which are people and how they respond. Jesus says this about one of the soils, “Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.” (Luke 8:13) We need to pray so that when we face temptation and trials and tests we will not fall away. Prayer defeats temptation. Prayer helps us pass whatever God may test us with. Prayer gives us strong roots.
Redwood trees are very old and are the tallest trees on earth. Some of them are 2,000 years old and can grow over 300 feet high. You would think that in order to grow that high and live that long those trees must have pushed away other trees so that they have plenty of sunlight and water. You would think that they have really deep roots and are really strong on their own. But actually, “their roots grow horizontally instead of vertically and intertwine with one another.” A 300 foot tree will only have roots that only go down 6-12 feet but go outward several hundred feet wrapping around other roots and other redwoods. “Even if a tree has been logged or fallen, its root system is still alive and it will keep supporting the other trees.” Even when Jack is feeling down he can pray for Greg and be an encouragement to him. If one tree doesn’t have what it needs to survive another tree can give it to it through its root system. The redwoods form a strong interconnected community through their roots. Through praying together Jack and Greg connect with and support each other and also connect spiritually with Christ. We can support and encourage one another. When we’re at our lowest we can together become strong. Prayer connects us to God and to each other.
Jesus doesn’t ask his disciples or us to pray by ourselves, but to pray together. The other gospel accounts tell us he’s speaking to Peter, James, and John. These are his inner core, his closest companions. When you suffer who do you want at your side? Your closest friends, your family. That’s when we need love and support the most. Jack and Greg need each other’s strength. But Jesus suffers alone because his closest loved ones sleep. They’re not praying and they should be. When we pray together we can defeat isolationism. Prayer can build community. Prayer can help us love and take care of each other. Praying together can defeat alienation and disunity. Praying together can unify and build up our church family.
As a church we need to be rooted in prayer that holds each other up. I want you to think of someone you can pray with this week. Maybe you’re thinking of your Community Group or a friend you can call. Get together with them this week and pray with them. As a church we’re going through our 40 days of prayer and fasting. Let’s get together in groups and pray for the items on the list. Prayer defeats temptation by connecting us with Christ and each other.
I’d like to now invite anyone who wants to pray in response to this meditation to come on up to the microphone and prayer, or if you feel more comfortable you can pray from where you’re seated.
Meditation #2 – Pray for our Father’s will above our own. (Luke 22:41-42) Luke 22:41-42 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
What Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane reminds us of what he taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer. Matthew 6:9b-10 says, “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Right now Jesus is once again modeling how to pray. Pray for our Father’s will above our own.
I want us to think about Christ’s posture in this moment. He’s kneeling. He’s taking a posture of submission and humility. He’s lowering himself into the dirt. Matthew gospel says Jesus “fell with his face to the ground and prayed” (Matt 26:39; Mark 14:35). Jesus knows what is coming, the cup of God’s wrath. The Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) speaks over and over again of the cup of God’s wrath.
Jeremiah 25:15-16 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.”” (NIV®)
Psalm 75:7-8 7 It is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another. 8 In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs. (NIV®) (See also Ezekiel 23:31-34)
Maybe some of you love Harry Potter, and maybe some of you hate it or have never read the books. Either way, just bear with me for a moment. The author J.K. Rowling must have gotten her imagery from the Bible because there’s a scene in one of the books when Professor Albus Dumbledore, the lovable and wise Headmaster, knowingly drinks a curse called “the drink of despair” out of a cup in order to end the Dark Lord. It’s an awful scene. He drinks and screams and drinks some more and goes out of his mind. It weakens him and leads to his death. But that doesn’t even begin to compare to the cup Jesus drank.
In the garden Jesus was preparing to drink our curse upon himself. He was preparing to drink the cup of God’s wrath towards sin and all that’s broken in the world. For the first time in all eternity Jesus was going to feel completely abandoned, not just by Peter, James, and John, but by his Heavenly Father. He will for the first time ever feel completely isolated, alone, and condemned. He’d known the Father’s love forever. His Father’s love is what sustained him throughout his earthly ministry. He often went away to pray and spend time with the Father. But the Father is about to forsake Jesus and pour out his anger and judgment upon him. Jesus is about to drink a very bitter cup—the drink of despair.
As Jesus faces all of this what does he pray? “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Even now he humbles himself and submits to his Father’s will. Jesus is modeling for us what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Christ. He asks his Father for another way, but when the Father says no, he accepts his decision and even prays for it. So when we pray we should always pray first for God’s will to be done. We should also pray what we desire, but always with a spirit of “not my will, but yours be done.” Pray for our Father’s will above our own.
“Father I really want this promotion or vacation or fill in the blank, but if it’s not in your will, give me what you want instead. Don’t let me get my way if it’s not what you want.” “Father, if it’s your will please protect our church and our ministries as we serve you here and abroad, but if it’s your will for us to undergo hardship for your name’s sake may that happen.” “Father, please cure me of my physical illness or my mental illness or the thorn in my flesh… unless it’s your will for me to have those things so that I can glorify you through my weakness.”
Are we willing to pray like Jesus prayed? It may not seem safe but the safest place to be is in relationship with our Heavenly Father. In Mark’s gospel Jesus cries out in the garden “Abba, Father!” (Mark 14:36) Abba is like calling out “Dad!” It’s personal and relational. We’re teaching my son to say “Dada.” Even though Jesus knows his Dad is going to turns his back on him Jesus still trusts that his Dad is still good and loves him and so can we. We can trust that as our Heavenly Dada loves us and knows what’s best for us. Cry out in prayer to your Dada, to your Father. He loves you and wants to hear your prayers. Pray for our Father’s will above our own.
Meditation #3 – It matters that Jesus shed his blood for you. (Luke 22:43-44) Luke 22:43-44 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (NIV®)
Although Matthew and Mark record Jesus’ sorrow, even to the point of death, neither of them record the angel appearing or Jesus sweating (Matt 26:37; Mark 14:33-34). These two verses show us Jesus may be God but he’s also human. He’s not superman. He can suffer and hurt. The sweat shows his humanity, “and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” It is possible to be under so much stress you actually sweat blood. Doctors call it “hematidrosis.” It’s when “extreme anguish or physical strain causes [your] capillary blood vessels to dilate and burst, mixing sweat and blood.” Whether or not that happened or it was “like” blood the point is that Jesus was under such stress and pressure that he was in complete “agony.” He knew what was coming and although he was willing to submit, it devastated him emotionally, psychologically, and physically. The mix of the cross, a barbaric trauma, and being forsaken by his Father, was more than anyone else but him could bear. This is why he prayed, so that as the weight of God’s wrath pressed down on him like a steel compactor he would not bend or break. He stood strong to win our eternal life at the cost of his own blood. The book of Leviticus says this about the blood of sacrifices.
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. (NIV®)
There’s life in the blood. I once donated my blood to the Red Cross. I did it because they were giving away coupons for tax season. I gave my blood for selfish reasons but Christ gave his for selfless reasons. One of the things they asked me when I donated blood was if I’d come in contact with anyone else’s blood. Our blood caries disease and sickness. Our blood is unclean. But Christ’s blood is different. It’s human just like ours but it doesn’t carry sin and death, but eternal life. We need a spiritual blood transfusion from Christ. And that’s just what he did.
Colossians 1:19-20 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (NIV®) (see also Hebrews 10:19, 13:12)
It matters that Jesus shed his blood for you. Have you received his blood as payment for your sins? If you haven’t can I encourage you to repent of your sins tonight and put your faith in Christ Jesus? He will come and wash away all of your sins. He will give you the ability to withstand temptation through prayer. He will walk with you through life and give you a church family to walk with you too. And I promise you that once you enter into relationship with him you will discover he has so much good in store for you. You can not only trust his will above your own, you’ll begin to want his will above your own. You can pray for his will because you will know that his will is good. It’s like he is the open-heart surgeon operating on you and also the blood donor who is keeping your heart pumping. It matters that Jesus shed his blood for you.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
Meditation #1 – Prayer defeats temptation by connecting us with Christ and each other. (Luke 22:39-41, 45-46) Tonight I have three meditations on Jesus’ time in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion (Matt 26:36; Mark 14:32). After each meditation you will have a chance to pray and reflect and respond in song. We’re doing this with the hopes that this passage will sink in deeper and be more life-changing. We don’t want to come to church and
You may remember our sermon series “The Certain Gospel” in Luke that we started last year. We’re going to go back to Luke and slow down for the closing chapters. We won’t be able to hit everything, but we will focus more time on his entry today, the night of his betrayal, his crucifixion, resurrection, and the closing chapters of Luke. Lord willing that will set us up for Acts in the fall. This will line us up more closely to the Easter Holiday. Let me pray.
I grew up in Estes Park Colorado. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving Estes hosts a Catch the Glow parade. Even though it was cold we would get bundled up, walk down the street from my house about a half mile to the center of town, and watch the parade go by. There was always that anticipation at the beginning. When is it going to start? You would always keep looking up the street for the first signs of flashing lights, either the police or fire department to start the parade. Then the parade starts and bands, and floats, and people and pets dressed in all sorts of Holiday costumes would walk by. It was a fun time.
We have parades around here, the Westford Apple Blossom Parade and the Chelmsford July 4th Parade. We at Cornerstone have participated in three Apple Blossoms Parades in Westford, and one July 4th Parade in Chelmsford. Those were fun but I’m not sure they were very significant. Have you ever thought about that—that parades signify something? I think one year I walked in our town’s Memorial Day parade. That’s significant, remembering fallen soldiers. July 4th parades are meant to celebrate and foster patriotic spirit. The Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade is meant to foster gratitude, thanksgiving, and a greater love of Power Rangers.
The week before his crucifixion Jesus threw a parade. This parade was the second-most significant parade in all of history, and you missed it! He lead the parade. Now we call it the “Triumphant Entry” and many churches celebrate it on Palm Sunday one week before Easter. But what was his parade about? What did it mean, signify? I’m here to tell you what this parade was about but also to invite you to join in because there’s still a way to participate in Christ’s parade. So what’s this parade about?
Jesus leads a royal yet humble parade. (Luke 19:28-36) In Luke 9:51 Jesus set out for Jerusalem from the region of Galilee where he did three-years of ministry. Making his way south to Jerusalem in Luke 19 he comes to Jericho, and in our verses today he comes to the outskirts of Jerusalem. He comes to what some might call a suburb, the little village of Bethany, which is about two miles east of Jerusalem. Then he comes to Bethphage, which is about 3/4 of a mile east of Jerusalem near the Mount of Olives. But when he get’s to the Mount of Olives he stops because he is going to lead a parade into Jerusalem in fulfillment of an ancient prophecy.
Zechariah 14:3-4 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. (NIV®)
Jesus begins to fulfill this prophecy as he stands on the Mount of Olives. Jesus is the Lord. the king who has come to wage war not against the nations but against Satan, sin, and death through his suffering, death, and resurrection. You would think if he was the King come to wage war that he would ride in on a stallion, a giant black or white war horse, but that’s not what he does. Jesus sends two of his disciples to go and find a colt, a young donkey that has never been ridden before. With his parade Jesus is signifying that he’s not just anyone riding into town. He is the King. It’s like instead of our President riding a tank into Washington DC he rides a Limo, signifying this is his town—that he’s the rightful ruler. Instead of a military parade it’s an inauguration. Jesus was born into the tribe of Judah, which is the royal tribe of Israel. All the way back in Genesis Jacob said this about Judah.
Genesis 49:10-1110 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. 11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. (NIV®)
King David picks up this royal theme when he appoints his son Solomon to be king.
1 Kings 1:32-33 King David said, “Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king, 33 he said to them: “Take your lord’s servants with you and have Solomon my son mount my own mule and take him down to Gihon. (NIV®)
But the most important prophecy comes again from the book of Zechariah.
1 Kings 9:9-10 9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. (NIV®)
It’s here for the first time in his ministry that Jesus is publicly identifying himself as the Messiah. The Messiah was God’s promised King. But the problem was that the Messiah was also a politically charged idea. The people thought the Messiah would wage war against their Roman oppressors. But Jesus had other plans. His donkey signifies that he’s come to wage war, but a different kind of war, one waged not through public displays of military might, but through a humble act of self-sacrifice.
Last year we not only walked in Westford’s Apple Blossom Parade but we also let the Westford Kiwanis park their sports cars here that the nominees for the Apple Blossom Parade Queen ride. There were some really nice sports cars in the mix. I think one of them cost $40-60k. You get the idea, right? Royalty deserves royal treatment. We give our queen the best ride. Jesus’ Kingdom is the exact opposite. He didn’t ride a $60k stallion into Jerusalem, but a humble donkey. Jesus’ kingdom is an upside-down kingdom. He models humility and peace not war and violence. Jesus leads a royal yet humble parade.
As we see Jesus riding towards us on a donkey we begin to realize that as he passes us we’re going to have to respond. As you learn about Jesus, and encounter him, you can’t stand passively by as he rides by.
His parade confronts us with a choice: (Luke 19:37-44) We can either praise and follow him or we can reject him. Have you ever watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Who shows up at the end? Santa! In Estes we had our own Santa and his reindeer at the end of our parade. And then we as the bystanders had a choice. You could either go home or join the parade. If you went home, you were guaranteed about 10-15 more minutes of being cold or an hour stuck in traffic, but if you stayed, you could fall in line behind Santa and make the parade last. There are those who stay and join and those who go home. Which one do you think we chose every time? We went home. We got warm. We chose heat over parade. For that type of parade that’s fine, but that’s the wrong response to Jesus as he comes into our lives. Santa is fake. Jesus is real. The right response is…
Acceptance (v37-38) We can either accept him or reject him. The “crowd of disciples”—those big crowds he attracted throughout his ministry—initially accept and praise him (Luke 9:11, 14:25). They shout, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” and “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Their song echos what the angels sang when they announced Jesus’ birth in Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (NIV®) Their praise seems genuine, but there’s hints that it’s not. They accept Jesus because of what he can do for them. They praise God “for all the miracles they had seen…” (v37). Do you praise him for what he can do for you?
This is just the kind of man they want to become king, someone who can walk on water and turn a few loaves of bread and fish into meal for a multitude. In John’s account the crowd uses palm branches to greet Jesus (John 12:13). Palm branches were a political symbol for the nation of Israel. It’s like if Jesus were riding into Boston and we lined the streets waving American flags. They accepted Jesus because of what Jesus could do for them, how he could get them ahead politically or as a nation. It’s no wonder that when Jesus is bound at his trial and clearly isn’t going to politically liberate them they shout “crucify him!”
The Patriots just won the Super Bowl and Boston hosted a Patriots parade. Did any of you go down? If you had you would have seen thousands of fans lining the street, players waving victory flags on a semi-truck, confetti and Patriots colors everywhere, and fans worshipping king Brady. Right now, we love him. Why? Because he won the Super Bowl for us. We don’t love him for who he is but for what he can do for us, give us victory over our enemies. What if he loses next year? What if he throws interception after interception and the Patriots lose year after year? We might turn on him.
As Christians we don’t want to be like that. We don’t want to praise him just for what he can do for us. The people who give Jesus their donkey—they hear Christ has need and they give it. But as far as I can tell they may support the cause but we don’t know if they go to the welcome party (Mark 11:6). We don’t want to be the kind of people that will give Jesus our money or even our time but don’t give him him our praise. That’s like sponsoring a parade but not going to it. Maybe you’re too busy to come to Christ’s parade because you’re walking in a different parade. You don’t have time for Jesus because you’re too busy with the Patriots, or the news, or politics, or your career or family. What parade are you walking in?
How about the disciples? They got it right. They hear what Jesus wants. They obey. They go get the colt, and then they throw their own cloaks on the donkey and on the road. When Elisha anoints a man named Jehu king of Israel his soldiers spread their cloaks beneath him for him to stand on (2 Kings 9:13). The disciples are declaring that Jesus is king and they’re willing to follow him. They join the parade. They follow Jesus. And yes, they may scatter in the Garden of Gethsemane after Passover, but when Jesus dies and rises again they dedicate their lives to him. Their acceptance may waver, but it’s true.
So how should we accept Jesus? We should join in the parade by following after him and praising him, by declaring he is king! Some more liturgical (formal) churches actually incorporate worship parades into their weekly services. Catholics, Anglican, Episcopalians, and others have a parade every week. Someone carries a cross in followed by candles and a gospel. The cross leads the processional, as if it’s a reminder that Christ’s presence has entered into the church in a special way through the gathered body of believers. I recently guest-preached at a local congregational church for a friend and they actually had a candle-lighting processional at the beginning of the service.
But if there’s anything we’ve learned from our God of Justice series we just wrapped up that Christ isn’t really interested in our religious acts. Yes he cares that we love God, but also that we love our neighbors. In the more liturgical churches there’s a reason that at the end of the service the cross leads the processional out of the church and back into the world. Christ leads us out into the world to preach the gospel and love and care for the poor. I think that’s the type of parade Jesus is most interested in. Yes, praise him here, but go out and praise him out there by talking about him and serving others. If all you ever do is come to church and never take that next step it’s like you’ve helped build the float and you’ve lined up to start the parade but at the last moment year after year you go home before the parade starts.
This year the Outreach Ministry Team decided we’re not going to participate in the Apple Blossom Parade. We’re trying to get away from the “attractional–church” model and to be more missional just like Jesus calls us to be. We think it’s better to love and care for one family who doesn’t know Jesus than to advertise to a whole town (Luke 4:18). So we’ve scheduled a Habitat for Humanity build in Lowell on June 22nd from 8am to 3pm. We need to put together a team of 12 people, and everyone on the team has to be over 18-years of age. We’ll probably be working inside the house that day. Please tell me if you’re interested in joining this type of parade. Maybe you could invite a coworker or friend to come and work with you. Come and be a part of the parade. See Jesus in action. I think this is the type of parade Jesus is interested in as we go out into the world and declare Jesus is king through our words and deeds. His parade confronts us with a choice. I hope you’ll accept him and join in the parade, but there’s another option…
Rejection (v39-44) When the Pharisees, the super religious, see Jesus what do they say? They see exactly what Jesus is doing—that he is claiming to be king and they say, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” And Jesus tells them no way! “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” But it’s not just the Pharisees who reject Jesus, who don’t get that he has come not as a conquering king but as a sacrificial king. The whole city doesn’t get it. As Jesus approaches the city he begins to weep out of sorrow. He says, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” (v42)
Is Jesus hidden from you? You’re standing on the side of a street waiting to watch the parade but you can’t see it. You hear it going by but you can’t see Jesus. Then call out to him! Call out for the Son of God to forgive you of your sins, and rescue you, and I promise you he will.
Jesus prophecies that because they have rejected him one day an enemy, Rome, is going to come and and completely destroy them and their city. And that’s what happens in 70 AD. Rejection of Jesus leads to destruction and death. His parade confronts us with a choice: acceptance or rejection.
Maybe you’ve already rejected him. After Jesus’ resurrection some of the people who nailed Jesus to the cross repent and believe and are forgiven and saved (Acts 2:23-24, 37-38). It’s not too late yet, but Jesus promises that one day it will be too late for all who reject him because there will be a second parade.
King Jesus is coming. Come join the parade. The King came on a donkey bringing peace to any who will believe in him. But he’s coming again for a second parade—the single most significant parade in all of history. And this time he will be riding a white war horse and he will bring judgment, his final triumphant entry. This passage from Revelation pictures that final parade.
Revelation 19:11-16 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
king of kings and lord of lords. (NIV®)
King Jesus is coming. Come join the parade.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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You may remember our sermon series “The Certain Gospel” in Luke that we started last year. We’re going to go back to Luke and slow down for the closing chapters. We won’t be able to hit everything, but we will focus more time on his entry today, the night of his betrayal, his crucifixion, resurrection, and the closing chapters of Luke. Lord willing that will set us up for Acts in the fall. This will line us up more closely
I tried fasting for the first time when I worked at the Farm Credit Administration in McLean Virginia. I tried it because my pastor preached a sermon on it. In his sermon he turned to our passage tonight, Matthew 6:16-18, and pointed out something that really convicted me. In Matthew 6 Jesus teaches on prayer and fasting and when he does this he says, “when you fast” not “if you fast…” He says it twice (c.f., Matt 9:15).
Have you ever fasted? Neither had I. So I tried it that week and God did some really neat things. The first day I was fasting I was walking by one of my coworkers whose mother was sick and without thinking (and I think moved by the Holy Spirit) I asked her, “How’s your mom?” Her face melted. She started crying. I barely knew her. She said her mom was dying. I told her I was sorry and asked her mother’s name.
She told me her name and then asked me to pray for her… which was surprising. She added, “I’m spiritual, and I can tell you’re spiritual too. You asked for my mother’s name. I knew you’d pray for her.” I told her I would and I talked with her a few times after that about church. When her mom died I tried to offer her some encouragement. Now all of that to say I’m not sure it would have happened if I hadn’t been praying and fasting and seeking the Lord. The Holy Spirit moved me in my weakness.
Today I have three goals for this sermon. I want to define what fasting is. I want to show why it’s important. And I want to explain how to do it. I hope you’ll give it a shot. I hope my opening story will intrigue you and make wonder, “How might God use me if I seek him through prayer and fasting? What surprises might he have in store for us as a church if we fast together?” So let’s jump in.
What is fasting? Fasting is when you deny yourself good things, things you enjoy and go to for comfort, for a period of time so that you can use that hunger to intentionally draw near to God. There’s a wide variety of ways to fast:
Water fast – You could give up food and only drink water for a meal or several days up to 40 days.
Obviously the longer you go the harder and actually more dangerous it can become. According to the two documentaries I watched on Amazon Prime there are lots’ of potential health benefits to fasting, but I don’t advise anyone walk out of here and only drink water for the next 40 days. Talk to your doctor if you have any medical conditions that might prevent you from fasting safely. Even in the Bible, not many people fasted for 40 days. Moses did it twice, fasting from food and water, which was only possible because God supernaturally sustained him (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9, 18). The prophet Elijah fasted 40 days when Jezebel tried to kill him (1 Kings 19:7-8). And Jesus fasted for forty days at the beginning of his ministry (Matthew 4:1-4). So only three people, so fasting for 40 days isn’t for everyone. But you could try skipping a meal or not eating a snack. If you didn’t eat snacks during the night and ate “break-fast” than you’ve already done a form of fasting but now be intentional about it or try it for longer.
Juice fast – You could drink fruits and vegetables to keep you energy up but not eat food.
A variation of this is the Daniel Fast where you only eat fruits, vegetables, and water.
Foods fast – You could give up certain types of food for your fast, like sugary foods or comfort foods that you go to when you’re stressed.
Fasting is different from dieting. Dieting is about losing weight or getting physically healthy. Fasting is about drawing near to Christ Jesus and getting spiritually healthy. Fasting is not a rejection of the goodness of food, but an intentional setting aside of it to seek God (1 Tim 4:1-4). Key word “intentional.”
Media fast – You could give up watching television, or Netflix, or the news, or surfing Reddit, Facebook, or Youtube. Other fast – You could give up anything that you turn to when life is tough or anything you really love and enjoy, just to make sure it’s not a substitute for God (Luke 14:18-20; 2 Corinthians 7:7).
In fasting we don’t just skip meals or foods but intentionally turn from what normally satisfies us and intentionally turn to God in our weakness and need. Have you ever gotten bundled up in a bunch of clothes, thick winter jackets and coats and then had your brother or friend hit you in the stomach as hard as they can? Why wouldn’t you do that? You can imagine that it doesn’t hurt that much. You got a cushion. You got padding. You’re good! But what if you take all those outer garments and just stand there in a t-shirt and that same person hits you as hard as they can in your stomach? That will hurt, won’t it? That’s what fasting does. It takes away all of our padding and cushion and it exposes us, who we really are. It makes us vulnerable before the Lord, and weak. It helps me admit I’m not strong and I need God. But…
Why do we fast? Now I’ve already said fasting is an intentional time of hungering or seeking God (Luke 2:37). When Jesus was fasting and being tempted by the devil in the wilderness he hungered for God and his word, so should we (Matt 4:1-4) We fast because we want to know God more. That’s the big picture, but why do we do it more specifically? There’s several reasons why:
We fast as an act of repentance and confession. We fast because of our sin. Throughout the Old Testament we find examples of Israel coming together to pray and fast as they confessed their wrongdoing before God. In the book of Nehemiah, which takes places after the people have returned back to Israel from exile and have just read God’s word, we find this:
Nehemiah 9:1-2 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. (NIV®) (c.f., 1 Samuel 7:6; Daniel 9:3-11; Jonah 3:5)
Fasting can be something I do individually before the Lord, but also something we do corporately together as a church. We can use fasting to confess our sins together, the ways we as a church have fallen short of God’s glory and will. He promises to make us new again.
But we can’t go through the motions and expect God to do what we want. Fasting and repentance have to come from a place of authenticity. It has to come from a place of genuine remorse before God for the wickedness we have committed against his holiness. From the prophet Joel:
Joel 2:12-13 “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. (NIV®) (c.f., Joel 1:13-14)
We believe in a God who doesn’t want our religion but our repentance. He wants our whole hearts. Have you ever felt so bad about something it made you sick and you couldn’t eat? Have you ever felt that way about your own sins? Rarely, right? Fasting is an opportunity to express how serious our sins are but how great God’s grace is and that he loves us and forgives us. We fast as an act of repentance and confession.
We fast for God’s deliverance and direction. When the people of Judah faced a foreign invasion they cried out to God for deliverance through fasting.
2 Chronicles 20:2-4 Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). 3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. (NIV®) (c.f., Judges 20:20-26; 2 Samuel 12:16; Ezra 8:21-23; Esther 4:16)
God causes the armies coming against Jehoshaphat to ambush each other and completely wipe themselves out. Judah gets to go in and take their plunder (2 Chronicles 20:22-25). What might God deliver you from if you spent time seeking him in prayer and fasting? A sin habit that you just can’t seem to shake? Maybe illness, or problems at work, an issue in your family? Why not dedicate time to prayer and fasting? What about us as a church community? We also need God’s deliverance from the troubles we face and direction for our future. Pastor John Piper tells this powerful story in his book, A Hunger for God:
My own serious consideration of fasting as a spiritual discipline began as a result of visiting Dr. Joon Gon Kim in Seoul, Korea. “Is it true,” I asked him, “that you spent 40 days in fasting prior to the evangelism crusade in 1980?” “Yes,” he responded, “it is true.” Dr. Kim was chairman of the crusade expected to bring a million people to Yoido Plaza. But six months before the meeting the police informed him they were revoking their permission for the crusade. Korea at that time was in political turmoil and Seoul was under martial law. The officers decided they could not take the risk of having so many people together in one place. So Dr. Kim and some associates went to a prayer mountain and there spent 40 days before God in prayer and fasting for the crusade. Then they returned and made their way to the police station. “Oh,” said the officer when he saw Dr. Kim, “we have changed our mind and you can have your meeting!” (Page 65) (By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org)
Fasting works. Fasting doesn’t entitle us to what we want but God does embrace our weakness (Psalm 109:24). We fast for God’s deliverance and direction.
The people didn’t just fast for physical deliverance from their enemies, they fasted for spiritual deliverance. There was only one holy day in the Old Testament when the people of Israel were supposed to fast—the Day of Atonement (Lev 23:27-32). Each year on the Day of Atonement the priests made sacrifices for the sins of the people so that they could be cleansed from their year (Lev 16:34).
What do you need to be cleansed of? Do you have guilt or shame you need to deal with? On the Day of Atonement the High Priest sacrificed a goat for the sins of the people (Lev 16:15, 32), but it wasn’t enough. A goat can’t take away our sins. That’s why Jesus came. John 1:29b calls Jesus “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus made atonement for our sins by becoming an innocent lamb sacrificed on the cross. If you’ll repent and put your faith in him he becomes your substitute. He dies for your sins so that you might live. We fast today as a way to remember our lamb.
We fast because we long for Christ and his return. In the Old Testament the people fasted as acts of repentance and deliverance but we do so differently because we have already received forgiveness and spiritual deliverance through Jesus. Jesus changes what fasting is about.
Matthew 9:14-16Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”
15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. (NIV®)
If we’ve already received forgiveness and spiritual deliverance, why do we fast? Because we haven’t yet received complete deliverance, which will only come through Christ Jesus. We fast for him. We deny ourselves food because we miss him and look forward to his return. Do you ever miss a friend so bad it hurts? That’s what we’re doing in fasting. We’re aching for Jesus. Yes he’s here through his Spirit, but he’s not yet here in flesh and blood.
Fun fact—did you know that Emperor penguins spend about 4 months fasting as they watch over, care for, and incubate their eggs? That is a 100 to a 115 days. If a penguin can spend 100 days not eating because it instinctually loves and is waiting for its baby penguin, we can spend a day or a week fasting out of our love for Jesus. Don’t let the penguins beat us! We fast because we long for Christ and his return. Finally…
How should we fast? I want us to give us three brief guidelines for fasting.
Fast justly
Just like we finished studying in our series in Micah, God doesn’t want our religious acts apart from loving our neighbor. In Isaiah 58:3-7 the people are fasting and putting on sackcloth and ashes but they’re also exploiting their workers, and quarreling, and fighting, and oppressing the poor and at the same time they’re being very religious and pious. God isn’t interested in our religion if it doesn’t come with our compassion. James says pure religion takes care of the poor and widows (James 1:27). God wants us to love him but also love our neighbor. I learned this week the Mormons (at least some of them) take the money they save and give it to the poor. Mormons are missing the whole truth but they got this right. Fast justly.
Fast humbly
When Jesus told us to fast he also told us to not disfigure our faces or make a scene so that others will see we are fasting (Matt 6:16-18). So that means we shouldn’t moan and tell others how hungry we are, but should keep it a secret. Now that doesn’t mean others won’t notice you’re fasting. I read the story of one man who fasted for 40 days and people asked him why he lost 30 pounds and so he told them about praying and fasting. There’s nothing wrong with that. But we shouldn’t fast so that others see us because that is pride. Fast humbly (1 Kings 21:27-29).
Fast purposefully
This is my closing point that Piper pointed out to me. I want to read one last passage because it shows what God can do through fasting.
Acts 13:2-3 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. (NIV®)
This right here is the start of the Apostle Paul’s missionary journeys. Right here is the moment that launched a worldwide movement of church plants and believers. Without this moment you and I might not know Jesus. And how does it start? With prayer and fasting!
Do you want to see what God can do in and through Cornerstone? I invite you to a time of prayer and fasting together as a church where we ask God what his plans are for us, where we humble ourselves and truly seek him. Sometime this week I am going to email out a 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting guide so that together we can seek God and his will leading up to Easter. What we’re doing doesn’t exactly line up with lent, but in future years that’s also a great time to fast. Would you commit to praying and fasting for our 40 days? Maybe you fast one day a week but pray every day. Let’s commit to coming before God and genuinely asking what he has in store for us. Let’s seek Christ through fasting.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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I tried fasting for the first time when I worked at the Farm Credit Administration in McLean Virginia. I tried it because my pastor preached a sermon on it. In his sermon he turned to our passage tonight, Matthew 6:16-18, and pointed out something that really convicted me. In Matthew 6 Jesus teaches on prayer and fasting and when he does this he says, “when you fast” not “if you fast…” He says it twice (c.f., Matt 9:15). Have you
Our guest preacher covered Micah 7 verse-by-verse explaining the big story of the gospel and the crushed serpent’s connection to Jesus. Listen to how Christ takes all our injustices and rights all our wrongs.
Our guest preacher covered Micah 7 verse-by-verse explaining the big story of the gospel and the crushed serpent’s connection to Jesus. Listen to how Christ takes all our injustices and rights all our wrongs.
Today is the last sermon I’m preaching in our series on Micah. Next week my friend from seminary is finishing us up. He loves the Bible and has sat in on a few classes with Terry so I hope you’ll come and listen. But since this is my last week in our God of Justice series I really want to sum up what it’s all about. Our passage actually does a great job of this. In verses 1-2 the Lord
Today is the last sermon I’m preaching in our series on Micah. Next week my friend from seminary is finishing us up. He loves the Bible and has sat in on a few classes with Terry so I hope you’ll come and listen. But since this is my last week in our God of Justice series I really want to sum up what it’s all about. Our passage actually does a great job of this.
In verses 1-2 the Lord God says he is bringing an “indictment” against his people. What that means is that God is bringing “a formal charge or accusation of a serious crime.” He’s calling all of creation—the mountains, the hills, the very “foundations of the earth” to act as his witnesses. You can imagine the courtroom scene. God doesn’t call people to the witness stand, but mountains and hills, the high-places where the people offered sacrifices to their false idols. And what are the charges?
Micah 1 – Idolatry (not loving God) Micah 2 – Injustice (not loving neighbor/abuse of the poor/stealing land and homes/false prophets) Micah 3 – Misuse of power (rulers/prophets/priests)
Despite their sins God promises hope and blessing will come:
Micah 4 – Day of justice and peace (temple/Zion) Micah 5 – A just and good King (the Shepherd King/Jesus)
And then we come to the last two chapters.
Micah 6 – What God really wants (and what he doesn’t want) Micah 7 – Place your hope in the Lord (the closing theme)
In Micah 6 we’re going to encounter God’s judgment and call to repentance once again. In verses 3-5 God says, “What have I done to you?” He knows human nature. When things go wrong for us what’s one of the first things we do? We blame God. “I don’t believe in God anymore because this bad thing happened…” But God says, “Look how I’ve been faithful to you.” He reminds the people that he gave them Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead them out of bondage in Egypt, and when the king of Moab tried to curse the Israelites, God used the prophet Balaam to bless them instead (Gen 12:2-3; Num 22-24). When we’re tempted to blame God when things go wrong we also need to remember how he’s been good to us. Time and time again God has been faithful and good to his people and how do people respond?
This part is important because the way the Israelites respond to God’s goodness is sometimes the way we respond to God’s goodness to us. The Israelites had this beautiful history of God’s grace to them year after year. They had a wonderful temple. They had God’s presence. And what do they think God wants? Verses 6-7 tell us they think God wants their best sacrifices, their wealth, and their children.
6 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
What the people are offering is their best religion. They are offering their prayers and religious duty like sacrifices. They’re offering their wealth. Their even offering to sacrifice their own children if that’s what it takes. That tells us something. They’ve gotten it wrong. They’re confused and maybe we are too.
Do you ever think something is going to be one way and it turns out to be completely different? I watched a trailer for a movie on Netflix recently. It made the movie look like a cool action-packed apocalyptic end of the world movie, but it was actually a slow-paced melodrama. Sometimes we get it in our mind that what God wants is our best religious practices but the reality is completely different.
God doesn’t want our best religion. God doesn’t want our religious acts. He’s not interested the kinds of things we normally associate with being a good Christian. He doesn’t want our prayers and Bible studies. He doesn’t want our tithes and offerings. He doesn’t want our worship songs, volunteering, and church attendance. He doesn’t want those things… “if” (important “if”) “if” we do those religious acts without caring for the poor and needy. God doesn’t want our best hypocrisy. That means acting religious but ignoring our neighbor’s needs.
I’ve been reading Micah for You by Stephen Um, who is the Pastor of Citylife Presbyterian Church in Boston, and he links our passage with a parallel passage in Amos.
Amos 5:21-24 21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! (NIV®)
According to Amos the Israelites were also levying taxes on the poor and oppressing the innocent and taking bribes so that the poor didn’t get justice in the courts (Amos 5:11-12 paraphrase). Then these same people are celebrating their religious festivals. They’re going to temple. They’re giving their tithes. They are religious but corrupt. In Jesus’ time they’re still doing the same thing and Jesus can’t stand it.
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. (NIV®)
God doesn’t want our best religion. He doesn’t want us to sing his praises in church if the rest of the days of the week we are living like he’s dead. He doesn’t want our prayers if we’re abusing our employees or if we’re ignoring the single mom and orphans (Isa 1:17; Mic 2:9). He doesn’t want us to give money at church if we’re not directing any of it to the least of these (Matt 25:31-46).
Bernie came up with a powerful illustration. Thursday was Valentine’s Day. Wives, do you like it when your husband buys you roses? How would you feel about the roses and him if you found out he was having an affair with the florist? You would hate it! God doesn’t want our best roses if our hearts are far from him, if we’re having an affair with religion but neglecting the least of these. So what does he want?
God doesn’t want our best religion but our justice. Here we come to our foundation verse, to the verse that really sums up the whole message of Micah.
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (NIV®)
What’s more important to God than our best religion? He wants us to show justice to the poor and oppressed and needy and broken and downtrodden. Keller points out that justice isn’t just about punishing those who have done bad things but also about helping those in need. Who are those people in our culture? They’re the drug addicts, the single moms, the divorcees, those in poverty, foreigners and immigrants who don’t speak English, people who don’t fit in, those in prison, panhandlers and alcoholics. You name it…
I listened to a sermon by Pastor Timothy Keller on “Doing Justice and Mercy.” He brought up Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. At the final judgment Jesus is going to separate the sheep to his right side and the goats to the left. And he’ll say this to the sheep, the true believers.
Matthew 25:34-36 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ (NIV®)
The sheep are confused because they don’t remember doing these things for him. There’s hope in that—that God counts as righteous things we don’t remember. And in verse 40 Jesus says that they were doing these good deeds to fellow believers who were in need. Then Jesus will turn to the goats.
Matthew 25:41-43 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ (NIV®)
The goats are just as shocked as the sheep, but they will have no excuse before Christ.
Matthew 25:45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ (NIV®)
Keller said something like this in his sermon, “If you don’t have a relationship with the poor you don’t have a relationship with God.” I was really convicted this week because I do a lot of ministry activities and very little to care for those who are poor and at risk. I can’t say that I have a relationship with the poor right now. I don’t want to face that final judgment yet because I want to change. Do you feel that way too? How might we together go out of our way to serve the needy around us? It’s not going to “just happen.” It’s something we need to be intentional about. The kids going to France are called “intentional campers” because they each need to intentionally go out of their way to be with the French kids. We need to be “intentional care givers” in our community—intentionally finding and caring for people in need.
I think our benevolence fund is a great start to caring for those going through times of need within our own church, our family in Christ, which Jesus cares deeply about. Now we just need to actually use it to do that. If you’re someone in our church who needs financial help, please ask any of the Deacons about the fund and what it’s for. We also have meal train opportunities to help out and I know we help each other with childcare. The Missions Team is tasked with one day developing an adoption fund similar to the benevolence fund. Let’s pray for that. I believe Christ loves it when we serve each other within our church.
But what about those outside our church? That’s why I’m excited about Safe Families. Our family and one other family has signed up. Will you join us? We haven’t helped our first family yet, but when we do the more people who are registered the easier it will be. On February 4th two representatives from Habitat for Humanity of Lowell met with me to talk about their program. They’re building a house right now in Westford and could use any help we could give, even a few hours of building. Maybe instead of picking up trash along our street again we go help build a home for a needy family. Maybe the Lord isn’t calling us to that but he’s going to lay it on our hearts to do something else for the poor in our community. God cares deeply about them. God doesn’t want our best religion but our justice. But that’s not all.
God doesn’t want our best religion but our justice and mercy. In Micah 6:8 God calls us to “love mercy.” That is the NIV translation. The ESV translates it “love kindness.” This word is the Hebrew word “hesed,” which really isn’t talking about human love. It’s talking first about God’s love for his people—his covenant love. It’s like the love a husband and wife have for each other when they recite their wedding vows. By using hesed God is reminding his people of how much he loves them and has been faithful to them and has been patient with them. And he’s saying, “Now you go and do likewise.” Be loving and kind and merciful as I’ve been those things to you.
There’s no clearer a place where we see Gods mercy and lovingkindness towards us than the cross. That is the ultimate demonstration of a merciful God. Do you know the story? It’s the story of a rich king becoming poor and identifying himself with the least of these, the criminal and condemned. It’s the story of a poor man dying to save his oppressors. That’s the gospel. That’s Jesus.
Isaiah 53:7-8 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. (NIV®)
Jesus was oppressed. He was afflicted. He was innocent. He had every right to stand up and shout “that’s not right!” But instead he allowed himself to be lifted up on two beams of wood so that he could take away our judgment and condemnation (Rom 8:1). Jesus, we want to be merciful to the least of these just as you were merciful with the least of us. Thank you for taking my sins. Thank you for rising from the grave to transform my life, to transform my heart and give me the desire to care for others. God doesn’t want our best religion but our justice and mercy. And…
God doesn’t want our best religion but our justice, mercy, and humility. We don’t have to have it all figured out. Micah calls us to “walk humbly with your God.” That implies this is a journey. We’re figuring it out. Maybe you have been buying your roses for God from the wrong place. Your heart and your actions have been far from him. You haven’t been caring for the least of these. This is a journey. They’re time to till a patch of dirt in your backyard and to plant and water the finest of roses that God will be pleased with. How do we do that? We begin by asking the Holy Spirit to change our hearts so that we can live differently, so that we will seek justice and mercy for the poor, needy, and oppressed. And we do this together, as a community, as a church. The more gardeners the more wonderful the garden. God doesn’t want our best religion but our justice, mercy, and humility.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story*.
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King Hezekiah faced some serious obstacles in his lifetime. During his lifetime the Assyrian army, a military force known for their brutality and strength, ransacked Judah and gathered right outside Jerusalem’s walls. The king of Assyria, Sennacherib, sent his messenger to mock Hezekiah and the God of Israel (Isa 36:1-2). We see this in verse 1.
Micah 5:1 Marshal your troops now, city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel’s ruler on the cheek with a rod. (NIV®)
King Hezekiah was facing some serious personal obstacles. He might lose his kingdom, his warriors might abandon him, he might die. Likewise, many of us are facing personal obstacles. “Everyone is going through something.” Maybe your obstacle is financial. You don’t have a well-paying job or your bills are mounting. Or it could be your schedule. There’s just not enough time in the day. You’re too busy. You don’t get to relax or be with family or friends. Maybe it’s deeper. You’re depressed, melancholy. Nothing good is happening in your own life and all you hear is bad news. We all face personal obstacles.
The obstacles Hezekiah faced were personal but they were also corporate. It wasn’t just him who faced the Assyrians, but all the people. It wasn’t just him who might die. It was all of Judah. The whole community was at risk. Jerusalem means city of peace but the whole city is facing annihilation and exile. They’re probably going to die or starve and the enemy is telling them their God won’t deliver them (Isa 36:14-15).
If they were facing obstacles as the people of Judah what sort of obstacles are we facing as the people of Cornerstone? You know what the big-three problems are that churches face and no one really wants to hear a sermon on? Money, attendance, and evangelism.
Money – Although our church is incredibly generous we are still facing a budget shortfall of almost $18,000 going into next fiscal year. The finance team has said we need to cut next year’s budget but they’re not sure what to cut. This is a big obstacle to doing the ministry we want to do. Attendance – I’m going to be honest with you all. Attendance is terrible. When we first launched 80 people felt like a lot. Now 55 feels like a lot. Last year from July through June our average attendance was 59 people at a worship service. So far this year we are averaging 49, a drop of 10. Evangelism – Our church is mostly made up of transplants, believers from other churches. We’re not seeing new people come to know Christ like we had hoped. The aim was never to be a small church but to grow this church by reaching the unchurched, people who don’t know Jesus, but we’re not there yet.
Instead of preaching one sermon on money, one on attendance, and one on evangelism, I’m cramming it all into one because these are the obstacles we are facing corporately. Let’s talk about them. Let’s face them. Let’s find solutions. I believe we can find solutions by looking to God’s word.
We’re looking at the story of Micah. I think as we compare our obstacles (money, attendance, evangelism) to theirs (death, starvation, exile), it’s fair to say our situation is looking better and better. Their problems are more serious than ours, but that means whatever solution Micah gave them should work just as well for us. Whatever they look to for hope and deliverance should be the exact same thing we look to. How they responded and how we “can” (keyword) respond influences “if” we will overcome our obstacles.
Before we jump into our first point one word of caution. A church that is packed every week, has lots of baptisms, and is flush with cash isn’t necessarily a success in God’s eyes. But a lack of money, attendance, and conversions isn’t a sign of healthy church either. However, my sermon isn’t really about those things. It’s about how we respond when we face challenges. It’s about focusing on the right things. See our first response starts with our eyesight.
Eyes – Set your eyes on Jesus. (v1-6) First, set your eyes on Jesus. What does Micah do when the people of Judah are facing the destruction of their temple (chapter 2) and the promise of exile in Babylon (chapter 4)? He speaks to them of a deliverer.
Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (NIV®)
He tells them that out of the smallest and most insignificant of towns, a town that doesn’t even make the map (kind of like Forge Village or Graniteville), a deliverer is going to come. King David, the greatest king of Israel, came from Bethlehem, but not much has come from there since (1 Sam 16:1). But our God loves to use the weak and the small to overcome the big and the strong.
Micah 5:4 He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord. in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. (NIV®)
Micah is trying to get the people of Judah and Jerusalem to set their eyes not on Assyria, or king Hezekiah who isn’t strong or capable enough, but on a coming Shepherd King. Today I’m inviting you to take your eyesight off whatever you’re going through personally and what we’re going through corporately and begin to refocus on Jesus, not because this will make all our problems vanish but because we will view them with the right perspective as we gaze first at Christ’s power, glory, grace, and goodness.
When the people of Judah heard this prophecy they wouldn’t have known to look to Jesus, but they would have known to look to a special future figure, the Messiah. The Messiah would have sounded super mysterious to them. The Messiah is a shepherd, but he’s from old, which means he’s God (v2). And yet he’s also human because he has to trust the Lord for his strength (v4) and he will be born in Bethlehem (v2). They had to look to Jesus through a veil, but we can see him clearly because we have the New Testament and can see exactly how he is both God and man. But clarity only does us only so much good. We have to look at him and place our hope in him. We have to intentionally choose to trust him most. We have to look to our Shepherd. We have to get Jesus in our eyes. As Christians we are to be people of hope. We can’t live defeated lives because Jesus has won the victory and we want people to see our hope in him.
It can be really bad if you get the wrong thing in your eyes. A couple months ago I was working in my basement when a speck of sawdust fell from my ceiling and scratched the white part of my eye. It really hurt. I put my eye in water and sat in a dark room but it still stung. It made it hard to function. If we get the wrong things in our eyes we’re not going to be able to function as God intends.
Do you know why church attendance matters? Because every week it helps you refocus on Jesus. Do you know why giving matters? Because Matthew 6:21 tells us that where our treasure is that’s where our heart is too. We want to set our hearts on Jesus. Do you know why evangelism matters? Because we can only do it successfully if we’re thinking more about Jesus than we are ourselves. Let’s take a personal and corporate trip to the eye doctor. What are you setting your eyes on? What are you spending your money on? Where are you spending your time? What do you tell people about easily? We need to set our eyes on Jesus. If we do, this is the promise.
Micah 5:5 And he will be our peace when the Assyrians invade our land and march through our fortresses. We will raise against them seven shepherds, even eight commanders, (NIV®)
What does this verse say? It says that the people of Judah and the people of Cornerstone have a Shepherd King (Jesus) and “he will be our peace when the Assyrians invade our land…” In other words, when we’re facing obstacles or tough circumstances Jesus can give us peace. He’s enough.
Verse 3 says, “and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.” It’s a prophecy of a restored community. We have to face our problems and challenges, whether they’re personal because you’re going through something, or they’re corporate because we’re all in it, together. As a community (“unity”) we need to set our eyes on Jesus, encouraging each other individually and together when the hard times come.
We have two opportunities to corporately set our eyes on Jesus as a community. The first is tomorrow night’s time of worship. In that time we can let go of thinking about our personal problems and our church’s obstacles and just worship Jesus. The second opportunity comes from the Elders. They have asked me to preach a sermon on prayer and fasting in March. This came about because the Outreach Ministry Team came to the Elders and requested us to set aside time as a whole church to pray and fast and to seek the Lord’s direction as a church together. I think this is exactly what we need. We need to come together as a community and set our eyes on Jesus through prayer, through taking a break from some of those other things we look to comfort us (like social media, or food, or desserts, or tv, or sports, business, or whatever), and just ask for more of Jesus. The Outreach team is going to meet to discuss what exactly this could look like but would you begin to think and pray about what the Lord might ask you to fast from so that you can spend more time praying and focusing on him? Let’s set our eyes on Jesus together as a church.
In the first 6 verses of Micah 5 the prophet Micah says a shepherd king will come who will deliver them. He will be from the least of towns but he will overcome with the strength of God. He will bring peace despite their circumstances, despite Assyria. This brings us to our second response to our obstacles, our feet.
Feet – Take the gospel out. (v7-9) We walk our feet outside to share the gospel.
Micah 5:7 The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for anyone or depend on man. (NIV®)
The remnant, which are the people God has saved by his grace, are to be out “in the midst of many peoples.” Micah is talking about us now. We’re to be out and in the world. When we encounter resistance or hardship, what’s a natural response? Withdrawal and hide. But as the church, we can’t do that. Why? Because we’re to go out into the world and be like “dew from the Lord” and “like showers on the grass” (v7). What do you feel when you walk through dewy grass and the sunlight is hitting it and there’s a morning breeze? You feel refreshed and awakened. We refresh and bless the world.
As Christians, God calls us to go out into this world and be a blessing with the gospel (Gen 12:2-3). The next two verses (v8-9) talk about a “young lion” in rather graphic terms and triumphing over enemies, but those are ways of describing our complete victory. As Christians, we will achieve victory as we go out into our world and bless others with the gospel. It’s as we are in the midst of people, not as we are separate, that we overcome our obstacles. It’s as we go, not as we stay, that we bless the world.
You can’t be a morning dew if you stay indoors. We have to get outside and go. This is why frontline ministry is so important because you’re out in your normal world being an agent for Christ. But we also need to think of other ways that we as a church can get outside our building, serve our community, and share the gospel. Let’s recapture God’s vision that Romans captures so well.
Romans 10:14-15 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (NIV®)
I want to challenge every single person in this room to walk outside of this church tonight and sometime this week to invite someone you know who doesn’t know Jesus to either the game night or Christianity Explored. I admit neither of these ministries are truly outside our church but they are a starting point. We made invite cards to Christianity Explored so that you would have something to hand them. Lord willing we will think of other opportunities to take the gospel out into our world, both on our frontlines, and as a church. Let’s solve our evangelism obstacle. Let’s use our feet to walk the gospel out.
I don’t know if the people in Micah’s day wanted this part. They wanted God to deliver them, but on their terms. They wanted to stay safe in Jerusalem. But that’s not what the Shepherd King said he would do. Shepherds move their flocks from one field to the next. If sheep stay in one field too long they can overgraze and hurt themselves. Do we want our pasture more or our shepherd more? We’ve talked about directing our eyes and feet towards Jesus, but there’s one more response—what we do with our hearts.
Heart – Turn your heart from its idols. (v10-15) We need to turn our hearts to Jesus by repenting of any sins we may be holding onto. Look at how the Lord systematically dismantles the idols of king Hezekiah and Judah.
You trusted in horses and chariots (verse 10), I’ll destroy them. You trusted in your cities and strongholds (verse 11), I’ll destroy those too. You trusted in your witchcraft (verse 12) and your idols (verse 13), I will destroy them all.
If we are placing our trust in anything besides Jesus, our money, our time, new conversions, or a general feeling of success, those are idols and Christ will destroy them. He loves us too much to let us worship them. Maybe that’s not you and you’re worshipping something else—your career, your family, the Patriots—then let’s all together confess this sin corporately and receive Christ’s forgiveness. Let’s ask us to change him so our hearts are completely his.
I’ve been reading Micah for You by Stephen Um, who is the Pastor of Citylife Presbyterian Church in Boston, and he turned my attention to a verse in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 33:12b “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, andthe one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.” (NIV®)
The picture we get here is that the Lord God is a shepherd who carries weary lambs on his shoulders. Are you weary of your idols? They won’t satisfy. Our shepherd went to the cross to lay down his life for lost lambs. He shed his blood so that spotted lambs can become white as snow. He did this so that we could find rest between his shoulders. His shoulders bore the cross so that our shoulders don’t have to. The solution to idolatry is not trying harder or being better, it’s crucifixion—crucifixion of our sins with Jesus and resurrection to new life with him. Come Jesus, crucify our sins. Raise our hearts from the dead. Let this be our prayer…
“Help our eyes, feet, and hearts follow you Jesus.” You know what king Hezekiah did when he faced impossible odds? Do you know what he did when the Assyrian army threatened to destroy him and mocks the one true God? He goes up to the house of the Lord, the temple, and he prays before the Lord (Isa 37:14-20). You know how God answers? Our God strikes down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers and kills Sennacherib king of Assyria (Isa 37:36-38). The victory is complete and it’s powerful and it’s a picture of the kind of victory we can have through Jesus Christ. If it’s the Lord’s will, we can overcome our obstacles as we set our eyes on Jesus, take the gospel out, and turn our hearts from their idols. Help our eyes, feet, and hearts follow you Jesus. Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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King Hezekiah faced some serious obstacles in his lifetime. During his lifetime the Assyrian army, a military force known for their brutality and strength, ransacked Judah and gathered right outside Jerusalem’s walls. The king of Assyria, Sennacherib, sent his messenger to mock Hezekiah and the God of Israel (Isa 36:1-2). We see this in verse 1. Micah 5:1 Marshal your troops now, city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel’s ruler on the cheek
I want you to imagine a single day of perfect justice and peace. What would that be like? All the wars around the world would cease. All the jails and prisons would empty. It would be a boring day on Wall Street. Washington DC would be quiet and Hollywood would be clothed. All the abortion clinics would offer care for pregnant moms without offering abortions. The homeless would be fed and clothed and have a warm bed to sleep in.
I want you to imagine a single day of perfect justice and peace. What would that be like?
All the wars around the world would cease. All the jails and prisons would empty. It would be a boring day on Wall Street. Washington DC would be quiet and Hollywood would be clothed. All the abortion clinics would offer care for pregnant moms without offering abortions. The homeless would be fed and clothed and have a warm bed to sleep in. Veterans would get the care they need. There’d be no drug overdoses, no drunk driving, no homocides or crime. There would be no divorces and even remarriages as split families became whole again. Police officers and protestors would share pizza and stories together. You’d call up that friendship broken from long ago and it would be like old times. Your relationship with your family and coworkers would be perfectly healthy. You’d finally do the good job you’ve always wanted to do at work or school.
Everyone would be treated fairly and respectfully. And so it would be all quiet not just on the western front but everywhere in every relationship and place. Do you want a day of perfect justice and peace?
God promises us a day of justice and peace is coming. (v1-5) In our “God of Justice” series we’re studying the prophet Micah from the Old Testament. Let’s review.
Micah 1 – The problem of idolatry and injustice is in Israel, Judah, and us.
In Micah 1 we saw the northern nation of Israel committed idolatry against God—they worshiped false idols. Their idolatry spreads to southern Judah who will be exiled because of it. We’re studying this book so that we might recognize and repent of our idols and injustices and experience renewed hope.
Micah 2 – Love of money leads to unjust treatment of the poor and forsaking the gospel.
In Micah 2 we learned that “idolatry (not loving God first) leads to injustice (not loving our neighbor well).” The rich loved wealth so much they stole the homes and land of the poor and vulnerable and had false prophets who told them what they wanted to hear. We were challenged to truly care about the injustices in our world and to reject prosperity-gospel preaching that tells us we can have our best life now.
Micah 3 – Unjust power takes advantage of others but just power cares about what’s best for others.
In Micah 3 we contrasted selfish-unjust power with what Micah exercised, authority empowered by the Holy Spirit that cares more about others’ good than itself. Gospel power is even willing to lay down its life for the good of another. Although this chapter gave us hope in what could be it ended in a devastating prophecy that because of their sins God is going to destroy the temple.
Micah 3:12 Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.
Have you ever seen a deserted piece of property. What happens? If there’s a building it starts to look run down and abandoned and trees and bushes start to grow up all around the house. In verse 3 Micah is prophesying that the temple is going to be a heap of rubble and the temple mound overlooking Jerusalem will become an overgrown thicket. All is lost, but… God promises us a day of justice and peace is coming.
Micah 4:1 In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. (NIV®)
Micah contradicts the last verse in chapter 3 with the first verse in chapter 4. Your temple mount will be an overgrown thicket, but “in the last days” it will be restored and the temple will be established. The temple won’t just be for the Jews, but for all the nations, the non-Jews (Gentiles) too. In the following three verses Micah prophesies that God will bring justice and peace to the whole world through this temple.
2 Many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Zion is Jerusalem. Through this new temple God is going to teach the Jews and nations justice and peace. In the last day God will bring perfect justice into our world, settling disputes and wrongdoings.
3 He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. 4 Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. (NIV®)
In the last days nations will come to this temple and choose peace instead of war. They will turn weapons of death into tools of life. This is the most important part of Micah. It’s the center of the book. Isaiah has a nearly identical passage in Isaiah 2:1-5 so this is key. God promises us a day of justice and peace is coming. But where is that day? Did Judah see it? Their temple was destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again.
That day is here, just not all the way. “The last days” means the days of the Messiah. We believe Jesus is the “Messiah.” That’s what “Christ” means. So when Jesus arrives he inaugurates the last days. He begins them. Have you ever heard of the “now but not yet?” With his first coming Jesus brings the last days. He calls it the Kingdom of God during his ministry. But he doesn’t bring the kingdom or last days in its fullness. That’s for his second coming when Jesus returns from heaven. The now but not yet means because of Jesus’ first coming we will see signs of peace and justice but there won’t be complete peace and justice.
I brought a visual aid to help explain this today. I bought Monica an insta-camera for Christmas, like a Polaroid. Since you’re looking very nicely dressed today I thought I should take a picture of you. Make sure you smile. One. Two. Three. Cheese. Now it takes about 90 seconds for this photo to develop. Do we have a photo? Yes. Can we see it yet? No. But every moment it’s becoming clearer and more defined. Christ brought the last days of justice and peace and every moment we can work to make them more real.
That day comes through Christ and our church. If the “last day” has come with Jesus, that means his temple is somehow re-established on Mount Zion, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. How can this be? There’s no temple in modern day Israel. Jesus is the temple of God. Jesus houses the very presence of God because Jesus is God.
John 2:19-21 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. (NIV®) (cf. Matt 12:6; John 1:14, 4:21; Col 1:19)
But it’s not just Jesus who is the temple of God, we are too. The people of the church are also the temple.
Ephesians 2:21-22 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (NIV®) (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:16)
If the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you, if he dwells in us as the church, we are his temple. Do you know what this means? This means that when the church comes together to worship Jesus, we are spiritually coming to Mount Zion. The author of Hebrews writes to the early believers:
Hebrews 12:22-24a “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant…” (NIV®)
There’s a lot going on here but what it means is that when the church gathers to worship Christ the last day is here, not in its fullness or completion, but in real and relevant power. Christ is the temple. We’re a temple. We’re on the spiritual Mount Zion and the nations will come through us to Christ. As we gather around Christ we too get to help bring justice and peace into this world. Part of this is getting to help solve the injustices we see in our communities and relationships. We get to beat swords into plowshares.
There’s perhaps no better modern example of the church helping solve injustices than the Christian churches lead by Anglican priest, Dinis Sengulane. When the South African country of Mozambique was decolonized, a civil war broke out that lasted from 1977 till 1992—15 years. It was absolutely terrible. Over a million people were abused and murdered in horrible ways. Sengulane lead a church delegation that helped broker peace between the rebels and the President. He and another Christian group helped lay the foundation for a 1992 peace-treaty.
Sengulane and the church didn’t stop there because there were still “more than seven million guns” hidden all over Mozambique that could lead to another civil war. They worked with the government to help start the “Tools for Arms” or “Swords into Plowshares” project inspired by Isaiah 2. If you turned in a weapon you got a tool. So turn in your gun and get a shovel that you can use to farm. The more weapons you turned in the more tools you could get. One village turned in so many weapons they got a tractor.
As part of this initiative they helped launch an art project where they took these old weapons used for war and bloodshed and turned them into beautiful pieces of art designed for peace.
This first piece is called “The Saxophone” and is made from an “AK47 and a bazooka.” A weapon used for war is now a symbol of music and harmony. This second piece is called the “Throne of Weapons.” The artist also used assault rifles to create a chair. The artist intentionally made the back of the chair to look like the gothic cross of a church. This third piece is really a symbol of the whole movement. They call it the “Tree of Life.” It’s about 11.5 feet tall and celebrates the life this movement has helped create.
Over 600,000 weapons were turned in as part of this program. It was Christians and the church who lead this movement. We don’t need a civil war to be leaders of justice and peace in our community.
I surveyed you at the start of this sermon series asking “What’s an injustice our culture commits?” and one of your main answers was abortion. One way we can help end abortions is by passing laws that protect the lives of the unborn. But as the church I think we have to be extra careful not to get caught in the culture wars. The culture wars are partisan battles between conservatives values and liberal values over things like family and marriage, the separation of church and state, and abortion. And a war is what it has become, with mothers on one side and babies on the other. But if the Lord is calling us to turn our swords into plowshares how might we approach this same issue in a way that promotes both justice and peace? How can we take care of both mothers and their babies (see prograce.org)?
I still think that means voting for protection for the unborn but it should also include voting for protection for single moms and promoting adoption. Casting a ballot isn’t enough. We need to roll up our sleeves and love our neighbors. We can do that through programs like Safe Families. Safe Families is a program where we as a church come around families and moms in times of crisis and need. Imagine a young mom comes to us to help take care of her child during a hard time. We as a church rally around her and provide the love and support she needs. Do you think if her friend gets pregnant she’s going to encourage her to abort the baby or to tell her about the love and support she felt through Safe Families and our church? Through programs like Safe Families we can make a difference in the cause of justice. If you’re wavering over filling out an application, I want to encourage you to stop wavering and just do it. Our Discipleship Pathway wants us to really go out there and develop relationships and change lives. This provides us a way to do that. As the church we get to begin to bring God’s justice and peace into this world. This won’t be easy.
God promises a day of justice and peace but today he calls us to obedience and faith. (v6-13) In the rest of chapter 4 Micah does two things. He calls the people to obedience and faith. In verses 6-8 Micah calls the people to have faith that God will heal their wounds and bring them home.
6 “In that day,” declares the Lord, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to grief. 7 I will make the lame my remnant, those driven away a strong nation. The Lord will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever. (NIV®)
We need to believe. Believe that the Messiah Jesus can heal the lame, give sight to the blind, and bring eternal life through the gospel message (Matt 11:5; John 5:1-15). Have faith that Jesus can heal your sins and will one day bring you home. In verse 10 Micah calls the people to “leave the city” and “go to Babylon” but “there you will be rescued.” Corrie ten Boom, a woman sent to a concentration camp for helping Jews escape the Nazis said, “The safest place is in the center of God’s will.” Micah ends chapter 4 by saying the people of Judah and Jerusalem will encounter resistance and exile but by God’s grace they will overcome. The safest place is in the center of God’s will.
Obedience and faith aren’t easy. That’s why we have to set our eyes on Jesus. We have a Savior who took a spear in his side to transform a deadly cross into a symbol of life. It’s by his blood that instruments of war become instruments of peace. It’s by his blood that warriors become peacemakers. It’s by his blood that you and I can lay down our hostility and know the peace of God. God promises a day of justice and peace but today he calls us to obedience and faith.
If you’re at war over something or with someone I want to challenge you to turn your swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. Instead of furthering the conflict, how can you create justice and peace? How can you use what you have against someone for them? Pray about it and as the Holy Spirit to lead you forward. God promises a day of justice and peace but today he calls us to obedience and faith.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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When you think of “power” what do you think of? The pink energizer bunny? Your local power station? Powerade? Maybe you think of superheroes and villains each have a power they can wield to either help or hurt humanity. Maybe you think of your boss or the President. Each one has power. What is power? Is power the strongest person in the room? Is power violence? Power can mean a lot of things but when I say power today I’m
When you think of “power” what do you think of? The pink energizer bunny? Your local power station? Powerade? Maybe you think of superheroes and villains each have a power they can wield to either help or hurt humanity. Maybe you think of your boss or the President. Each one has power.
What is power? Is power the strongest person in the room? Is power violence? Power can mean a lot of things but when I say power today I’m talking about the authority and ability to make things happen. Maybe you think power is inherently evil and no one should have power over another. But to be made in the image of God is to be made to rule or reign with God—to share in God’s power (2 Tim 2:11-12). This means that power is not inherently evil but actually good.
Micah 3 is about power. The prophet Micah first addresses those who have misused their power, who wield unjust power. Then Micah himself models just power before hinting at gospel power. Why should you care? Because we each have power no matter how young or old we are and we can either use that power for good or evil. We can either commit injustices with the authority God has given us, and must answer to God for those deeds, or we can act just and true instead. Micah starts by giving us an example of unjust power.
Unjust Power – Authority that uses others for its own good. (v1-4) Micah condemns the rulers of Judah and their wrong use of power in the first three verses. Now he uses a graphic metaphor of cannibalism. A metaphor is a figure of speech or image so they weren’t actually cannibals. They didn’t eat each other but the way they treated each other was selfish and unhealthy.
1 Then I said, “Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel. Should you not embrace justice, 2 you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; 3 who eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?” (NIV®)
What are they doing? As we learned last week in Micah 2 the leaders of Israel, the elders, judges, and wealthy are using their influence to steal the land and homes of the poor and weak. They are using their authority to take advantage of others. As Bernie would say, “They loved things and used people instead of using things and loving people.” So how does God judge them? What’s their sentence?
4 Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done. (NIV®)
Since they have hidden their faces from the poor and needy, and have not listened to the cries of the downtrodden, God will hide his face from them. They will cry out to God and God will not listen.
I want you to transport yourself back in time for a moment. You’re standing by the city gates and watching the sale of a widow’s home and property to a rich lender. She has lost everything and will likely have to sell her children into slavery, but the rich lender did everything in public and according to custom. He lent her money when she was in a tough spot but she couldn’t pay him back at the high interest rate. So now he gets to take everything. What would you do? Would you try to help? Or the lender did everything by the book so what’s done is done? Would you side with the powerful or the powerless?
Now let’s step into the present? How do you feel about the #MeToo movement? What’s your gut instinct say? When you hear that powerful men in business and entertainment have taken advantage of women is your first instinct assuming the accusation is true or that there’s a hidden agenda? Do you naturally side with the powerful or the powerless? Be reflective. Why do you think that is? Is it because one of the parties is familiar to you and you can relate to them? Is there some other reason? What does the Bible say? It tells us we shouldn’t automatically side on the side of the accuser or the accused but on the side of truth.
Leviticus 19:15 “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. (NIV®)
However, the Bible over and over again acknowledges that the poor and needy are taken advantage of, not the rich and powerful (Isaiah 1:17, 3:14-15; Amos 2:6-7, 4:1; James 2:2-6).
Proverbs 31:8-9 8 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. 9 Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. (NIV®)
I know there’s been some question of whether or not women are making it up to get something they want. One 2010 study reported that only between 2-10% of sexual misconduct allegations are false. So anywhere from 92 to 98 of 100 cases are true. A 1996 report by the FBI put that figure at 8%. The US Bureau of Justice reports only 35% of sexual assaults are reported to police. There’s no easy answer to the #MeToo movement. But as the church we should be concerned with both truth and justice and be extra mindful that in a world full of sin it is not usually the powerful who are victims but the powerless. What did Micah do when he encountered unjust power? He confronted it with just power.
Just Power – Authority that lovingly corrects and leads others to God’s goodness. (v5-8) In our next verses Micah again indicts those in power, this time prophets who only prophesy good if they’re paid, and prophesy ill if they’re not paid.
5 This is what the Lord says: “As for the prophets who lead my people astray, they proclaim ‘peace’ if they have something to eat, but prepare to wage war against anyone who refuses to feed them. (NIV®)
These prophets are corrupt. What’s their sentence? They who claim to see God are blinded by God.
6 Therefore night will come over you, without visions, and darkness, without divination. The sun will set for the prophets, and the day will go dark for them. 7 The seers will be ashamed and the diviners disgraced. They will all cover their faces because there is no answer from God.” (NIV®)
If you claim to hear from God but use that authority to take advantage of others, God is not going to talk to you anymore (1 Peter 3:7). But Micah contrasts this with how the Lord God has really and truly called him to exercise just and good power.
8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin. (NIV®)
Just power is power based upon the Holy Spirit, upon God instead of oneself. Micah can exercise proper authority because he’s not counting on his own understanding of the situation or his own wisdom but on the wisdom and commandments of God. He is filled with God’s power and justice and might. And what does he do with this God-given, Holy Spirit inspired, power? He lovingly corrects the sins of Israel and Judah and works to lead them back to God’s goodness.
Take a moment and think about your relationships. Think of your coworkers, those who you report to and report to you. Think of your family members, the ones you love and the ones that sanctify you. Think of your neighbors, friends, and church. What kind of power are you exerting in those relationships? Do you use your power to manipulate and get ahead of others or to get your way? Or do you use your power to love and care for them like a good parent uses their power to love and care for their child? Are you willing to use your power to correct them and lead them to the Lord, so far as you are able, or are you more concerned that you might lose your power if you do so? Just power corrects and leads others to God.
What’s the goal of striving to use our power wisely? Was Micah effective? The book of Jeremiah says this about Micah’s ministry.
Jeremiah 26:18-19a “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.’
19 “Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the Lord and seek his favor? And did not the Lord relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them?…”
So what happened? Micah lovingly corrects and leads the people to God and they actually repent and follow. King Hezekiah himself turned to God and sought the Lord’s favor. Never lose hope in the power of just power. But is just power enough? Will a good use of power lead people to salvation? We need something more. We need gospel power.
Gospel Power – Authority that lays down its life for the good of others. (v9-12) Here in our final verses the prophet Micah calls out the judges, the priests, and the prophets (v9, 11). He’s facing the prophets, priests, and kings. But like a warrior charging into battle he faces his enemies with courage—with the Holy Spirit in his chest (v8).
9 Hear this, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; 10 who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. 11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.” (NIV®)
What is this disaster? Why does Micah need the Holy Spirit to empower him? Because he prophesies the destruction of the temple, what they hold most valuable and dear.
12 Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets. (NIV®)
Just imagine how threatening Micah’s prophecy is. Listen to this description of the temple’s importance:
“Within Israel the temple bore manifold social, spiritual, political, economic and cultural importance. In contemporary America it would be the equivalent of the entire range of our iconic political and cultural institutions: the White House, Capitol Hill, the National Cathedral, Wall Street and Hollywood. More than this, Jerusalem, in a profound theological sense, was considered the center of the earth—the hill Yahweh would defend against all attackers. And at the center of Jerusalem was the temple, in whose inner chambers the King of the Universe was known to dwell with an especially awesome presence.” (A Peculiar People by Rodney Clapp; p. 86)
Micah isn’t just saying there’s going to be a run on the banks or your church is going to burn down. He’s saying, “God has left you and you’re going to lose everything!” How do you think the people probably felt hearing this? Scared? Angry? Murderous?… Micah reminds me of another fearless prophet.
Mark 13:1-2 AsJesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (NIV®)
This prophecy is the one the Sanhedrin twists a few days later to try and condemn Jesus to death. When Micah prophesies the destruction of the temple he is foreshadowing a greater prophet who would prophesy the same thing. Both are correct. Babylon destroys Micah’s temple and the Romans destroy Jesus’ temple. Both risk their own lives to deliver this message.
Gospel power is willing to lay down its life to rescue others. Micah’s willingness to risk his own life makes it possible for his people to be saved from God’s wrath in their lifetime. Jesus’ actual sacrifice of his life makes it possible for any to come to him and be saved from God’s wrath in the life to come. Every day God gives us an opportunity to lay down our lives for the good of others.
This may be what Romans 12:1 calls becoming a “living sacrifice”. This is laying down your time day after day to serve others, to take care of their needs, to use your gifting to bless and grow them. It means giving up your preferences and wants for what God says is good. This is gospel power, real authority.
Gospel power could also mean laying down your actual life. France has been through a lot recently. They’ve had the yellow-vest protests and riots and wave after wave of terrorist attacks. During an attack last March there was a glimpse of gospel power. A lone gunman took several people hostage in a French supermarket. Arnaud Beltrame, a French police officer, offered to trade places with a hostage during the standoff. Because of his actions the hostage lived but he died.
France needs Jesus. That’s why it’s so exciting we’re sending a group of teenagers over there this summer as missionaries and have given money to Thierry Mirone, a French Missionary, before. Although we don’t know for certain the state of this man’s heart his Catholic priest thinks he was a true Christian. Father Jean-Baptiste wrote this of Officer Arnaud:
It seems to me that only his faith can explain the madness of this sacrifice which is today the admiration of all. He understood, as Jesus told us, that there is no greater love than to give one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13). He knew that if his life belonged to [his wife] Marielle, it also belonged to God, to France and to his brothers in danger of death. I believe that only a Christian faith animated by charity could ask for this superhuman sacrifice.
Bernaud is a clear example of someone having power entering a state of vulnerability in order to rescue the powerless. This is a beautiful picture of gospel power and this is exactly what Jesus Christ did for us. He who had power risked himself to rescue the weak. Now it’s time for you and me to go and do the same. Will you confess any use of unjust power to Jesus and will you exercise just power and gospel power in the places God calls you to serve this week? God is honored when we use our power for the sake of others.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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What is the greatest commandment in the Bible? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matt 22:37) What is the second greatest commandment? “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:39) So the greatest commandments are “love God” and “love others.” What is idolatry? Idolatry is when we break the first and greatest commandment. It’s when we love anything more than God. Our sermon series is God of Justice.
What is the greatest commandment in the Bible? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matt 22:37) What is the second greatest commandment? “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:39) So the greatest commandments are “love God” and “love others.”
What is idolatry? Idolatry is when we break the first and greatest commandment. It’s when we love anything more than God. Our sermon series is God of Justice. What is injustice? It’s when we break the second greatest commandment. Injustice is anytime we fail to love our neighbor.
So at the end of the day this sermon series is meant to help us love God more and love our neighbor better. That’s the whole point of Christianity. Love God. Love others. So last week when I asked you to answer my survey “What’s an idol our culture worships?” and “What’s an injustice our culture commits?” you were simply listing ways we as a society don’t love God first and fail to love others as they deserve.
I’m excited to share the results of the survey with you, and I will, in just a little bit. But first Micah 1 tells us that the Israelite nations has failed to love God too. Remember the Israelite nation was made up of twelve tribes but in 930 BC they had a civil war and split into north and south just like America almost did. Chapter one reveals that the northern kingdom fell into idol-worship. Because of this God promises that Samaria, the capital of northern Israel, will be destroyed.
Micah 1:6-7a 6 “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. 7 All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images. (NIV®)
In 722 BC the nation of Assyria destroyed Samaria and took its people into exile, fulfilling this prophecy. In the second part of Micah 1 the prophet addresses southern Judah for her sins. She’s stopped loving God and loving her neighbor. For this Judah will also go into exile.
Micah 1:16 Shave your head in mourning for the children in whom you delight; make yourself as bald as the vulture, for they will go from you into exile. (NIV®)
And that’s eventually what happens. Samaria falls in 722 BC to Assyria and Jerusalem and falls in 586 BC to Babylon and the people of Judah are deported and exiled. But remember Micah’s prophetic ministry took place sometime between 750 and 686 BC. So this second exile hasn’t happened yet. And now as we come to chapter two the prophet begins to explain why Jerusalem too will face exile. Samaria worshipped golden calves. Judah hasn’t done that. They worship at the one true temple. So what have they done?
Judah’s sin – Unjust seizure of the most vulnerable’s land and homes. (1-2, 8-9) 1 Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. 2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance. (NIV®)
God is sending the remaining Israelite people, Judah, into exile because of their “iniquity.” The Hebrew word for “iniquity” is “avon.” The Bible Project’s word study of avon say that iniquity means “crooked behavior” like corruption and injustice and that’s exactly what we find in verses 1-2. The powerful in Jerusalem are laying awake at night figuring out how they can take for themselves the fields and homes of the poor and vulnerable. Verses 8-9 tell us they defraud everyone—men, women, and children.
The rich are coveting what the poor have. Can any of you think of a famous set of commandments where God prohibits coveting? The Ten Commandments. Do you know which commandment it is? The tenth. A way to remember that is 10 stands for best and we’re not to covet our neighbor’s best.
Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (NIV®)
There’s another tragic story in the Bible of a Samarian king named Ahab who coveted a vineyard near his palace. He offered to purchase the land from the owner, Naboth.
1 Kings 21:2-3 Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.”
3 But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” (NIV®)
Houses and land weren’t like what they are in our culture today. We can buy and sell homes and property with relative ease. But property in Israel belonged to families for generations. Remember this is an agrarian society. There’s no industrial revolution. People lived off farms and what they could produce from the land. For Naboth to sell his vineyard would mean he would sell his livelihood and the property that had been in his family for generations and was meant to sustain them for generations to come.
Unfortunately, Ahab is an evil king and he allows his wife Jezebel to hatch a plot to murder Naboth and take his vineyard. God judges Ahab for this injustice by putting him and Jezebel to death and by ending his family’s kingship (1 kings 21:19, 29; 22:38). If God judges Ahab and puts him to death for stealing Naboth’s field he is more than willing to do the same thing to those stealing the poor’s land years later.
Like Ahab, the rich and powerful take advantage of the weak “at morning’s light.” Usually when you commit a crime you do it at night. This tells us they performed their corrupt practices in the daylight when others could see either because everyone was corrupt or because what they did was legal according to the laws of the day. But just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s right.
I read the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson last summer as I was thinking about this sermon series. It is by far one of the best books I’ve ever read on defending the most vulnerable and at risk. If you read it it will make you both furious and hopeful at the same time. Bryan Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). He’s argued cases before the Supreme Court and says this about poverty and justice.
“My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. Finally, I’ve come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.” – Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy
If you don’t have time to read a whole book you can read Stories of Just Mercy on his website or watch the Netflix documentary 13th, which features Bryan talking about the American prison system. It has made me grateful for the recent federal prison reform, the First Step Act, which our Congress and President passed. Why should we care about these things? Because it is iniquity (crookedness) to deny justice to the poor and needy. God takes very seriously the actions of those who steal, yesterday and today. How so for Judah?
God’s judgment – Those who steal land will lose their land. (3-5) 3 Therefore, the Lord says:
“I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.
4 In that day people will ridicule you; they will taunt you with this mournful song: ‘We are utterly ruined; my people’s possession is divided up. He takes it from me! He assigns our fields to traitors.’”
5 Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the Lord to divide the land by lot. (NIV®)
God demonstrates perfect fairness towards those who steal from the poor. What does God do? He takes their land and homes. That’s exactly what happens when generations later Judah goes into exile and those who practiced injustice lose their their land. Justice served.
What are similar idols and injustices we see today? I want to share what we as a church answered for to the survey question I gave last week: “What’s an idol our culture worships?” Now I went through the answers and summarized them. You said idols our culture worships are (31 total answers):
Cellphones/Social Media – 8 (26%) Fame/Beauty – 5 (16%) Success/Money/Power – 10 (32%) Comfort – 4 (13%) Individualism/Self – 3 (10%) Patriotism – 1 (3%)
What I love about your answers is that you thought of things I wouldn’t think of, like iPhones. iPhones can totally be little idols. I mean we spend time staring at them, holding them to our faces, they emit an eerie glow… We want them. They are status symbols. And they control our lives. What do you think the corresponding injustice is to these idols? One injustice is the increase in teen depression in the US between 2010 and 2015 with the rise of smartphones. Did you know that in that time “the number of US teens who felt useless and joyless – classic symptoms of depression – surged 33%”? “Teen suicide attempts increased 23%” and sadly teens who carried it to completion increased 31%. More teens looking at their phones instead of forming face-to-face relationships can be deadly.
What about “What’s an injustice our culture commits?” It was a lot more difficult to put these categories together so you can probably see there was a lot of overlap (30 answers).
Abortion – 5 (17%) Not caring for the poor and needy – 6 (20%) Mistreatment of the other—the disabled, weak, and outsider – 5 (17%) Racism, bigotry, prejudice – 8 (27%) (bigotry means intolerance of other’s opinions) Profit over people, national debt – 3 (10%) Not putting Jesus/God first – 3 (10%)
I may share some quotes from your survey results as we continue to go through this series. Overall I’m grateful to see how God has given our community a soft-heart towards those who are vulnerable. We as the church are the messenger to the culture. We should be the first ones to stand up when an injustice happens and say “that’s not right!” But we may not be welcomed with open arms. Micah wasn’t.
Judah’s sin – Rejecting God’s message and messenger. (6, 11) In verses 6-7 the false prophets tell Micah to stop prophesying. They don’t like his message. They don’t want to hear it so they tell him to “shut up.” Micah openly insults them in verse 11.
11 If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ’I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ that would be just the prophet for this people!
You want a preacher who will tell you what you want to hear. You want a prophet who will promise you wealth, health, and a great retirement. You want a pastor who says you can have your best life now. Micah is condemning prosperity gospel preaching, plain and simple. The prosperity gospel is the idea that God wants to give you everything you want in this life. Money is the idol and it can and has created grave injustices. In 2009 the Atlantic published an article that asked if prosperity-gospel churches helped cause the subprime mortgage crisis. They reported how Wells Fargo specifically targeted churches.
The plan was to send officers to guest-speak at church-sponsored “wealth-building seminars” […] and dazzle the participants with the possibility of a new house. They would tell pastors that for every person who took out a mortgage, $350 would be donated to the church, or to a charity of the parishioner’s choice. “They wouldn’t say, ‘Hey, Mr. Minister. We want to give your people a bunch of subprime loans,” [a loan officer] told me. “They would say, ‘Your congregants will be homeowners! They will be able to live the American dream!’” (Did Christianity Cause the Crash? The Atlantic, December 2009)
The true message of the Bible is not one of prosperity and peace in this life. In fact, our faith often calls for sacrifice and self-denial. That’s not a message we naturally want to hear (2 Tim 4:3-4). Because they didn’t want to hear a hard message from God, God judges them. May this never be us.
God’s judgment – Loss of the temple and exile. (7, 10) The people of Israel believed that God would never leave them. They’re the descendants of Jacob (v7) and they worship at the true temple. God can’t abandon them. But God is going to destroy the temple and send them away into exile.
10 Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined, beyond all remedy.
If you claim to know the one true God’s, but really proclaim a false gospel don’t be surprised if God leaves you and destroys his temple. But this is not how this prophecy ends. At the end the end of this passage Micah prophesies God himself will lead his people out of exile.
Hope restored – The Lord will gather his people and lead them home. (12-13) 12 “I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people.
13 The One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the Lord at their head.”
Yes the people of Judah and Jerusalem are going to be taken into captivity in Babylon, but a Shepherd-King is going to come and gather his sheep, lead them out of captivity, and bring them home. This Shepherd-King isn’t going to be just any man, but Yahweh himself, the “LORD.”
Is this prophecy fulfilled? In the short-term God does return his people to Jerusalem in 536 BC. But Yahweh isn’t their king. In the mid-term God does come to rescue us. Jesus comes into our world as the Shepherd King, as our Good Shepherd. He leads us, his flock, by breaking us free from our sin and captivity. He does so by dying on the cross and rising again so that anyone who repents and believes in Jesus will receive eternal life. Jesus takes the penalty for our sins. Justice served! Now he is seated on the throne as King preparing the the long-term victory. A day is coming that we see pictured in the book of Revelation (Rev 7, 21). King Jesus is going to return, gather all his people, and break us free from sin and captivity once and for all. The Lord will gather his people and lead us home.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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Did you know? “When the Library of Congress in Washington DC was rebuilt in the late nineteenth century, prominent religious leaders, after considering notable quotes from all known religious literature, chose Micah 6:8 as the motto for the alcove of religion.” The inscription reads, “What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” Chances are that most of us have heard verses from Micah, such as this promise
Did you know? “When the Library of Congress in Washington DC was rebuilt in the late nineteenth century, prominent religious leaders, after considering notable quotes from all known religious literature, chose Micah 6:8 as the motto for the alcove of religion.” The inscription reads,“What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”
Chances are that most of us have heard verses from Micah, such as this promise of peace:
Micah 4:3 He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. (NIV®)
Or maybe around Christmas time you’ve heard read aloud this prophecy about the birth of Christ:
Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (NIV®)
But although we may have heard verses from this book, chances are we don’t really know what it’s about or why it matters for us today. I hope by the end of this sermon series we will understand why Micah is worth a whole sermon series. And since some if not all of us are asking “Why Micah?” I thought I would make today’s sermon all about why I’ve chosen this book. So…
Why Micah? So that we might know the real God better. (Micah 1:1-2) Now it’s easy to say, “All Scripture matters! That’s why we’re studying it!” Which would be true. But why do we read and study the Bible? So that we can know the real God better by what he has told us in his Word.
1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. (NIV®)
The name “Micah” is actually a rhetorical question in Hebrew, “Who is like Yahweh?” or “Who is like God?”I’ve broken Micah (מִיכָה֙) down the best I could here:
Miy (מִי) – Who is ca (כָ) – like h (ה֙) – Yahweh (abbreviated form of יהוה)
The point Micah’s name makes is that no-one is like Yahweh! No one is like our God. That means you can’t accidentally believe in this God. You need to be introduced to the true and living God. You need to know his character and compassion. By the end of the book Micah himself declares that he knows the real God.
Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. (NIV®)
Micah is a man who knew and experienced God. We really don’t know much about Micah. He’s from the town of Moresheth, which was located in a farming region about “22 miles southwest of Jerusalem.” He prophesied during the reigns of the Judean kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah somewhere between 750 and 686 BC. Hosea and Isaiah were two other prophets from around this same time. But we do know that Micah delivered a hard message about God’s holiness and justice to the people of Israel and Judah.
2 Hear, you peoples, all of you, listen, earth and all who live in it, that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. (NIV®)
Micah is acting as a type of covenant lawyer. Back in Exodus God made a promise (a covenant) with the people of Israel that if they would obey him he would bless them but if they disobeyed him they would experience curses. They disobeyed God by worshipping idols and forming political alliances with foreign nations and now he has taken them to court and is acting as a “witness” against them.
It’s tempting to imagine that God is like a kind and gentle grandpa who doesn’t really care what his children and grandchildren do as long as they listen to him tell stories. Maybe you’ve heard that “God is love.” Well that’s true, but love is not God. God is love and he is holy and just and cares so much about his people he is willing to hurt and wound those he loves to deliver them from their sins.
I read one commentary this week that gave the example of someone addicted to drugs. This is a serious thing but I want you to imagine that someone you care deeply about (a parent, a brother or sister, a child, a close friend) has become addicted to drugs and the drugs are rapidly tearing their life apart. You know that if they don’t stop they will alienate everyone they love and will soon overdose and die. If you knew this would you go to them and say, “Hey, I thought that maybe if you think it’s a good idea you could perhaps stop taking drugs and get clean, but it’s your choice. I support you no matter your decision.” They would say, “I’m not going to do that. I’m fine. The drugs are really not that dangerous and I’m safe when I take them.” Instead, you would do everything in your power to convince them to stop. Wouldn’t you get angry and mad and cut them off from your funds so they can’t buy drugs? You’d get angry because you care deeply. That anger, that judgment, that holiness, is truly loving. Judgment can be loving.
Do you want to know the real God who cares about reality and truth and justice? If you want to know more about him, Micah is for you. Why Micah? So that we might know the real God better.
Why Micah? So that we might recognize and repent of our idols and injustices. (Micah 1:3-16) I’m not going to read all the verses but I will summarize a few. In verses 3-5 The Lord God comes down in judgment against the capital of Israel, Samaria, and the capital of Judah, Jerusalem. The nation we call Israel went through a civil war around 930 BC and they split into two kingdoms, Northern Israel and Southern Judah. Both sinned against God and in verses 6-7 Micah specifically calls out Israel’s idolatry.
“Idolatry is choosing one’s own will above God’s will. It is giving ultimate allegiance—which deserves to be given to God alone—to another object of worship, another object of affection.” – Micah For You by Stephen Um
So what kind of idolatry did Israel commit? When Israel split the king of the north, Jeroboam, worried that the people in his region would travel south to the temple in Jerusalem to worship the one true God and that would cause him to lose power. So what does he do? In 1 Kings 12:25-33 He makes two golden calves for his people to worship, which leads the Israelite people into idol worship and forsaking the one true God. Micah declares in verses 8-9 that Northern Israel’s unfaithfulness has spread to Southern Judah. That northern Samaria has infected southern Jerusalem with its disobedience and idolatry.
As Micah goes through the rest of the chapter he calls out not just the idolatry of Samaria and Jerusalem but other towns across Judea. He does it using wordplay that is hard to pick up in English. Each town (Gath, Beth Ophrah, Shaphir) is accompanied by a judgment that matches its name by sharing a similar sound. So instead of reading this in the NIV I’m going to read The Two Horizon Commentary’s translation:
10 In Tell Town don’t tell it (Gath) in Dust House roll in the dust (Beth Ophrah)
11 Get yourselves out of there in nakedness and shame, residents of Beauty Town (Shaphir) no exit for Exit Town (Zaanan) the mourning of Neighbor Town means no more neighbor (Beth Ezel)
12 For the residents of Bitterville hoped for better (Maroth) for war has come down from Yahweh to the gate of the City of Peace (Jerusalem)
13 Bind the chariot to the harness, residents of Harness Town (Lachish)
14 therefore you will give parting gifts to Inheritance of Gath (Moresheth Gath) the house of deception will prove deceptive to the kings of Israel (Akzib)
15 I will bring a conqueror to Conquering Town (Mareshah) unto the land of the caves will flee the glory of Israel (Adullum)
When I think of the town I grew up in, Estes Park, it’s right next to Rocky Mountain National Park. It has great access to the mountains and is a beautiful park–like town that attracts lots of tourists. But what if the town voted to rename Estes Park to Estes Dump? Do you think anyone want to go there? No! Micah has flipped the meaning of these towns according to their coming judgment! Another author writes:
“Micah uses deliberate puns to describe the ironic nature of the eventual destruction: the very thing that each place worships will be the source of its destruction and the place where its judgment is most clearly seen.”- Micah For You by Stephen Um
So what are some of the idols we see in our world and culture? I’d like you to take the slip of paper that came in your bulletin, and if you haven’t already done so write your answer to the question. “What’s an idol our culture worships?” Would you take a moment and do that?
After you’ve written the answer to the first question, would you look at the second question. “What’s an injustice our culture commits?” This question has less to do with today’s sermon and more to do with our series as a whole. Next week we’re going to get into some specific injustices the people of Israel and Judah commit. And as we apply this to today we need to think about what injustices we see around us. But before I identify what I think are injustices, I’d like to know what you think are injustices. I don’t think it’s just the role of the pastor to be prophetic in a church, but the role of the church to be prophetic in the culture. Write whatever you think is an example of injustice. I may share some of the results during our series. After our sermon I’ll collect your answers so you have a little extra time to write them down.
There is a connection between our idols and our injustices. It’s those things we worship, those things that define us, that lead us to mistreat others. So I’ve been thinking about what some of our community’s idols are. What might Westford worship? I got lunch with Bernie on Wednesday at a Chinese restaurant and my fortune cookie read, “You are going to have a very comfortable old age.” I thought, “I think that’s kind of like Westford’s idol.” It’s fair to say our community desires a comfortable, happy, life for themselves and for their kids. The people of our town want to get ahead academically and financially. Now success and comfort and a great education can be good things, but when they become ultimate things they become idols. And idolatry leads to injustice.
Back when we were planting Cornerstone we asked our team members to interview local organizations about community needs. One of the most interesting interviews was with the Westford housing authority. Our team wrote up summaries of each interview and I’m going to read you a small section from that writeup.
One thing she (the director of the housing authority) mentioned, almost as an afterthought, but obviously something that is dear to her heart was the lack of town support for affordable housing and that perhaps the churches could help. She said that the people in town, especially during town meetings, do not want affordable housing in their neighborhoods. They have biases against it and will speak out sharply against it in town meetings. She would love to have a member of the clergy, or perhaps a group of clergy members from town that would stand up in meetings in support of the needs of this population. Perhaps if this happened, people might be more hesitant to be so harshly critical of it and be swayed to support it more.
I feel like this was a missed opportunity because we got busy and haven’t done anything about this. I emailed the housing authority this week to see if the director is still working there and just to try and start the conversation again. Why get involved? Because there’s injustice and we worship a God of justice.
Idolatry leads to injustice. When we worship anything besides God, be it success or safety or comfort or family or wealth or education, it leads to mistreatment of those in need, like the poor who need a home. Why Micah? So that we might recognize and repent of our idols and injustices. The last verse calls us to repent.
16 Shave your head in mourning for the children in whom you delight; make yourself as bald as the vulture, for they will go from you into exile. (NIV®)
Humble yourselves. Believe and repent. Now as I opened our sermon series I didn’t ask you to identify your idols or injustices. But as we go through this series I hope we will be brave enough to identify idols in our nation, in our culture, in our community, in our church, and in ourselves. If Micah was speaking primarily to the people of God back then, Israel, then the people his message first applies to today is also the people of God, the church, us. As we recognize our idols and injustices let’s repent and be renewed.
Why Micah? So that we might experience renewed hope. (Micah 1-7) We’re going to close by watching the Bible Project’s video of Micah. I want us to watch it to get the big picture of the book of Micah. As we go along in Micah you’re going to notice that the prophet first identifies sin and injustice (Micah 1:2-7), then reveals God’s judgment against that sin (Micah 1:8-2:11), and finally offers hope and restoration (Micah 2:12-13). The pattern is sin, judgment, hope.
As the book goes along that message of hope and restoration grows and grows, ultimately pointing to Christ Jesus himself. Jesus is the one who bore the consequences for our idols, our curse, our nakedness, our tears, our dust, our shame, our mourning, our disaster, our pain, so that we no longer have to live in exile but can have eternal life. If you repent and trust in him, he will forgive you of your sins, take God’s judgment upon himself, and give you eternal hope.
We’re studying Micah so that we might know God better, recognize and repent of our idols and injustices, and experience renewed hope. Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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Today we are at the end of our series in Ephesians. This has been an exciting study. This letter transformed the early church and hopefully it will transform our church, As well as our homes and our society. This was Paul’s prayer and it is my prayer. Paul’s prayer and my prayer is not that you will be inspired but that you will be transformed. Today’s section of scripture begins with Paul trying to prepare us for the battles that
Today we are at the end of our series in Ephesians. This has been an exciting study. This letter transformed the early church and hopefully it will transform our church, As well as our homes and our society. This was Paul’s prayer and it is my prayer. Paul’s prayer and my prayer is not that you will be inspired but that you will be transformed.
Today’s section of scripture begins with Paul trying to prepare us for the battles that we will face. He does this by first describing the enemy. And second, by describing the tools that we have to defend ourselves from this enemy.
I want to begin with the big picture. What is this all about? Well, back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell prey to the serpent. Satan came before them and tempted them. Satan tried to get them to question what God had said. Adam and Eve lived in a perfect society. They lived walking with God. In many ways, this new society, the church, was to be the same. All of what Paul teaches in Ephesians is to bring us to a place of holy living with God. That we might trust God fully and live accordingly. Jesus had come that we might have full abundant life.
In John 10:10 Jesus says, “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come to give you life and life to it’s fullest.”
Back in the Garden of Eden, Satan came and he stole the trust that man had with God. He killed and destroyed that pure relationship that they experienced. Satan was able to do all of this with very little resistance.
The battle that Paul is trying to prepare us for today is the same battle that Adam and Eve faced. This battle is with Satan. When you see problems creep into the church or in your homes, it’s tempting to blame the people involved. But, Paul is warning us to look deeper. Paul is saying that Satan and His powers of darkness are at the core of all disunity.
Paul says that our battle is not against each other in our homes or in the church. No more than Adam’s battle in the garden was with his wife Eve. Adam and Eve would have had a perfect marriage if not for Satan. And, you would too. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers and the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. The enemy is not us, it’s Satan. It is Satan who is the enemy and he is out to destroy us. He is out to destroy our homes and he is out to destroy our church.
Adam and Eve fell prey to Satan in the garden and it cost them everything. We are now under the same attack as Adam and Eve were under. Paul understood this well. His prayer was that you would also understand it well. Understanding who the enemy is, is the first step in being able to win the battle. Unfortunately, most of our homes and most of our churches don’t get it. And the result is that we have weak homes and weak churches. Instead of this new society working in unity and love, It often doesn’t work at all. Often we blame each other just like Adam and Eve did. How sad that we should blame each other and not the real enemy. We could have the perfect church.
So, now that Paul has described the enemy he continues by describing the tools that we have to defend ourselves against this enemy. The good news is that this new society, which is to be like the old society of the Garden of Eden, has been giving tools to defend itself. These tools are more powerful than anything on earth.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Paul says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
When we use these tools we are told that the gates of hell will not be able to defeat us. (Matt. 16:18) Unfortunately, most of us never pick up these tools; Most of us are unaware that there is an enemy attacking us. We allow the enemy to creep in just like Adam and Eve did. We allow him into our homes and into our church. Once again, the result is destruction. Make no mistake about it; Satan is out to destroy God’s new society just like he destroyed the old one. In heaven we will wear robes of glory but for now we must protect ourselves.
Let’s look at the tools that are in the box.
First, is belt of truth. Today we have the Word of God. Adam and Eve walked with God but didn’t have the written word. The Word of God is our first defense against the enemy. Men and women who know God’s word always stand stronger than those who don’t. Satan is like a lion that picks out the weak in the herd and takes them down.
Second, is the breastplate of righteous. God has given us His righteousness. In the garden, Adam and Eve could have called out to God in their temptation. They could have sought God’s help. We too can call out to God at any time. We can pray always and follow God closely, allowing Him to protect us in all situations.
Third, is our boots. We are to wear the boots of peace. Our boots allow us to be able to withstand the pressures that Satan would put on us. We learned at Christmas that there is peace on earth but we only see this peace when we focus on the baby Jesus. Our focus is to remain on Jesus. We are to get our peace from Him and we are to live at peace with others. For me, these boots have helped me walk through some long valleys. We need to constantly check to see if we are wearing boots of peace or of conflict.
Forth, is the shield of faith. Our faith protects us against the darts that Satan throws at us. Satan tries to discourage us the same way that he discouraged Adam and Eve. We get discouraged when we feel as though we can’t trust God. We get discouraged when we don’t fully believe God’s promises to us. This discouragement causes us to look out for number one. We begin to think of ourselves first and other not so much. We begin to think that we must take care of ourselves first. Faith is our defense against discouragement, depression, defeat, distrust and despair. As I get older, faith comes easier as I have seen God in action. Know this; God will never let you down! When Satan throws arrows at you, hold up your shield of faith. Our God is always victorious!
Fifth, is the helmet of salvation. Understand that you are a child of God. You will not be defeated by Satan. In John 10:28-30 Jesus says, 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” Understand that God is standing next to you and He will protect you.
Lastly, is the sword of the spirit. This sword is the word of God. The sword is the only tool that we have to attack with. All the rest are for protection. But, God’s word has already defeated our enemy. We need to understand that Satan has been defeated and that God is the victor.
We have all that we need to live victorious in this new society, the church. We can have victory at home and in the church.
Paul began this letter with the words, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” And, he ends the letter in the same way with these words, “Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.”
My prayer for you is the same as Paul’s prayer for you; that you would understand the grace that God has given you and that you would live in peace and unity, submitting to one another in love.
Have you ever received a letter from someone that was 4 or 5 pages? What do you do? You read it right? Most of us would read the whole letter. We would never just read one paragraph each week for 12 weeks. The book of Ephesians is a letter. The problem is that we have taken many weeks to study it and sometimes we get lost in the details and lose track of the main point. So, today, before
Have you ever received a letter from someone that was 4 or 5 pages? What do you do? You read it right? Most of us would read the whole letter. We would never just read one paragraph each week for 12 weeks.
The book of Ephesians is a letter. The problem is that we have taken many weeks to study it and sometimes we get lost in the details and lose track of the main point. So, today, before we begin, I want to do a review.
The letter that Paul writes is about a new society, the church. It begins by talking about what blessings God has given us. God chose us before the creation of the earth. God sent His son to die to pay for our sins. Because of that God would now call us righteous in spite of our sins. God adopted us into His family. We will become joint heirs with Jesus and all that He has we will also have access to. We as God’s new society will inherit eternal life. Because of all that God has done for us, we will spend eternity with God.
Paul was so excited about all that God had done for us that he praised God and prayed that we would fully understand just how great this good news, the gospel, was. He prayed that we too would have our eyes opened and that we would be as excited as he was. The mystery of God’s salvation was now revealed to us. All of God’s mercy and grace toward us overwhelmed Paul. So, Paul tried to build up our faith so that we would in return bring honor to God.
As I said, the main theme is that those who believe are a new society. This society would be made up of all peoples who put their trust in Jesus. The mystery of the Old Testament was now revealed. Jesus the Messiah and Savior was the head of this new society. And God’s Holy Spirit would now dwell within us. Because of Jesus, we would now have full access to God.
Paul then went on to describe the structure of this new society. There would now be God appointed leaders but each person would be given different gifts. All of us were to use our gifts and work as one body. We were to be one body united with a purpose, to bring glory to God. This new society was to be like the first society of the Garden of Eden. There would be full unity. This unity would be formed by people who loved each other fully. People who would forgive because of the fact that God had forgiven them. People who would submit to each other as God Son submitted to the cross. This new society was to be different from the people outside the church. The people outside take care of number one first. They don’t submit at all. They argue about what truth is and what life styles are acceptable. This new society had a higher standard than the world. We submit to our elders as they submit to God. An example of this is found in Exodus. God appointed Moses to lead but they didn’t follow. And instead of getting to the promise land in three weeks, It took them forty years and they all died in the desert. Would you have seen the promise land? This new society was to be different and there was not even to be a hint of immorality. Martin Luther said that the world never be able to follow the laws of God. But, the church should live by God’s standards. These people were to be holy as God Himself is holy. This new society was not to be influenced by the world but it was to have an influence on the world. Paul says that we are to be imitators of God.
In this new society, all of us are to submit to each other in love to create unity. Paul tells wives to submit to their husband and husbands to love their wives. But, in this new society wives were not property, they were to be treated with respect. This kind of mutual submission and love were revolutionary at that time.
Today we will talk about parents and children and other relationships. But, first I want to say a few words about how Paul ends his letter. Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God. As, I said this new society was to be like the old Garden of Eden. In the garden Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan. In this new society, God has given us a full armor to protect ourselves. God doesn’t want us to be deceived once again.
And so, that’s the full picture!
Read Ephesians 6:1-4
This new society, as I said, was revolutionary. Not only were wives to be treated well, but children were to be treated well also. I know that this section begins by saying that children are to obey their parents, But, this was not new. At that time if parents didn’t like the way their children behaved they could beat them or even kill them. In fact, the Old Testament law required parents to kill their children who refused to be disciplined. (Lev. 20:9 & Dt. 21:18-21 What was new was that now they were to be citizens of this new society. They too were to be respected and treated fairly. In Mark 10:14, Jesus surprised everyone by saying, “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.” This new society was good news if you were a child. What was also new is that now parents were being told that they were to be gentle. That they were to teach their children and correct them in love.
This new society would be one in which parents would consider their children as equal members in God’s eyes. Children were equal to their parents in value even though they had a different role or position. And so Paul tells children to obey their parents. Children are to obey, respect and submit to their parents. Have you heard this before? In this new society we are all called to the same behaviors. Those behaviors of submission and respect bring unity to the home. And that unity is also brought to the church. Paul says that children are not only to obey but they are to honor their parents. Children are to make their parents proud. And, they are not only to do this while they are children but for the rest of their lives. Parents are to build their children and help them to be all that they can be in the Lord. Children are a gift from God and it is our responsibility to help them reach their full potential.
One way that I have tried to put this into practice was by remembering that while I was a sinner Christ died for me. And so, sometimes rather than punishing a child, use their breaking of the rules as an opportunity to talk to them about God’s forgiveness. Kids remember times when parents forgive them instead of punishing them. The goal is them becoming a working part of this new society.
Read Ephesians 6:5-9
In this new society not only were wives raised up and children to be treated with love and respect but slaves also were now to be part of the church and have the same rights as their masters. Many would think this crazy at that time. Christians were now told that their slaves were to be treated like brothers. In the church they could have a position or role that you might have to submit to. In fact, you would have to submit in the home somewhat also. No longer could you treat slaves as property. No longer could you abuse them. Now, in this new society you were to consider their needs and desires too. Some at that time would now train their slaves in a trade and then release them. Can you see that this new society was revolutionary? Paul doesn’t address whether slavery was right or wrong. It was how their society worked. But, the Jews and the Christians understood that all people were created in the image of God. The type of slavery that was in America and is now in some countries is ungodly and should never be accepted.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, the first result that we see is blame casting. Eve blames the serpent; Adam blames God for giving him a wife who could be deceived. After blame came all the rest of the sins, killings, lust, stealing etc. Our sin does so much damage but Jesus died that we might be free from all of that. In this new society God is giving us a chance to have it all back again. All of the blessing of God are now available for us. But the blame game has to end; the sin has to end. Each of us needs to step up to the plate and act like the people that God has made us to be. We are created in God’s image and we are called to live holy as He is holy.
God never intended for us to come to church; God intended us to be the church. God never intended us to live in the world all week and then come to church. God intended us to be the church; to be His new society; to live holy as He is holy.
This new society was bought with a high price; the blood of God’s son Jesus. This new society has the benefit of giving us the very best of all that God has to offer on earth. And the benefit of eternal life with God.
Are you willing to be part of this society? Are you willing to submit to God and to each other to create this unity that God desires? Are you wiling to get out of the desert and pass into the promise land?
Are you ready to be part of a revolution? This new society is a society based on a divine unity that comes from mutual love and submission.
Bernie Michaud preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
Christmas Eve Lesson #1 Do we worship baby Jesus? Welcome to our lessons and carols Christmas Eve service. My name is Jonathan Romig and I am the Pastor of this church. We’ve just opened our time by singing O Come, All Ye Faithful. I think this is a great Christmas carol to open with because it’s invitation to us to come and worship Christ Jesus. But who is the Jesus we’ve come to worship? I once saw a scene in
Christmas Eve Lesson #1 Do we worship baby Jesus? Welcome to our lessons and carols Christmas Eve service. My name is Jonathan Romig and I am the Pastor of this church. We’ve just opened our time by singing O Come, All Ye Faithful. I think this is a great Christmas carol to open with because it’s invitation to us to come and worship Christ Jesus. But who is the Jesus we’ve come to worship?
I once saw a scene in a movie that I thought made a really great sermon illustration. But I never thought I would bring this scene up at a Christmas Eve service. The scene is from the movie Talladega Nights. This is a NASCAR driving movie starting Will Ferrell and in it his character, Ricky Bobby, prays to “Dear baby Jesus.” He actually gets into an argument with his wife and father-in law because he prays this way. His wife interrupts him when he’s praying to baby Jesus.
Carley: You know sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don’t always have to call him baby. It’s a bit odd and off puttin’ to pray to a baby.
Ricky: Well look, I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I’m sayin grace. When you say grace, you can say it to grown up Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus, or whatever you want.
I think that’s a great illustration because although it’s funny, it also get’s right down to the heart of Christmas. When you think of Jesus this Christmas who are you thinking of? Are you thinking of the sweet innocent baby in the manger? He’s the harmless Jesus. He’s the Jesus who can’t do much but sleep, cry, and eat. He won’t tell you how to live your life. He doesn’t expect much of you.
Or are you thinking of the grown up Jesus who died and rose again and is seated on the throne next to God the Father? That Jesus is Lord of all, including your life. In the first verse of O Come, All Ye Faithful we do sing to Jesus born at Bethlehem, but he is “born the King of Angels.” Even in the first verse we recognize this isn’t a harmless baby, but one who has power and authority. And although each verse sings about some aspect of his birth, each ends with the words, “O come, let us adore Him Christ the Lord!” To be Lord is to rule. To be Lord is to be king. To be Lord is to be sovereign.
Jesus was king at his birth and he is king today. But he’s no longer a baby. The New Testament book of Hebrews says this about Jesus.
Hebrews 1:3 “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (ESV)
Yes, at Christmas we come to remember the birth of Jesus. But when we sing to Jesus we’re not singing to a baby. We’re singing to the living reigning Lord. “O come, let us adore him. Christ the Lord!” Join me as we continue to worship and sing to Christ Jesus, our Lord and King, no longer a baby but the one who sits on heaven’s throne.
Pastor Jonathan wrote this homily for Cornerstone’s Lessons & Carols Christmas Eve Service.
Christmas Eve Lesson #2 What does Emmanuel (or Immanuel) mean? For the remaining lessons I’m going to introduce the songs we are about to sing. We are about to sing the Christmas Hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. This is a beautiful and powerful hymn with the chorus, “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emman-u-el… shall come to thee, O Isra—el.” Now we’re not telling Emmanuel to rejoice but we’re telling God’s people to rejoice because God has come to them. The chorus itself makes a lot more sense if you know what the word “Emmanuel” means.
The word Emmanuel appears in an Old Testament prophecy spoken 700 years before Christ’s birth. In fact, we actually have a hard copy of this prophecy that pre-dates the birth of Jesus—The Great Isaiah Scroll, which is part of the Dead Sea Scrolls dated at 125 BC.
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (NIV®)
The Hebrew form of Immanuel is spelled with an “i” (עמּנוּ אל) and the Greek form is spelled with an “e” (Ἐμμανουήλ). What matters is not the spelling but who this verse is talking about—Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew actually quotes the prophet Isaiah after the angel appears to Joseph.
Matthew 1:22-23 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (NIV®)
The word “Immanuel” is actually a compound word like “snowflake” which is made up of two words “snow” and “flake.” “Im-manu-el” is made up of three words:
“Im” = with “manu” = us “el” = God (shortened form of Elohim)
So “Im-manu-el” literally means “with us, God” or “God with us.” What the prophet Isaiah promised was that one day a virgin would give birth to a child who would literally be God with us. 700 years later Jesus fulfills that prophecy. He is conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to the virgin Mary.
Because the Holy Spirit (who is God) is Jesus’ biological father and Mary is Jesus’ biological mother, Jesus is actually both God and man. He’s not like Hercules or other Greek heroes who are part human and part God. Jesus is fully 100% totally God, but also fully 100% totally man. And just by his birth he is fulfilling that ancient Isaiah promise that one day God would come to humankind.
So when we sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel realize we’re not just singing a nice Christmas song. We are singing that God has fulfilled his Isaiah promise through the birth of Jesus to come and dwell among humankind. Together, let’s sing that God has come in Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.
Pastor Jonathan wrote this homily for Cornerstone’s Lessons & Carols Christmas Eve Service.
Christmas Eve Lesson #3 Why “I Heard the Bells” rings true today. Christianity Today recently published an article on the Christmas carol “I Heard the Bells.” As I read it I learned that the great American poet Henry Wadworth Longfellow wrote this song as a poem during the Civil War, “the bloodiest war in American history.” The lyrics reflect this terrible time:
“And in despair I bowed my head; ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said; ‘For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men!’”
I didn’t know that just a few years before this Longfellow’s wife died in a terrible accident that left his face scarred. That same year his son was also injured in the war. So when Longfellow wrote this poem, he was writing from a place of deep personal pain and pain for his country. If we go back to the first verse of the song, we recognize that this is not how life is supposed to be, especially at Christmas.
I heard the bells on Christmas day Their old familiar carols play; In music sweet the tones repeat, “There’s peace on earth, good will to men.”
Longfellow describes the tension between how Christmas should feel—peaceful, joyful, happy—and how life actually feels—there’s conflict and hurt everywhere. As we look out at our world I think this song rings true. Just watch or listen to the news. Whether it’s politics or a tragedy or the economy it seems like there are tensions and conflict everywhere. Sometimes they’re up close and personal between us and family members or friends. This is because we live in a world marred by sin.
Romans 3:10-11 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. (NIV®)
Sin creates disorder and chaos in our world. It creates brokenness and hurt between people. But God offers a way of healing and hope for any who will trust in Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV®)
So does our song sing of this hope? Longfellow was a Unitarian. That means he didn’t believe in Jesus like we do at Cornerstone, but he still captured the hope God offers in this stanza:
“Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail,With peace on earth, good-will to men.’”
As we sing this song tonight we can all find hope in Jesus Christ. Despite a world in a conflict, God promises that one day through Jesus he is going to right all wrongs. He is going to end all wars and conflict and peace and true justice will reign forever. So no matter what you’re going through this Christmas season, or how you feel about this world, I’d like to offer you hope through Jesus. Jesus is our final and everlasting peace. Let’s sing about this struggle and our final victory in “I Heard The Bells.”
Pastor Jonathan adapted this homily from an article published in Christianity Today. You can read the original article “A Carol for the Despairing” by Kristen O’Neal in the December 2018 issue.
Christmas Eve Lesson #4 Why do we sing Joy to the World after Silent Night? Tonight we are singing two songs in closing, Silent Night followed by Joy to the World. It’s pretty typical for churches to sing these one after the other on Christmas Eve, but why do we that? Let’s start with Silent Night. What’s it about? It tells us of the birth of the Savior by recounting three miracles.
The first miracle is the birth of a child to a virgin girl. Verse one says, “Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.” “Yon” is short for “yonder”—like “over there.” We’re saying, “Look over there! The Virgin mother with her child.” When we sing this line we are recounting a miracle foretold by a Scripture passage we already read tonight, Isaiah 7:14. Both the gospel of Matthew and Luke tell us Mary was a virgin when the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus within her (Matt 1:23; Luke 1:27, 34). The virgin birth is the first miracle we recount.
The second miracle is the angels appearing to the Shepherds. Verse two of Silent Night says, “Shepherd quake at the sight. Glories stream from heaven afar. Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!” The angels come to announce the birth of Jesus. Their presence is another sign that this is no ordinary birth. It’s supernatural. It’s so special angels announce it (Luke 2:8-15).
The third miracle is that this baby is the “Son of God.” Verses two and three say, “Christ the Savior is born… Son of God, love’s pure light… Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.” This baby’s mom wasn’t ordinary. She was a virgin. His birth wasn’t normal. Angels announced it. This is because he wasn’t an ordinary baby. He is God come in the flesh. He is the Savior, the Son of God, the Lord.
But did people respond to Jesus like he is the Savior and Son of God? Did the crowds accept him as Lord? No. This is why 33 years later Jesus is crucified and dies. So how can we sing the next song? How can we sing “joy to the world” if our world rejects the baby who brings joy? Our world rejected him at his birth and is still rejecting him today.
We can sing Joy to the World because although we sing this song at Christmas time, it was not originally written to be a Christmas song. This hymn is based on Psalm 98, which speaks of the Lord’s return at the end of days to both restore and judge the world.
Psalm 98:4-94 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; 5 make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. (NIV®)
Jesus died and was buried but three days later he rose again and then he ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Eph 1:19-21). Right now Jesus is ruling and reigning over all of creation from afar, but one day soon he will rule and reign up close.
So when we sing, “Joy the world, the Lord has come” we are not actually singing about the birth of a precious little baby, but the return of King Jesus in final victory over sin, death, and Satan. So when we sing Silent Nightwe are singing of the first coming of Christ, his miraculous birth, and when we sing Joy to the World we are singing of the second coming of Christ. Lets praise God for both the birth of Jesus Christ and his return by singing Silent Night followed by Joy to the World.
Pastor Jonathan wrote this homily for Cornerstone’s Lessons & Carols Christmas Eve Service.
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Today we are finishing our two-part series on marriage. Last week I spoke to the wives and this week I’m speaking to the husbands. If you missed last week, I’d encourage you to go back and listen to it because tonight’s sermon is half the story. Even if you’re not a wife, it’s helpful to understand the wife’s role, or if you’re not married how you can encourage your married friends or prepare for marriage. Husbands, I’d encourage you to
Today we are finishing our two-part series on marriage. Last week I spoke to the wives and this week I’m speaking to the husbands. If you missed last week, I’d encourage you to go back and listen to it because tonight’s sermon is half the story. Even if you’re not a wife, it’s helpful to understand the wife’s role, or if you’re not married how you can encourage your married friends or prepare for marriage. Husbands, I’d encourage you to listen to it because I say things about marriage in that sermon that I don’t in this one.
I want to make a couple remarks upfront on this sermon. First, like last week, I’m trying to tell you what the Bible says because God’s word matters most. Second, although I’ve been married for six and a half years, I’m a slow learner. I have not arrived. So I don’t preach this sermon from a place of having it all figured out, but as someone who is also on a marriage journey. Let me pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this opportunity to examine your plan for husbands in marriage, how we can love and care for our spouses in the best way possible. God, we want our marriages to be according to your plan and to reflect Jesus’ love for the church. Help us hear you today. Amen.
At crossfit we have a workout of the day (a WOD). So every day the workout is mapped out for us. Every day there are two levels of weights listed, one for men and one for women. For example, on Friday men and women both had to do the same workout involving deadlifts. A deadlift is when you pick a bar up from the ground to about midway up your thighs, till your back is straight. The weight for women was 155 pounds and the weight for men was 225 pounds, and we each had to pick up that weight a bunch of times.
Now why am I bringing this up outside the obvious reason that crossfit is amazing? Because this biological reality reflects a spiritual reality. Because God created men and women with different capacities in marriage. Both lift a lot of weight and work incredibly hard, both are an equally valuable member of the team, and both give 110%, and yet in marriage God has built and called husbands to lift more weight.
The wife’s role takes three verses to describe (v21-24). The husband’s takes nine verses (v25-33). The husband’s section is three-times as long as the wife’s section. Why is that? Because God gives husbands a heavier role in marriage. He calls wives to submit to their husbands (a heavy and hard task) and he calls husbands to lay down their lives for their wives (a nearly impossible task).
Husbands, love your wives completely sacrificially. (Eph. 5:25-27) 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
This word for “love” is the Greek verb agapao (ἀγαπάω). This kind of love is different than eros, which is sexual love. Agapao love may include that kind of intimacy but that’s not its primary motivator. Agapao is related to the noun for love, agape (ἀγάπη). We watched an animated word study earlier tonight on agape by The Bible Project. Their big point is that agape love “refers to a way of treating people that was defined by Jesus himself: seeking the well-being of others regardless of their response.” We see that theme continued here. Husbands are to love their wives by seeking their best regardless of their response. Paul gives Jesus gives himself as an example. As husbands, we are to love our wives at cost to ourselves just like Jesus loved the church at the cost to himself. Here’s the call to husbands.
Come and die with Jesus. (v25) As the Pastor martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer said to all believers, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Like Christ sacrificed himself for the church we are to lay down our lives as a living sacrifice.
Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (ESV)
This call in Romans is a general call to all Christians, men and women, but Paul especially emphasizes self-sacrifice when he addresses men in marriage in Ephesians. If Jesus gave up his life for the church, and the church is full of broken people marred by sin, then we should love and serve our wives despite any imperfection we encounter in them. This is a call to unconditional love, not love based on how submissive or obedient to God they are, but love based on how sacrificial Christ was.
If you listened to last week’s sermon and thought, “Wow, I get to be the leader” then you are right. But what does Jesus call you to lead in? You’re to sacrifice the most. Gary Thomas writes in Sacred Marriage:
The very definition of the word sacrifice means that sacrifice isn’t sacrifice unless it costs us something; so men, it’s a fair question for you to ask, “How have I loved my wife in the past two or three weeks in such a way that it has cost me something — vocationally, financially, and with my hobbies, time, or comfort?”
Yes our wives are also called to come and die with Jesus too. But as husbands we are called to come and die first, to lead the way to the cross. We all sacrifice in marriage, but husbands should sacrifice the most. But what’s our aim behinds this? Paul actually gives us our goal or purpose in the next few verses.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Your highest goal is her holiness. (v26-27) Look at why Jesus laid down his life on the cross for his bride the church. What was his purpose? To save her from her sins. To make her holy. To cleanse her. To one day present her before himself as a pure and spotless bride ready to spend eternity with him (Rev. 21:2). Husbands, why we lay down our lives for them is because we want them (and us) to grow in holiness, which means becoming more like Christ.
Sometimes as husbands we swap happiness for holiness. We don’t want our wives to be holy. We want them to be happy. Because if they’re happy we’re happy. Instead of being willing to sacrifice our own happiness and our wife’s happiness to address sin in her life or ours, we take the easy route and don’t say anything. This comes from us not wanting to lay down our lives. We don’t want to be uncomfortable. We don’t want to have the hard conversations. We don’t want to go through the self-examination required of our own sins in order to address our wife’s sins. That’s our selfishness and disobedience. But what would it look like if we were more concerned with our wife’s and our own longterm holiness, even at the cost of our short-term happiness? We’d be willing to have the hard conversations and show patient love. The irony is the more holy we become the more happy we will actually become.
Holiness goes beyond just addressing sin. We can cultivate our wives’ holiness, “by the washing with water through the word.” Paul uses this same Greek word for “word” (rhema) in Romans to speak of Christ.
Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. (NIV®)
God calls husbands to wash their wives (and I think this applies to families too) in the word of God—the message about Jesus. What’s one way you can cultivate your family’s holiness by washing them in the word this week? Over dinner you could practice our Foundation Verse (Luke 2:11). You could tell your wife what you’re learning in your personal time of study and prayer. You could do family devotions in the morning or evening. On Christmas morning you could read through the birth story of Jesus Christ before opening presents. You could remind your family of the gospel message—that Jesus Christ loves them, forgives them, and is making them pure day by day. Your highest goal is her holiness. Husbands, love your wives completely sacrificially. Now here’s my next point.
Husbands, love your wives completely selfishly. (Eph. 5:28-31) Now this is pretty exciting. The Bible gives us permission to be selfish in our marriages, right? Yes we have to sacrifice, but our marriages are really about satisfying our wants and needs, right? What do I mean by loving our wives “selfishly?” You’ll see what I mean in our next couple verses.
28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body.
Care for her like you care for yourself. (v28-30) Paul’s call here isn’t to treat your wife poorly if you treat yourself poorly or to put your needs first. His call is really to treat your wife at least as well as you treat yourself, or even better. I think the ESV has a better translation. A husband should “nourish” and “cherish” his wife. Paul uses this word for “cherish” in 1 Thessalonians 2:7 to describe a “nursing mother” caring “for her children.” I love this little nugget. It’s like Paul is saying, “Husbands, be like a mom to your wives. Man up and be maternal!” Be attentive to her every need. Be completely selfish for her and not for yourself.
Gary Thomas gives a powerful example of a husband loving his wife this way in Sacred Marriage.
Four-time All-Pro NFL linebacker Chris Spielman had played football for twenty-six of his thirty-three years. […] He met his wife, Stefanie, in 1983 when he was just seventeen years old. They were married six years later […] and the two embarked on a rich marriage. Spielman played for many years with the Detroit Lions and then signed with the Buffalo Bills in 1996.
The year 1997 came with a fistful of trials. In July, just as preseason camp was getting started, a doctor spoke the grave diagnosis: breast cancer. Stefanie […] opted for a mastectomy, to be followed by six weeks of chemotherapy, a time period during which she would lose all her hair.
The Spielmans had two small children under the age of five, and Chris knew the chemo treatments would drain his wife’s energy. He had a decision to make. “It was my test,” Chris said in a magazine article. “It was my defining moment.”
In a show of solidarity, Chris shaved his head. Even more important, he quit football — not forever, but for a year — until Stefanie was back on her feet. If you’re not a football fan, you may not realize the astounding sacrifice this act represented. The average career span of an NFL linebacker is less than three years. The fact that Chris took an entire season off left him with no guarantee he’d ever get back to doing what he loved so much — playing football.
“[Stefanie] always supported me 100 percent,” Chris explained. “I had to offer it back.” […]
Instead of watching game film and meeting with the coaches, Chris woke up early to feed the kids (he learned that his oldest hated to have any of the food on her plate touch any other food), and then he got Stefanie up an hour or so later and served her breakfast. He then did the laundry, took the kids to their gymnastics lessons, and made sure Stefanie got her medication.
Clearly, Chris had learned the meaning of sacrificial giving to his wife. Somehow he’d learned to live out what Paul urges husbands to strive toward in Ephesians 5:25 — loving their wives, just as Christ loved the church, and he explains quite explicitly how Christ loved the church: by giving up his life for her.
Be completely selfish for her. Care for her like you care for yourself.
Care for her by prioritizing her above others. (v31) 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
I don’t want us to miss several key points in verse 31. Paul is quoting Genesis 2:24, which means he is affirming that the model for marriage laid down in the opening chapters of Genesis is the model God has given humankind for all time. This means that God designed marriage to be between a man and a woman. He also designed it to be for a lifetime. God doesn’t want divorce to tear-apart the one-flesh union. But I also think there’s something in verse 31 for husbands specifically, which the KJV brings out.
Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (KJV)
God calls husbands to prioritize their wives over their family of origin. Husbands, you are called to separate from dependency on your father and mother and to “cleave” to your wife. Leave and cleave! To cleave means to stick to something. Husbands, you can’t stick to both your father or your mother and your wife. You can’t treat them equally. Something that can cause a lot of friction in a marriage is when a husband gets married but acts like a dependent child. Your wife must come before your mother and your father. Part of being the “head” of the household is forming a new household. (Eph 5:23).
So why do we love our wives “selfishly”—caring for her like we care for ourselves and above others? We do this because this is how Jesus cares for us, the church. Last week we didn’t focus on it enough, but Ephesians 5:23b said, “…Christ is the head of the church, his body…” Paul repeats himself in the second half of verse 29 and 30. He says Christ cares for the church, “for we are members of his body.” When we love our brides this way, and your bride is a member of the church, we’re actually loving Christ’s body. You are loving Jesus by loving your wife. In fact…
A Christ-centered marriage illustrates a greater reality. (Eph. 5:32-33) 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
John Piper showed me this point. When Paul was writing about marriage, he didn’t go searching for a nice illustration and find it in Christ and the church. What verse 32 tells us is that actually marriage is about Christ and the church. Christ and his plan to love the church is illustrated by marriage. Human marriage is like a small black and white photo of the Sistine Chapel. A black and white photo can take a picture but it doesn’t capture the overwhelming glory. Marriage is a picture of a far greater reality than marriage itself.
Christ Jesus and his plan to love and rescue and care for the church came long before God ever made Adam and Eve. Remember back in Ephesians 1 how God chose us, the church?
Ephesians 1:4a For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. (NIV®)
The Father chose the church to be his Son’s bride. The Bible is the story of a bride running away from the altar into sin and brokenness and the Son going after her to rescue her and make her beautiful and sacred. As husbands, we got to realize that we can’t rescue our brides from their sins just like we can’t rescue ourselves. But we can point them time and time again to the one who can rescue us, Jesus Christ. Jesus can make us holy. Jesus can make us new. Jesus can forgive every sin and make our marriages a reflection of his love for his bride, the church. Husbands, love your wives like Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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Today’s sermon is the first part of a two part-series out of Ephesians on marriage. This week I’m talking to wives and next week I’m talking to husbands. All I have to say to wives is that you’re awesome. The end… I’m just kidding, but when I told my plan to several Cornerstone women about preaching on wives one week and husbands the next I could tell it made them each a little nervous.
But if you think you’re nervous. Imagine how I feel. In case you haven’t noticed. Although I am married to a woman, I am not a woman and will never be a wife. I was originally going to try and preach all of Ephesians 5:21-33 today, and speak to the both roles of husbands and wives in a single sermon, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to slow down and do a more careful and thorough job. I’m speaking to wives first because your section comes first in the text. So ladies first.
Although I am the one preaching today I hope you will first and foremost hear what God has to say about marriage. He created marriage in Genesis 2 and he has a perfect plan for it. When we abide by his plan our marriages work the best. So I’m going to do my best to say what the Scripture says and to not add gender-stereotypes or other extra-Scriptural lessons. I’ll do my best to preach the Bible and we can each wrestle with what it has to say. Let me pray and we’ll begin…
Heavenly Father, please guide my words as I speak today. Help each one of us understand our God-given roles in marriage, whether we are married or want to be married or will never be married but want to support our friends in marriage. Open our hearts and minds to your plan for us. Amen.
How we understand the roles God gives us as husbands and wives can depend on how you read this section on marriage in Ephesians 5, and more specifically, where you start reading. For example, the ESV places the header “Wives and Husbands” right before verse 22, so we start reading the text like this, “Wives, submit to your own husbands….” The NIV on the other hand places its header before verse 21, “Instructions for Christian Households” and starts this section by saying this, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” So the ESV starts by focusing on wives submitting to their husbands and the NIV starts by focusing on mutual submission. Which one is right?
In the original Greek manuscripts there are no headers. Instead, a better way to understand the text is to look at the grammar. The word “submit” in verse 21 in the NIV, is better translated as “submitting” because it is grammatically dependent on an earlier verb in the text. The verb “submitting” is dependent on an imperative, which means “command,” found in the second half of verse 18, “…be filled with the Spirit.” So the point it’s making is to be filled with the Holy Spirit through the process of our mutual submission.
Within the church we are filled with the Holy Spirit as we submit to one another. (Eph. 5:18b, 21). Before Paul ever addresses wives specifically, he addresses the church generally. If we as the church want to be filled with the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit there needs to be a general-attitude of mutual-submission throughout the entire church body. As believers interact, whether we are male or female, young or old, Elder or Deacon, a longtime member of the Congregation or a new member of the Congregation, we are to have listening hearts and attitudes. We should prayerfully consider what others have to say. When we do this, there will be a sense of peace and calmness in the church body and I believe the Bible promises us that the Holy Spirit will fill us and work through our church in a special way.
I thought of a recent example of mutual submission in our church. This example begins with Molly C. Molly, I want you to know that I called your mom and asked if I could share this story and she gave me permission, and when I asked her to ask you she said, and I quote, “No! She’ll be fine.”
Some of you may have noticed that we have a beautiful new church carpet. Back in the fall the Deacons had narrowed the choice of carpet down to two options. Molly looked at the options and said one is clearly better than the other. And so she wrote a letter to the Deacons explaining why she thought they should choose one option over the other. One of Molly’s reasons was because she thought one option would clash with her future wedding dress—which is a very strong argument.
Molly took this letter and a petition around the church and asked others to sign it. This is a great example of a teenager having a voice in the life of the church. She gave her letter to the Deacons who received it, thoughtfully considered her request, but decided to go with their choice of carpet, which was not the one she wanted. But the Deacons wrote her back a letter thanking her for sharing her opinion and assuring her that people will not be looking at the carpet on her wedding day, but at her in her beautiful wedding dress. Although Molly’s petition may not have gone the way she hoped, I think this story is a great example of mutual submission between different ages and stations within the church. Both parties listened to each other and treated each other with respect and kindness. Thank you Molly and Deacons for being a good example of mutual submission. Within the church we are filled with the Holy Spirit as we submit to one another.
I think Paul builds submission on the Holy Spirit both because the Holy Spirit fills us as we submit and because we can only submit if the Holy Spirit fills us. Submission is hard, both within the church community and within our families. We can’t submit without God’s strength and help.
Now Paul writes verse 21 as a general call to submission within the church and it functions as a transition to what this looks like within the family unit among husbands, wives, and children. As Bernie M. wrote in his sermon on this passage, “There will be no peace in the church if there is no peace in the home.” Now let’s turn from the general to the specific, from the church to the family.
God calls wives to submit to their husbands. (Eph. 5:22-23, 33) 22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. (NIV®)
In our culture this call to submission is rather offensive. I remember at one of my brother’s weddings his bride’s sister gave a speech for the Maid of Honor toast. In her speech she reminded my sister-in-law of the Bible’s call for wives to submit to their husbands. I didn’t think much of it. A couple days later when I saw one of the guests at the wedding who wasn’t a Christian she brought the speech up. She was disturbed by it and questioned if that’s what she really meant. Now I hadn’t studied this passage and I assured her she probably hadn’t meant that and everything was fine. But guess what? I was wrong! She did mean it and the Bible does say it. God calls wives to submit to their husbands. What does submission look like?
- Submission recognizes and affirms both leadership and responsibility. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. (NIV®)
First Paul calls believing women to submit to their husbands, and then he explains why. He grounds his reason in the husband being the “head” of the wife like Christ is the head of the church. There has been a lot of debate recently about what the Greek word for head (“kephalē”) means. Obviously, it can literally mean the thing that sits on top of your body, but what does it mean when used figuratively?
Since about the 70s some have argued that “head” can mean “source.” Because God made Eve out of Adam’s rib in the Garden of Eden, he is her source. “In other words, as a spring is the source of a stream, so the husband is the source of his wife.” This means that when Ephesians talks about the husband being the “head” of the wife it’s not about leadership but where the wife comes from. The problem with this view is that it seems to bypass what the verse itself is saying about Christ being the head of the church and I’m not sure it fully takes into account how Paul uses this word earlier in Ephesians.
Ephesians 1:22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, (NIV®)
This verse equates headship with rule or leadership. The word itself for “submission” has nothing to do with inherent value (men and women are equally valuable in God’s eyes), but it does have to do with rank (that God has given the husband more authority and responsibility in the family), so the concept of leadership in headship makes sense. But what about this usage?
Ephesians 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (NIV®)
The Exegetical Commentary says this regarding headship, “…there is a dual notion of leadership and provision. Christ not only gives guidance, direction, and inspiration for his body, but he also provides strength, help, and sustenance for his people.” Thus, to be the head of your wife includes leadership, but also provision, strength, and help. Headship is not just rank. It’s responsibility. A husband is responsible before God for his wife and family, for their spiritual growth in Christ and general good. Submission recognizes and affirms both leadership and responsibility.
I really appreciate Pastor Timothy Keller and his wife Kathy Keller. They wrote a book called The Meaning of Marriage. In it Kathy gives an example of submission in a tough life choice (pg. 243-244).
In the late 1980s, our family was comfortably situated in a very livable suburb of Philadelphia where Tim held a full-time position as a professor. Then he got an offer to move to New York City to plant a new church. He was excited by the idea, but I was appalled. Raising our three wild boys in Manhattan was unthinkable! Not only that, but almost no one who knew anything about Manhattan thought that the project would be successful. I also knew that this would not be something that Tim would be able to do as a nine-to-five job. It would absorb the whole family and nearly all of our time.
It was clear to me that Tim wanted to take the call, but I had serious doubts that it was the right choice. I expressed my strong doubts to Tim, who responded, “Well, if you don’t want to go, then we won’t go.” However, I replied, “Oh, no, you don’t! You aren’t putting this decision on me. That’s abdication. If you think this is the right thing to do, then exercise your leadership and make the choice. It’s your job to break this logjam. It’s my job to wrestle with God until I can joyfully support your call.”
Tim made the decision to come to New York City and plant Redeemer Presbyterian Church. The whole family, my sons included, consider it one of the most truly “manly” things he ever did, because he was quite scared, but he felt a call from God. At that point, Tim and I were both submitting to roles that we were not perfectly comfortable with, but it is clear that God worked in us and through us when we accepted our gender roles as a gift from the designer of our hearts.
Your husband may not experience a call to start a church but God can lead him through other equally important decisions in your family’s life. Submission recognizes and affirms leadership. There’s more to it than this. There’s a certain quality about submission.
- Submission is full of respect. Jumping ahead, verse 33 summarizes each marriage role.
Ephesians 5:33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (NIV®)
Submission and respect go hand in hand. I think respect is a pretty good gauge of submission. If your husband feels mocked or disrespected or chastised, chances are you are not submitting to him. But if he feels respected and honored, even in the midst of disagreement, I think it’s much more likely you are obeying Christ’s call to submission. There’s a certain quality to submission. Submission is full of respect.
- Submission is not the same thing as obedience. I think it needs to be said to all the present and future husbands in the room. Husbands, you are not called by God to make your wife submit to you. That doesn’t appear anywhere in the New Testament. Next week we are going to look at your role. You are called to do a lot of things, but first and foremost you are called to love your wife completely self-sacrificially, not enforce her submission.
Submission isn’t about petty demands or never disagreeing. Wives should be able to freely discuss decisions with their husbands. “Iron sharpens iron” isn’t a Bible verse just for men (Proverbs 27:17). Husband and wives should make most decisions together, even if at the end of the day the husband makes the final call. When we do it must never be for our benefit but for our family’s (Rom 15:2-3).
Paul does use the word for “obey” but not in the section on marriage. Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Children are called to obey. Wives are called to submit. Obedience is different than submission even though submission will involve deference and following the lead and desire of the other. Submission is not the same thing as obedience.
- Submission has its limits (sin). Verse 24 says “wives should submit to their husbands in everything” but elsewhere the Bible makes it clear that there are limits. Paul wrote a similar passage in Colossians where he says this:
Colossians 3:18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. (NIV®)
There are some things that are fitting (righteousness, holiness) and some things that are not (sin).
Acts 5:29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!
Wives are to submit in all things to their husbands unless their husbands are leading them astray. A couple things I want to make clear here. Husbands, if you are disobeying God, and you expect your wife to follow you into your disobedience, then your wife is under no obligation to submit to you (1 Pet. 3:7). Wives, is your husband actually disobeying God or is he simply not choosing your preference? This may require prayerful discernment and speaking with a trusted Biblical mentor for guidance.
It’s sad that I need to say this but physical and emotional abuse is always sin. Wives you are not called to submit to a man who is abusing you. Please know that you have an advocate in myself and the other leaders of this church, the Elders and Deacons and staff. You will be loved and cared for if you come to us. We will help you get to safety. “Domestic violence is not welcome in this church. It is from the devil. It will not be tolerated. Submission does not ever mean control or possession.” Men, if you are an abuser, one day you will stand before the living God and answer for all you’ve done. Submission has its limits.
Lord willing, none of us are experiencing abuse and can happily submit to your husband because he is loving you like Christ loved the church (more on that next week). But maybe he is a mediocre husband, and you really don’t feel like submitting to him. Well, that doesn’t change Jesus’ call.
Wives, submit to your husbands for Jesus. (Eph. 5:23-24) 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. (NIV®)
In our verses today Paul has been weaving in Christ Jesus. This is because when wives submit to their husbands as unto the Lord it’s a picture of the church’s submission to Christ. Wives, when you submit to your husbands, God sees his gospel playing out.
Submission is rooted in the gospel. Christ is the “Savior” of the church. Now, your husband is not your Savior but somehow when you submit to your husband you’re modeling the message of salvation. People can actually catch a glimpse of the Savior through your willing submission.
Salvation is the good news that Christ Jesus loved a lost and broken people enough to leave the glories of heaven to come and save us in our sins. You and your husband are those broken people who need our heavenly groom. Jesus didn’t buy a ring but he did pay the highest cost, his own life on the cross. He knows what it’s like to submit when it’s really hard. The night before his crucifixion Jesus prayed:
Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (NIV®)
If your husband isn’t worth submitting to, remember at the end of the day you’re not submitting to him but through him to King Jesus (1 Cor 11:3). And King Jesus is always worth submitting to.
Wives, submit to your husbands for Jesus. When Monica and I got married we wrestled with whether or not we would include this passage from Ephesians in our wedding ceremony. It’s not in fashion anymore to promise your wife to love her unconditionally and promise your husband to be subject to him. We didn’t put those words in our ceremony because they’re popular but because they’re in the Bible. We weren’t really sure what it would look like, and honestly, we’re still figuring it out. It’s a journey, not a destination. But I can tell you that as we’ve tried to fill these Biblical roles it’s made our marriage better and sweeter. Let me pray.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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Today’s sermon is the first part of a two part-series out of Ephesians on marriage. This week I’m talking to wives and next week I’m talking to husbands. All I have to say to wives is that you’re awesome. The end… I’m just kidding, but when I told my plan to several Cornerstone women about preaching on wives one week and husbands the next I could tell it made them each a little nervous. But if you think you’re nervous.
My sister-in-law recently poked fun at me by posting this meme on my Facebook page. It pictures a rather stiff looking aristocrat at a sporting event clapping and saying, “I say, what a rather robust group of fellows. Which color are we rooting for?” She knows I don’t really do sports. I don’t watch football or basketball or baseball or golf except for when I’m with friends or family. But I still want to try and start today’s sermon with
My sister-in-law recently poked fun at me by posting this meme on my Facebook page. It pictures a rather stiff looking aristocrat at a sporting event clapping and saying, “I say, what a rather robust group of fellows. Which color are we rooting for?” She knows I don’t really do sports. I don’t watch football or basketball or baseball or golf except for when I’m with friends or family. But I still want to try and start today’s sermon with a sport analogy.
The chapters 1-3 of Ephesians are like an inspirational pep-talk. The coach is telling his players why he chose them, what he sees in them, how fantastic they are, and that they’re going to do great. It’s an encouragement. It feels good. It’s motivational. But in chapters 4-6 of Ephesians it’s getting real at halftime. The team is down by 21 points and the offense has to move the ball. The coach doesn’t pull any punches. They have to play differently or they’re going to lose (obviously, I’m talking about golf).
Coach Paul is telling the believers at Ephesus in Ephesians 5 how they must live. First came the motivation, now comes the action. As we read and study the second half of Ephesians 5 it can be a bit discouraging and frustrating. I don’t like him telling me how how it is or how to live. I don’t like to hear “Don’t do that” or “do this now” but it was good for the their church and it’s good for our church. So what play does Paul call believers to run?
We must abstain from immorality. (Eph 5:1-7, 18a) For those of you who were here last week this theme is really a continuation of the contrast between the old self and the new self. Just like last week, Paul roots this change in following Christ Jesus himself.
1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (NIV®)
If I were to continue with a sports analogy, many sports have a team captain. For example, in soccer you have a team captain who is responsible for rallying the team on the field. It’s not a perfect analogy but I think we sometimes think of God as the owner of the team. He’s way up in the private boxes watching the game. But in reality, through Christ Jesus God has stepped down onto the field and has played the game with us. Now we can follow his lead and example. Although our team captain has stepped off the field, he will return at the end of the game. Until then, we follow his example. Loving and living like him.
So as we follow Christ, what are we supposed to do? Paul first outlines what we’re not supposed to do, the things we are supposed to avoid. Paul says we must abstain from immorality. What types of immorality?
Sexual (v3a, 5) The first type of immorality is probably the one we think of first anyways, sexual immorality.
3a But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity,
“Sexual immorality” is the Greek word “porneia,” which is where “we get words like pornography.” What does pornea mean? It means any and all sexual activity outside of committed lifetime marriage between one man and one woman. At the end of chapter 5 Paul gives us a picture of marriage should look like by citing Genesis 2:24, which tells us God’s plan for marriage is rooted in the creation account.
Ephesians 5:31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” (NIV®)
So Paul is prohibiting people from engaging in all types of sexual activity outside of God’s Genesis design. This includes things like premarital sex, fooling around with your boyfriend or girlfriend, adultery, divorce and remarriage without following the Biblical guidelines, looking at pornography, filling your eyes with lustful images or movie clips, and when two men or two women engage in a sexual relationship.
But when Paul says “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality” does he mean that if you’ve ever committed one of these sins you can’t come to our church? I’ve been wrestling with what Paul is saying this week. On Thursday nights we are watching videos and discussing how Christians can offer both grace and truth to LGBTQ people. The Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender, the organization that created our curriculum, published a Pastoral Paper giving Guidance for Churches on Membership, Baptism, Communion, Leadership, and Service for Gay and Lesbian People.
The paper argues this is one of the reasons modern church membership is helpful. Modern church membership with its By-Laws and membership practices looks much different than New Testament membership, but it helps us navigate today’s difficult and often tricky environment. Membership provides us with a way to set expectations. We have one set of expectations for those who say “I’m a member of the family. I’m willing to submit to my family’s leadership and be held accountable to my brothers and sisters in Christ.” We have a different set of expectations for those who just attend our church. If you’re not a member of the family, you’re a guest. The paper says:
In a family, guests are not outsiders to be kept at bay but friends to be welcomed with hospitality. At our church, we invite guests to join the church family, but if they’re not ready we’re stoked to welcome them into the “living room,” give them the “best seats” in the house, and lavish the best we have in our “cupboards” to care for them and make them feel at home.
But there are expectations in a family: This is how we do life together. People joke about parents saying, “As long as you live under my roof…” but there is a reality that family needs a cohesive vision of life together. Family membership clarifies what we believe God the Father’s vision is for us as his children, adopted into his home “under the roof” of his authority, through the presence of Jesus in the power of his Spirit. (pg. 7-8)
I think this balance between welcoming LGBTQ people into our church as guests but holding off on membership until there is repentance and faith in Christ Jesus is a way to honor Paul’s teaching and also honor the way of Jesus, who ate and drank with people caught in sin (Luke 7:34). So what’s the first type of immorality we must abstain from? Sexual immorality. And the second?
Greed (v3b, 5) 3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.
5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
It’s really important to see that Paul equates sexual immorality and greed as equally sinful. Broadly speaking the church in America has clearly called out the evils of sexual sin, but we haven’t as clearly called out the evilsof greed. I think it’s because our culture by and large approves of greed. There is a good side to capitalism. The opportunity for financial independence. But there’s also a dark side to capitalism—the insatiable need to consume. Consumerism is greed. This Christmas if you go to the mall I hope you will avert your eyes when you walk past widow displays that uses sexuality to sell their products. But I hope you’ll apply that same level of effort to avoiding consumerism, which may mean cutting your trip to the mall short or not going at all. The mall is just one place we are tempted by greed. What about all the online deals or the sales after Christmas or just buying into the message, “I’ll be happy if I can just have that thing or… if my Christmas bonus is this large or… you fill in the blank.”
Spoken (v4, 6-7) 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.
If we shouldn’t participate in sexual immorality, we shouldn’t joke about it. A clear marker between a Christian and a non-Christian should be what comes out of our mouths. Our words reflect what is in our hearts, and if Christ has changed our hearts, then a sign of that is uplifting and good words. As believers, we must avoid spoken immorality. And finally?
Drunken (18a) We must avoid drunken immorality. I’m jumping ahead to verse 18.
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
Debauchery means indulging in pleasures like extra-marital sex, drugs, and alcohol. Drunkenness lowers our filters and self–control so that we say and do things we wouldn’t normally do if we were sober. Drunkenness gives control to our flesh, but as Christians we’re called to give control to the Holy Spirit. So we must abstain from immorality that is sexual, greedy, spoken, or drunken.
We must abstain from immorality and expose our darkness to Christ’s light. (Eph 5:8-14, 18b) We talked about this last week. It’s not only that we must turn away from sin, repentance includes turning to something. It’s not “What should we turn to?” but “Who should we turn to?” Christ Jesus.
We have a new identity in Christ. (v8-10, 18b) 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord.
If we know Christ, we were once in darkness but are no more. Before Christ Jesus we were stumbling around in a dark room. We couldn’t see. We were blind. Now it’s like the curtains have been opened wide and the light floods in. So we should no longer live like we are in a dark room. Don’t try to put the blackout curtains up. We may accidentally trip over something we left on the floor, some old sin pattern, but the more our eyes become accustomed to the light the less we will want to live in the darkness anymore.
It also says “you are light in the Lord.” You are light. That’s a statement about our very nature. In Christ, you are no longer a sinner but a saint. Yes you sin but the identity of sinner no longer applies to you (Mark 2:17; Rom 5:8; John 9:31). You no longer fit in that category. Just because you plumb on occasion does not make you a plumber. You are light. There’s something about us at our base-level that has changed.
We have lots of different ways we can identity ourselves. I’m a pastor, a husband, an engineer, a teacher, a mom, a dad, a brother, a sister. These aren’t bad ways to think about ourselves. But our core way to identify ourselves should be in relation to God. We are his children of God. We are saints. We are light just like our older brother Jesus.
John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (NIV®)
This speaks of Jesus. Our light doesn’t emanate from ourselves. It comes from a relationship with him.
Shine Christ on your darkness. (v11-14) We want to admit our sin but not just so we can air our dirty laundry but so that Jesus can fill the space the darkness left behind. This is why when we expose each other’s sin we don’t just point out the bad but also apply Jesus and offer forgiveness and grace.
11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. […]
13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
14 This is why it is said:
“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Expose means “to lay bare.” Have you ever been in a black room and touch something but you’re not quite sure what it is? There are things in our heart that we can’t quite tell what they are. Is it lust or beauty? Is it greed or a responsible use of my money? Is it sin or not? Bring those things into the light. Tell a brother or sister in Christ. Expose it to the light, and let the light do its work. Let Christ work on it through them.
The most beautiful part of our passage is verse 14 when Paul quotes an early church hymn that sang of the resurrection. When we bring our sins into the light we are actually re-enacting the resurrection. The resurrection is the promise that one day you and I will come out of the darkness of death into the light of eternal life with Christ Jesus forever and ever. So when we bring our sins out of the darkness and into the light it’s like we are experiencing a “mini–resurrection.” And you feel it in your spirit too. The guilt and burden washes away and you feel renewed and hopeful once more. That’s a dim reflection of what the resurrection will be like. Shine Christ in your darkness.
We must abstain from immorality, expose our darkness to Christ’s light, and give thanks to God. (Eph 4:15-20) 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We go to things like sexual immorality and consumerism because as humans we experience emptiness. This is because of humankind’s broken relationship with God. But those things won’t satisfy. Only God can satisfy our hearts, and so Paul calls us to gather in a fellowship and together worship and praise God. It’s attributed to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras as once saying, “Music is the language of the heart, the only language that enters the soul without having to pass through the filter of the brain first.” We sing songs of thanksgiving as a way to resist temptation, shine Christ’s light on our sin, and cultivate a grateful heart. We must abstain from immorality, expose our darkness to Christ’s light, and give thanks to God.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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Have you ever met your doppelgänger? A doppelgänger is someone who looks like you but isn’t related to you. This is an example of a doppelgänger. A wedding photographer met his doppelgänger flying from Ireland to Scotland. I met my doppelgänger when I lived in Falls Church VA. We attended the same church and people would walk up to him and say, “Hi Jonathan.” His name is Russell. In Ephesians Paul calls the church the body of Christ (Eph 4:15-16).
Have you ever met your doppelgänger? A doppelgänger is someone who looks like you but isn’t related to you. This is an example of a doppelgänger. A wedding photographer met his doppelgänger flying from Ireland to Scotland. I met my doppelgänger when I lived in Falls Church VA. We attended the same church and people would walk up to him and say, “Hi Jonathan.” His name is Russell.
In Ephesians Paul calls the church the body of Christ (Eph 4:15-16). So my question for us today is who does our church body look like? Who is our church’s doppelgänger? There are only two options: the world or Christ. If we look like the world we will look and act like the non-believers we see around us every day. We will talk like them and think like them and value the things they value. We will mirror their lives. Or, we will talk and think like Christ who looks completely different than the world.
The Apostle Paul who wrote the letter to the Ephesians is asking the church at Ephesus the same thing. Who do you look like? Do you look like the world or do you look different, like Jesus?
Here’s what’s at stake… Everything. If we claim to be Christians but the world is our doppelgänger, we look and talk and act like non-Christians, we might not be real Christians at all. But if our doppelgänger is Christ, if we’re becoming more like him over time in our thoughts and actions, then we are on the right path. Let’s take an honest assessment of ourselves today. Let’s get real. If we look like Christ, wonderful, praise God. But if there are ways we look like the world, let’s repent and return to following Jesus.
What does the world look like? (Eph 4:17-19, 22) In the first three chapters of Ephesians Paul talks about all the grace God has given believers. For example, if you are a believer, God has forgiven you of your sins (Eph 1:7); he has adopted you into his heavenly family (Eph 1:5); and he will treat you with grace and kindness forever (Eph 2:7). Now in the second half of the letter Paul gives a playbook for how God’s grace should change our lives. And he does this partially by contrasting us with how non-believers think and behave.
Thinking: ignorant/hard-hearted, selfish/deceived (v17-19, 22) 17 “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. (NIV®)
Something about the way non-Christians think is wrong. Right now the Bible is saying that anyone not saved by Christ thinks incorrectly or foolishly. Their minds are darkened. They are blinded to the truth. Their worldview is wrong. To be quite frank this is incredibly offensive. But just because something is offensive doesn’t mean it’s not true.
Why do people think this way? Paul gives us two reasons in verse 18.
Ignorance – They don’t know the truth of the Bible and Jesus (Acts 3:17, 17:30). Gentiles in our passage really means non-believers. But does that mean they’re off the hook? Hard-hearted – They are willfully hardening their own hearts. They don’t want to know the truth. Romans 1:20-23 says all people can see God’s power in creation but they reject him anyways.
In our Discipleship Class, Grace/Truth 2.0, the author Preston Sprinkle writes:
Dr. Jonathan Haidt is a world-renowned social psychologist who specializes in moral theory. Put simply, he looks at why people believe the things they do. After years of looking at why good people disagree on core moral and political issues, he learned that people typically believe certain things because they first want to believe them. In other words, desire precedes belief. Then, after believing it, they find rational reasons to support their belief. But the thing that anchors the belief is not primarily rational arguments. It’s the desire to believe the thing in the first place.
Non-believers believe the wrong thing because they want to believe the wrong thing (“desire precedes belief”). But how does Paul say non-believers think?
19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.”
Selfish – The world is greedy for more. My good is the ultimate good. My happiness matters most. Individualism and self prioritization are as high as ever. It doesn’t matter if it hurts others. Me first.
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; (NIV®)
Deceived – The world repeats their truth until it becomes fact. There’s no ultimate truth, just individual truth. Their minds deceive them.
What does wrong-thinking lead to? Impure actions.
Actions: impure (v19b) Verse 19b says “they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity…” We are living in the midst of an ongoing sexual revolution that is redefining marriage, sexuality, and gender from what God designed each of these things to be. But Paul is actually saying this is nothing new. When we don’t have Christ we don’t desire to live lives of holiness or purity but self-fulfillment, which the world often searches for in romance and sexuality. What’s the outcome?
Outcome: separation from the life-giving God (v18b) Verse 18a says “They are […] separated from the life of God…” A mind that rejects Christ leads to a life rejecting Christ leads to a rejection of eternal life in Christ. The end result is disaster, eternal separation from God’s grace. The mind is incredibly important. What we think and how we think really matters.
Now if you think Paul is being tough on non-believers you’re right. But let’s not forget the point of this passage. In verse 17 Paul says to the Christians “you must no longer live as the Gentiles do.” Paul is writing to new converts in Ephesus and explaining to them how God’s grace should change their lives (and ours) in real and tangible ways.
As believers, how’s our thinking? Have we learned the whole truth of God’s word or are we actually ignorant of what it says? Have we ever hardened our hearts to ways we should be listening and obeying God? Have we ever selfishly put “me first” or “my favorites first” or “my family first” or even “my church first”? Have we ever lied? I don’t mean an outright lie, but just a slight changing of what really happened to make me look better than I should and the other person look worse than they should? I think if we’re honest with ourselves as a church we’ll see we’ve done all these things. But what’s the alternative?
What should believers look like? (Eph 4:20-32) 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned
As Christians we are supposed to look and think differently. Maybe some of you are familiar with IBM. They have an office in Littleton just past Kimball Farm. Did you know that for a long time their slogan has been “Think”? This is why they call their laptops ThinkPads. They want to “take everything into consideration.” So you know what Apple did in the late 90s to differentiate themselves from IBM? They came up with the slogan, “Think different.” This slogan actually helped turn Apple into the huge success it is today. Apple wanted to stand out against its competitor, not blend in. As Christians, we have to stand out against those who don’t follow Christ. We have to think and act differently than them. Our slogan wouldn’t be “think different” it would be “think differently in Christ.” Our thinking comes from…
Thinking: Christ’s teachings, renewed attitudes/minds (v21-23) 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
What is the primary way we as Christians change the way we think? By focusing on the teachings of Christ Jesus. By reading and studying and being taught God’s word, the Bible. As we learn the teachings of Christ we re-learn how to think and navigate life. Thom Rainer writes in Who Moved My Pulpit?:
…too many leaders do not take time to read the Bible daily. Brad Waggoner, in his book The Shape of Faith to Come, presents a fascinating study about spiritual maturity. The essence of the study is that the most mature Christians have one common trait: they read the Bible daily.
This is why our By-Laws say that both our Elders and Deacons “are to practice personal times of devotion and prayer.” A love for the Bible can’t just be one of our core values in name but in practice, and it has to start at the top with our leadership. As part of his interview process for Elder we asked Bari how often Mark reads his Bible and prays and she said “every morning.” But this shouldn’t just be an Elder thing. This should be an everyone thing. We all need to spend time in God’s word and prayer every day.
If everyone at Cornerstone, the Elders, the Deacons, every member and attender started reading the Bible and praying daily (or most days), we as a church would grow spiritually, we would be much more unified, and many of our conflicts and squabbles would disappear. God’s word renews our attitudes and minds. It helps us think differently in Christ. As our thinking is renewed how does that change our actions?
Actions: repentance and transformation (v25-32) As we encounter God’s word and the conviction of the Holy Spirit we begin to recognize our own sins and to confess them to God. Repentance is both a turning away from sin and a turning to God (Acts 3:19). It’s both negative (stopping the bad) and positive (starting the good). Instead of reading the passage for us again I’ve gone through verses 25-32 and pulled out the traits of the old self Paul calls us to stop and the traits of the new self (the positives) Paul calls us to begin. The old self is the person we were before Christ got a hold of our hearts and the new self is who I am becoming in Christ.
Falsehood vs speaking truthfully – Our old self would be okay with speaking partial truths that make me look good and the other person bad. But the new self, who I am “in Christ,” isn’t afraid to speak truth even if it makes me look bad. Sinful anger vs sinless anger – The old self uses anger to get its way but the new self is angered by the things that anger God (unholiness, sin, injustice). Righteous anger is rare and it is brief. It ends at sunset. Stealing vs sharing – The old self takes advantage of others to get ahead. The new self works honestly and hard and shares what it has with those in need. Unwholesome talk vs talk that builds others up – The old self tears others down. The old self can’t wait to tell others what “that person” said or did. The old self makes excuses for this, “I was just venting” or “I was getting advice about how to handle the situation.” But in our heart we know it’s gossip. The new self works hard to speak positively about others. The new self goes above and beyond to lift others up with words. Even if those words involve correction they are spoken in love. Bitterness vs kind, compassionate, and forgiving – The old self gets bitter and resentful and all the rest when life doesn’t go its way. But the new self is kind, and compassionate, and forgiving even when others don’t deserve it, even when it’s not fair, even when it doesn’t make sense.
So let’s just take a moment and be honest with ourselves. How are we doing at this? As a church body do we look more like the old self or the new self, more like the world or more like Christ?
If we’re real honest with ourselves I think we should admit there has been anger, and unwholesome talk, and bitterness and slander in our church. Not all the time, but enough for the word to get around that people aren’t happy either with the leadership, or someone else in the church, or with the after-school program, or you name it, we’ve probably gotten angry or spoken poorly about it.
The reason I’m bringing this up today is because Paul brings it up and I’d rather be a part of a church that talks about its issues in the daylight than whispers about what’s wrong in the darkness. When we shine Christ’s light on our sin it gives us an opportunity to repent and say “We’re sorry. We need grace.” And it also gives us the opportunity to hold each other accountable.
If you have a complaint with someone, go talk to them. If you need advice from a friend, or an Elder or Deacon, they should give you advice but then they are responsible for holding you accountable to speak directly with the person you have a problem with. So if someone comes to you and begins to criticize or badmouth someone else in the church, listen to them, pray with them, and tell them, “Alright, you have one week to talk with the person you’re upset with or I’m going to schedule the meeting between you and them.” We must put our unwholesome talk to death for the sake of our church family.
But I also want to encourage us because I also see the new self too. I see people speaking truth to each other even when it’s hard. I see a lot of people working really hard and sharing what they have. The recent re-painting of the sanctuary and the Market Basket gift card donation for Thanksgiving is a beautiful example of hard work and sharing. I see many acts of kindness and compassion and I personally have experienced forgiveness for my mistakes. I see the new self here, and I know that through the Holy Spirit the new self will win. So what’s the outcome of a renewed mind, repentance and transformation?
Outcome: righteousness, holiness, gospel (v24, 32) 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
When we confess our sins and turn once again to Christ he works on us and in us to produce righteousness and holiness and grace. I’m preaching this sermon series, “We Need Grace” because that is exactly what we need. And that’s what we have in Jesus. We can forgive because Christ has forgiven us. On the cross Jesus paid the penalty for our sins so that we can live. He died so that we don’t have to die in our sins but through repentance and faith can receive eternal life. On the cross Christ took our old self, crucified and killed it, and through his resurrection we have a new self (Gal 2:20). Now we’re just learning to live like that new self, learning to show kindness and compassion and to forgive. Every day we’re learning to think differently in Christ. And that’s my closing big idea. Think differently in Christ.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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Chris Lake, Executive Director of the Vere Institute, explains the frontline ministry calling Jesus gave us at the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20. You can watch or listen to the sermon and check out the slides below.
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Chris Lake, Executive Director of the Vere Institute, explains the frontline ministry calling Jesus gave us at the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20. You can watch or listen to the sermon and check out the slides below. You can watch the full service on Facebook, which includes our commissioning of our church members for their frontline ministry, or you can watch the sermon only on YouTube.
Two weeks ago we learned what it means to live worthy of all the gifts God has given us in Ephesians 4:1-6. We talked about specific steps we can each take: humility, gentleness, patience, and love. Together these steps maintain church unity through the Holy Spirit. But they don’t actually create unity. We are unified by what we believe in, “one Spirit… one Lord… one faith… one God and Father.” So a church is unified by the character of its
Two weeks ago we learned what it means to live worthy of all the gifts God has given us in Ephesians 4:1-6. We talked about specific steps we can each take: humility, gentleness, patience, and love. Together these steps maintain church unity through the Holy Spirit. But they don’t actually create unity. We are unified by what we believe in, “one Spirit… one Lord… one faith… one God and Father.” So a church is unified by the character of its people and by believing the same thing.
Our text today, Ephesians 4:7-16, adds one more way we are unified, through the diversity of our gifts—by all the different ways God gives us talents and abilities to serve him by serving the church. We each have different gifts but they fit together as one, like a puzzle.
Have any of you put together a puzzle recently? Growing up my family would put together 1,000 piece puzzles right around Christmas time. How big was your puzzle? 100, 500, 1000, 2000 pieces? On Amazon you can buy puzzles as large as 40,000 pieces, which covers a whole wall.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records an economics school in Vietnam put together a puzzle in 2011 that contained 551,232 pieces. This summer in Dubai a business group constructed a 12,000 piece puzzle that covered 65,905 square feet, which is the largest puzzle in the world.
So today I’ve brought an equally impressive 13-piece puzzle. A puzzle is a great illustration of the church body and what our text is talking about today. A puzzle is made up of differently shaped pieces, and when the pieces come together they can create a beautiful picture (aka. “Sprocket”). Getting to witness and see that picture (to see the church come together) is a gift given to us by God.
Christ gives gifts to the church. (Eph 4:7-10) 7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.”
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) (NIV®)
This is a challenging passage to read and understand but it becomes a little easier if we examine the Old Testament passage Paul is quoting, Psalm 68. Psalm 68 tells us of God driving away his enemies before him as he enters victoriously into his holy sanctuary, the temple in Jerusalem, with his people. When a king conquers his enemies what happens? Those defeated kings and nations pay tribute. In fact, Psalm 68:18a says God receives gifts from men.
Psalm 68:18a When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people, (NIV®)
But when Paul quotes this passage what does he do? He reverses it. Instead of “receiving” gifts Christ Jesus gives gifts (aka. “…gave gifts to his people”). Through his death, resurrection, and ascension to the throne, Christ Jesus has won the right not just to require tribute but to bestow blessing.
Have you ever intended to give a friend or family member something and instead you received a gift? Like inviting a coworker out for lunch and they insist on paying? Maybe you’ve done a gift-swap with a friend and you felt like they got you a much better gift than you gave them? How about when you hire someone to work on your house or fix your car and they don’t charge you what they could? We owe everything to Christ and he still gives us more. Christ gives gifts to the church. What are they?
Christ gives the gift of leadership to his church. (Eph 4:11) Now there are more gifts than the one listed in today’s passage. You can find those in Romans 12:6-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28. But even those lists aren’t comprehensive. God can gift us in a multitude of ways to serve the local church. But our passage today focuses on specific leadership gifts (so if you don’t have one of these gifts in today’s passage don’t worry, there are other gifts).
Ephesians 4:11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, (NIV®)
One of the ways we find unity is through Biblical leadership. When you put together a puzzle what are the first pieces you look for and put together? The edges, and if you’re lucky, the corners. Jesus himself gave us these corners and edges (our leaders) for our church puzzle. Let’s look at each one:
apostles There are two different types of apostles in the Bible. There are what we call “big-A” Apostles who were either with Jesus during his ministry or saw him after he rose from the grave. The twelve disciples and Paul are all “big-A” Apostles (Luke 6:13; Acts 1:21-22; 1 Cor 9:1). They were specially commissioned by Christ to have unique authority to write Scripture and to establish the church throughout the ancient world. I believe these types of Apostles passed away with the early church, but in Ephesians 4:11 Paul doesn’t seem to say that the gift of apostleship is gone, so what is he talking about?
Elsewhere we find “little-a” apostles who churches send out to do ministry or have a unique gifting to start new churches and ministries, especially to people who have never heard of Jesus before (Acts 14:4; 1 Cor 9:5; Rom 16:7). The word “apostle” just means “one who is sent” or “a messenger” (John 20:21; 2 Cor 8:23; Phil 2:25). An apostle is someone who is gifted in a special way and sent by God. Missionary and church-planting director Daniel Sinclair describes those gifted as apostles this way:
“God uses [apostles] in a variety of ministries. They are the kind who tend to make things happen. Oftentimes they are good at making something out of nothing, ministry-wise, successfully starting new works from scratch. Generally there is a history of evangelistic and discipleship fruitfulness.” (A Vision of the Possible: Pioneer Church Planting in Teams by Daniel Sinclair, pg 6)
I think someone who is gifted as an apostle is Thierry Mirone who has preached here and visited us from France. He is directing the church-planting network in France and God is using him and his team in amazing ways. People are coming to Christ and the church is growing. The church needs people like Thierry to spread the church and the gospel throughout the world. God gifts the local church with apostles.
Prophets When we think of prophecy we usually think of someone who foretells the future. This is a part of what prophecy is, as seen in New Testament people like Agabus who predicted a severe famine and warned Paul that if he went to Jerusalem he would be imprisoned (Acts 11:28; 21:10-11). But prophecy is not limited to future-telling. Prophets are also gifted by God to strengthen, encourage, and comfort the local church.
1 Corinthians 14:3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. (NIV®)
Paul actually tells the church not to ignore prophecy.
1 Thessalonians 5:20-22 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil. (NIV®)
This means we should not reject the gift of prophecy but should let those gifted with prophecy encourage the local church (1 Cor 14:22). But we should test every prophetic message against Scripture. There is an element of “prophecy” in preaching as we preach to strengthen, encourage, and comfort. Sometimes a really odd thing happens. The week or season I’m preaching on a topic we experience it as a church. For example, I’ve preached on conflict and peacemaking and opportunities for conflict and peacemaking sprang up. I’m not a prophet but preaching can be prophetic. God gifts the local church with prophets.
Evangelists Evangelists are specially gifted by God share the gospel. The word for “gospel” is “euangelion” which means “good news.” Now “evangelist” is “euangelistēs” in the Greek. So an euangelistēs is someone who preaches the euangelion. That means an evangelist is someone who preaches the good news, the gospel. What is the gospel? It’s the good news that Jesus can save you from your sins and give you eternal life. If you will repent of your sins and believe in Jesus he will rescue you. He will take your unholiness and grant you his perfect righteousness. Those people who share the gospel and see others come to Jesus are gifted evangelists, but we’re all called to do evangelism even if some are better at it than others (2 Tim 4:5).
I used to work for an evangelist. The owner of the fish-tank cleaning company told me he shared the gospel with his neighbor and his neighbor came to Christ. I think Bernie is a gifted evangelist as well. God gives the church special people to help the rest of us evangelize, and to train us how to do it. God gifts the local church with evangelists.
Pastors (Shepherds/Elders) Jesus also gives the local church “pastors.” The ESV translates this “shepherds.” What does a shepherd do? A shepherd takes care of a flock. A shepherd feeds the sheep (John 21:15-17). This is why as pastors we preach and teach God’s word. A shepherd goes looking for the sheep that wander away (Luke 15:4; Heb 10:24-25). A shepherd intervenes when the sheep begin to bite and hurt each other, risking getting bit himself (Matt 5:9; Phil 4:2). Shepherds help bind up hurting sheep and try to pull out sheep caught in the thorns of sin, even if they have to cause pain to the sheep in the process. Shepherds fight off savage wolves who want to lead the flock astray with false teachings (Acts 20:28; Eph 4:14; Titus 1:9). And the best shepherds, the best pastors, lay down their lives for the sheep just like Jesus our shepherd laid down his life for us (John 10:11). Peter calls elders shepherds, which means elders are pastors.
1 Peter 5:1-2a To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing… (NIV®)
At Cornerstone we have a Board of Elders and at our member’s meeting on December 1st the Elders are going to ask the members to vote on another candidate for Elder. You’re not just electing a board member, you’re saying, “This person is one of our pastors.” I know I’m the only one you call pastor, but it would be true if you called Terry and John pastors too. God gifts the local church with pastors (shepherds and elders).
Teachers Pastors and Elders have to be “able to teach” (1 Tim 3:2; 5:17; 2 Tim 2:24). Anyone who is an Elder at Cornerstone has to be able to teach in some capacity. That may not mean preaching, but it means teaching somewhere. One book I read said all Pastors are teachers but not all teachers are pastors. God gives the local church people who are gifted in teaching but may not be gifted in caring for the flock, and that’s okay. This could be small group leaders or Discipleship class teachers for the adults, youth, or children. We need them too. God gifts the local church with teachers.
Do you see how the edges of the puzzle are lining up? God gives us apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers to bring the rest of us together into a complete puzzle. Christ doesn’t give these gifts so that leaders can keep it to ourselves but so that we can benefit the local church.
Christ gives the gift of leadership to equip, disciple, and protect his church. (Eph 4:12-16) Christ Jesus gave us these leaderships hip gifts for three purposes:
1) Equip Ephesians 4:12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (NIV®)
Jesus gives us gifted leaders so that they can help us use and develop our gifts too. It’s tempting when we see someone who is really gifted at music or leadership or teaching or preaching to say, “You should do it all the time because you’re amazing!” But that’s like looking at a corner piece on a puzzle and saying, “Wow! You’re so beautiful and amazing let’s stop with you.” We all have gifts and talents and our leaders help us draw them out. This is one of the reasons I ask the elders and other gifted teachers to help me preach every couple weeks. Not only does the break refresh me but it gives them the opportunity to develop their preaching and teaching. As ministry leaders we need to figure out ways to be constantly giving our ministries away. We don’t want to create ministries that are dependent on one or two people.
Likewise, each of us needs to ask if we’re a part of the puzzle. Am I being equipped? Am I serving? Am I a part of the ministry or am I gone most weeks? The other week I was taking a puzzle to Savers and on the way out to my car I somehow dropped a piece. I picked it up and put it in my pocket, and later that day after I came home from Savers I found the piece in my pocket. Now there is a puzzle at Savers that is missing one piece. If we’re not using our gifts to serve the church or if we only come half the time to weekly worship, any week we don’t show up the puzzle is missing a piece. We want a complete puzzle, but that’s dependent on each piece being here and being a part of the church body. Christ gives us leaders to equip us.
2) Disciple Ephesians 4:13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (NIV®)
God gives us gifted leaders to help us grow and mature as followers of Jesus. Yes God gifts some leaders in the church with the ability to disciple and help others grow. If you want to grow, find someone who can mentor you and study the Bible and pray with them. Christ gives us leaders to equip and disciple us.
3) Protect Ephesians 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming (NIV®)
The Bible warns us that we have itching ears that want to hear thing that aren’t Biblical.
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (NIV®)
Ephesians 4:14 should give us hope that our leaders can help protect us from false teaching while 2 Timothy 4:3 should strike a healthy fear in our hearts to listen to our shepherds that know the Lord and love his word. But shepherds, we must always do this in love.
Ephesians 4:15-16 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
The result of a unified church under Biblical leadership is that it actually grows the church spiritually and Lord willing numerically. The last line of verse 16 says the church “grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. When we have unity through Biblical leadership the puzzle comes together.
Christ gives the gift of leadership to equip, disciple, and protect his church. Our Cornerstone puzzle is a 72-piece puzzle. We have 72 members and attenders who come to worship consistently to every once in a while. Where do you fit in? Where can you use your gifts and talents? Maybe you’re a shepherd or a teacher or maybe your gifting is in one of those other lists we didn’t talk about tonight. Either way, I want to encourage you to find your place in the puzzle. Find where you fit. And if you’re not sure, ask a corner piece, ask a church leader so we can help guide you. If you’ve been absent a lot can I ask you to try and be a part of the puzzle. When you’re here and you’re using your gifts we’re whole. Christ gives the gift of leadership to equip, disciple, and protect his church.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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This is the second sermon in a series in which I will share some of what I am learning at the GCTS Ockenga Fellows retreats. The program exists to help the church bring about renewal and transformation to our culture. Our first session was on the Great Awakening and Ministry in New England and the second session was on Business & Work. We read two books for this session: Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work by Timothy
This is the second sermon in a series in which I will share some ofwhat I am learning at the GCTS Ockenga Fellows retreats. The program exists to help the church bring about renewal and transformation to our culture. Our first session was on the Great Awakening and Ministry in New England and the second session was on Business & Work. We read two books for this session:
Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work by Timothy Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf Redeeming Capitalism by Kenneth J. Barnes (Dr. Barnes is actually co-leading the Ockenga program.)
I highly recommend both of these books and am drawing a lot from Keller’s book in my sermon. Instead of citing him each time you can checkout my sermon’s endnotes on the website. Let me pray.
How do you view work? Is it something you enjoy doing or something you do to get by? Is your work something you see as valuable in and of itself or do you just do it to bring home a paycheck? The first chapters of the Bible actually tell us that work is a very good thing.
God created work to be good. (Genesis 1-2) In Genesis 1 we find God working as he creates the world and everything in it. When God creates this world the account says, “God saw that it was good.” (Gen 1:10) God is saying his work is good. The Hebrew word for work, “melaka,” first appears in Genesis 2.
Genesis 2:3 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. (NIV®)
This word for “work” appears all throughout the Old Testament to describe human work (Ex 20:9), but here we find it describing God’s work. The act of work in and of itself is not bad but good. Work comes before the fall. Work is pre-fall. It’s not a result of the fall. There’s work in paradise. When humans work we reflect God’s goodness (John 5:17b). In fact, God gives humans a “job description.”
Genesis 1:26b “…[humankind] may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Genesis 1:28b “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (NIV®)
This means that we as people are called by God to work. It’s not something we “have to do” but “get to do.” We do it because it reflects God’s goodness and character who is a working and creating God. We see this the most clearly in Jesus himself. Australian cleric Phillip Jensen writes:
“If God came into the world, what would he be like? For the ancient Greeks, he might have been a philosopher-king. The ancient Romans might have looked for a just and noble statesman. But how does the God of the Hebrews come into the world? As a carpenter.” (Every Good Endeavor, pg. 37)
Work is good, yes ministry work and office work but everyday service and blue-collar work too. Have you heard of the sacred-secular divide? It’s a false conception of work. The divide looks like this:
Sacred – Work & activity God cares about and calls people to do.
missionaries, clergy, pastors, Bible teachers, worship leaders, church committees/leadership, soup kitchens, prayer, devotions, Sunday activities, etc.
Secular – Work & activity God accepts but doesn’t specifically call people to do.
engineers, educators, nurses, doctors, government officials, scientists, artists, economists, politicians, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, hobbies, sports, vacation, school, weekday activities, etc.
But this is wrong. it’s all sacred! God cares about and calls people to do all types of work and activity. Already in the first chapter of Genesis God has knocked down this divide. God is a gardener a scientist a sociologist an engineer and he calls it all good work. Work is good. Work is good but…
Work becomes difficult because of the fall. (Genesis 3) Although God invites humans to join him in working, we mess it up pretty quickly. The very first people God places in the garden of Eden (paradise) to work and keep it end up disobeying God (Gen 2:15). God commands them not to eat the fruit of a specific tree, but instead of trusting God’s plan they do their own thing. By doing this they’re saying, “God, we know how to work and keep the garden better than your instructions.” But this sin leads to less affective and beautiful work. God punishes Adam with a curse:
Genesis 3:17b-19 “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (NIV®)
Although work is marred and no longer as joyful and easy as it should be, work still maintains its inherent value. Humankind no longer does work with God but apart from God. Because of our sin (our disobedience to God) we can no longer do work as he intended and are separated from relationship with God. Work becomes difficult, and we do it for the wrong reasons.
We can do work for the wrong reason, our pride. (Genesis 11) One of the most important building projects ever to take place was the Tower of Babel. God commanded people to “fill the earth” back in Genesis 1 but by Genesis 11 people have decided they would rather gather in one place to build a massive city and monument to themselves.
Genesis 11:3-4 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” (NIV®)
Here we find technology, bricks. That’s not a bad thing but people are seeking to use it for their own ends. Do you see their purpose? They want to “make a name” for themselves. They want to bring themselves fame and glory and power. Their pride is their motivation.
When we make work about ourselves instead of being about knowing and serving God, we fall short of what the purpose of work is. We take something that is good and do it for the wrong reasons. Pride is different than satisfaction or feeling good about a job well done. C.S. Lewis explains in Mere Christianity:
Now what I want to get clear is that Pride is essentially competitive—is competitive by its very nature. . . . Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. (Every Good Endeavor, pg. 112)
Work and careers and creativity are good in and of themselves, but we can use them to elevate ourselves above others. It’s a good thing to want to do a great job, but not at the expense of others. The opposite of pride is humility.
In Redeeming Capitalism by Kenneth Barnes, he tells the story of Lars Sørensen who is the “former CEO of Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk…” The “2015 Harvard Business Review” ranked him as the top executive worldwide. Barnes writes (Redeeming Capitalism, pg. 124):
Despite the company’s exceptional performance, Sørensen was paid a fraction of what a similarly ranked executive would make in the United States. His rationale was the fact that while he did not make as much money as a US executive, he still made more money in a year than most of his employees would make over the course of their entire careers. He also believed in creating a cohesive work environment, and huge wage disparities can cause resentment that is not conducive to collaborative working and decision by consensus.
Furthermore, despite being a publicly traded company, Novo Nordisk uses triple bottom-line accounting (that is, combining financial results with environmental and social concerns) to assess its annual performance…. Perhaps Mr. Sørenson summited it up best when, at the close of an interview with Harvard Business Review relating to his position at the top of their rankings, he stated:
I should have said at the beginning that I don’t like this notion of the “best-performing CEO in the world.” That’s an American perspective—you lionize individuals. I would say I’m leading a team that is collectively creating one of the world’s best-performing companies. That’s different from being the world’s best performing CEO—it’s a very big difference…
He leads with humility in the workplace. We can do work for the wrong reason, our pride.
We can do work for the best reason, God’s glory. (2 Thess 3; 1 Cor 10) In the Old Testament and New Testament we have lots of stories of people at work.
Job was a wealthy businessman (Job 1:3). Jacob was a shepherd (Gen 30:32). David was a shepherd before he joined the military and government (1 Sam 17:34). Peter a fisherman (Matt 4:18) and Paul was a tentmaker (Acts 18:3). Jesus was a carpenter for 30 years before his three years of public ministry (Mark 6:3).
The Apostle Paul encouraged people to work and not be lazy.
2 Thessalonians 3:10b “…The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” (NIV®)
In fact, he gives one of the most amazing statements on life and work found anywhere in the Bible.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (NIV®)
This means that what is important to God is not so much “what we do” but “how we do it.” Yes. Of course, we can do unethical work that hurts those around us, but if we start with the idea that our work can bring God glory we’ll do our work with excellence, integrity, ethically, not just for my good, but my community’s good (the common good). We will seek to make God’s name famous and not our own. We can do work for the best reason, God’s glory.
But here’s the problem. My heart is naturally just like Adam and Eve’s heart. I want to do work and life my way instead of God’s way. I don’t want to serve the common good. I want to serve my good. I want to do better than my neighbor. What can possibly transform my work?
The gospel transforms our work and gives it eternal worth. (The Big Gospel Story) Timothy Keller outlines the big gospel story in three steps (Every Good Endeavor, pg. 161-162):
“The whole world is good.” – This is Genesis 1-2. Through work God made everything good and was in perfect relationship with his creation and humankind. “The whole world is fallen.” – This is Genesis 3. We sinned against God and now although work is still good it’s much more difficult to complete. At its core this difficulty stems from our broken relationship with God. We are no longer in fellowship with him. “The whole world is going to be redeemed.” – This is Jesus. He came to redeem everything and set our relationship with God right by paying the penalty for our sins and offering us forgiveness and grace if we will repent and believe in him. But he’s not just interested in saving our souls but in saving all of creation, including our work and creativity.
Through the gospel Christ Jesus is redeeming every aspect of our lives:
The gospel transforms a job into a calling. The gospel transforms work done for my pride into work done for God’s glory. The gospel transforms work done for me into work done for the common good. The gospel transforms mundane tasks into tasks that are eternally valuable.
The gospel transforms our work and gives it eternal worth. I want to read you a story of how the gospel story has transformed a person’s work. It’s from Keller’s book and it’s a little long, but I hope it will inspire each of us to think about how the gospel narrative can change our work.
Early in his career as a school administrator, our friend Bill Kurtz started to see that this gospel story line—what the world should be, how it had gone wrong, and the hope for the future—gave him a better vision for education in poor inner-city schools. All the individual stories of brokenness—of problems at home, of no sleep and inadequate nutrition, of gangs on the street and drugs in the building—had reinforced a culture of rebellion and hopelessness in the schools. The attitude about school for many of the kids was “why bother.” He wanted to bring the hope of the gospel story into his work.
Now in the field of urban education today there are many competing story lines about what education should be, what its main problem is, and what needs to change. As a matter of fact, education itself is often viewed as the savior for the ills of poverty and systemic injustice. Students are the subjects of continuous analysis as one strategy or another is applied to their educational experience. Bill found that the gospel gave him a more comprehensive understanding of the problems facing the schools and a hope for redemption that incorporated some of the best practices of his field but did not idolize them.
His approach has been holistic, with the recognition that the gospel could actually shape the culture of a school community. In 2004 he launched a public charter high school in Denver to serve a very diverse student population. One grade at a time he helped create a culture of shared accountability and success in the school. Every morning students gather, along with their teachers, for morning meeting. Morning meetings provide an opportunity for the community to celebrate success through weekly awards, by giving shout-outs to one another for acts of service and living the school’s values, and by sharing stories that point to a story of hope. But the brokenness is addressed as well. To help change behaviors where students fail to live the values of the community, students participate in public apologies where they hold one another accountable and support one another to live the school’s core values better. If a student or teacher is late to school, they apologize to the rest of the community. He recognized the students’ innate need to be known but held accountable and created an environment where no one could be lost in the cracks. While good teachers have certainly been key, Bill attributes the school’s success to its culture and their shared, singular goal to get 100 percent of its seniors into four-year colleges. The school has seen amazing success-every single senior in the school’s history has earned a four-year college acceptance. This first school has grown into a network of six top-performing schools across Denver. (Every Good Endeavor, pg. 162-164)
The gospel transforms our work and gives it eternal worth. How can the gospel impact your work place? How can the story of redemption redeem a little bit of your workspace? Does anyone here want to dive deeper into how our work connects to God’s work? I have one free copy of Timothy Keller’s book, Every Good Endeavor, and would like to give it away. Would anyone like it?
In closing I want to give you an invitation. In two weeks I’m going to invite anyone who wants to be commissioned in their line of employment or work up front. You may remember us commissioning the Elders and the Deacons last year. We will invite you up front, have you share your name, where you work, the industry you’re in, and then we’ll have a commission to recite, and then myself and the Elders will lay hands on you and pray for you. And you will go on behalf of us and the Lord to do your work. This is the Saturday following Thanksgiving so you’re not going to want to miss it. I hope you’ll really consider being commissioned to go out and serve God by doing a good job for his glory wherever you work. The gospel transforms our work and gives it eternal worth.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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I want to tell you about how God sees this church, how God sees our church. We’ve been reading and studying the book of Ephesians together, and it tells us how God sees our community of believers. When God sees our church he sees holy and faithful people. (1:1) God sees the ones he chose before the creation of the world. (1:4, 11) God sees his adopted children—we’re sons and daughters like Christ. (1:5) God sees those he has redeemed
I want to tell you about how God sees this church, how God sees our church. We’ve been reading and studying the book of Ephesians together, and it tells us how God sees our community of believers.
When God sees our church he sees holy and faithful people. (1:1) God sees the ones he chose before the creation of the world. (1:4, 11) God sees his adopted children—we’re sons and daughters like Christ. (1:5) God sees those he has redeemed and forgiven by the blood of Christ. (1:7) When God sees our church he sees a beautiful temple filled with his Holy Spirit. (1:13; 2:21-22) God sees our church as his prized possession. (1:14) God sees our church as the very body of Christ Jesus himself. (1:22-23) When God sees our church he sees something that was spiritually dead but is now alive. (2:1, 5) God sees our church like we’re seated right next to him with Jesus. (2:6) God sees all the good things he’s prepared for our church to do. (2:10) God sees the people of our church as citizens of his country and heirs of his kingdom. (2:12; 3:6) God sees the people of our church as truly loving each other and loving Christ Jesus (3:17-18) God sees us the people of our church as perfectly united together by the power of his Holy Spirit. (4:3)
Do you see all the amazing ways God sees us? This is what it means to be “called” by God. He has “called” us to be holy and faithful and adopted and forgiven and filled and loving each other and perfectly united with each other. Why can God see us this way? Because he sees us through the lens of Christ Jesus. When he looks at us he sees the life and work of his Son, who was holy and faithful, the perfect son.
But do we match this? If we look at ourselves as a church do we see these things? How are we doing as children of God? Are we filled with the Spirit? Are we doing the good things he has called us to? Are we loving each other and loving Christ Jesus? Are we experiencing real unity and peace with each other and God? In some ways yes. In other ways no.
What then is the next step we can take as a church to become more like what God already sees us to be? What can we do to get closer to it? I think the ESV has a better translation of Ephesians 4:1 than the NIV. It says, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,” The “therefore” is in reference to all the ways God has called and blessed and graced us in chapters 1-3, which we just reviewed. So therefore, because of all of these wonderful blessings, live a different kind of life. The NIV says “live worthy” but the ESV says “walk worthy.” Both are fine translations but I like how the ESV breaks it down into steps.
As anyone here walked the Appalachian trail? Where does it start? Georgia. Where does it end? Maine. Did you hike it all at once or in sections? Some hike it all at once or take several years to do so. The Appalachian train goes along the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Appalachian Mountains, and the White Mountains and is 2,174 miles long. How many steps does it take to start that journey? One. Everyone who completes the Appalachian trail starts it the same way—by taking a single step. Today Paul is giving us a handful of steps we can take to “walk worthy” of the great calling and amazing grace God has given us.
Step 1 – Humility The first thing Paul calls us to in verse 2 in humility, “Be completely humble.” When we realize that God called and predestined us to salvation apart from any good deed or admirable character quality in ourselves it humbles us. In fact, God calls us to salvation despite our lack of good deeds and admirable character qualities. What’s the opposite of humility? Pride. Arrogance. Entitlement. My way or the high way. Ancient Greek culture thought humility was a waste of time. But the Bible says in 1 Peter 5:5b “…All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (NIV®)
What does it mean for a church to have a humble spirit? How do we build a humble culture? It means we’re not here to make our name famous but Christ’s. It means we value the ways God has gifted and called each other. It means we don’t have to have the spotlight but neither do we have to hide. It means when someone comes to us with an idea we celebrate the creativity and passion God has given them as we help them refine it. It means we love teams and working together even though it’s often not easy. It means we’re willing to confess our sins when we hurt each other and do something wrong. It means no one is better than anyone else. Step 1 – Humility.
Step 2 – Gentleness If your humility is your right foot gentleness is your left foot. The two go together, “Be completely humble and gentle.” What’s the opposite of gentleness? Anger. Rage. If you don’t have humility you have pride. And if someone steps on your toes what does it cause? Anger and rage, which leads to gossip and division. But if we start with humility, if someone hurts us we will go to them with a spirit of gentleness and compassion to talk it through.
As people who sin and disobey God, we deserve God’s wrath (Romans 1:18). But instead of pouring that wrath out on us Christ Jesus took the punishment upon himself so that you and I can experience the gentleness of God. We are redeemed and forgiven instead of destroyed. Let’s each ask, “How can I be more humble? How can I be more gentle?” Step 1 – Humility. Step 2 – Gentleness.
Step 3 – Patience We’re still in verse 2. Paul says, “Be patient.” The Greek word for patience is “makrothymia.” One commentary I read said this word is a compound word (two words combined, like “redhead” or “softball”) of “anger/rage” (thumos) and “a long time” (makros). The very way this word is constructed tells us patience is delayed anger, or long-suffering. It’s not being easily offended. James 1:19b says, “…Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” (NIV®)
In his book Every Good Endeavor PastorTimothy Keller tells the story of a woman who came to visit his church. He asked her why she came.
She worked for a company in Manhattan, and not long after starting there she made a big mistake that she thought would cost her the job, but her boss went into his superior and took complete responsibility for what she had done. As a result, he lost some of his reputation and ability to maneuver within the organization. She was amazed and what he had done and went in to thank him. She told him that she had often seen supervisors take credit for what she had accomplished, but she had never seen a supervisor take the blame for something she had done wrong. She wanted to know what made him different. He was very modest and deflected her questions, but she was insistent. Finally he told her, “I am a Christian. That means among other things that God accepts me because Jesus Christ took the blame for things that I have done wrong. He did that on the cross. That is why I have the desire and sometimes the ability to take the blame for others.” She stared at him for a long moment and asked, “Where do you go to church?”
This man’s patience helped lead her to become a Christian. That is a beautiful example of patience expressed to non-Christians outside the church. I think it’s easier to be patient with non-believers because we have lower expectations for them. But Christ also calls us to express this kind of patience inside the church to each other. Step 1 – Humility. Step 2 – Gentleness. Step 3 – Patience.
Step 4 – Love Paul says for us to “[bear] with one another in love.” Part of living a life worthy of everything God has given us is simply loving each other despite what we put each other through. The word “bear with” also means “endure.” I think sometimes we expect hostility from outside the church, but we often experience it from our brothers and sisters inside the church. We are called to “endure” persecution and hardship from the world (1 Cor 4:12). But Paul also says to “endure” in the local church to “stick with it” (Eph 4:2; Col 3:13). Why do we stick with it? Because God endures with us. Despite our sin he loves us. Step 4 – Love.
Humility, gentleness, patience, and love maintain unity. What does humility and gentleness and patience and love do? They unify us. They bring us together. They help us stick together even when it’s not easy. Ephesians 4:3 says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (NIV®) When we encounter conflict in the church it’s easy to say, “I’ve tried everything I can.” Have we? Can’t we try one more thing? Paul says to “make every effort to keep the unity!” Have we humbled ourselves? Are we being gentle? Are we patient? Are we loving? Could we be more humble, gentle, patient, and loving than we are already?
Paul is writing this letter to the church at Ephesus while he’s under house arrest in Rome, physically chained up, potentially to a Roman soldier (Acts 28:16; Eph 3:1; 4:1; Phil 1:13). He’s using this as an illustration. “Church, be chained in peace.” Do you know the story trope where two characters who don’t like each other are handcuffed to each other? What ends up happening? Through adventure and hardship they end up loving and caring for eat other by the end because they’ve gone through it all together. When you stick out a relationship with a friend or a spouse that has hurt you (when you say “I’m not going anywhere”) over time you discover a love for that person. Your relationship is actually enriched because it’s seasoned. So today I brought some handcuffs so we can handcuff ourselves to each other… (j/k) I can’t decide for you if you’re willing to wear the handcuffs of peace. Only you can decide.
Humility, gentleness, patience, and love maintain unity… But they’re not actually the foundation of our unity. They’re how we help maintain unity, and live worthy of everything God has given us, but we’re unified by something else. We’ve been talking about the steps we take on a hike. But what’s the actual trail? Are we hiking the Appalachian trail from Georgia to Maine? Or are we hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada? Or are we walking the American Discovery Trail from one coast to the other? We have to make sure we’re all walking the same trail.
We are unified by what we believe in. Not everyone can walk this pathway. There’s only one trail. It’s called the “straight and narrow.” And there’s only one entrance, through Jesus Christ. Paul tells us a whole bunch of things about this trail all at once.
“There is one body…” This means you don’t go it alone. In fact on this trail you can’t go it alone. You need a church family to walk this with you. Paul calls the church family a body. That means each person is a valuable and important part. Together we make the whole body work. But so often what do we do? One knee looks down at a foot and says, “Why aren’t you a knee? Why are you a dirty foot?” Or an thumb says to a bellybutton, “You smell and serve no purpose.” But without a foot and a knee and a thumb and a bellybutton we wouldn’t be a complete body. We’re all vital. “one Spirit…” The Greek word for “Spirit” is pneuma which also means “breath.” See each part of the body can be present, but without the Holy Spirit we’re a corpse. We need the Holy Spirit to fill our church lungs so that we can walk this road together. Verse 3 tells us we don’t actually create unity. We simply maintain the unity the Holy Spirit creates. It’s from him. “one hope…” Have you heard the song “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness”? Paul throws in how he is feeling and we can feel no matter our circumstances (he’s in prison after all). Who does he hope in? Jesus! “one Lord…” This is Jesus Christ. Jesus is Lord (Rom 10:9). Our unity as a church body is found in Christ Jesus, who is actually called the “head” of the body (Eph 1:22; 5:23; Col 1:18). What does a head do? It directs the body. It leads us forward. The person who unites the church is Christ Jesus. He died and rose again to save the church, to make a broken people into a holy and faithful people, to make us into the kind of people God already counts us as. “one faith…” This doesn’t mean believing in something for the sake of belief. All belief systems are not equal. The radically offensive claim of Christianity is that we claim to know the truth. None of us claims to know the truth entirely, but we believe the Bible itself presents the truth. And so as we discover truth-claims about life and reality in its pages and believe them and align or lives to them that’s when we suddenly find ourselves unified in “one faith.” Doctrine matters. Our statement of faith matters. What we believe matters. “one baptism…” When we become Christians one of the things we do is get baptized. Baptism is a public profession of faith in Christ Jesus. It’s a public testimony that God has gotten a hold of my heart. Paul isn’t saying that only one church has the right baptism or that dunking is better than sprinkling but that Christians together go through the initiatory rite of baptism as a public declaration of their faith in Christ. Sharing a common baptism is part of what unites us as a church family. “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” The true beauty of Christianity is that the God who is all powerful, all knowing, and all present, completely holy and completely unsafe, makes himself safe for us. In fact, if you’re willing to confess your sins and believe in his Son you can call him your “Father.”
Notice that Paul speaks of “one Spirit… one Lord… and one God and Father.” This is the Trinity, one God in three persons. Yes God calls us to come and take this long hard journey. The trail has ups with beautiful mountain vistas where we can sense God’s presence and all is right in the world, but it also has downs, low valleys full of backbiting and frustrations. But through it all we’re not hiking this path alone. God is with us. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They’re all with us calling us into deeper relationship with God. Together we walk this path with God and with our church family.
So what’s the next step you’re going to take? Are you willing to take a step of humility or gentleness or patience or love tonight? Do you need to refine what you believe so that you’re sure you’re walking the same pathway? I want to challenge us to examine our hearts tonight. If you feel convicted that you have not been as humble or gentle or patient or loving or unified as you want to be, confess it and after the service have the conversation you need to have or send that text or make that phone call. Take a single step.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
Let’s start by reviewing the big picture of the book of Ephesians.
Chapters 1-3 How God is gracious to us
Chapters 4-6 How we are to live-out grace
The first three chapters, chapters 1-3, don’t include many imperatives, or commands. They don’t tell us how to live as much as they tell us what God has done for us. The next three chapters, chapters 4-6, tell us how to respond to grace and are full of imperatives and commands. Grace in. Grace out.
Paul understands how difficult this is to get because he includes a prayer for the believers to get it in chapter 1 and again today as he wraps up chapter 3. He is praying for us to experience God’s grace—everything he has just finished talking about.
Have you ever put a lot of work into a gift and given it to someone with the hope that they would like it? That they would receive it as you intended? Maybe you’ve written a letter to your husband or wife and you hope that when they read it they will realize how much you’ve thought about them and care for them. Maybe you’ve spent a bunch of time knitting a sweater or hat for your husband (or your wife…), and you hope that when they open up their gift they will be happy with what you made. That’s how Monica feels about me every Christmas. Maybe it’s how children feel when they draw a picture or make a craft and bring it to their parents. If their parents looks at it and say, “You could have done better” and put it away, do you think the child will want to make them another picture or craft? We want people to receive the things we’ve prepared for them.
Paul has brought the Ephesians a gift. He’s brought them the gift that God worked so hard to prepare—grace. And now he is praying they will receive God’s grace. In the first three chapters of Ephesians God has given us his grace—his love given to us without us having to do anything but believe in Jesus. Will we receive what God has given or will we put it away because God could have made something better? It’s better if you earn your salvation, because you’ll feel more accomplished. It’s better if God doesn’t offer this grace to everyone, especially bad people who don’t deserve it.
I know some of you probably love to receive gifts, but some of us can have a hard time receiving gifts. Instead of seeing the love and thought behind that hand-painted pink and yellow ceramic bowl, we see how it doesn’t match with all the other dishes and how we’ll have to find someplace to store it. That’s like when we read Ephesians, and although we know we’ve received God’s grace in chapters 1-3, what really wears us down is knowing we’ll have to live differently because of it in chapters 4-6.
In order for us to be able to receive God’s grace the way he intends, and for it to change us in a positive way, we need a change of heart. We need something deep inside of us to move. And that is exactly what Paul is praying for today. He is praying for hearts that can receive God’s grace. That’s the same thing we pray for. We pray for hearts that can receive God’s grace. I don’t know about you but I can talk and talk about God’s grace and it doesn’t change me one bit. But if God get’s ahold of my heart, and your heart, our hearts, then not only will we appreciate the gift of God’s grace, we’ll be able to live differently because of God’s grace. Paul prays for four prayer requests in his prayer. The first is this…
1) We pray for inner strength through the Spirit. (v14-16) Like the Lord’s prayer Paul addresses our Heavenly Father and prays this in Ephesians 3:16 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,” (NIV®). Paul prays for the Ephesians to experience inner strength. This Greek word for strength (krataioo) is also found in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) in stories of King David. Before David became king while he and his men were being hunted by king Saul the Amalekites attacked his encampment while he was away, burned it, and took captive the women and children. This news completely wrecks David and his men.
1 Sam 30:4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. (NIV®)
Have you ever felt that way? Something happens and you just lose it. You lose your strength to believe. You lose your strength to be a good husband or wife or child. You lose your strength to be a good Christian. This word is a different word for strength, but two verses later our word appears (krataioo).
1 Sam 30:6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God. (NIV®)
Sometimes we have to lose our strength so we can find God’s strength. Jennie told me this week, “Everyone in our church is going through something.” Everyone here has something that is stressing them out or they wish was different. And maybe you’ve been trying to handle it, but it just keeps getting worse and worse. What if like David God is allowing something bad to happen so that you can find your strength in the Lord your God? What if God wants us to get weaker before we can get stronger? What if we actually need to be weak in order to understand God’s grace?
Have you ever started working out after not working out for a long time? The first couple days you overdo it and you’re really really sore. BC (“before CrossFit”), I tried working out at Best Fitness at Drum Hill. The personal trainer must have thought I was in shape because he had me running, and doing burpees, and and whipping a big rope up and down. I almost passed out and and for the next couple days I was so sore Monica had to help me put on my shirt and I had to drink out of a straw because I couldn’t lift my arm to my face. Despite all of that pain, it was still the first step in getting stronger. The trainer helped me see my weakness. The Holy Spirit helps us see our weakness so that he can fill us up with God’s strength.
Do you know what David did next? He asked God what he should do. He prayed. And God delivered him and his men and their wives and children and he gave them extra plunder (1 Sam 30:16, 20). They came out ahead. We pray for inner strength to grasp God’s grace, but sometimes that means he has to take away the strength we have. God would you give us the inner strength even if it means we first have to lose our own strength. First, we pray for inner strength through the Spirit.
2) We pray for Christ to dwell in our hearts through faith. (v17a) Ephesians 3:17 in the NIV says, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” But that makes verses 16 and 17 sound like one long prayer request. Although the two verses are connected, the Exegetical Commentary said to read the first half of verse 17 is its own prayer request. “I pray… that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
Now the last verse, verse 16, talked about God’s “glorious riches” and this verse talks about Christ “dwell[ing]” in our hearts. Is there any place else in the Bible where it talks about God’s glory and a dwelling? When Moses built the tabernacle God’s glory came down in the form of a cloud and filled it. When king Solomon (David’s son) built the temple God’s glory came down in the form of a cloud and fill it. And now, Paul is praying that God’s glory cloud through the Holy Spirit would fill our hearts with Christ.
What do you fill your heart with? Have you ever filled your gasoline tank with the wrong fuel? Instead of filling your sedan up with unleaded you fill it up with diesel? Instead of giving you extra power what does it do? It doesn’t work. It can cause a lot of damage. The engine is designed to run on unleaded. God built us to run on him. We run on his Holy Spirit who is centering our hearts on Christ Jesus. We are powered as we think and dwell and meditate on Christ.
The Holy Spirit is like the tech-crew in the theater department. They dress up in black and their job is not to be seen. Instead they run the sound so the actors can be heard and they shine the lights so the actors are can be seen. Without the tech crew you could still have a play, but there would be much less mystery and beauty. You would watch the actors move in and out of scene and set up props. It would be hollow. The Holy Spirit shines his light on Jesus. The more we think of Christ the more we know the Spirit is present.
As the Holy Spirit fosters a love for Jesus in you, Jesus is dwelling in your heart through faith. One of the signs of true Christianity is a deep love for Jesus himself, for his work on the cross, and for him saving us from our sins. Do you love Jesus? Do you love Christ? That’s the Holy Spirit! As the Holy Spirit strengthens our hearts and a love for Christ fills our hearts it becomes possible to appreciate God’s grace. First, we pray for inner strength through the Holy Spirit and second we pray for Christ to dwell in our hearts through faith.
3) We pray that we would be rooted and grounded in love. (17b) Paul’s third prayer request is in the second half of verse 17. Ephesians 3:17b says, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,” (NIV®). Paul uses two word pictures to express what he is praying for (c.f., Col 2:6-7).
The first is that of a plant or a tree. To be “rooted” in something is to dive deep into the soil and to draw your life from it. In the gospels Jesus tells the parable of different soils (Matthew 13:1-23). The seed the sower scatters is the gospel message—the good news that Jesus offers forgiveness and eternal life to any who will confess their sins and believe in him. He scatters some seed that doesn’t have any roots.
Matthew 13:5-6 Some [seeds] fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. (NIV®)
Jesus explains this parable to his disciples a few verses later.
Matthew 13:20-21 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. (NIV®)
A life rooted in the gospel won’t fall away when times get tough, and times are going to get tough. They are going to be days and weeks and maybe months when grace feels far away, but that’s what we need to have our roots deep in love—love for each other and love for God and his word and as the next verse shows us, deep in our understanding of God’s love for us. We want deep roots in God’s grace.
A believer who is rooted in God’s grace and love won’t walk away when the storms come. The NIV says “established,” which is another word for a “foundation.” A house with a good foundation won’t fall when the Nor’easter comes. I also like the word “grounded” which appears in the ESV. A house that is grounded won’t catch on fire when the lightning strikes. If you’re rooted in love you won’t walk away when your church family hurts you or the leadership does something you don’t like or when ministry doesn’t seem to be going anywhere or when something goes terribly wrong in your life. If you’re grounded in love, you’ll be able to receive God’s grace and extend it to those around you who really need it.
As I was writing this part of my sermon I was struggling to feel love for someone. I was upset with him, so I called him on the phone, and we talked about our issue. As we ended the conversation I told him I loved him and he told me he loved me. The easiest thing to do when the going get’s tough is to turn away from loving each other, but if we do that we actually uproot ourselves and become ungrounded. 3) We pray that we would be rooted and grounded in love. This naturally leads into the fourth prayer request.
4) We pray for our hearts to grasp the greatness of Christ’s love. (v18-19) Ephesians 3:17a, 18-19 “And I pray that you… may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (NIV®)
I’ve been reading Ephesians For You by Richard Coekin (a pastor in London) during this series. I want to share with you his explanation of what each of these descriptions of Christ’s love for us means. Each point comes from Coekin and I’ve adapted his explanations.
“Wide” illustrates his accepting love.
Christ’s love is for Jew and Gentile, white, black, Hispanic, Asian rich, poor, middle-class, grade-A students or dropouts, those struggling with obvious sins and those struggling with hidden sins. Christ’s is available for anyone no matter what you’ve done or haven’t done. Christ opens wide his arms and embraces anyone, no matter how broken. In our Grace/Truth 1.0 study, one of the chapter’s main points is “acceptance precedes obedience.” Christ accepts us, which leads us to repentance.
“Long” illustrates his lasting love.
There is nothing you have done, can do, or will do that can separate you from the love of Christ if your one of his (Rom 8:38-39). Paul already talked about how God “chose us in him before the creation of the world…” (Eph 1:4) Does that sound like there’s any time you will ever be separated from his love?
“High” illustrates his exalting love.
Coekin points us back to Ephesians 2:6-7 and God’s promise to raise us up and seat us with Christ and then pour out “the incomparable riches of his grace” on us “in the coming ages.” One day we’re going to get just how much goodness Christ has in store for us.
“Deep” illustrates his sacrificial love.
The cross is a well. The longer we look into this cross-shaped well the deeper Christ’s love appears. It’s at the cross that Jesus himself took on the full burden of God’s wrath so that you and I, people who aren’t loving enough, who aren’t gracious enough, who choose self over others so that we could be forgiven and saved. Jesus took on the opposite of grace so that you and I could the receive the grace he deserves.
May we grasp how wide and long and high and deep Christ’s love is for us. In v19 Paul says this love “surpasses knowledge.” It has to get past our heads and into our hearts. So what are our four requests?
We pray for inner strength through the Spirit. We pray for Christ to dwell in our hearts through faith. We pray that we would be rooted and grounded in love. We pray for our hearts to grasp the greatness of Christ’s love.
We pray for hearts that can experience God’s grace. My heart in its own capacity can’t experience God’s grace. That’s why Paul’s prayer is so important. But although I can’t change my heart, Christ can. Christ can help us “get grace.” We’re reminded of his power in the closing two verses, 20-21 that tell us there is nothing our God cannot do. I’m not going to read them now but we’ll all read them together when I say the benediction at the end of the service. But first, let me pray for hearts that can experience God’s grace.
If we truly believe God can change our hearts, then let’s read the benediction together as a prayer.
Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. (NIV®)
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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Let’s start by reviewing the big picture of the book of Ephesians. Chapters 1-3 How God is gracious to us Chapters 4-6 How we are to live-out grace The first three chapters, chapters 1-3, don’t include many imperatives, or commands. They don’t tell us how to live as much as they tell us what God has done for us. The next three chapters, chapters 4-6, tell us how to respond to grace and are full of imperatives and commands. Grace
I like riddles. Do you like riddles? I like riddles but I’m incredibly bad at them. Here’s one I found on Reddit, which was in an advertisement (don’t shout out the answer). I am the destroyer of mountains, the killer of kings. I always fly by, yet I don’t have wings. I can end basketball games or marriages with similar ease. And though I flow like a stream, only water can freeze. I’ve murdered parents and children and houseplants galore.
I like riddles. Do you like riddles? I like riddles but I’m incredibly bad at them. Here’s one I found on Reddit, which was in an advertisement (don’t shout out the answer).
I am the destroyer of mountains, the killer of kings. I always fly by, yet I don’t have wings. I can end basketball games or marriages with similar ease. And though I flow like a stream, only water can freeze. I’ve murdered parents and children and houseplants galore. Yet despite all this you always want more. Who am I?
Now I know some of you are thinking “Nicholas Cage…” But that’s actually not the correct answer. Someone guessed that on Reddit. What’s the real answer?… Time. How about this one?
A horse jumps over a tall building and onto a priest who is immediately taken away but only for a short while. What am I talking about?
Why do we like riddles? It’s because they cause us to pause and think, and if we can figure out the answer, we feel intelligent and smart. Of course if we can’t figure out the answer and have to ask for it, we feel a little dumb. But there’s still that “ah-ha” moment. So what is this riddle talking about? Chess.
The Apostle Paul tells us about a riddle in our text today. He tells us about one of the oldest riddles of all time that has finally been solved. Let me summarize Paul’s riddle in my own words.
What is unknown now known? Two now one? Weak yet strong?
Why should you care about this riddle? Because the answer to this riddle can change your life. This riddle is so profound that when we finally understand the answer, we will want to share it with others.
In Ephesians chapter 3 Paul is about to say a prayer for the believers but he interrupts himself to marvel at this mystery. In verse 1 Paul says this.
Ephesians 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— (NIV®)
But notice the dash at the end of the verse? That tells us Paul takes a detour. His train of thought returns in verse 14, “For this reason I kneel before the Father…” But before he prays, which we’ll look at next week, he speaks of a mystery revealed, which is the first part of our riddle.
What is unknown now known? (Eph 3:2-5) 2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. (NIV®)
Paul is writing to the believers at Ephesus and he begins in verse 2 by explaining his job description. He is an administrator. At Cornerstone we have an Office Administrator. She does things like order supplies, prepare the bulletin, and tell me what to do. My only complaint is that she is just too perfect. An office administrator helps run a church. Paul is an administrator of grace. The Greek word for administration (oikonomia) means to “manage a household.” Most of us don’t have enough money to pay someone to manage our houses. We do it ourselves. But Paul is the one God has called to manage the household of grace—to share grace with those lost in sin.
Our sermon series, “We Need Grace” ties nicely into this theme. Paul is saying that this riddle is a riddle of grace. That’s a hint, a clue. When God has made what was unknown known it clearly shows his amazing grace. When God reveals the mystery through Christ Jesus, we say, wow that’s grace! That’s amazing!
Paul actually tells us that God has withheld this mystery from previous generations. That means the believers who came before Paul and the people of the Old Testament didn’t fully understand. God hinted at this mystery throughout the Old Testament. When God promised to bless the father of the Israelite people Abraham in one of the first chapters of the Bible he hinted at it.
Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (NIV®)
When the prophet Isaiah said Egypt, Assyria, and Israel will become one God was hinting at it.
Isaiah 19:23-25 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.” (NIV®)
When the prophet Zechariah prophesied to Jerusalem after the exile God was hinting at it once more.
Zechariah 2:11 “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. (NIV®)
God is going to work through the Israelites to bless the whole world. It’s through Christ Jesus and the New Testament apostles and prophets that we receive the answer (Rom 11). “What is unknown now known” is another way of saying, “What was a mystery God has now revealed.” God has told us the answer to the mystery and the answer shows us his grace.
I picked up my parents from the airport on Wednesday and I took a different route home. Although they had a vague idea of where we were—they knew the highway and saw landmarks—it wasn’t until we pulled onto one of our final streets that the mystery was revealed and I heard my dad say, “Ah, I know where we are.” We had driven in the back roads to our house. That’s what Paul is doing. He’s driving the Ephesians and all believers home, but it’s taken them and maybe us too a while to figure out where we are. Do you want to go home? Where are you on your spiritual journey?
Does God seem unknown or unknowable to you? He has made himself known by being born into this world. God took on human flesh as the baby Jesus, lived an innocent life, and died in our places on the cross to make salvation known. If you repent of your sins and put your faith in Christ Jesus you receive the holiness God himself has. That’s a mystery too! When we come to Jesus, it feels like we’re finally coming home. Let’s continue with our riddle, our mystery. What is unknown now known?
What is two now one? (Eph 3:6) Do you want to know the answer to Paul’s mystery? Paul reveals the answer in the next verse.
6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (NIV®)
The Jews and Gentiles are becoming one, a new people. Paul told us about this mystery in chapter 1.
Ephesians 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, (NIV®)
Paul is saying you Gentiles (the non-Jews) get to share in the riches of God’s holy people, the people of Israel. Paul spoke again of this in chapter 2.
Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (NIV®)
You non-Jews who once who were far away because of holiness laws, can known be brought near through the holiness of Chirst Jesus. Paul speaks of the answer more in Romans 11 and Galatians 3.
Romans 11:25-26a I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved… (NIV®)
Galatians 3:28-29 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (NIV®)
Are you finally ready for the answer to our riddle? Can anyone guess it? What is unknown now known? What is two now one? What is weak yet strong? The Church! God promised the church in the Old Testament and revealed it in the New Testament. The church is made up of Jews and Gentiles who believe in Christ Jesus. Instead of Jewish people being saved one way, by keeping the law and commandments which they could not do, they are saved through faith in Christ Jesus. Instead of us Gentile people being saved by doing good works or living moral lives, which we could not do, we are saved by faith in Christ Jesus. Together, we become one new people, the Church.
There are lots of blessings we receive when we confess our sins and put our faith in Jesus Christ. We receive eternal life. We get to share in the new heavens and new earth when Christ returns. We will dwell with Jesus forever. We will have never-ending joy. But one of these blessings is more tangible and immediate. It is the blessing of becoming a member of the Church. When I say “Church” I first mean “big-C Church”—as in the universal or invisible church, which includes all believers from all times and places. Only God truly knows who is a part of the big-C Church. The little-c church is a local congregation like Cornerstone, which is limited in size. The way we receive the blessing of being a member of the big-C church is by being a member of a little-c church. Membership down here demonstrates membership up there. Richard Coekin writes in Ephesians For You, “… church is meant to be a team game. A church is never about one person or one kind of people.”
In verse 6 Paul uses the illustration of a body. Our bodies have lots of different parts. We have eyes and ears and livers and kidneys and those of us who do CrossFit have biceps… If a body is a picture of the church then it makes sense that the church should be full of middle eastern people, and Asian people, white people, black people, tall, small, young, old, mature, immature, rich, poor, all kinds of people. We as a church should make sure we’re trying to not just reach people that look like us but all peoples of all ages.
What is unknown now known? What is two now one? The Church. In our last part, Paul tells us what God is doing through the church. The last part of our riddle is this.
What is weak yet strong? (Eph 3:7-13) 7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. (NIV®)
Paul’s job has been to make this mystery known—that God’s grace is not just for the Jewish people but the Gentile (non-Jewish) people as well. Back in verse 1 Paul said he is a prisoner, and then here in verse 8 he calls himself “the least of all the Lord’s people” and then in verse 13 he says he is “suffering.” Paul is weak and broken, but he is also strong in Christ. Paul is a model for us the church. Let’s zero-in on verse 10.
10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, (NIV®)
I like reading fantasy books, and I just finished listening to one where the antagonist has the most power and calls himself divine. It seems like he is impossible to defeat. He has the greatest power. He’s invincible. But the character with the least useful power uses her gift to defeat him. That makes her glory and his shame all the greater. God is using us, the church, the most broken, sad, dis-unified, sinful and weak institution in the world—to take down the supernaturally powerful Satan and all his forces (Eph 6:10-12). You know why we love the local church, our local church, even though we’re messed up? Because God loves us and is working through small, young, stumbling about Cornerstone to defeat the evil one. Christ uses our weakness to overcome Satan.
Before I get to my conclusion I want to point out that we’re called to a similar ministry as Paul. As the church, we’re called to make the mystery known as well. When we hear a good riddle what do you do? We tell it. I can think of several friends that I just want to sit down with and share the gospel with, but I haven’t yet because I’m weak and scared. Do any of you feel that way? Is there someone Christ would like us to share Jesus with but we haven’t yet? Christ wants to empower us as the church in our weakness to make known his mystery. Usually, we tell ourselves, “When I get stronger I’ll talk to that person. When our relationship is stronger or when I know my Bible stronger or when the timing is stronger, then I’ll do it. What if Jesus wants to use us in our weakness? What if he wants us to fast and pray and go talk to them? I’d love to talk to you more if you want to hold each other accountable. This is why we are the church.
So what’s my big idea?
What is unknown now known? Two now one? Weak yet strong? Our Church. Before time began God wrote a riddle (Eph 1:4). As history unfolded God whispered hints through his prophets and Scriptures. God sent his Son Jesus to make this riddle possible by his death and resurrection. The Apostle Paul preached this riddle to the Gentiles and Jews and to us today. You know the answer is the church. But do you know who the answer is? The answer is you! It’s us! We’re the church! We’re the answer to the mystery! As we close in song let’s marvel at God’s mystery. What is unknown now known? Two now one? Weak yet strong? Our Church.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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In seminary they taught us to preach a passage like it’s written. So if you’re preaching a narrative like a parable or story of Jesus’ life, you should try to tell a story. And when you preach one of Paul’s letters that tend to be more logical and reasoned, you should make a more logical and reasoned argument. But rules are made to be broken, especially if you think the Lord is leading you another direction. So today I am going to start my sermon with a story that although is allegorical and metaphorical, will hopefully introduce both our hearts and minds to what the Apostle Paul has to say in Ephesians 2:11-22.
So please imagine with me you live in a brown desert–like land. You were born there and you’ve grown up there. You grew up in a small town with very few job opportunities. You have some family there, but most have them have died. It’s not a safe place to live. You’ve done some bad things there and you know that if you stay there those bad things will catch up with you. This country is the land of no hope. There’s no hope for the present or for the future.
But you hear of a better country—the far country. You hear the far country is a land of opportunity and hope. You hear there are green plants and living animals, birds, cows, horses, dogs, and rabbits. But there’s a problem. Your country, the land of no hope is at war with the far country. They are sworn enemies. As a citizen of your country you are considered an enemy, a terrorist, by the people of that other land. But you decide that maybe, just maybe, they will receive you.
You begin to make the long hard journey. You travel through waste lands and desert plains. You pass dead bushes and trees and ghost towns. Ash falls from the sky. You pass the skeletal remains of cattle and birds and the human bones. And when you think you can’t go any further and are parched and dying of thirst you spot something on the horizon. At first you think it’s a mountain range because it stretches from the left to the right, but as you get closer you realize it’s a wall. It’s a one-hundred foot tall wall.
The wall is straight up. It’s smooth and impossible to climb. No ladder is tall enough, and as you look at the base of the wall, you realize that even if you had a shovel you could never dig beneath it. There is no way over or under this wall. You’re stuck. But as you’re standing there looking at the wall you hear life on the other side. You hear birds chirping and cows mooing and the sound of a waterfall. You know if you can just make it over you’ll be saved.
And then you hear the sound of laughter, so you begin to shout. “Help me! Help me! Save me! Save me!” A handful of people appear at the top of the wall, looking over. They’re each wearing white tunics. They throw a rope down the side of the wall and begin to lower it. You think, “At last! I’m saved.” But just before the rope reaches you they stop lowering it. You hear a voice call to down, “Are you one of us?”
You don’t know what you mean so you shout back, “Who are you?”
There’s a pause and you hear a second question, “Are you circumcised?”
You shout back, “Why do you want to know that?”
A third question, “Have you ever eaten pigs or dogs or cats or horses or donkeys or rats or seafood that has a shell like lobster and oysters?
“Yes! You shout back.”
“Final question,” they shout back. “Do you work on Saturdays?”
“When I have a job” you reply.
There’s a pause, and then those on top of the wall begin to pull the rope back up.
As they raise the rope your heart sinks. “Why?!” You shout.
“Because you’re unclean” they reply. “Get away from here. You’re not one of us. You don’t look like us or act like us or obey our country’s laws. Go away!” And they begin to throw sticks and stones and rotten food down at you. You flee the wall—running for your life.
The people on the other side of the wall don’t want you, but you will die if you stay on this side. Others have died. You notice a burial site a little ways away. And when you walk over you realize it’s an empty grave that looks freshly shoveled. Robbers must have stolen the body.There’s a small wooden cross buried in the dirt with a sign hanging on it. You read it.
“Here lay king Jesus. He shed his blood so that enemies who repent of their sins and believe in him may freely come into his country.”
As you look down at this cross in this land of death and decay you examine your heart. You know you were born in a bad place but you’ve done many bad things by your own choosing. You deserve to die here as an enemy of this king, but this says that if you repent and believe in the king of the far country he will rescue you. Could it possibly be true? You get on your knees and you say a small prayer, repenting of your sins, believing in king Jesus and hoping beyond hope that he will deliver you.
As you pray this prayer the ground begins to rumble and shake and that 100-foot wall that seemed to strong and opposing and permanent comes crashing down. When the dust from the rubble begins to clear you see a new man walking towards you wearing a red garment and a golden crown. He walks up to you, embraces you invites you to follow him. You follow him, slowly making your way through the rubble. And as you pass through the cloud of dust and it begins to clear you begin to see the far country for the first time with your own eyes.
You see birds of all shapes and sizes and you hear all their different songs. You see cattle grazing and horses running in fields of green grass. There’s a tall waterfall and blue streams of living water flowing past the roots of apple trees. In the distance you see a golden city with spires rising up into the clouds.
But before you head that direction the king dressed in red leads you to the group of people in white who called down to you from the top of the wall. With fire in his eyes he picks up their rope and rips it to shreds. As you look into the faces of the men and women who tried to drive you away you see real humans with real faces and real lives and they see you too. With tears in their eyes they tell you how sorry they are and you embrace.
Then you hear the king in the red tunic speak to you all, “Welcome to my country. You are each a citizen and a son. Come and follow me to the far city. I’m still building it and you each have a precious and important part to play.” Together you set off to the golden city. Let me pray.
King Jesus, would this story speak to our hearts? Thank you for delivering us from the land of death and decay to the hope of eternal life. Help us examine our hearts so that we don’t drive others away from you. Help us see our blindspots. Help us follow you. In your name Jesus. Amen.
I told you this story because passages like the one Paul gives us are hard to relate to. But hopefully my story gives us a context to understand what Paul is saying not just intellectually but also with the heart. I want us to feel what Paul is saying. Paul is saying three things:
We Gentiles didn’t have access to the Jewish people’s salvation. (v11-12) Gentiles means “non-Jewish people.” I am not Jewish. Paul is very clear that God’s plan of salvation was first and foremost for the Jewish people. Verse 12 gives us four reasons we had no hope.
You were separate from Christ.
God promised the Israelite people he would send them a “chosen one” to rescue them. The chosen one was the Messiah, a king. Christ means “Messiah. If you were born a Gentile, this Messiah wasn’t for you. He was for the people of Israel. You were separate from Christ.
You were excluded from citizenship in Israel.
To be a Gentile by birth (v11) means you are not born a citizen of Israel. We understand how important citizenship is in America. You have to be born here to be a citizen or have parents who are citizens. To be born into a Jewish family meant you received the rights and privileges of being Jewish, which meant access to the temple and knowledge of the Scriptures and the one true God. If you were a male you were circumcised at eight days. If you were not Jewish but wanted to become one you had to be circumcised and had to keep Israel’s dietary, Sabbath, and sacrificial laws. Those Gentiles who did so were known as “proselytes,” but even then most Jews didn’t consider them to be fully Jewish.
You were a foreigner to the covenants of promise.
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures (what we today call the Old Testament) God made promises (which is what covenants are) to some very specific people and their descendants, first to Abraham, who became the father of the Hebrew people, and then to his son Isaac and his son Jacob. It’s through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Israelite nation that God brought salvation. Although Genesis 12:1-3 tells us that God was going to use Abraham and his descendants to bless all the nations, Israel received the covenants first. Even though God promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34 to make a new covenant, which Jesus made at the Last Supper, it came first to the Hebrew people. We were foreigners to the covenants of promise.
You were without hope and without God in the world.
Being separated from the Messiah, excluded from Israel, and foreigners to God’s promises we were truly without hope. We lived in the land of no hope and would die there if it weren’t for a Savior rescuing us.
But notice all four reasons include the word “were.” These things were true apart from Christ.
But now in Christ Jesus the wall between Jewish and Gentile people has come down. (v13-18) Two weeks ago Andy pointed out a transition in verse 4 like ours today in verse 13. He said, “But because of his great love for us, God….” So you’re sinful and broken, “but God…” has all this grace in store for you. Today we see that same transition. You were sinful and broken “But now in Christ Jesus…” the wall that divides Jewish and Gentile people has come down. What is that wall? What is the dividing wall of hostility that I pictured as a border wall or apocalyptic end of days wall in my story?
I’ve brought a picture of a model of Herod’s temple complex. The temple was built on a large plateau called the temple mount. It had a large courtyard called the Court of the Gentiles. This courtyard stretches around the temple but stops before you reach the temple steps. At the steps was a 4.5 foot wall that non-Jews were not allowed to pass on penalty of death. Stone slabs were set all around this wall, which said:
“No foreigner is to enter within the forecourt and balustrade around the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his subsequent death.”
In Acts 21:27-36, Leaders in Jerusalem falsely accused Paul of bringing Greeks past that wall and defiling the temple. They drag him out and try to kill him. That same hostility still filled the early church. There was a deep root of racism that ran through the Jewish believers that Gentiles were unacceptable and had to convert to Judaism before they could become true Christians. Paul is saying that’s not the case. You don’t have to practice the sabbath. You don’t have to follow their dietary laws. Christ has fulfilled all the law’s requirements (v15) and is creating “one new humanity out of the two.” He is taking both Jew and Gentile and making them into the one new people. Christ roots out our racism.
Monica and I turned in our Safe Families application this week. Safe Families came in August and told us about an opportunity to help mothers and children in their time of need. Some families don’t have a support network and need somewhere safe for their kids to go when they have to go into the hospital or rehab. We didn’t fill out the host family application but we did fill out the family friend application, so if you haven’t done that yet please turn yours in. One of the things it asks is if you feel any discrimination or prejudices during childhood and adulthood. In the application I admitted that in the past I’ve felt a bit anti-hispanic. I’m from a mountain town in Colorado where it seemed like a lot of illegal immigrants migrated. Instead of seeing them as the precious people made in the image of God that they are, I saw them as harmful to my town, country, and way of life. I didn’t see them as people but as problems. Now I have dealt with that racism in my heart, and I hope it is gone, because this is the type of stuff Paul is addressing. Is there anyone that you look at or think about and have feelings of prejudice or discrimination towards? Arabs? Africans? Blacks? Hispanics? Jewish people? Gay people? Anyone not from New England? But now in Christ Jesus the wall between Jewish and Gentile people has come down.
Christ is building us up into a brand new people with whom he will live and dwell forever. (v19-22) In the last couple verses Paul sums it up for the Gentile believers at Ephesus. You once were foreigners and strangers, but God has made you citizens of his family. Then he says how we are being built up—“on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” As a church family full of diverse people from different social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds, we don’t gather together for diversity’s sake. We gather around Christ Jesus and the word of God, which unites us as we focus on him and his word. We are united in Christ. Through him we are being built into a new kind of temple where God himself dwells. The temple is no longer made of bricks and stones but of people from all over the world from all ethnicities who love and know Christ Jesus.
I want to take a moment and ask how this applies to each of us by answering three questions:
How should this change me?
We should each feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude because I’m assuming most of us here are not Jewish. That means God’s plan of salvation didn’t come to us first. It was always intended to come to us, but as ones who are included. We should each feel incredibly grateful that we don’t have to follow specific dietary laws or be circumcised to receive salvation, but that through the blood of Christ Jesus we are saved.
How should this change our church?
As a church we should seek to reflect the diversity of God’s plan. We should work hard to be a place that welcomes all people from all nationalities and heritages. We should want to worship and do church with people that look different than us. We can each apply this to our lives by intentionally seeking to form friendships and relationships with people who are from different parts of the world than us. Invite families into your home who are from India and Africa and Asia and South America or other parts of the U.S.
How should this change our worldview?
You may have felt that my story said something political. Paul is making a political statement. He’s saying that our citizenship should not be defined by Rome or America or any other country because we are primarily citizen’s of God’s kingdom. As believers we should think long and hard about how we each feel about immigrants and refugees and how those we vote for treat them. Why? Because we are each refugees and immigrants into God’s kingdom. Even when an immigrant is illegal or comes from the worst parts of the world that is the most hostile to Christianity we must remember that we would each be condemned enemies of God if it weren’t for his grace. Instead of turning us away at the border he welcomed us into his family. This doesn’t mean we will all agree on the best way to welcome and care for immigrants but we should be the first to speak up for them, welcome them, and do our best to love them with the love of Christ Jesus no matter their documentation or country of origin.
My closing big idea is this.
No matter how different we are we are one in Christ. When we confess our sins and put our faith in Jesus, he transforms us from being enemies into friends and welcomes us into his country. He removes the old sinful and dirty clothes. He removes our old garments and gives us each a new white cloak that covers us in his holiness. As we look at each other we begin to see each other differently. Instead of seeing someone purely defined by their ethnicity or country of origin or wealth or gifts or talents or political party or any other thing, we see them as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, as valued members of the family of God. We see each other’s differences and we admire and appreciate them. Together we are journeying to that far city covered in the white cloaks of Jesus Christ. No matter how different we are we are one in Christ.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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In seminary they taught us to preach a passage like it’s written. So if you’re preaching a narrative like a parable or story of Jesus’ life, you should try to tell a story. And when you preach one of Paul’s letters that tend to be more logical and reasoned, you should make a more logical and reasoned argument. But rules are made to be broken, especially if you think the Lord is leading you in another direction. So today I
This is the first of several sermons throughout the next two years in which I will reflect on what I learn at the GCTS Ockenga Fellows retreat. The Gordon-Conwell Ockenga Institute is named after the seminary’s first President, Dr. Harold John Ockenga, and exists to help the church bring about cultural renewal and transformation. Our first session was on the Great Awakening and Ministry in New England, so I look forward to sharing some of what I learned in this sermon.
Why are you here? Why have you come to church tonight? Did you come because your friends are here? Did you come because your boyfriend or girlfriend or parent asked you to come? Did you come for the music or the sermon or because you think church is important? I come for the cheese and crackers.
A man named Nicodemus once visited Jesus under cover of darkness to find out who Jesus is. He was a Pharisee and “a member of the Jewish ruling council.” Nicodemus was an intelligent man, a man who knew the Hebrew Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament today), a man who had standing and authority. I think it’s fair to say that he was probably a good man too. We would call him “open-minded” today. Many of the Pharisees brushed Jesus off, but Nicodemus doesn’t do that. He goes to Jesus because he wants to know who Jesus really is.
Do you see a little of yourself in Nicodemus? Are you interested in who Jesus is? Are you intelligent, at least moderately so? Are you a good-person? Are you open-minded? If yes, then can I say this of you?…
You’ve come to Jesus wondering who he is. (v1-2) You’ve come to church to find out who Jesus is. And maybe if you already believe in Jesus you’ve come to church to remember who you think Jesus is. But there’s one problem with Nicodemus. He is spiritually blind. Nicodemus came at “night.” By including this detail the author of this gospel, John, isn’t just recording when it happened, but telling us a little something about the spiritual state of Nicodemus.
Why do we do things at night? Because we don’t want people to see us. When we were teenagers my brother and a couple friends and I got dressed up in camouflage and tried to sneak from one end of my hometown to the other end of town under cover of darkness without anyone seeing us. People spotted us in the first thirty seconds. Nicodemus doesn’t want to be seen. But that night isn’t just on the outside. It’s inside too. Nicodemus’s heart is dark. He’s spiritually blind (John 11:10). He doesn’t know who Jesus is.
John 3:1-2 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” (NIV)
Nicodemus doesn’t come outright and say it, “Who are you Jesus?” but you can see it implied in his statement. “Rabbi, we know you are from God because you do miracles… but who are you really?” Have you ever asked Jesus that, “Jesus, who are you really?” I hope you’re asking it right now because Jesus is going to answer you different than you expect. Do you want to hear how Jesus answers Nicodemus?
To get into God’s kingdom you have to be born again. (v3-4) John 3:3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (NIV)
Instead of telling Nicodemus who he is Jesus calls him out, “Nicodemus, you’ve got it all wrong. You think you’ve figured me out but you don’t know what it’s all about.” It’s like Jesus is pointing at you and saying, “You’ve got it all wrong. You don’t know half of what you think you know.” Most of us assume if we’re good people we’ll go to heaven. Nicodemus assumed that because he was born Jewish and knew the Scriptures that it would turn out okay for him, but Jesus says you have to be “born again” to see God.
If you’re a normal human being like Nicodemus you probably think that’s the most ridiculous statement you’ve ever heard.
John 3:4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” (NIV)
Last week I went back to the seminary I attended, Gordon-Conwell, to participate in the 1st of seven retreats as part of the Ockenga Fellows program. At this retreat we discussed ministry in New England. One of our teachers shared a study (that although is now dated is interesting).
“Fewer people in New England say they have had a “born again” experience – 16.5% compared to 36.5% for the nation. (General Social Surveys, 1972-1994).”
Monica told me that once when she invited one of her coworkers at her old job to Christianity Explored, the woman took the invitation, read it over, looked at Monica in horror and said, “You’re not one of those born agains are you?” To which Monica said, “Yep, I am…” It was awkward.
Now the Ockenga study didn’t define what born again means. They say it’s some kind of “experience” but the Barna Group’s 2015 State Report of Massachusetts says how many people are “born again” in Massachusetts and they define it.
“Born again: say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and believe that, when they die, they will go to heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus as their savior.”
They report 22% of Massachusetts considers itself “born again” in comparison to 41% nationwide. That means that roughly 1/5 people consider themselves born again Christians, which is actually kind of encouraging to me. But is that what Jesus means by being born again? This is what I think Jesus means.
The Holy Spirit must completely cleanse and transform you from the inside out. (v5-7) John 3:5-7 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ (NIV)
That seems a little confusing. Let me explain. In verse 5 Jesus says you have to be “born of water and the Spirit” and then in verse 7 he tells Nicodemus that he shouldn’t be “surprised” by this. Because Nicodemus knows the Hebrew Scriptures well (the Old Testament), he should know that the prophet Ezekiel foretold being cleansed by water and the Holy Spirit.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (NIV)
You don’t have to be baptized with literal water to be born again. Water is a symbol of God’s cleansing power and the Holy Spirit brings God’s transforming power. Here’s my definition of what it means to be born again.
To be born again is for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in you, cleanse you of your sins, and to completely transform you from the inside out through faith in Christ Jesus.
To be a true Christian God’s Holy Spirit has to enter into you, cleanse you of your sins, and change your heart, which leads to your whole life being changed—or what we call “being born again.” I don’t think Barna’s definition of being born again is wrong. We must believe in Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection. But we can’t separate that from the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us faith in Christ and works through the faith we have to give us a new spiritual birth—to change our lives.
The Greek word for “again” in “born again” (v3) can also mean “born from above.” You need the Holy Spirit to come down from heaven and turn you into a heaven-bound creature. I want you to ask yourself. Am I born again? Has the Holy Spirit come and cleansed me of my sins and is he completely transforming me from the inside out? Elsewhere the Bible tells us that those who are born again:
Do what is right (1 John 2:29) Turn from their sins and to God (1 John 3:9; 5:18) Love one another (1 John 4:7) Overcome the world by faith in Jesus (1 John 5:4-5) Believes Jesus is the Messiah — God’s only chosen Savior. (1 John 5:1)
Do you obey God? Are you turning from your sins? Do you love one another? Do you have faith in Jesus? Do you believe he’s the only way you can be saved? These are all signs of being born again.
As part of the Ockenga program we read a biography of George Whitefield, who was the greatest preacher during the first Great Awakening in England and the Colonies in the 1730s and 40s. If there’s one central message of his preaching it’s that you must be born again. Whitefield preached in a time when people had forgotten the importance of the heart. They had begun to just go through the religious motions. If they went to church and were good people, surely they were safe, right? No! Whitefield boldly told them that the Holy Spirit had to completely transform their hearts from the inside out.
This was a radical message for that day. The message of the “new birth” completely captivated the whole country. When George Whitefield preached thousands came to hear him. When people heard George Whitefield was going to preach, they would leave their plows in the field and ride as fast as they could to find him. Whole plumes of dust would gather in the sky from all the people and their wagons. And when he preached people wept and cried out as they realized how sinful they were and their need to be born again. And once this message arrived people wanted to hear more.
There’s one story of a pastor in Scotland who was kind of a boring preacher. He didn’t attract large crowds. But his church heard about the message of being born again and he began preaching on it. Whitefield came and preached and they experienced a revival. That’s why I’m trying it today! I wanted to share a few paragraphs from one of George Whitefield’s sermons called On Regeneration from 2 Corinthians 5:17. Regeneration is the theological term for being born again by the Spirit. In this sermon Whitefield talks about Nicodemus coming to Jesus and explains why we have to be spiritually reborn.
For, supposing we were, as Nicodemus ignorantly imagined, to enter a “second time into our mother’s womb, and be born,” alas! what would it contribute towards rendering us spiritually new creatures? Since “that which was born of the flesh would be flesh still;” we should be the same carnal persons as ever, being derived from carnal parents, and consequently receiving the seeds of all manner of sin and corruption from them. No, it only means, that we must be so altered as to the qualities and tempers of our minds, that we must entirely forget what manner of persons we once were. As it may be said of a piece of gold, that was once in the ore, after it has been cleansed, purified and polished, that it is a new piece of gold; as it may be said of a bright glass that has been covered over with filth, when it is wiped, and so become transparent and clear, that it is a new glass:
Whitefield is saying the Holy Spirit completely transforms our lives. He goes on to apply what it means to be born again. He says you can be committed to public and private prayer, taking the Lord’s supper, and even fasting, but although those things are good, what matters is being born again by God’s Holy Spirit. You can even be a moral and good person and call yourself a Christian, never hurting anyone, but that doesn’t mean you’re born again.
We may indeed depend on the broken reed of an external profession; we may think we are good enough, if we lead such sober, honest, moral lives, as many heathens did. We may imagine we are in a safe condition, if we attend on the public offices of religion, and are constant in the duties of our closets. But unless all these tend to reform our lives, and change our hearts, and are only used as so many channels of divine grace; as I told you before, so I tell you again, Christianity will profit you nothing.
In other words, we don’t practice religion for religion’s sake or to be good people. We read our Bibles and pray and go to church to encounter the living God, and have the Holy Spirit change our lives.
Let each of us therefore seriously put this question to our hearts: Have we received the Holy Ghost since we believed? Are we new creatures in Christ, or no? At least, if we are not so yet, is it our daily endeavor to become such? Do we constantly and conscientiously use all the means of grace required thereto? Do we fast, watch and pray? Do we, not lazily seek, but laboriously strive to enter in at the strait gate? In short, do we renounce our own righteousness, take up our crosses and follow Christ? If so, we are in that narrow way which leads to life; the good seed is sown in our hearts, and will, if duly watered and nourished by a regular persevering use of all the means of grace, grow up to eternal life.
We don’t want to place our confidence in religious rituals, but we continue to do them as a pathway to knowing and experiencing God. So my challenge to you is the same as George Whitefield’s challenge to his listeners. Examine your heart to see if you’re seeking Christ Jesus. Search inside for the Holy Spirit’s working in you to bring you to repentance of your sins and faith in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit must completely cleanse and transform you from the inside out.
Some of you are listening to this sermon and you are Christians, and you’d like to see a revival like the one Whitefield saw with thousands of people coming to Christ Jesus. Is it possible? Our last verse says this:
John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (NIV)
God’s Spirit can change us. (v8) The word for “wind” and “Spirit” are the same Greek word, “pneuma.” Just like we can’t see the wind but can experience the wind as it blows all around us, whipping our hats off and making our noses cold, so we can feel the Holy Spirit as he changes us from the inside out. In some ways the work of the Holy Spirit is incredibly subjective because the work is on the inside, but we can see the outward effects as we watch a person grow and change and become a little more like Jesus.
God’s Holy Spirit can change a person’s life. God’s Holy Spirit can change a city’s life. I believe God can start a revival here in Westford with just one person. Are you the one person? Are you someone who needs to be born again tonight? If yes, right now as I’m talking or when I pray the closing prayer come sit in the front row and we’ll have a conversation. No one will judge you. We’ll rejoice with you! Come on down. We don’t bite.
While you’re debating that inside your head I want to address Cornerstone. Notice the last line, “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” There’s something uncomfortable about that. If the Holy Spirit is this mighty wind that comes and goes and is full of God’s power, shouldn’t we be a little more like that too? It’s easy to get locked into a routine ministry inside these four walls and to forget the power the Holy Spirit has to blow afresh in our community. God can bring revival, but it’s going to require us following him as he blows out into our town, out into our frontlines, out from these four walls. If you want to experience the power of the Holy Spirit anew, you can also come on down and sit in the front row and we’ll pray during the closing song.
If you need to be born again, come on down. Come sit in the first row of chairs. You can even come down while I’m praying. Nobody will judge. The Holy Spirit must completely cleanse and transform you from the inside out. Let’s pray.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
Photo credit: Bolton Library & Museum Services, Bolton Council via artuk.org
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This is the first of several sermons throughout the next two years in which I will reflect on what I learn at the GCTS Ockenga Fellows retreat. The Gordon-Conwell Ockenga Institute is named after the seminary’s first President, Dr. Harold John Ockenga, and exists to help the church bring about cultural renewal and transformation. Our first session was on the Great Awakening and Ministry in New England, so I look forward to sharing some of what I learned in this
Read or listen to Andy Bradshaw preach Ephesians 2:1-10 and our need for God’s grace. You can access a PDF of his sermon by clicking “Save” and “PDF.”
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Read or listen to Andy Bradshaw preach Ephesians 2:1-10 and our need for God’s grace. You can access a PDF of his sermon by clicking “Save” and “PDF.” Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube. Sermon Slides
Do you remember prayers? Are there certain prayers that stick out in your memory, maybe from your childhood or more recently? When I was a kid my dad put us to bed every-night by praying something like, “Heavenly Father, would you put a hedge of thorns and a wall of protection around Jonathan, and would he wake up refreshed and ready to go. Amen.”
What prayers do you remember? Maybe your parents or a sibling or your pastor or an elder praying? I remember that when the elders prayed in the church I grew up in they always seemed to pray forever. Praying for several minutes can feel like an eternity when you’re a kid.
When I lived near DC and helped lead a small group at George Mason University I remember how one of the students prayed. His name was Jim and it just felt like he was talking to God, like God was sitting in the room and the two of them were having a conversation. It made my heart feel something. Prayer is supposed to be real. Prayer is talking to God. Prayer is pouring out your heart to God.
Today we get to “eavesdrop” on a prayer. We get to “listen in” as the Apostle Paul tells the church at Ephesus what he prays for them. This prayer isn’t what you might normally expect from a prayer. Although they live in a culture hostile to Christianity, Paul doesn’t pray for God to protect them. Although some of them may be sick or poor Paul doesn’t pray for healing or for financial stability. Although some of them may be wrestling with sadness or hurts Paul doesn’t pray for happiness for them.
What Paul prays for is so much deeper than my normal prayers, and maybe yours too. I hope today’s prayer will serve as a model for the way you pray this upcoming week. It’s already challenged my prayers. So what Paul prays for the Ephesians I also want to pray for us today.
This is my prayer for you: (v15-16) Ephesians 1:15-16 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. (NIV®)
Paul hears how well the church is doing at Ephesus—that they’re loving Jesus and loving each other—and it so moves him that he can’t stop thanking God and praying for them. Why is that? It’s because Paul knows this church. Paul preached in Ephesus and pastored them for several years starting in Acts 19 (Acts 19:10). At Ephesus, “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul” (Acts 19:11). If Paul touched a “handkerchief” or “apron” and those things were taken to the sick, they were cured of their diseases and evil spirits left them.
But despite all this the new believers at Ephesus had a hard time giving up some of the witchcraft they’d come to trust. The temple of Artemis was built in this city and it dominated the religious life. This is a model of the temple. It was so big and so grand that it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. So this tiny group of Christians is trying to follow Jesus in a city ruled by a foreign religion and so you can see how they might struggle to completely believe.
That changed when some men called the “seven sons of Sceva” tried to cast out a demon in the name of Jesus and Paul, but didn’t actually believe. They demon said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” and then he attacked them. Acts says “they ran out of the house naked and bleeding” and this scared everyone. A bunch of believers brought their witchcraft scrolls and burned them, amounting to 50,000 drachmas, or 50,000 days labor .
After this the silversmiths in Ephesus started a riot because they were afraid Paul was going to ruin their business selling idols of Artemis, which is true. He was. This riot led to Paul leaving Ephesus (Acts 20:1).
So do you think it’s good news when Paul hears that the people of Ephesus are still loving Jesus and still loving each other? Yes! It’s huge because there was a huge temptation to either start practicing witchcraft and worshipping Artemis or to give in under the social and economic pressures of the city.
Today we too are going to face temptation after temptation to turn away from Jesus and to stop loving each other. Everyday we’re told to give up on Jesus. The church is an dying institution full of people who hurt me. There are no more powerful tools that Satan has then to turn your heart from loving Christ or to turn your heart against a fellow believer. This is why we need prayer. Paul has been praying consistently and regularly for the believers of Ephesus (1 Thess 5:17).
But what does Paul pray for? Paul prays that they would know God through Christ Jesus, and so that’s what I’m praying for us. This is my prayer for you…
1) That you may know God (v17) Ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. (NIV®)
Paul prays for the Father through the Son and the Spirit to give believers the Spirit of wisdom and revelation “so that” they would come to know God. Acts 6 uses “Spirit” and “wisdom” to mean the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:3,10). Paul is praying for the believers to know Christ by being filled with the Holy Spirit (“Spirit of wisdom”) and by understanding God’s word (“revelation”).
I made a diagram to explain knowing God. God speaks to us through the Bible, his word, and through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit illuminates our hearts or helps us hear God speaking to us through his word. Notice that we need both the Holy Spirit and the Bible. If just have the Bible without the Holy Spirit we won’t understand it and if we think we have the Spirit but don’t read our Bibles our conception of God will be warped and we may not really have the Holy Spirit at all.
Although my diagram doesn’t show it, this isn’t just a solitary “me and Jesus pursuit.” Paul isn’t praying this for individuals but for “you all—may God give you all the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.” That means I can hear from God through the church, through preaching, through community groups and discipleship classes and youth Bible studies. When a brother in Christ says, “Jonathan, here’s a sin you need to repent of or Jonathan, be encouraged” that can also be God speaking through them. As God speaks and we listen and respond we get to know God personally.
One of the things I remember from one the church conference I attended this summer was something one of the plenary speakers, Mike Perkinson, said. He said something like, “I wouldn’t like it very much if my daughter came up to me and said, ‘I just want you to use me daddy. Just use me.’” Now I’m looking forward to the day Elijah can do the dishes and mow the lawn, but I’m much more excited about getting to know Elijah as a person. I love seeing his personality begin to show. How often do we do this to our Heavenly Father? “Use me, Father! Use me” but is more interested in knowing us, loving us, and growing in relationship with us. This is my prayer for you… that you may know God… and…
2) That you may have hope (v18) Ephesians 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, (NIV®)
In the Bible the heart is the true man or true woman. It’s who you really are at your most real identity. Maybe today we would call the heart your soul or your core or maybe just your heart. Although heart in our culture is more about feelings. The heart in the Bible might include feelings but also your mind and will—your core identity.
Here Paul is praying that their hearts, who they truly are, would be enlightened so that they may know the hope God has called them to. The word for enlighten means to illuminate or shine. You ever been in a dark room, maybe asleep in bed when your husband or wife or dad or mom turns on the light and you’re blinded. Paul is praying that the light would go on in our hearts and that instead of being blinded we would truly see the hope we have. Paul tells us the state of our hearts without Christ in our next chapter.
Ephesians 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, (NIV®)
This means our hearts were originally blinded by sin. But if you know Christ, you have a new heart. But does your new heart truly see the hope it has? Earlier in Ephesians when Paul talks about an inheritance he’s talking about our inheritance, the one we receive from God (Eph 1:14). But now Paul talks about God’s inheritance (v18). Maybe some of you have an inheritance coming to you so you know that that is like, but chances are most of us don’t. Imagine your the son or daughter of Bill Gates or Warren Buffett and you will one day inherit a vast fortune. You’d look forward to that day, right?
Likewise, God has an inheritance he is looking forward to receiving. But God’s not looking forward to receiving a bunch of money. He’s not looking forward to receiving land or the family business. God already owns everything. What God is looking forward to inheriting is… you! Verse 18 says “his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” God’s inheritance is found in us. That means one of the things God is most looking forward to receiving is you and me. He wants to spend eternity with us!
I don’t know about you but I kind of feel like I am an addition to God’s plan, like God is really looking forward to spending eternity with his Son Jesus and the other Christians who were really good and did everything right. Do you view yourself like the kid who was barely let into the party. But that’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says we are God’s treasure. It says we are incredibly valuable and precious in God’s eyes. We’re his “glorious inheritance!”
This is my prayer for you… that you may know God… and that you may have hope… and…
3) That you may know the Father’s power (v19-23) Ephesians 1:19-23 [I pray that you may know the Father’s] … incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (NIV®)
My prayer for you is that you would know just how powerful our heavenly Father is. His power is surpassingly great! It’s incomparable. It’s beyond measure and words! And yet we catch a glimpse of just how much powerful our Heavenly Father is in what he has done for Jesus. The Father raised Jesus from the dead. Look at the resurrection! Look how the Father not only raised Jesus from the dead but raised him up into the heavenly places and seated him on a throne. That’s called the ascension. Did you know that you have access to resurrection power and ascension power?
What is resurrection power?
Resurrection power is believing God can save my family members, coworkers, and friends no matter how far from God they seem. Resurrection power is believing God can give me the hope I need to keep going in depression. Resurrection power is believing God can heal communities broken by gang violence or police brutality. Resurrection power is believing God can save my loveless marriage after an affair. Resurrection power is believing God can rescue me from my addiction to drugs, alcohol, and sex. Resurrection power is believing God will one day raise me from the grave.
If our heavenly Father can raise Jesus from the grave, is there anything he can’t do?
What is ascension power?
Ascension power is believing Jesus is ruling supreme over all of reality on the throne. Ascension power is believing Jesus is bigger than your scariest demons or nightmares. Ascension power is recognizing I don’t have to be afraid of our government or a controlling family member or boss because Jesus is on the very top. Ascension power is believing God can save a nation and world torn apart by partisanship. Ascension power is trusting the church and its ministry to Christ because it’s his body. Ascension power is knowing my future is secure because Jesus has it in the palm of his hands.
You have access to Jesus’ power if you have confessed your sins, put your faith in him, and received his resurrection as your own. If you believe in Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension, and you want to know him, then you have access. But so often we forget about God’s power. We don’t use it.
This is my prayer for you: that you may know God; that you may have hope; and that you may know the Father’s power. I want to end today’s message by praying for us, by praying this prayer for our church. I want to encourage you this week to include Paul’s prayers in your prayers. Pray that you and your family and friends would know God, have hope, and know the Father’s power.
Heavenly Father, help us know you. Help us know you through your Holy Spirit and your Word. Would you light up your Word in our hearts so that we love it and so that when we read it we hear you speaking to us? Would you light up our hearts so that we encounter you. We want to obey you, but first we want to be in relationship with you.
Would you give us hope? Would you give our church body hope? Father, it’s really tough when attendance isn’t good or when we don’t seem to be growing or when things like ministry or taking care of people or our building feels overwhelming. In these moments would you remind us of the hope we have in you. Remind us of how we are your inheritance. You can’t wait to spend eternity with us. We’re that valuable and precious in your eyes.
Heavenly Father, would we know your power? Would we experience resurrection power in our own lives as you forgive us of our sins and raise us from spiritual death. Would we see resurrection power all around us as you bring people to a saving relationship with Jesus, especially those people who we’ve given up on? Would we see resurrection power in our world and neighborhoods as they’re transformed by you? Would we see ascension power as we remember Jesus reigns supreme and has all things under control.
Heavenly Father, may we know you, may we have hope, and may we know your power. Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
Temple of Artemis photo by Zee Prime at cs.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6347027
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Do you remember prayers? Are there certain prayers that stick out in your memory, maybe from your childhood or more recently? When I was a kid my dad put us to bed every-night by praying something like, “Heavenly Father, would you put a hedge of thorns and a wall of protection around Jonathan, and would he wake up refreshed and ready to go. Amen.” What prayers do you remember? Maybe your parents or a sibling or your pastor or an
What’s one of the best gifts you’ve ever received? Maybe some of you are leaning into your spouse right now and saying, “My husband” or “My wife.” Aww… That’s so sweet. But chances are you had to work for your spouse. You had to date them, try and look attractive for them, treat them nicely. No I’m talking about an item or thing someone gave you that you really like—pure materialism.
On one of my favorite childhood birthdays I received Fort Legoredo. It was a lego fort filled with soldiers and guns and cannons and horses. You can see why I as a little boy would be super excited about this gift. I think when my parents bought the set it probably cost about $60. But now since it’s retired it sells anywhere from $62 to $952 online.
I still have this lego set and the original box. I have all the pieces because after I was done playing with them I would pack the pieces away in individually marked ziplock bags just like other normal children. I already have some legos ready for Elijah. When I see him putting his lego sets away in ziplock bags I’ll say, “Son, you’re ready” and I’ll bring out Fort Legoredo.
Maybe some of you really like receiving gifts. On the Five Love Languages Quiz you score high in “Receiving Gifts.” Maybe some of you don’t like receiving gifts, so you score really low. Today’s sermon is about a gift that I hope all of you will want to receive. It’s the gift of God’s grace. Mercy is not receiving a punishment we do deserve and grace is receiving a gift we don’t deserve. Grace is a gift. Paul starts our passage and his letter to the Ephesians this way.
Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (NIV®)
Today’s text, Ephesians 1:3-14 in the original Greek is one long continuous sentence in which Paul describes the blessings we have in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. A blessing is a gift. A blessing is anything good we receive from God. In this passage Paul explains three gifts we receive from God, the first of which is the most controversial. Grace is a gift and the first gift we receive is this…
- We are chosen by the Father. (v4-6) Ephesians 1:4-6 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (NIV®)
My three gifts (or points) are adapted from Richard Coekin’s Ephesians For You. The first gift we receive is that as Christians we are chosen by our Heavenly Father. There is probably no other gift in the history of the church that has caused more division, disunity, distrust, and disagreement. We’re really good at arguing and getting mad over the doctrine of election and predestination.
I’ve been reading George Whitefield’s biography. He was the most famous preacher during the Great Awakening in the 1740s in both America and England. He preached on the Boston Common to 25,000 people without any microphone. The entire population of Boston was only 17,000 at the time. George Whitefield believed in the doctrine of election and predestination but his mentor, Charles Wesley, rejected it. And they very publicly argued about it and condemned each other in the newspapers. It caused a huge rift between them for years. I don’t want that to happen here.
This is still a touchy subject today. When I was the graduating seminary I interviewed with a church that told me they liked my interview and would consider me as long as I didn’t talk about election. I don’t think I’ve preached much on this topic at Cornerstone, maybe because we haven’t had a text that emphasized it or maybe because I didn’t want to cause division. Can we agree on two things?
The church should be a safe space to talk about difficult things, like election and predestination. Whether we agree or disagree let’s just try and understand what the Bible says.
So what does the Bible say? It says we are…
a. Chosen before the creation of the world. Have you ever gotten picked for a team, like for dodgeball, capture the flag, or baseball or soccer? The best athletes always get picked first. The athletes who have proven how good they are are chosen. But have you ever played sports with someone who chose you not because of how good you are or how athletic you look but simply because they loved you (like a parent or aunt or boyfriend)? Before you or I could do anything right or wrong, before the world was even created, our Heavenly Father said, “I love you. I choose you. You are mine.” Grace is being picked not because you’re the strongest or best or even good at all but simply because God loves you. Grace is a gift.
Now maybe some of you who know your theology know there are two camps, Calvinists and Arminians, who hold different understandings of election. Perhaps an oversimplification is that Calvinists say God elects or chooses individuals for salvations while Arminians say that God chooses a group and whoever chooses to be a part of that group is saved. For example, Calvinists would say that God chooses people to get on the bus while Arminians say God saves anyone on the bus already.
In our text we see that God does save a group. This letter is written to the church at Ephesus and notice how Paul always seems to address a plural group of people—“who has blessed us” (v3), “he chose us” (v4), “he predestined us” (v5), “grace, which he has freely given us” (v6), “we have redemption” (v7), “he lavished on us” (v8), “made known to us” (v9), and “we were also chosen” (v11). God saves the big-C universal Church, all believers from all times and places. God saves the entire bus.
What is the bus? The bus is Christ. Notice how many times our passage says “in him,” or “in Christ.” “He chose us in him” (v4), “In him we have redemption” (v7), “In him we have obtained an inheritance” (v11). One commentary I read said “in him” or “in Christ” of another variation occurs eleven times… but I could only find ten. The Heavenly Father first chose Christ Jesus and anyone who repents of their sins and puts their faith, and trust, and hope, and life “in Christ” are saved.
But… our passage also seems to highlight God choosing individuals. I see this in verse 12 which says, “we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ…” Paul uses a plural “we” but then clarifies that the “we” is all the people who have put their hope in Christ. Another way we recognize God choosing individuals is through the theme of adoption in verse 5 because adoption is always a personal event. You don’t adopt a group of people but individuals. I suppose you could adopt siblings, but each is uniquely adopted into the family. The Father chose us before the creation of the world. We are…
b. Destined for adoption through Christ. Verse 5 says, “he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ…” What’s the destiny God chose for us? Adoption. Sonship. Before creation, before you were born, before you could do anything good or bad God chose you to become his child, to become a son or daughter of the king.
In that culture sons normally received the inheritance (not daughters) so if the Bible isn’t making a statement about gender but about rights. If you know Christ, you have the rights of a son! The ESV says in verse 11, “In him we have obtained an inheritance.” Because of what Christ did, we get to share in his inheritance. What does Christ get? Everything… Glory! Praise! Honor! Joy! Love! Relationship! Authority! Christ gets more of those things since he is the firstborn son, but we get to share in them too.
I once watched a documentary of a really rich family. They had adopted a girl who I think was their niece. When they interviewed her she could tell you what it was like to have nothing and what it was like to have everything. We’ve been adopted by the richest most kind and generous and loving family in the universe. Chances are that your family, although they may be great, isn’t perfect. If you know Christ, the Father has adopted you into a perfectly loving and good family who wants to spend time with you and know you and love you forever and ever. It’s hard to imagine just how good this is and one day will be.
Monica and I got our tickets to fly out to Colorado for Christmas last week. We were last in Colorado for Christmas in 2016 and we took a big family picture. My parents and three older brothers and their wives and kids are all gathered around the table. I really like this picture because it seems to capture our family. It evokes feelings in me of belonging and home and longing all at the same time. Adoption is the promise that no matter how good or how bad your family is in this life, you are going home for the Holidays. You are going to spend eternity with your father and your older brother Jesus and all your crazy diverse siblings and it’s going to be “drama free.” The Father destined us for adoption through Christ.
The first gift of grace is that the Father chose us before the creation of the world. The second is this…
- We are redeemed by the Son. (v7-10) Ephesians 1:7-10 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. (NIV®)
Richard Coekin’s Ephesians For You connected “redemption through his blood” back to its Old Testament origins, the passover sacrifice and exodus. Do you remember the story of Israel? They were held captive by the nation of Egypt for 400 years until God sent them a leader, Moses, to lead them out of captivity. But Pharaoh didn’t want to let them go so Moses, empowered by God, called down plagues on Egypt.
The last plague was that every firstborn would die, Egyptian, Israelite, human or animal (Exodus 12). But God also provided for a way of deliverance. If the Israelites took a lamb “without defect” (v5), sacrificed it, and wiped its blood “on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses” (v7), when God came to Egypt to strike down the firstborns he would “pass-over” those families. It’s by the blood of the lambs the Israelite firstborns were saved. It’s by the blood of these lambs that they were redeemed from death. This symbolism continued in the sacrificial system. But are sheep an adequate substitute for human lives? No. These lambs were pointing forward to a final lamb to come.
Jesus is our passover lamb. He chose to die on the cross as a lamb “without defect.” His blood was wiped on the tops and sides of the cross. Because of Jesus’ death God “passes-over” us. And now God offers salvation, deliverance, and forgiveness as a gift. He spares us from the punishment our sins deserve and then just like he led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt and into the promised land he is leading us, his exodus people, into our promised land.
Verse 10 tells us this redemption isn’t just for me. God’s purpose is “to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” His redemption can heal and deliver me spiritually, but it can also heal and deliver us Cornerstone, us church, us churches all around the world, my neighbor and me (frontline), my gym, this world, this creation, all things. Jesus’ blood can even bring unity to Calvinists and Arminians. We (all who know Christ) are redeemed by the Son. That’s the second gift. The third is this…
- We are sealed by the Spirit. (v11-14) Ephesians 1:11-14 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (NIV®)
What does it mean in verse 13, “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit”? One commentary said, “Seals were used widely in the ancient world as the primary way of indicating ownership.” A person sealed or marked important things that belonged to them, like livestock (branding). We’ve been marked with the Holy Spirit that we belong to God (Rom 4:11; 1 Cor 9:2). Anyone chosen by the Father and redeemed by the Son also receives the Holy Spirit. John 3 tells us the Holy Spirit is like the wind (John 3:8). He goes where he wants to go so if you receive the Spirit it’s a gift.
Maybe some of you are sitting here and asking yourself, “Am I chosen by God? Am I one of the elect? Has Jesus really redeemed me?” One of the ways we know is if we have the Holy Spirit in us. How can we sense if we have the Holy Spirit? It’s more than a feeling.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins and liberates us from their power (John 16:7-11; 2 Cor 3:17). The Holy Spirit comforts our hearts in trouble (Acts 9:31). The Holy Spirit gives gifts and talents that we can use to serve the church (Hebrews 2:4). The Holy Spirit transforms and sanctifies us, making us more like Jesus (2 Cor 3:18; 2 Thess 2:13). The Holy Spirit gives unity to people from different races and social-economic status (1 Cor 12:13). The Holy Spirit gives us faith in Christ Jesus (John 3:5-8; 16; Acts 13:48, Titus 3:5). The Holy Spirit dwells within all who believe (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19).
A pastor who served during the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards, wrote a book called The Religious Affections to try and explain who was truly saved because a lot of people were acting like they were saved. At the end of the day, the best way to tell was a longterm commitment to Christ that bore fruit. If you’re committed to Christ and are bearing fruits like the ones I just mentioned you don’t need to be afraid.
God doesn’t invite us to worry about our election or our predestination, he invites us to simply receive the gifts he wants to give us—to receive the blessings. What are the three gifts of grace? 1. We are chosen by the Father (v4-6). 2. We are redeemed by the Son. (v7-10) 3. We are sealed by the Spirit. (v11-14)
Grace is a gift. One year one of my brothers visited his girlfriend’s family for Christmas. He gave her a really big Christmas gift. It was all wrapped up beautifully, but when she opened it she found a smaller box wrapped inside. And when she unwrapped that gift she found another gift wrapped inside that one. And the box that had started out big got smaller and smaller; and by the time she got to the last box my brother was on his knee proposing. The ring was in the last box.
Grace is like that. Grace is a gift within a gift within a gift. When we open up grace we discover our Heavenly Father chose us before the creation of the world to be a child of God, a son, and to share in the inheritance. But we find another gift, and when we unwrap that we find we are redeemed by the Son. That Jesus has won our freedom and has forgiven us by his blood apart from anything we’ve done. But there’s another gift, and when you unwrap this one we find that we are sealed and marked and in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. It’s a gift within a gift within a gift with a diamond called grace at the center. Grace is a gift.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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What’s one of the best gifts you’ve ever received? Maybe some of you are leaning into your spouse right now and saying, “My husband” or “My wife.” Aww… That’s so sweet. But chances are you had to work for your spouse. You had to date them, try and look attractive for them, treat them nicely. No I’m talking about an item or thing someone gave you that you really like—pure materialism. On one of my favorite childhood birthdays I received
Today maybe you’ve come to Cornerstone because it’s the beginning of the fall season or a friend invited you. I want you to know that I have the most encouraging message prepared for you. In fact, I want to start off with a word of encouragement I received at the last church conference attended. My encouragement to you is this… “You are good for nothing.” You are good for nothing… You, are good, for nothing. Would everyone say this phrase
Today maybe you’ve come to Cornerstone because it’s the beginning of the fall season or a friend invited you. I want you to know that I have the most encouraging message prepared for you. In fact, I want to start off with a word of encouragement I received at the last church conference attended. My encouragement to you is this… “You are good for nothing.”
You are good for nothing… You, are good, for nothing. Would everyone say this phrase with me:
“I am good for nothing.”
Ready? “I am good for nothing…” This is the definition of grace. You are good… for nothing. There’s nothing you’ve done or can do or won’t do that can make you good. You’ve been made good for free. Today we’re launching a new sermon series, We Need Grace. That’s what grace is—being made good for nothing you’ve done or accomplished. Christians tend to define grace this way:
Grace: the free and unmerited favor of God.
Maybe you’re sitting here and you’re thinking, “No Jonathan. I’m not good. I haven’t received God’s favor. He isn’t pleased with me.” By the end of this sermon, you will know how to receive grace. You will know how to be good for nothing.
One of the first Christian converts to receive grace was a man named Paul. But he didn’t start pro-Christian. In fact, he was responsible for persecuting and killing Christians. But one day Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and Paul was completely transformed. Jesus forgave him for his sins and he traveled the ancient world telling others about God’s grace. Here’s some of the things he said.
Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (NIV®)
Paul is saying that we’re just like him. We’re all sinful and broken. We’re all not good. This is why we often tell ourselves how great we are because at our core we know we’re not. We’re fallen. But God can make us good—he can justify us—by his grace through Jesus.
To justify something is to say, “That thing is right” or “that thing is good.” As humans, we spend much of our time justifying ourselves, don’t we? “I am right” and “I am good.” But no matter how many times I say it I’m not very convincing. Isn’t it great when a friend or your husband or wife says, “I know you and you’re a good person”? But what if God who knows me inside and out told me I was good? What if God said, “Jonathan, you are good, at no cost to you.”? That would be amazing. That would change my life.
Paul really wants us to believe that although we’re not good in ourselves we can be made good by God. He says it over and over again throughout the New Testament. Paul even believes that God’s grace, God’s favor and power, are enough for him when he’s not strong enough.
2 Corinthians 12:7b-9a …I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (NIV®)
God’s grace saves Paul and gives him the strength he needs to live life in a broken world. Do you have that? Do you have God’s grace? Is God’s grace as real as the air you breathe? I want grace to be real not theoretical. That’s why we’re doing this sermon series, because I need grace, you need grace, we need grace. In Ephesians, which Paul wrote in A.D. 62 as he sat imprisoned in Rome he explains grace further.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. (NIV®)
Somehow through Jesus you and I can be saved by God’s grace. God uses our faith in Christ like a tool to extend grace to us. This morning at the trash pick-up teams used grabbers to pick up trash. Our volunteers were the ones picking up the trash, but they used the grabbers as tools. God saves us by his grace, but uses our faith in Christ as the tool that does it. Grace is a gift. It’s not earned but received. We have to believe, but that’s different than receiving grace as a payment for the good deeds we’ve done.
In the book of Ephesians Paul is writing to a church in Asia at the city of Ephesus. Ephesus is the capital of Asia (modern-day Turkey), so it’s big. Probably 200,000 to 250,000 people lived in and around the city. When Paul writes he’s probably writing to multiple small churches in Ephesus but as well as the surrounding region, Laodicea, Sardis, Smyrna. It’s like Paul is sending a group text or cc-ing a whole bunch of people through email. How does he start his message to these churches? (“look at your Bibles”)
Ephesians 1:1-2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (NIV®)
He starts by blessing them with the grace of God from the Father through Jesus. Before he does that he establishes his credentials. He is an Apostle. What’s that?
Apostle: a man appointed directly by the risen Christ to teach about him with his authority. – Ephesians For You by Richard Coekin
Through his encounter and relationship with the risen Christ Jesus Paul had authority only other apostles, like Peter had. As your pastor I don’t have this authority. But Paul has this authority because it was God’s will, and he uses this authority to write to and encourage the Christians at Ephesus. These are the believers, the faithful. So this is primarily not a letter to non-Christians but to Christians who are members of a local church. This is like a coupon book you receive for being a member of a store like Costco. Others can read it but it only benefits those who are members.
Paul writes to those who are “in Christ.” We’re going to learn through this whole series what it means to be “in Christ.” It means being covered by God’s grace. It means being a child of God. It means being accepted and loved by the Father. It means to be in relationship with Jesus himself. It means to be a true Christian.
Have you ever gotten lost because you forgot to look at a map or your gps? It’s easy to get lost in a book like Ephesians so I want to zoom out to look at the big picture. Ephesians is primarily divided into two parts:
Chapters 1-3 Grace Received The first three chapters of Ephesians is full of indicatives. Indicatives are in Greek grammar what is called a mood that describes what “is” instead of what “may or might be.” An example of this is, “You are listening to my sermon.” Listening describes what is happening right now. Chapters 1-3 of Ephesians describe what God has done for us or is doing for us right now.
Ephesians 1:4a For he chose us in him before the creation of the world… (NIV®)
Ephesians 1:7a In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins… (NIV®)
Ephesians 2:5b —it is by grace you have been saved. (NIV®)
Grace is anytime God does something for us that we don’t deserve. And Paul writes that God is constantly doing for us what we don’t deserve, especially in the first three chapters of Ephesians.
Now thank you for listening to my sermon. But what if I were to say, “Listen to my sermon!” That’s no longer an indicative, but an imperative. Imperatives are commands. If you say “do this” or “do that” you are in the imperative mood. There are 41 imperatives in Ephesians, but only 1 imperative in the chapters 1-3 (Ephesians 2:11). 40 imperatives appear in chapters 4-6 of Ephesians because they are all about how we live-out the Christian life. Chapters 1-3 Grace Received…
Chapters 4-6 Grace-Lived Out The verse that bridges and connects chapters 3 and 4 begins with a “therefore.”
Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, (ESV)
Because of grace, we therefore live a different life. We’ve experienced grace, now it changes us… In these next chapters we find commands for how to live out the Christian life.
Ephesians 4:26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, (NIV®)
Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (NIV®)
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (NIV®)
Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. (NIV®)
If we look at a big-picture outline of the book of Ephesians we find the first three chapters are all about discovering God’s love and grace for us and the second half is about living that out everyday.
Chapters 1-3 Grace Received
1:1-2 Introducing grace 1:3-14 God’s gracious plan 1:15-23 A grace-filled prayer 2:1-10 Grace raises the spiritually dead 2:11-22 Grace breaks down and builds up 3:1-13 Making known the mystery of grace 3:14-21 Comprehending the depth of grace
Now, this is an outline I made. If you find one in a book it might look different. But look at what the second half of the book looks like through the lens of grace.
Chapters 4-6 Grace-Lived Out
4:1-16 Be united by grace 4:17-32 Be spiritually transformed by grace 5:1-21 Be a grace-changed church 5:22-33 Respect and love each other in a grace-filled marriage 6:1-9 Be gracious to your family and to those over you 6:10-20 Put on grace to withstand the evil one 6:21-23 Closing in grace
Grace in. Grace out. That’s my big idea for today. First grace comes in second grace goes out. Grace in. Grace out. Are you familiar with the whole breathe-in breathe out? Well it’s a lot easier to breathe out when you’ve breathed in. We breathe grace in so that we can breathe grace out. In other words, we have to receive grace for from God before we can live grace out in this world in obedience to him.
I recently spotted Bernie doing fitness on Facebook, so I thought maybe he could help me illustrate our big idea. Would you come on up here Bernie? Let’s give him some encouragement (applause). Bernie, I want you to symbolically live the Christian life. I think there is no better way to demonstrate you are living like Christ Jesus than to take the shape of a cross. So would you stand with your feet together and with your arms outstretched in the shape of a cross. It looks good. You look like a great Christian!
I just realized that although you look like a great Christian outwardly, you’re actually holding onto a great deal of sin inwardly. You haven’t given your life to God. You haven’t experienced grace. You want to look good in your own strength. You want to be a great Christian, and then you’ll let Jesus just touch you up. So to symbolize that I think it’s only fair that you hold some sin in each of your hands, which we’re going to symbolize with two of my heaviest theology books with “Sin” printed on each.
Now please don’t drop the books. They’re nice books and I wouldn’t want to damage them. And I think you’ll be okay. You want to live the Christian life but you’ll deal with your sin later. You’ll experience forgiveness and grace after you’ve excelled at living like Christ. Please hold the books up. Take the shape of Jesus on the cross. Keep holding them. Breathe in breathe out. You’re a very good Christian I’m sure you’ll be fine for a very long time…
As you can see, Bernie can’t live as a Christian before dealing with his sin. He needs God’s grace so that he can live a Christian life. So I need one more volunteer (or technically our first volunteer since Bernie didn’t volunteer). Please wear this “Grace” poster along with me. Now we’re going to take the sin from Bernie and Bernie I want you to strike that cross pose once more, seeking to live as a Christian. Grace is not only going to remove your sins but hold your arms up. See, grace makes you “cross-fit…” Grace makes you able to live like Jesus. Grace makes you good for nothing. Bernie, you are good for nothing!
How long do you think you could do this for? A long time! You’d grow tired and weary right, but as long as grace holds you up you’d be okay. Thank you, you can both go sit down. Let’s thank Bernie for God’s grace in his life (applause).
It’s only after we’ve received God’s grace that we can share it with others. Grace in. Grace out.
Because God loves me I can love my wife even though she didn’t do the dishes and said she would. Grace in. Grace out. Because God values me I can turn the other cheek when a coworker disrespects me. Grace in. Grace out. Because God is kind to me I can be kind to my sibling even when they’ve been annoying me all day. Grace in. Grace out. Because God is compassionate to me I won’t yell at that car when they cut me off. Grace in. Grace out. Because God forgave me I can forgive “that person” even though this isn’t the first time they’ve wronged me. Grace in. Grace out.
One of the Chinese words for sin is crime. If God forgives you even though you’re a criminal who can’t you forgive? Do you need God’s grace? Do you want it? Chances are that if you’re not a very gracious person, you need to receive God’s grace afresh or for the very first time. Maybe you are kind to others, but it wears you out. You need an unending source of grace. You need to God’s grace. Grace in. Grace out.
There’s no better place to find grace then at the cross with Jesus. Jesus is the God who became man so that he could lift your sins up. He lifted our sins up in the palms of his hands and he did not falter. He did not waver. He struggled. The cross was a burden. But he did not fail. He bore our sins up so that you and I can experience grace. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross you and I can have our sins removed and grace can lift us up. Yes. Jesus wants us to live transformed lives, but first we just need grace.
Maybe today is the day you breathe grace in for the very first time. Maybe today is the day when you realize, “I want to be good for nothing” and “I can only be good for nothing through someone, Christ Jesus, who paid it all for my sins.” If that’s you I want to invite you to pray with me to invite grace into your life for the very first time. If you’re a Christian who is struggling to experience and give grace you can pray this prayer with me too.
Dear Jesus, I need grace. I need to experience what you have done and accomplished for me in my life before I try to go out and live a godly life. As I confess that I often, maybe even my whole life till now, try to be kind and good apart from you. But I fail because I’m sinful and broken and need your forgiveness and grace. I need your love to fill me up so that I can love you and love those around me more. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins and extending your refreshing grace to me once more. Help me grace in—grace out. Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF copy of this sermon above, which includes further endnotes and references. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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What’s your worst fear when you’re a child? Quicksand. There’s nothing like quicksand to strike fear in the heart of a child. I can’t wait to tell Elijah about quicksand. This week I came across a wonderful game published in 2001 called The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Game. It teaches you how to survive bad things that can happen. So I thought, let’s play a little game today. Let’s see how well you would do surviving some worst-case scenarios. I thought
What’s your worst fear when you’re a child? Quicksand. There’s nothing like quicksand to strike fear in the heart of a child. I can’t wait to tell Elijah about quicksand. This week I came across a wonderful game published in 2001 called The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Game. It teaches you how to survive bad things that can happen. So I thought, let’s play a little game today. Let’s see how well you would do surviving some worst-case scenarios. I thought I’d start with sharks since there have been a couple shark attacks on Cape Cod this summer. .
How to fend off a shark:
Make repeated quick, sharp jabs in the eyes or gills. Punch or kick it in the nose. Grab and hold one or both pectoral fins.
The correct answer is “A. Make repeated quick, sharp jabs in the eyes or gills.” I thought it was B or a combination of A and B. Now some of you may prefer a more tropical or jungle destination.
How to fend off a man-eating tiger:
Wear a face mask on the back of your head. Rub elephant dung or urine on your clothing. Cover your body with crushed garlic; the smell repels tigers.
The correct answer is “A. Wear a face mask on the back of your head.” I think dousing yourself in crushed garlic may just make you taste better. Now for those of you who are really serious about survival.
How to foil a UFO abduction:
Never travel alone in the woods. No UFO abduction has ever involved more than seven people. Dress like a tourist and carry cameras and a map. Appear willing to go with the aliens. Focus your thoughts toward the alien. Tell it, “Leave me alone. Go away, I have a virus.”
Apparently, the correct answer is, “C. Go away, I have a virus.” I’m not sure what research they did in the late 90s to make them feel qualified to report this, but there you go. Did anyone survive sharks, tigers, and UFOs? Nicely done. Now I want to give you one more question that I wrote up.
How to survive the end of the world:
Invest in a bunker or be the first to colonize Mars. Live life to the fullest now because there’s no escape. The only way to survive the end of the world is with Jesus.
So what do you think the correct answer is? I bet none of you are digging out a bunker or job hunting at SpaceX, but maybe you are living every day like it’s your last and not thinking about tomorrow. As Jesus shows us in our passage, neither of those are the best answer. The best answer is, “C. The only way to survive the end of the world is with Jesus.”
Today Jesus tells his audience and us about the end of the temple in Jerusalem and the end of the world. And when I say “end of the world” I don’t mean that the world will be completely gone because Revelation 21:1-4 promises a new heaven and new earth, but I mean the day Christ returns and this present world ends. Today’s passage can be kind of confusing so I thought I would start by outlining its structure to give you a bit more clarity as we go through it. Outline of Luke 21:5-38:
v5-24: Jesus prophesies the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.
This destruction serves as a “pattern” or “type” or “sign” of an even greater future destruction.
v25-28: Jesus prophesies the end of the world at his return.
The destruction of the temple serves as a smaller example of a bigger event, the destruction and judgment experienced at the end of days.
v29-33: Jesus assures his audience these things will take place.
Jesus uses the parable of the fig tree to do so.
v34-38: Jesus tells his audience how to live in light of these things.
So what? What difference does this make for my life? He addresses those who would be willing to give themselves to “partying” or “living life to the fullest now” because they know what is coming.
Instead of preaching this passage verse by verse or section by section I want to take take the big picture and draw out what Jesus has to say for us today about preparing for Christ’s return. I want to do this by answering four questions: 1) What will happen? 2) When will it happen? 3) How do we know it will happen? 4) How can I be ready?
1) What will happen? Jesus prophecies the destruction of the temple and the end times during passion week, between his arrival in Jerusalem and when he is crucified. Jesus is teaching at the temple when his disciples say how great the temple building is (v5). In Mark 13:1b one of his disciples says, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” (NIV®)
The temple was really impressive. There are no more stones left from the temple itself, but we still have stones that form the temple mount where it was built. The largest stone, the Western Stone, is 10 feet high, 6-12 feet deep, and 45 feet long. It weighs approximately 517 tonnes, or 1,139,789 pounds.That’s the size of 200 elephants or two 747 jumbo jets packed full. It’s one of the biggest stones ever laid and no one knows how they did it. The temple itself was just as impressive and beautiful.
You can see why the Jewish people took such pride in the temple. It was a symbol of Israel’s honor but also of God’s presence with them, or so they thought. I think the disciples are showing us what the people of Israel had begun to love and value the most, the objects of their religion, the temple, the rituals, the tradition. They loved their temple but they rejected Jesus, God himself. Thus, Jesus prophesies:
Luke 21:6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.” (NIV®)
I listened to one pastor this week who compared church buildings to lunch bags. I think a better comparison is lunch boxes. Lunch boxes can be really cool. You can get Star Wars lunch boxes and Disney Princess lunch boxes, but today they look more like cool packs. But no matter how sweet your lunch box is, what really matters is the food inside it, what gives you nourishment. We are so blessed to be able to use this building, and we should work hard to take care of it, but what matters most is the ministry this building enables. I went back and counted all the times I have posted photos of our Cornerstone building on Instagram. At least 17 times… and I’ll probably post more. It’s okay to appreciate and enjoy what God has given us, but only so long as we remember that we have it so we can serve him with it.
Jesus wants to snap the people out of their love for their temple and back to faithfully loving God. Jesus graphically foretells the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in v20-24. People should flee the city because of how awful it’s going to be. It will be really bad if you’re pregnant or nursing. People will die or be taken as prisoners. When the Roman emperor Titus attacked Jerusalem in 70 AD the historian Josephus said it was utter destruction. Despite siege and famine Titus took the city and burned the temple.
“No pity was shown on account of age or out of respect for anyone’s dignity—children and elderly, lay people and priests alike were slain. The battle surged ahead and surrounded everybody, including both those who begged for mercy and those who resisted. The flames spread out to a great distance and its noise mixed with the groans of the perishing; and such was the height of the ridge and the magnitude of the burning that one would have imagined the whole city was aflame” – Josephus (Wars 6.5.1). (quoted from Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)
Rome takes 97,000 captive but crucified, burned alive, or killed with the sword 1,100,000 people, including men, women, children, the elderly and the feeble. It was genocide. This is just a drop in the bucket of the final judgment. It’s just a small taste of the end Christ Jesus will bring at the last days against Satan and those who have rejected him. It won’t be genocide but it will be global and devastating. The destruction of the temple is a picture of the final judgement and it reminds us to prioritize Jesus and his ministry first.
2) When will it happen? When Jesus says the temple is going to be destroyed, the disciples ask him when it’s going to happen (v7). And Jesus, of course, doesn’t answer. Instead, he gives them Signs of Jerusalem’s Destruction:
v9: They will hear of wars and uprisings. v10: Nations will rise against nation and kingdoms against kingdoms. v11: There will be great earthquakes, famines, pestilences, and other heavenly signs. v12, 16: Jesus’ followers will experience persecution, suffering, betrayal, and even death.
We see lots of persecution happening in Acts (Acts 4:5-12; 22:18). If we look at verses 25 through 28 we see similar Signs of the Last Times:
v25a: There will be cosmic signs in the sun, moon, and stars (un-creation of the world, anti-Genesis 1). v25b: Nations will be in anguish and chaos will rage on land and sea. v26: People will be afraid and the heavens will shake.
Jesus doesn’t tell us when he’s coming back, only that he is coming back (v27).
Matthew 24:36, 42 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father… Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. (NIV®)
Do any of you remember when Harold Camping predicted Jesus would come back on December 21st, 2012? I remember driving through Lynn and seeing a big billboard saying the end was coming. I knew it was fake but lots of people believed and gave him their money. If someone tells you they know when Jesus is coming back, don’t believe them because they don’t know.
I believe there will be a period of great suffering and worldwide tribulation before Christ’s return based on this and other passages (Rev 6:9). But I don’t think as some believe that it will last seven years or that God will rapture all the Christians away before the suffering begins. I believe it’s God’s plan to use the sufferings of Christians to be a witness in Jesus’ name during tribulation, just like the Jewish believers were witnesses in v12-17. We don’t know when Christ is coming back but we do know he is coming back.
3) How do we know it will happen? In New England we know spring is coming when we begin to see the first buds on trees and the first little flowers coming up out of the hard bitter New England ground. Jesus uses the parable of the fig tree to say the same thing in v29-31. “Fig trees are bare in the winter, so the first signs of leaves are evidence that summer is near. The signs Jesus has been describing will herald the return of the Son of Man.” He assures us it will happen and in v32-33 he reminds this generation of disciples that even some from their lifetime will be alive when Jerusalem is destroyed. If the temple is destroyed, and it has been, then we can know that Jesus will return in final judgment and deliverance one day.
4) How can I be ready? This is really the most important question you can ask. Jesus sprinkles throughout this passage how the believers in Jerusalem could be ready for their suffering and trials and how we today can be ready for the return of Christ. I counted seven ways we can be ready.
v8: Watch out for false Messiahs. Don’t follow them.
Don’t follow religious or political Messiahs that claim to bring deliverance. They appeared for those first believers and still come at us today.
v9: Don’t be afraid when you hear talk of war.
Fear is the most powerful motivator, but fear is Satanic and leads us away from Christ. When you feel fear, trust in Jesus. War may be the day he takes us all home.
v13: Be a bold witness for Jesus and trust the Holy Spirit.
Jesus tells his disciples not to worry about what they will say to defend themselves. He says to trust him and he will give them the right words. If he can give the right words to Stephen in Acts 7 he can give the right words to you.
v19, 28: Stand firm, stand up, and look for Jesus in the sky because our redemption is near.
The worse this world gets the more hopeful we should become. When others shake we can be confident because we know Jesus is coming. He is going to come on “a cloud with power and great glory” (v27).
v31, 33: Trust Jesus and his words.
This world may pass away but Christ’s words will never pass away. By studying this passage and the whole Bible you can build the confidence you’ll need for the end.
v34: Don’t get caught up in living life for yourself.
Jesus tells us to not get caught up in parties but also anxieties. Don’t get caught up in living life for yourself, or in worrying about yourself. We don’t need to do that because the party is yet to come (Rev 19:1-9).
v36: Live every day watchfully and prayerfully.
The world says to live every day like it’s your last. The Bible says to live every day looking forward to eternity and the return of Christ Jesus. Let’s go back to our last trivia question:
How to survive the end of the world:
Invest in a bunker or be the first to colonize Mars. Live life to the fullest now because there’s no escape. The only way to survive the end of the world is with Jesus.
If you’ve never given true thought to this question, or if you pick A or B or some other answer, I want to invite you to C—to Christ. Jesus tells us the end will come. But it’s not annihilation or hopelessness like many end-of-the world stories portray. It’s life, everlasting life with Jesus. If you don’t know Jesus, you can today. Confess your sins, put your faith in him, and get ready for his return. At the cross Jesus allowed his world to end so that you and I can live forever with him. The only way to survive the end of the world is with Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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Today I’m going to preach one of those sermons that I hope you will talk about on the drive home or at dinner afterwards with your family. Today I’m preaching on politics. I didn’t choose this topic because I thought, “You know what would go well with my son’s baby dedication? Politics!” No, I chose this text a while ago. Now this isn’t the first time I’ve preached on politics, but I think it’s good to have a refresher before we head into the midterm elections. But since politics can be a touchy subject, let’s stop and pray.
I want you to stop for a moment and think of the political positions you associate with Jesus, the Bible, and Christians. Some of the political issues that pop into your mind are probably pretty controversial, like abortion or gay marriage or the death penalty. Maybe you also think of immigration and refugees or feeding the poor. As you think of these political issues you associate with Jesus you also may assume Jesus lands on a certain side of the issue, maybe the side you’re on. But some of you may never have associated Jesus with politics, so this is a completely new idea.
If you could ask Jesus one political question what would it be? Jesus, should we build a wall? Jesus, what do we need to do to get out of the deficit? Jesus, what should we do with our military? Should we have a military? Jesus, what should we do about pollution and global warming? What should we do about Israel and Palestine? Jesus, who should I vote for during the next presidential election?
What would your motive for your question be? Is it a competition? Ha! Jesus really is for green energy! Told you so! Or? Jesus, I want to know how to follow you better in all aspects of my life, even my politics? In our passage today some people ask Jesus a political question.
Luke 20:20-22 Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (NIV®)
What are their motives for asking Jesus this question? Are they good? No. They’re bad. They’re trying to catch Jesus in a trap! You can almost hear Admiral Ackbar yelling, “It’s a trap!” Star Wars. But because of this trap we actually learn something about what Jesus thinks of politics. Some of us might think we know where Jesus stands politically. He’s standing firmly in my camp! Right?
But what if we’re wrong? What if when we try to trap Jesus in our politics he’s really standing somewhere entirely different? Jesus calls us to examine ourselves when we think he is on our side.
When you think you know where Jesus stands politically… The spies want to entrap Jesus with a politically charged issue—paying taxes to Rome. Now I know we don’t argue about taxes today… but what made this issue especially charged back then is:
Rome was an enemy state that was occupying Israel by force, not by the will of the people. A few years earlier in A.D. 6-10 a rebel named Judas (different Judas) lead a revolt against Rome and called anyone who paid taxes to Rome a “coward” since they must not trust God.
As Jesus responds to this question he reveals that he doesn’t stand where they think he stands. From this story we can draw out three things we can do to examine if we are actually standing with Christ in our own politics or if we’re we’re trying to get Jesus to agree with our own political opinions. First…
- Test your motives. (v20-22) Verse 21 says they, the Pharisees, teachers of the law, and chief priest, sent spies to Jesus who “pretended to be sincere.” This word for “pretend” is the Greek word hypokrinomai, which means to “be a hypocrite.” It means to act a certain part. To be something you’re not. Don’t come to Jesus, pretending to be sincere, but really trying to get Jesus to say what they want him to say. I’ll come to you with my questions Jesus, but only if you give me the answer I want. Be the Jesus I want you to be, no other. In verse 23 it says, “He saw through their duplicity…” Duplicity means craftiness or deceit. When we try to twist Jesus and his politics into our own likeness that’s duplicity.
I’m not saying we all approach Jesus this way. Jesus doesn’t say everyone has wrong motives, just them. I think there would have been a way to ask this same question the right way. Just because we want to know Jesus’ political position doesn’t mean we’re bad, but we should test our own hearts. Why are we asking? So that we can win an argument against our family members and coworkers? So that we can feel superior to those on the other side of the aisle? Or so that we can live life God’s way?
Think about Jesus’ audience, those in the crowd and asking him this question. There were some there that day who wanted Jesus to answer one way and others there who him to answer the opposite way.
a. Herodians & Matthew = Pro-government pro-taxes Mark’s gospel tells us the Herodians were some of those spies who came to question Jesus (Mark 12:13). The Herodians were named after Herod because they supported Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. They supported the big government that was over Israel, Judea, and Jerusalem, and would have reported to Herod if Jesus was anti-taxation because they were pro-taxation.
And lest we’re too quick to judge them remember Jesus had at least one disciple who was also a tax collector, Matthew who we also call Levi (Mark 2:13-14). He worked for the Roman government, perhaps because it benefited him financially, but he also may have done so because he saw all the good Rome did for the nation of Israel. Rome brought peace, the Pax Romana, which was about 200 years of social and economic stability and prosperity for much of the ancient world. Rome built over 250,000 miles worth of roads and 50,000 of those were paved with stones, increasing trade and wealth for everyone.
So some in the audience probably wanted Jesus to say, “Pay your taxes.” That would benefit them and line up with their worldview. But others wanted the exact opposite.
b. Pharisees & Simon = Anti-government pro-freedom The Pharisees are the more traditional religious audience who want everyone to follow the Old Testament holiness laws. They’re serious about God’s word and want Israel to be free from Rome’s rule. One of Jesus’ disciples was called Simon the Zealot (Luke 6:15). It could have been that he was a sympathizer or even a member of a band of rebels called the Zealots, which was started by that Judas guy over this very issue of taxes. The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary says this:
The Zealots were the extreme wing of the Pharisees. In contrast with other Pharisees they believed only God had the right to rule over the Jews. They were willing to fight and die for that belief. For them nationalistic patriotism and religion were inseparable.
The Pharisees and Simon might have pointed at the tax and said, “Look how Rome is using our taxes to fund their military, which they’ve used to crucify thousands and thousands of Jews. It’s immoral to pay the tax.” We should be using that money to fund the temple and feed the widows and poor. Fight back!
Now let’s take a moment to bring these two groups into today. Who do they sound like? At a very basic and oversimplified level the Herodians and Matthew seem to line up with those who are more liberal or Democrats. The Pharisees and Simon seem to line up with those who are more conservative or Republicans. Maybe as I was even describing one of those groups you thought, “Sounds good to me!” Wouldn’t it be great if Jesus was clearly in one of those camps? If he was clearly liberal or conservative? Maybe you think he is, but then why do both the liberal Herodians and conservative Pharisees band together to eliminate the real Jesus? It’s because his teachings are threatening their beliefs and power.
Lifeway Research just released a new study they did on churchgoers and politics. They found 46% of Protestant churchgoers in America under the age of 50 prefer to attend a church where people share their political views. But it’s not my generation that likes diversity in politics. As it questions people over 50 they seem to prefer more diversity. But no matter your age there’s still a significant portion who don’t expect agreement. The executive director of Lifeway Research drew this conclusion, “Politics doesn’t seem to be a high priority for most Protestants when choosing a church to attend. But for a small group of churchgoers, it’s really crucial.”
Another question showed that 51% believe their political views match those of most people at their church, but there’s another 49% who either disagree or aren’t sure. A previous study found that “only 1 in 10 would consider leaving their church over political views.” I hope that’s none of us!
There’s a great deal of diversity and expectations in the church around politics. We all bring our own thoughts and motives that we should take the time to prayerfully examine. When you think you know where Jesus stands politically… First, test your motives. Second…
- Look for idolatry. (v23-24) Idolatry isn’t a word we use very often. Idolatry is two things. It can literally be worshipping a statue, like the golden calf in Exodus. But at a more basic level idolatry is anything we value more than God (Exodus 20:3-6). So idolatry could be a statue you worship but also money, a career, family, fitness, television, food. It’s whatever we love the most. The people who ask Jesus this question are committing idolatry.
Luke 20:23-24 He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied. (NIV®)
When they ask Jesus if they should pay the tax Jesus asks them to show him the coin they would pay the tax with, a denarius which is worth one day’s wages. Here’s a picture of it. On one side is an image of Caesar August and the other has a female figure seated on a throne. Just like our dollars say “In God we trust” these say “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus.” Essentially they say, “In Caesar we trust.”
Remember how Jesus framed his question, “Whose image [is] on it?” The Greek word for image is eikōn and it can be translated idol. By carrying that coin in his pocket at least one of the spies was carrying an idol with an inscription that declared Caesar to be the divine son of god. Where is Jesus right now? He’s standing in the temple courts (Luke 20:1). They’ve brought an idol into God’s temple. It’s like they’ve brought a Yankees hat to a Red Sox game! They’ve brought a Starbucks frappuccino into Dunkin Donuts! They think Meryl Streep is a better actor than Mark Wahlberg. It just so disrespectful.
Are your politics more important to you than Jesus? If you spend more time invested in the politics you can’t control than developing a relationship with the living God, then you’re committing idolatry. I have the tendency to do this but Jesus deserves to be first in our lives. Back in the Old Testament when Joshua was leading the invasion of Jericho he encounters God’s presence.
Joshua 5:13-14 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” (NIV®)
Joshua is leading a military engagement that God himself has approved but when he asks this divine messenger if he is for them or against them he says, “Neither.” He’s for the Lord! We don’t choose God to be on our team. He has his own team that we can join.
At his second inaugural address in 1865 President Abraham Lincoln spoke about the differences and similarities between the North and the South. The civil war was almost over and somehow he needed to bring healing to a nation. In his speech he said how each side asked God for the same thing:
“Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.”
Even as Lincoln condemns slavery he calls on his audience, the victors, to examine their own hearts and to admit that God’s ways are higher than our ways. God is on his own side. When you think you know where Jesus stands politically… First, test your motives. Second, look for idolatry. Third…
- Give God everything. (v25-26) Luke 20:25 He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
26 They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent. (NIV®)
Jesus says to give earthly rulers what they are due. Caesar is due the thing with his image and name on it, so money and taxes. But then Jesus contrasts this with what God is due, “Give God what is God’s.” What belongs to God? Everything! God is Lord of all the universe. He owns every coin every king and every kingdom. If putting his image on a coin makes that coin Caesar’s is there something God has put his image on that makes it his? You!
Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (NIV®)
If you as a human being are made in God’s image, if you reflect his creativity and goodness and ability to be in relationship, it means you belong to God. Caesar can have his coin and his politics. God wants you! It’s not that he wants to own you. He wants to be in relationship with you. He wants to love you and for you to experience his love. He wants to give us life and joy and happiness. But there’s a problem, sin. .
In Genesis 3 humans broke what it means to be made in God’s image by disobeying God. We became broken images that dimly reflects God’s goodness, like a cracked and tarnished mirror. That’s what sin does. It breaks us and our ability to love God and others. And for the longest time the story of humanity was of one broken generation passing their brokenness onto the next generation. Until one day a baby was born who wasn’t broken. A baby was born who perfectly reflected the goodness of God, Jesus. The book of Hebrews calls Jesus, the Son of God, the exact representation of God.
Hebrews 1:3a The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being… (NIV®)
Jesus lived a perfect life so that one day he could go to the cross and pay the penalty for our brokenness. He who was not broken became broken so that you and I can become whole again (2 Cor 5:21). If you confess your sins and believe in Jesus he will make you whole too. He will pick you up, dust you off, and begin to repair the cracks and shine the dullness and pretty soon you’ll reflect God’s goodness and holiness too.
As the Herodians and Pharisees are trying to get Jesus caught up in a silly little debate about a tiny little man on a small little coin, the fullness of God’s glory and perfection is standing right in front of them and they miss it. They miss their opportunity to encounter the one true priceless image of God! But you and I don’t have to miss him. Today, you can encounter the living God. You can encounter the perfect image. You can encounter your Savior. You can encounter Jesus.
When you think you know where Jesus stands politically… First, test your motives. Second, look for idolatry. Third, give God everything. If you do this, I think at the end of the day you’ll be less interested in having Jesus standing in your camp and more interested in Jesus himself.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen tosermons or to read our story.
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Today I’m going to preach one of those sermons that I hope you will talk about on the drive home or at dinner afterwards with your family. Today I’m preaching on politics. I didn’t choose this topic because I thought, “You know what would go well with my son’s baby dedication? Politics!” No, I chose this text a while ago. Now this isn’t the first time I’ve preached on politics, but I think it’s good to have a refresher before
When you expect one thing and God does something completely different, remember God is telling a bigger story than you can ever think or imagine. Watch, listen or read this sermon on Luke 5:17-25 by Mark Pender. Click “Save” to download the pdf manuscript.
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When you expect one thing and God does something completely different, remember God is telling a bigger story than you can ever think or imagine. Watch, listen or read this sermon on Luke 5:17-25 by Mark Pender. Click “Save” to download the pdf manuscript.
I want to start out by playing a little game. I want to see if you can guess each answer. I’m going to ask you a “how many” question and you’re going to see if you know the right answer. How many cars and trucks did Americans buy in 2017? Answer: 17.3 million How much did we spend on movie tickets domestically in 2017? Answer: $11 billion How much did Americans spend on donuts in 2014? Answer: $581 million How
I want to start out by playing a little game. I want to see if you can guess each answer. I’m going to ask you a “how many” question and you’re going to see if you know the right answer.
How many cars and trucks did Americans buy in 2017? Answer: 17.3 million How much did we spend on movie ticketsdomestically in 2017? Answer: $11 billion How much did Americans spend on donuts in 2014? Answer: $581 million How many Cokes are consumed each day globally? Answer: 1.9 billion
Do you like to buy stuff? I do. I like going to the movies and my favorite Dunkin Donut is glazed blueberry. It seems like just about everyone likes to buy something. You don’t even have to go to the store now. You can use your smartphone to shop or you can buy a thing called a dash button from Amazon so whenever you run low on toothpaste with just the press of a button you can have toothpaste delivered.
How often do we treat God this way? How often do we come to church this way? God, I’m here to put money in the offering bag so that in return you will give me… dot-dot-dot, fill in the blank. Or maybe that’s how you use your prayers. God, I’m praying, now would you do what I want? The University of North Carolina asked teenagers about their view of God and religion and they found this.
“They concluded that most American teens view God as a “combination divine butler and cosmic therapist,” and teens were “primarily concerned with one’s own happiness in contrast to focusing on glorifying God, learning obedience, or serving others.” This was the religion of most teens, the researchers concluded, because it is also the form of religion practiced by their parents. Americans want a god who will serve our needs, fix our problems, and help us achieve our goals.”
Even in the church we unintentionally teach each other to look to God as the great provider of our wants and needs. When we come to church we expect excellent music, a funny yet thought-provoking sermon, and maybe a free mug and a t-shirt too. You can blame me for at least 3/4 of those things. I really wanted to make my big idea for this sermon, “Out with the merch. In with the church.” If God is something we use to get what we really want, safety, security, happiness, wealth, then we are consuming God and our religion is not Christianity, but consumer Christianity. Today, I want to ask this question…
What’s wrong with consumer Christianity? What’s wrong with God helping us out? What’s wrong with only going to God when we’re in a tough spot? What’s wrong with God fitting into my life? Today in our text Jesus addresses what’s wrong and it’s not pretty. He has finally come to Jerusalem for his crucifixion. He’s just ridden in on a donkey and the next big thing he does is go to the temple. He walks up the steps into the courtyard and he makes a scene.
Luke 19:45-46 When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” (NIV®)
Jesus drives out the merchants in Luke. Both Matthew and Mark tells us he drives out those who were buying too. For some reason Luke leaves them out. But both Matthew and Mark say Jesus “overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves” (Matt 11:12; Mark 11:15).
The money changers exchanged currencies from around the middle-east for the one type of currency the temple used, Tyrian Shekels. It wasn’t a Roman coin because they hated their Romans oppressors, but it did have “the image of the god Melkart.” When Jesus says they’re robbers, they would have been doing this by charging an unfair fee on the exchange rate. They were taking advantage of pilgrims who had come from far and wide to Jerusalem for passover week. That’s the first thing that’s wrong with consumer Christianity.
1) It takes advantage of others. When we approach Christianity and Christ as a way to get ahead or make some money we’re not honoring God. I recently heard of a church member (not from our church) borrowing thousands of dollars from other church members and not giving it back. I don’t really think about this sort of thing being a possibility, but it is. People can use the faith as an excuse to take advantage of the flock financially. There’s a reason we have a benevolence fund. If someone in the church personally asks you for a loan, I recommend you send them to the benevolence fund so we can assess and meet their need as a church body.
In Matthew and Mark Jesus targets the dove sellers. The people that bought doves for sacrifices were the poor. The rich could afford calves and sheep. Jesus’ parents offer “a pair of doves or two young pigeons” when they come to consecrate him as a baby at the temple (Luke 2:24). At one point in Jewish history dove prices were so exorbitant a rabbi ruled that you only needed to buy one instead of the five required. Some people, robber merchants, weren’t afraid to even take advantage of the poor.
When Jesus says, “you have made [my house] ‘a den of robbers” he’s quoting Jeremiah 7:11. Right before this verse the prophet Jeremiah calls out those who “oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow” (v6) and those who “steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow others gods” (v9). What makes someone a robber is oppressing the most at-risk in our communities, taking advantage of others for our own means, and worshipping idols. By cleansing the temple of these merchants Jesus is cleansing the temple of oppressors and idolaters. They took advantage of the poor and used money with the image of a false God to run the temple.
How do we unintentionally oppress others and commit idolatry? As the pastor of this church I want people to attend regularly and consistently because I think the Bible commands it in Hebrews 10:25, but I also have an inner voice that tells me, “The bigger the crowd the better the preacher.” My good desire can turn into oppression and idolatry. Are there ways that you use your church experience to satisfy your wants and worship other things beside God? Maybe you get all your gossip here or serve to feel like you’re a good person or just want a worship experience that fits you. Gossip may be bad but serving and worship are good things. But if we want those things more than Christ himself we’ve become consumers and idolaters. Consumer Christianity takes advantage of others.
2) It prevents others from worshiping. There’s some debate among scholars whether or not Jesus drove out the merchants in the court of the Gentiles, which was the outer plaza around the temple used by the non-Jews to worship and pray, or in the Royal Stoa, which was a hall lined with pillars and was the more common commercial center. Because of Jesus’ focus on prayer, I think it was the court of the Gentiles. The temple system required some buying and selling of animals but Jesus is angry with them taking over the court of the Gentiles because it prevents gentiles (non-Jews) from coming to worship and pray to the one true God.
When Jesus cries out, “My house will be a house of prayer” he’s quoting from the prophet Isaiah. But he’s actually quoting Isaiah 56, which is a prophecy for when there is no temple in Jerusalem because it has been destroyed and the Israelites have been taken into exile. In Isaiah 56 God is telling the people how they are to treat foreigners when they the temple is rebuilt. I want to read you two verses
Isaiah 56:6-7 6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant— 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (NIV®)
God promises that it’s not just the Israelites who will have the privilege of worshipping on the holy mountain, that’s the temple mount in Jerusalem. He also intends to bring in foreigners, or Gentiles, to worship at his house. Luke cuts the phrase “for all the nations” but Mark’s account includes it (Mark 11:15-18). Somewhere along the line the Jewish people lost sight of God’s purpose to bring in all the nations (Gen 12:2-3). They became self–focused and lost site of God’s missional plans. Worship became about what was convenient for them and met their needs, not about God’s plans.
I’m going to share a quote with you from Thom S. Rainer. He contrasts the difference between an entitled church member and a Biblical church member. It’s pretty stiff, but I want it to match Jesus’ tone that he must have had when he cast out those moneychangers.
The entitled church member treats the church more like a country club than a church. They view their financial offerings as dues to get perks and privileges. They make pastors and other church leaders cringe when they say, “You do know we pay your salary.”
The entitled church member is the antithesis of the biblical church member described in 1 Corinthians 12. The apostle Paul describes that type of church member as giving, functioning, and sacrificing. He or she is a member of the body of Christ for the greater good of the church. Others come first.
An entitled church member expects his worship style. She expects her color of the rooms and temperature in the worship center. They expect their pastor to jump when they call. After all, they think, it’s our church. We should be able to get what we want.
The entitled church member resists change constantly. These church members do not want anything that upsets their way of doing church to be introduced to the congregation. Church is about their perks, their desires, and their comfort.
Biblical church members will gladly accept change to reach people with the gospel, and to bring glory to God. Entitled church members are in churches to get their needs met.
I share what he wrote not as an accusation or condemnation, but as a challenge. May we never become entitled church members but rather Biblical church members. And if we are a little entitled, let’s confess that sin and start anew. If there is anything that we are doing that prevents others from worshipping may we address it. I don’t want to be a consumer Christian. But if I’m a selfish person naturally, what’s the antidote?
What is the antidote to consumer Christianity? Prayer. Within Jesus’ condemnation of their lack of prayer is a positive call to pray. He says “my house will be a house of prayer.” That’s a future indicative. It’s going to happen! It will happen. My house WILL BE a house of prayer. What does this prayer do?
1) Prayer teaches us to love God and others. Notice what happens the rest of this week as Jesus teaches in the temple.
Luke 19:47-48 Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. 48 Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words. (NIV®)
The religious people try to kill Jesus but all the people love Jesus. It doesn’t say for sure but I like how the text says “all the people.” I bet that means gentiles who had come to the court of the gentiles to pray were hanging on Jesus’ words too. The word “hung” means to “depend.” The people were depending and hanging on every word of Jesus because he taught truth. They had encountered the self-serving consumeristic religion of the temple, but when they encountered Jesus they encountered life. The world takes. Jesus gives. It’s through prayer that we come to love Jesus and it’s Jesus who satisfies us
It’s true that when we pray if you’re like me you probably start by telling God all of your needs and wants. That may be true for years and years but over time if we keep at it prayer will become less and less about my needs and wants and more about just being with God and lifting up others.
Pray for God to give each of us and the whole church a greater love for him and for each other. When we pray we spend time with God and it’s being in a relationship with him that we become complete. Prayer teaches us to love God and others. How else does prayer counteract consumer Christianity? If consumer Christianity prevents others from worshipping and prayer is the antidote, then…
2) Prayer is worship. When we pray to the one true God we are worshipping him. We are admitting that he is God and we are not and that nothing we can consume will ever satisfy us. We are admitting that only he can satisfy us. One of the effects of Jesus driving out the buyers and sellers is that at least for that day people couldn’t buy animals and sacrifice them. By driving out the merchants Jesus is doing away with the sacrificial system. In a similar occasion in John 2 when Jesus drives out the moneychangers the Jews seem to understand the deeper authority Jesus is claiming. After Jesus drove out the moneychangers…
John 2:18-22 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. (NIV®)
Jesus can drive out the lambs and the sheep and the doves because he the one perfect lamb we need. We can try to make the religious experience we think we need or want but all we really need is Jesus. Jesus is our perfect substitute. He takes our idolatry and selfishness and he gives us the perfect love of God and perfect love of others. What in religion or in this world are you looking to satisfy you? Have you looked to the cross? Have you looked to the lamb?
The antidote to consumer Christianity is prayer. I wonder what it would look like for us to not consume Christ or Christianity but to go to prayer and be filled with Christ. If all 55-ish of us took time to pray once a day and be in a relationship with Christ Jesus this week that would be 385 moments of true Christianity (55×7 days). If we did this for the whole month that would be 1,705 moments of anti-consumeristic true faith (55x 31 days). If we did this every day, every month, for a whole year it would be 20,705 moments of talking to the father through prayer, of focusing on him instead of ourselves, of true worship (55×365 days).
There is an antidote to this consumeristic world that we live in. There is an antidote to the consumeristic religion we can so easily create. The antidote is prayer, prayer to our heavenly father through Christ Jesus. We don’t need fast cars, big trucks, or to go to the movies. We don’t need donuts or Coke or Amazon dash buttons. All we need is a little lamb, the perfect lamb, sacrificed for us. Let’s go to him in prayer. The antidote to consumer Christianity is prayer.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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Does prayer work? When you’re going through something and you ask people to pray for you, does it matter? Does it help? Maybe you’ve seen this meme on Facebook about the uselessness of prayer. “I named my cats ‘thoughts’ and ‘prayers’ because they’re useless.” I actually think that’s pretty funny, but it’s sadly popular because people believe it. Prayer doesn’t work. Maybe some of you were on social media after the recent Parkland Shooting and you saw this meme showing
Does prayer work? When you’re going through something and you ask people to pray for you, does it matter? Does it help? Maybe you’ve seen this meme on Facebook about the uselessness of prayer.
“I named my cats ‘thoughts’ and ‘prayers’ because they’re useless.”
I actually think that’s pretty funny, but it’s sadly popular because people believe it. Prayer doesn’t work. Maybe some of you were on social media after the recent Parkland Shooting and you saw this meme showing Neo from the Matrix stopping bullets with his mind.
“When you’re in school and the thoughts and prayers kick in.”
The message is clear. Prayer doesn’t work. Prayer doesn’t matter. Do you believe this? I think most of us would say, “No! I believe prayer works.” But our real answer is not what we say but what we do. If you spend time in prayer every day, you believe prayer works. It’s easy to forget prayer’s power and importance. Today I want to encourage us to both pray more and help us understand what to pray for.
Always pray and never lose heart. (Luke 18:1) What I like about the parable of the persistent widow is that Luke tells us up front what it means.
Luke 18:1 “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (NIV®)
So why does Jesus tell his disciples and us this parable? He calls us to…
1) Pray consistently and regularly. This sounds familiar to another passage of Scripture.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray continually,” (NIV®) or “pray without ceasing,” (ESV)
Is that really possible to pray constantly? The word for “continually” (adialeiptos) really means “to have a consistent practice.” One pastor said it’s not that our prayer should be constantly occurring but constantly reoccurring. So to pray without ceasing means to pray consistently and regularly. If prayer is pouring your heart out to God you can do that by intentionally directing your attention to him throughout your day. I think that’s what Jesus means by saying we should always pray.
If we look at the parable of this widow her practice seems to back this up. She keeps going back to the judge day after day. She’s not always talking but she is always going back. Do you do something regularly, like your daily commute, driving the kids to school or activities, or maybe your Dunkin Donuts run? What if you used the first 15 minutes of your commute or the drive to school to pray? When you pray, pray out loud as it keeps you focused on praying instead of your own thoughts and it models prayer for your kids. A great part of Cornerstone’s story is how Karyn prayed for our building when they she drove by years before God brought Cornerstone into existence. Praise God. Prayer works. Pray consistently and regularly.
2) Never give up. The word for “not give up” (egkakeo) means to “not lose heart.” It’s the same word we find here.
Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (NIV®)
May we never lose heart! May we hope that God will answer our prayers even when we’re tired and afraid. I love this illustration from C.S. Lewis’ book, TheVoyage of the Dawn Treader. The young girl Lucy, her brother Edmund, and their cousin Eustace are taken to the land of Narnia where the Christ-figure is a lion named Aslan. The three of them go on a voyage and come to the island Where Dreams Come True. This is where bad dreams come true like nightmares. The ship’s crew is overcome by fear and begin to wildly row in the darkness. Each sailor hears a different noise: huge scissors, enemies crawling up the side, and gongs, so what does Lucy do? She prays!
“Aslan, Aslan, if ever you loved us at all, send us help now.” The darkness did not grow any less, but she began to feel a little—a very, very little—better. “After all, nothing has really happened to us yet,” she thought.
A ray of light, a spotlight, falls on the ship and Lucy sees something in it like a cross, an albatross. The albatross circles them three times, lands on their mast, sings out a note, and then flies ahead of them leading their ship out of the darkness.
But no one except Lucy knew that as [the albatross] circled the mast it had whispered to her, “Courage, dear heart,” and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan’s…
This get’s right down to the heart of it. We pray so that we never lose heart and we never lose heart because we pray. Always pray and never lose heart! But what should we pray for? Can we ask for anything we want?
Pray for justice when justice seems far away. (Luke 18:2-8a) Now we come to Jesus’ parable.
Luke 18:2-8a He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.
1) Pray personally for vindication. This widow teaches us to ask God for personal vindication. She is an example of the Psalmist David who prayed over and over again for God to vindicate and save him.
Psalm 86:2 Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. (ESV)
When you feel wronged or hurt and especially when you feel justified, do not lash out at the one who hurt you but pray to the one who can vindicate you. This parable isn’t a call to pray for all our wants. When I was a kid I bugged my dad till he bought me computer games. I bugged him over and over and he finally gave in. I think sometimes that’s how we interpret this parable. Bug God till he gives you what you want. Although it’s not that it is a call to pray consistently, regularly, personally, and… specifically.
2) Pray specifically for God’s justice. Orphans and widows were the most at-risk class of people in Jesus’ day. This widow had no husband or man to defend her, which most women had, so it’s left to her to plead her own case. Someone seems to have taken advantage of her. Although we don’t exactly know the wrong this woman suffered, according to one commentary when their husbands died widows couldn’t inherit the property directly. But they were supposed to be allowed to live in their house and on the land until they received a type of settlement. Perhaps this woman was denied her settlement or kicked out (Lk 20:47). We do know that her cause is righteous because although she deserves “justice” the judge initially refuses to grant it.
So we have the widow who is powerless and at-risk but also a judge who has a great deal of power and authority but misuses it for his own pride and reputation. Judges were supposed to judge righteously on the Lord’s behalf. In the Old Testament king Jehoshaphat installed judges.
2 Chronicles 19:6-7 He told them, “Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for mere mortals but for the Lord, who is with you whenever you give a verdict. 7 Now let the fear of the Lord be on you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery. (NIV®)
But this judge doesn’t care what man or God thinks. He has no shame and no honor. I read an article recently about the judge who presided over the Manafort case, T.S. Ellis III. The article described him as “tough” because he will stop lawyers if they’re not dealing in facts. He’s also “law driven,” and seeks “just” outcomes. He is even known to show “compassion” on those who take personal “responsibility” for their mistakes and is “not afraid to use his discretion to help defendants when he believes it’s the right thing to do.” That’s not the kind of judge this woman had. In the end what changes this judge’s mind is not the fear or God but the fear of this woman ruining his life. He got tired of her bugging him and gave in.
Although it’s easy to overlook I don’t want us to miss that this woman is not an example of praying for wants. She is an example of praying for justice, specifically justice for the oppressed and at-risk. First, we should pray for human justice. This quote from Bryan Stevenson’s book Just Mercyreally made me think.
“The opposite of poverty is not wealth. In too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice.”
As Christians, we should pray for the oppressed and at-risk. When we recognize vulnerable people groups, and I’m thinking of the elderly, unborn, mentally handicapped, refugees, those who experience racism, and the impoverished and poor. We should pray for them that God would grant them human justice.
Second, we should pray for divine justice. Notice the woman needs protection from her “adversary.” “Adversary” is the same word used later in the New Testament to describe Satan.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (NIV®)
As Christians, we should be praying for justice against our adversary Satan. Satan has lot’s of different tools. He can use all his spiritual tools like discouragement, oppression, and temptation, but he can also use the tangible tools of injustice, like racism, predatory lending, and drug and alcohol addiction. The two go together. Let’s pray specifically for God’s justice, both human and divine. It often feels like God is never going to do it, like God has forgotten us and his promise of justice.
3) God seems far away but he is not. This passage contains what is called a “lesser to greater argument.” If this lesser thing is true how much more must this greater thing be true? If this judge who is wicked and selfish is willing to grant justice how much more will God the father grant justice to the “chosen ones”? The chosen ones are those God has adopted by his grace and mercy (Eph 1:4-5; Rom 8:29). God may seem far away like a strict judge but in reality he is a loving father who is near and invested in our lives. God seems far away but he is not.
We also need to study the literary context of this passage for a moment. The literary context is what comes before and after your select passage. In Luke 17:20-37, the text right before ours, Jesus speaks of his second coming after he goes back into heaven. He tells us what the last days before his return will look like.
Luke 17:22-24 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. (NIV®)
The reason we experience injustice in this world, both human hardship and spiritual oppression, is because Jesus has not yet returned. As Christians, it’s easy to feel disheartened and attacked by the evil one, but the evil one wants us to believe the lie that Jesus is not coming back. He will return. It’s been 2,000+ years but Jesus is coming back. We’re one day closer to Christ’s return than we were yesterday. Pray for justice when justice seems far away.
Justice comes with Christ. Do you believe that? Then pray. (Luke 18:8b) Our parable ends by Jesus asking if he will find this kind of faith when he returns.
Luke 18:8b …However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Justice is coming, but will anyone be praying for Jesus to bring that justice when he actually arrives? This is a call to pray outside ourselves. To not focus on myself but on Jesus and the world that needs him. Pray for tangible justice in our world and communities and for spiritual justice against sin and Satan. When Jesus comes back will he find people yearning for his return and the justice he brings? Will he find us praying? Justice comes with Christ. Do you believe that? Then pray.
If justice came apart from Christ, you and I would all be lost. We’d all be found guilty and condemned for our sins. Jesus is the judge who recognizes we are guilty but declares us innocent by taking the penalty for our sins upon himself. He went to the cross so he could legally declare us righteous because he bore our sin. One day he will return and will met-out final justice by righting every wrong and making plain every lie. We can rest-assured that the Father will vindicate all his children but the only reason we won’t be held accountable unto death for our sins is because he has forgiven us. Justice comes with Christ. Do you believe that? Then pray.
PreachingToday shared a story of justice for a wrongly convicted man I want to close with.
Nevest Coleman resumed his job as a groundskeeper for the Chicago White Sox after an unexpected hiatus left him unavailable to work-for 23 years. In 1994, Coleman was charged and convicted of rape and murder. He spent the next two decades behind bars until last November, when prosecutors vacated his conviction after considering DNA evidence that should’ve ruled him out as a suspect. Several months later, a Cook County judge granted Coleman a certificate of innocence, which officially cleared his name of all related charges.
Can you imagine what Coleman went through? He served two-decades behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. What did he do to never give up? He told reporters he tried to stay positive and humble and “I just kept praying.” It would have been so easy to give up but he didn’t, so neither can we. The story continues.
While maintaining a steadfast belief in his innocence, Coleman always looked back fondly on the time he spent working with the team, which felt very much like a family. After his release, friends and family members reached out to the White Sox organization, delighted by an official invite to come and reapply for his old job. After re-hiring him, the team issued an official statement:
“We’re grateful that after more than two decades, justice has been carried out for Nevest,” the team said in a statement. “It has been a long time, but we’re thrilled that we have the opportunity to welcome him back to the White Sox family. We’re looking forward to having Nevest back on Opening Day at home in our ballpark.”
This is a picture of Nevest Coleman returning to his job. He’s the one in the center. Nevest experienced justice and restoration after years and years of waiting. He always maintained his innocence. He never lost faith, he prayed continually, and one day his hope was vindicated and he was restored. How much more will we who are in Christ be vindicated and restored? We will all receive justice one day. We will be granted our certificate of innocence. Justice comes with Christ. Do you believe that? Then pray.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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I think I’m a bit naive. When I chose preaching on divorce and remarriage this week I thought it would be an easy sermon. I mean I’m preaching on one verse, right? How hard can it be? Don’t the majority of pastors and scholars agree about what the Bible has to say on divorce and remarriage? No they do not. The more I studied this topic the more I realized I don’t know, but I’m still going to try and do the best I can to unpack what the Bible has to say about divorce and remarriage.
I also know that some of your stories included divorce and remarriage. So you may have spent lots of time thinking and praying through what the Bible has to say. After the sermon, I’m going to linger up front so if there’s anyone that wants to talk further about this issue we can have a little group Q&A discussion. I admit. I don’t have all the answers, but I do want to know what the Bible says. At the end of the day, whether you’re married, divorced, or single, we want to obey God in every part of our lives, so we need to know what his word says. One pastor read his sermon on divorce and remarriage to his church to try and be really careful with his wording so I am actually going to follow his lead today and do the same. Together let’s see what Jesus has to say about divorce and remarriage starting in the gospel of Luke.
Luke 16:18 “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. (NIV®)
This verse is an interesting place to start because Jesus seems to make an absolute prohibition against remarriage after divorce. Don’t do it because you’ll be committing adultery. We see this again in Mark.
Mark 10:11-12 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.” (NIV®)
Starting with these verses John Piper and others argue that divorce is never acceptable. I’ll link to John Piper’s Position Paper on Divorce & Remarriage in the sermon manuscript on the website so you can read it. I don’t take John Piper’s position. The main reason I don’t agree with this position is because elsewhere Jesus permits divorce for a specific reason.
Jesus permits divorce and remarriage for sexual immorality. In Jesus time there was a debate between a conservative school called the Shammai and a liberal school called the Hillel. These two schools were debating the right interpretation of this Old Testament law.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, 2 and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, 3 and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, 4 then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. (NIV®)
Conservative Shammai interpreted “something indecent” (ervat davar) as sexual immorality, like adultery (Deut 23:12-14). Liberal Hillel interpreted “something indecent” as “anything indecent,” or “anything I don’t like,” which opened wide the door for any kind of divorce. The Mishnah records their debate.
Mishnah Gittin 9Beit Shammai say, “No man shall divorce his wife, unless he found in her unchaste behaviour, as it is stated [Deuteronomy 24:1], ‘Because he found in her ‘ervat davar’ [unchaste behavior].'” Beit Hillel say, “Even if she spoiled his food, because it is said, ervat davar”. Rabbi Akivah says, “Even if he found another [woman] prettier than her, as it is stated [ibid.] ‘If it happen that she does not find favor in his eyes.'”
The Pharisees actually seem to mention this debate when they ask Jesus his position on divorce.
Matthew 19:3-6 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
Jesus tells them that God designed marriage to be a permanent institution between one man and one woman for all of life, grounding his reasoning in Genesis chapter 1.
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
But the Pharisees press where Jesus stands by bringing up Deuteronomy 24.
Matthew 19:7-8 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” (NIV®)
So Jesus sides with the Conservative Shammai school. The only valid reason found in Deuteronomy 24 to get divorced is sexual immorality. But why didn’t Mark and Luke include this? Pastor Kevin DeYoung in his sermon divorce and remarriage explains that Jesus doesn’t add “except for sexual immorality” to Luke 16 and Mark 10 because “No one in Judaism disagreed that divorce was acceptable on grounds of sexual immorality. Mark and Luke didn’t have to include Jesus’ exception because they figured it was a given.”
Let’s take a moment and apply our first point, “Jesus permits divorce and remarriage for sexual immorality.” So a reason we may (but not necessarily should) get divorced is adultery. If a husband or wife commits adultery by sleeping with someone else outside of their marriage this is Biblical grounds for divorce. The one who is sinned against may get divorced without sin and is free to remarry. The one who sinned and committed adultery, however, may not get remarried unless they reconcile and remarry their original spouse before their original spouse marries someone else (Matt 19:9; Luke 16:18; 1 Cor 7:11; Deut 24:1-4). However, they may remarry if their original spouse dies (Matt 22:30; Rom 7:2-3; 1 Cor 7:39).
This means many of the reasons given for divorce today are invalid: 1) falling out of love; 2) unhappiness; 3) one spouse just won’t grow up; 4) one person changed after marriage; 5) they had a whole bunch of credit card debt; 6) they’re sick or dying; 7) they are struggling with addiction to drugs or alcohol; 8) they are spending all of our money; 9) they don’t like your family or your family doesn’t like them; and the list goes on and on.
Although both men and women struggle with sexual immorality, I think there is a special warning for men in Matthew 5 when Jesus talks about adultery of the heart and divorce one after the other. When Jesus says “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt 5:28) that means any man who thinks he can go to strip clubs or look at pornography and his wife can’t divorce him is absolutely wrong. That is an act of adultery even if it’s from afar. This doesn’t mean that every wife should get divorced from her husband for these sins but that an unrepentant man who continues in these sins may create Biblical grounds for divorce.
Jesus permits divorce and remarriage for sexual immorality. But is that the only reason? What about abandonment or physical or emotional abuse?
Paul permits divorce and remarriage for believers abandoned by unbelieving spouses. The Corinthian church had converts who had unbelieving spouses and some of them are wondering if they should divorce their unbelieving spouses (2 Cor 6:14). Paul says no, but there is a situation where a believer may get divorced, if their unbelieving spouse deserts them.
1 Corinthians 7:15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. (NIV®)
This word for bound (douloo) implies that when you’re married you are “under restraint” and are not free to do whatever you want. So to be released from restraint means you are free to remarry if you so desire. But what does it mean for an unbelieving spouse to leave? Just like Jesus bases his teachings on Deuteronomy 24 Paul also bases his teachings on an Old Testament passage.
Exodus 21:10-11 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money. (NIV®)
For a husband to abandon a wife meant to deprive her of food, clothing, and sexual intimacy. Paul seems to affirm these things in 1 Corinthians 7. Here we see several verses where spouses are to take care of each other’s physical and sexual needs.
1 Corinthians 7:3-4 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. (NIV®)
1 Corinthians 7:33-34 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. (NIV®)
So if the nonbeliever completely abandons the physical and emotional needs of the believer, that is grounds for divorce. However, I think many people have abused the idea of “emotional abandonment” and “physical abandonment.” My husband doesn’t give me what I want so I’m out of here” or “My wife nags me so I’m gone.” Inherent within this text is that physical abuse constitutes abandonment. When a man beats a woman he is not treating her like a wife but an enemy. Although Malachi 2:16 is a very hard passage to translate we can tell God dislikes divorce and abuse and holds any man responsible if he does those things.
Malachi 2:16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful. (NIV®)
What about if a believing spouse abandons a believing spouse? One either leaves or completely cuts himself or herself off? You’re essentially living with a housemate. The believing spouses should go through the Matthew 18 reconciliation steps. If the believer doesn’t repent, he or she should be brought under church discipline, which is the act of the church publicly saying, “This individual is not a Christian because they’re clinging to unrepentant sin.” So you’ve now been abandoned by an unbeliever, not a believer because a believer wouldn’t do that. But notice the church decides, not the individual. I can’t make this judgment on my own about my spouse. I must bring it before the Elders and the church.
Paul permits divorce and remarriage for believers abandoned by unbelieving spouses. But it’s not a must.
The Lord doesn’t require divorce but desires repentance and reconciliation. We turn again to Paul in 1st Corinthians when he shares Jesus’ words on divorce and remarriage.
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. (NIV®)
Just because Jesus and Paul permit divorce and there are certain situations where it’s not sinful to get divorced doesn’t mean we should or have to get divorced. The Lord prefers for husbands and wives to stick it out through the tough times which will one day enrich the good times. Marriage is a covenant we make before God (Mal 2:14-16). Marriage is not a human institution, but a divine institution God has given all people (believers and unbelievers) that shows his commitment for his people.
Maybe I’m naive but I believe that the gospel can save any marriage no matter how broken. Why do I believe this? Because the gospel saved God’s marriage. We believe in a God who has been divorced.
Jeremiah 3:8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. (NIV®) (see also Isaiah 50:1)
God had a spouse, the people of Israel, who no matter how much he loved her and cared for her she ran away and committed adultery with other nations and idols. She broke his covenant over and over again. She loved foreign powers and foreign gods more than she loved the one true God. No matter how much God reproved her and welcomed her back, she kept running to her own sins. This is why God sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ to purchase his people forever.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (NIV®)
Any who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ are part of this church—the people of God. The Bible calls the church the bride of Christ (Rev 19:7).
Revelation 21:2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. (NIV®)
Through the gospel God is making his own marriage new. If you think your marriage is bad, God’s spouse cheated on him for thousands of years. Even now when we’ve been saved by Christ our hearts wander and we still commit acts of adultery against him. But there’s great news here. Jesus will never divorce his bride! The day Jesus divorces the church is the day all of us can get divorced for whatever reason we want. Praise God. That day will never come.
In review, Jesus permits divorce and remarriage for sexual immorality. Paul permits divorce and remarriage for believers abandoned by unbelieving spouses. The Lord doesn’t require divorce but desires repentance and reconciliation. I want to take the time to apply what we’ve learned to different situations.
If your marriage is broken and you’re either thinking about divorce or have gotten divorced, God can restore your marriage through the gospel no matter how bad it is. We believe in resurrection hope. If God can bring life out of death he can resurrect your marriage no matter how dead it is right now. If both believe, it’s possible. If only one believes, pray God gets ahold of the other spouse’s heart. If you’ve been divorced for unBiblical reasons, confess this sin and receive God’s forgiveness. This is not the unforgivable sin. Unrepentance is. If you are unable to reconcile with your spouse you should remain single for the rest of your life or the life of your ex-spouse. If you are divorced and are considering remarriage, make sure your divorce is Biblically permissible and that you are without sin. A good way to discern this is to explain your situation to the Elders. Let us help you and correct you if you’re wrong. But also recognize that if you get remarried you are saying God won’t produce a miracle in your ex’s life and bring them back to God and to you. If you are considering marrying someone who has been divorced, do not rush into the marriage. Take the time to examine whether their divorce was Biblically permissible or not. If it was unBiblical, cut off the relationship immediately and do not go back to it. If it was Biblical, take the time to investigate what issues in the marriage led to the adultery or abandonment because there are two sides to every story. Know that if you marry them you make marriage reconciliation with their previous spouse impossible. If you realize their divorce was not Biblical but you still plan to marry them and ask for forgiveness later, don’t do it! You don’t want to start down the road of disobedience. It’s a hard road to turn back from, especially after sinning in such a vital area. If you are divorced and are remarried but your original divorce was not Biblically permissible, don’t divorce your second husband or wife to remarry the first spouse. Deuteronomy 24:1-4 prohibits this. In Matthew 19:9 Jesus considers even an unBiblical act of remarriage to still be marriage. Two divorces does not make a right marriage. Instead, repent of the act of adultery you committed by getting remarried and receive forgiveness. Maybe you’re wondering why, especially if it’s been a long time. Unconfessed sin, no matter how long ago, still has control of us. Confess, receive forgiveness, and commit your current marriage to the Lord. He will bless you for it. If you are single but are thinking about marriage one day or if you are happily married and expect to never get divorced, don’t look down on those who have been divorced and never boast “I will never get divorced.” Instead say, “I must never get divorced” and pray “God would you help me be faithful?” Take time to pray for the marriages in our churches and families that God would keep them strong.
I want to go ahead and end by praying for the marriages in this room. I want to pray against divorce but for repentance and reconciliation for those who have gone through it. Let’s pray.
Sources: Listed in order referenced:
Piper, John. Divorce & Remarriage: A Position Paper. desiringGod. Published 7/21/1986. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/divorce-and-remarriage-a-position-paper. Accessed 7/26/2018. DeYoung, Kevin. A Sermon on Divorce and Remarriage. The Gospel Coalition. Published 11/3/2010. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/a-sermon-on-divorce-and-remarriage/. Accessed 7/26/2018. Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Gittin.9.10?lang=bi. Accessed 7/26/2018. Instone-Brewer, David. What God Has Joined. ChristianityToday. Published 10/5/2007. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/october/20.26.html. Accessed 7/26/2018. DeYoung, Kevin. Page 7/Principle 3. Piper, John. A Statement on Divorce & Remarriage in the Life of Bethlehem Baptist Church. desiringGod. Published 5/2/1989. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/a-statement-on-divorce-and-remarriage-in-the-life-of-bethlehem-baptist-church. Accessed 7/26/2018. See Westminster Confession of Faith 24.5-6 https://reformed.org/documents/shaw/index.html?mainframe=/documents/shaw/shaw_24.html. Accessed 7/26/2018. MGD, s.v. “δουλόω,” paragraph 4244. Accordance Bible Software. Accessed 7/26/2018. Davis, John Jefferson. Evangelical Ethics: Issues Facing the Church Today, 4th ed. (p. 100). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition. Instone-Brewer, David. Page 4/Reaffirming marriage.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. You can download a PDF manuscript of this sermon at the top of this page by clicking “SAVE” and then “PDF.” For a sermon for wives click here and a sermon for husbands click here. God bless.
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I think I’m a bit naive. When I chose preaching on divorce and remarriage this week I thought it would be an easy sermon. I mean I’m preaching on one verse, right? How hard can it be? Don’t the majority of pastors and scholars agree about what the Bible has to say on divorce and remarriage? No they do not. The more I studied this topic the more I realized I don’t know, but I’m still going to try and
We’re starting this sermon by watching a clip from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This clip shows how many people feel about the idea of kings and authorities. Dennis really didn’t like the king, did he? He saw no reason to respect King Arthur and King Arthur was not very respectable. He used his authority to repress his subjects. If you could have a good king, would you want him? Would you want a king to lead you, protect
We’re starting this sermon by watching a clip from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This clip shows how many people feel about the idea of kings and authorities. Dennis really didn’t like the king, did he? He saw no reason to respect King Arthur and King Arthur was not very respectable. He used his authority to repress his subjects. If you could have a good king, would you want him? Would you want a king to lead you, protect you, and provide for you? From beginning to end the Bible is the story of a king and his love for his people. Today we’re finishing our Biblical overview of the kingdom of God. So far we’ve learned:
Chapter 1. God is king. (Gen 1:1; Psa 93:1-2)
Chapter 2. People are called to rule. (Gen 1:26)
Chapter 3. The first rulers fall short. (Gen 3:15)
Chapter 4. God gathers a kingdom people. (Gen 12:2-3)
This chapter helped us answer the question, “What is the Kingdom of God?”
Reign: God reestablishing his presence on earth.
Realm: God restoring all of creation from the fall.
Redemption: God redeeming his fallen subjects.
Chapter 5. God provides a human king. (Deut 17:16-19)
Chapter 6. The human king falls short. (1 Kings 11:6)
Chapter 7. God promises a final king. (2 Sam 7:16; Dan 7:13-14)
And now finally we come to the arrival of the king from the line of David.
Chapter 8. The king is born. The eternal king came as a small baby boy. Remember how king David received this promise from God?
2 Samuel 7:16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’” (NIV®)
The gospel of Luke draws our attention to this promise by what the angel Gabriel says to Mary.
Luke 1:30-33 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (NIV®)
There are two genealogies in the New Testament that show Jesus is a descendant of David, one in Matthew 1:1-17 and the other in Luke 3:21-38. The king is born.
Chapter 9. King Jesus preaches kingdom news. All throughout his ministry, Jesus preaches about the kingdom of God.
Luke 4:43 But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” (NIV®)
A few verses earlier in Luke we see who Jesus is preaching the Kingdom of God to.
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, (NIV®)
As you read the miracles in Luke, when Jesus heals people and drives out demons (Luke 4:33-35; 38-39), they are not meant to just be nice stories but to show Jesus is doing what he said he would do here. The people of Jesus’ day thought that the Messiah would bring the kingdom of God through violence and war. They thought he would overthrow the Romans. The common people thought this and so did the Pharisees. Even John the Baptist struggled to understand Jesus’ kingdom is a different kind of kingdom.
Luke 7:21-22 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. (NIV®)
What type of kingdom is Jesus preaching? Is it for this world or the next?
1) The kingdom of God is both spiritual and physical. Jesus came to set free men and women who are captive physically and spiritually under the reign of the prince of this world, Satan (John 12:31; Eph 2:2; 2 Cor 4:4). Jesus does this by healing the poor, by forgiving sin, and by giving the blind sight (Luke 5:20; 7:21-22). He does this not by violence, like the kings of old and the kings of today, but through preaching—by proclaiming the good news.
When we hear this preaching and ask Jesus to rule over our lives instead of ruling ourselves, which is really just being ruled by the serpent, it can radically transform us. Last week I shared Valerie’s story from Teen Challenge. This week I want to share Jordan’s story.
He was a good kid … the son of a pastor, grew up in church, and went to a small Christian college. There he excelled in track and football, until an injury changed everything.
Jordan’s broken ankle required two surgeries and prescription pain medication. Jordan began to depend on the meds and, as the prescriptions ran out, he started looking for more, digging through the medicine cabinets and bathroom drawers of every home he entered.
Soon he was shopping for pills on the street and stealing in order to afford them. As his addiction worsened, Jordan began crushing pills in order to inhale them or inject them.
When Jordan was expelled from college after failing his second drug test, his parents immediately entered him into the Adult & Teen Challenge USA program.
During the next twelve months at Adult & Teen Challenge, God changed Jordan’s life, bringing him healing and restoration. After Jordan graduated from Adult & Teen Challenge he returned to college, completed his degree, and got a job as an athletic coach at the same school that had once expelled him.
There is both a spiritual and physical dimension to the kingdom of God. God is interested in dealing with our sin problem, but also in redeeming our broken lives. Yes. Jesus preached gospel words. But he didn’t just preach gospel words. He also did gospel deeds. That’s why our vision as a church is, “A gospel-centered church that changes lives through sharing the message of Jesus Christ in word and deed.” As Christians, we can sometimes get caught in the trap of thinking that all Jesus cares about is saving souls, but he also wants to save lives. The kingdom of God is both spiritual and physical. When is this kingdom going to happen?
1) The kingdom of God is already but not yet. This salvation is a present event (already). It happens during Jesus’ ministry (c.f., Luke 11:20).
Luke 17:20-21 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (NIV®)
When Jesus says “the kingdom of God is in your midst” he’s talking about himself. Jesus is the king and he ushers in the kingdom of God by forgiving sins, performing miracles, and preaching the gospel. The kingdom is the power and presence of the king. But it’s also a future event (not yet).
Luke 19:11-12 While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. 12 He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. (NIV®)
Jesus is going to leave his disciples and all believers to go to heaven (“A man of noble birth went to a distant country…”). When Jesus returns then the kingdom will come fully. So the kingdom of God is already but not yet (i.e., some call is “the now but not yet”). It is a present AND future reality.
The kingdom of God is a present reality when believers forgive each other when they’re hurt. The kingdom of God is present when Jesus reconciles enemies into friends. The kingdom of God is present when God miraculously heals people of their sickness and disease, and also when he uses doctors and people to care for the sick. The kingdom of God is present when black and white live together in harmony. When can already taste and see the kingdom of God in our world, but it’s not here fully. It’s also a future reality because one day God will wipe away all sin. There will no longer be war or famine or racism. All who know Christ Jesus will experience perfect and eternal peace. That day is the consummation of the kingdom, and it’s not here yet. So when you and I love those who hate us, forgive those who hurt us, and sacrifice and suffer for Jesus and for others, that’s the in-breaking of the kingdom of God into this world. When you and I share the gospel in word and in deed, we’re helping usher in this kingdom.
There’s this video game called Fortnite that 125 million people have played (that’s 1.6% of our 7.6 billion world population). In this game there are “portals/rifts” that are opening up and are transporting items from the “game world” into the “real world.” For example, Fortnite Llamas have been spotted in England – London, Spain – Barcelona, Germany – Cologne, Poland – Warsaw, and France – Cannes. And the Durr Burger popped up in the desert in California. This is a marketing ploy meant to get people out in the real world and excited about the video game.
The metaphor breaks down because our world will never become fortnight. But as we speak our world is becoming the kingdom of God. When the youth pack care packages for Syria that is the kingdom. When we have a “Free Books & Prayer” table at the Westford Farmer’s Market that is the kingdom. When we reach out to our community through our Trunk or Treat that is the kingdom. When we pick up trash at Forge Pond Beach that is the kingdom. When Kathy went to Mexico, Andy went to Haiti, and Mackenna went to France that is the kingdom. When the worship team sings and we preach God’s word that is the kingdom. When we play games with our neighbors that is the kingdom. When we reach out to those on our frontlines (the place you serve God everyday) that is the kingdom. Jesus brought the kingdom and so do we. The kingdom of God is real and it is here, but it’s only a taste of the future perfect kingdom that is coming soon. 1) The kingdom of God is both spiritual and physical. 2) The kingdom of God is already but not yet. Chapter 9. King Jesus preaches kingdom news.
Chapter 10. The king dies to save his subjects. Luke continues the theme of the kingdom of God all the way to the cross.
Luke 23:36-43 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” 38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews. 39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (NIV®)
Many people mocked Jesus as he died. They thought they had squelched another Jewish rebellion lead by a false Messiah. But it was at this moment of suffering and death that Jesus achieves his greatest victory. It’s by his death that Jesus saves his bride, the church (Eph 5:25). It’s by his sacrifice that he defeats the prince of this world (John 12:31). It’s by his suffering that you and I can be adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters (Gal 4:5-7). It’s by his crimson blood that you and I regain the innocence of Eden and are as white as snow (Isa 1:18). It’s by his wounds that we are healed (Isa 53:5). Remember the three r-s? The king has finally redeemed his fallen subjects. The king dies to save his subjects.
Chapter 11. The king rose and reigns. The good news is that king Jesus doesn’t stay dead. He rises from the grave conquering sin and death and that’s where most end the story. But the end of Luke and beginning of Acts record that Jesus ascended into heaven. Do you ever what happened next? He sat down on a throne and is reigning over all (another r!).
Hebrews 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (NIV®)
Right now king Jesus is sitting on the throne reigning over all. He is orchestrating the invasion of his kingdom into this world. Like the British have a sovereign, Jesus is every Christian’s sovereign. If you believe that Jesus is both your Savior from sin but also the Lord of all, you too will be saved. Like our passage today says, receive the kingdom of God like a child (Luke 18:15-17). You’re don’t have to understand it perfectly. Repent and believe in king Jesus! The king rose and reigns.
Chapter 12. The king is coming back again. One day king Jesus is coming back again.
Revelation 19:11, 16 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war… 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.
You and I and all who know Christ Jesus the King will once more reclaim our rule with Jesus. We will join in judging angels (1 Cor 6:3) and ruling over the new heavens and new earth (Rev 21:1-4). King Jesus redeems his people, reigns supreme, and will one day restore his realm when he renews all of creation from its fallen state (Rev 22:1-5).
Now I want us to think back to Fortnite and those pictures of kingdom moments and to ask ourselves this question, “Where can I create a kingdom of God moment?” Where this week can I do something to make visible the invisible kingdom of Christ? Who can I tell about his rule and reign? How can I help others find redemption? Where can he use me to bring healing to the realm of this world? How can I help usher in the consummation of the kingdom of God? Where can I create a kingdom of God moment?
The Christian musician Matthew West asked his fans for stories to provide inspiration for his songs. Jordan from Teen Challenge wrote to him. The first line of his letter was, “Hello, my name is Jordan and I am a drug addict.” That’s how he identified himself until he experienced the work of the king in his life. Now he introduces himself by saying, “Hello, my name is Jordan and I am a child of the one true king!” Jordan’s story so inspired Matthew West that he wrote the song, “Hello, My Name Is.” Today, I’m going to pray, and then we’ll listen to this song in closing. You don’t have to get up or sing, but you can if you want to. The ushers are still going to take the offering. As you listen worship the king and ask, “Where can I create a kingdom of God moment?”
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
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I want to start today with an ice-breaker question. “If you could choose, who would you prefer to be in charge of your life?”
Myself Scientist Celebrity Politician King
Now I want you to be honest. Don’t just give the answer you think I want to hear. Who could you trust to handle your life well? Maybe some of us would say, “I want to be in control, so I choose myself!” Are you sure you want that much responsibility? If you’re a logical thinker and want your life to be based on the hard facts of reality, you might choose a scientist. If you want to be rich, famous, and successful, you might choose a celebrity. If you want to have influence and run for office, you might choose a politician. If you really like the dark ages, you might choose king. Really, why would anyone choose king?
Did you know that Jesus is a king? In fact, he talks about kingdom all the time. We find “the kingdom” and “the kingdom of God” 39 times in the Gospel of Luke. In our passages today the Pharisees ask Jesus when the kingdom of God is coming and he says, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke 17:20b-21)
The Pharisees seem to think they know what the kingdom of God is (they’re actually wrong) and Jesus definitely knows what it is, but do you? I’ve struggled to understand the kingdom of God in the Bible. Maybe you have too. This theme ties the whole Bible together from beginning to end. Today I’m going to give you a Biblical overview of the kingdom of God so we can come to fully know the good king who is offering to be in charge of our lives. Let’s start in the first book of the Bible.
Chapter 1. God is king. I’ve broken today’s sermon into chapters because the Kingdom of God is more of a story than a three-point sermon. The kingdom of God is a story building towards a consummation and ending which is really a new beginning. I’ve divided this story up into 12 chapters but we don’t have all evening so in Part 1 today we’re going to go through 7 chapters and in Part 2 next week we’ll finish up the story. Just like any good story, it has to have a good beginning, and we find that in Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (NIV®)
I don’t believe Moses wrote Genesis 1 to give us a scientific explanation of the origin of the earth. I don’t think Christians and scientists should argue about the age of the earth in Genesis 1 because I believe God is revealing himself to be the king who rules over all creation.
Psalm 93:1-2 The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure. 2 Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. (NIV®)
In Genesis 1 God creates a kingdom and appoints vice-regents, small “k” kings, to rule over it with him.
Chapter 2. People are called to rule. God makes men and women in his image. One of the things that means is that humankind will rule over creation just like God.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (NIV®)
The ESV says “let them have dominion…” Those who rule or have dominion are those who have been given royal authority by God. So God creates a beautiful world for all of nature and creation to share. Everything about it was perfect, good, and harmonious, and the Lord places men and women in this creation to keep it (Gen 2:15, 18). What could possibly go wrong?
Chapter 3. The first rulers fall short. Despite Adam and Eve being created without sin and God inviting them to help him rule creation in perfect paradise, they give into temptation. The serpent, who we know as Satan, tempts Eve to eat a fruit that God had forbidden. He said she would become like God and know the things he knows. Eve takes the fruit, eats it, gives it to Adam who eats (Gen 3), and just like that the first rulers lead the whole world out from under God’s good rule and into the realm of darkness and sin. The kingdom of God is gone.
Satan tempted Eve with a temptation he’s still tempting each one of us with today. You don’t need God. You can rule your life without him. I think that’s a lie a woman named Valerie bought into. She writes:
Between the ages of 17 and 22 my life spiraled out of control. Due to drugs, alcohol, and rebellion, I lost everything. Even though I tried everything the world had to offer, I still couldn’t seem to fill the void in my life. My life was no longer fun and exciting. The feeling of depression took hold of my life and I began to cut myself and play with death. When all hope was lost, my family stepped in and brought me to Adult & Teen Challenge. With a dramatic change, I let go and let God control my life. This process has taken a lot of discipline, strength, courage, and self-control. God has changed me from the inside out, and He will forever be the leader of my life.
Teen Challenge is a Christian Recovery Center for addicts. It’s a 12-18 month program that’s saved lot’s and lots of lives. Do you really want to rule your life? When we take the reigns like Adam and Eve, we may feel free at first but it won’t last long. When Adam and Eve removed themselves from the Kingdom of God, they came under another’s kingdom, and his rule is oppressive and evil. His name is:
“the prince of this world” (John 12:31)
“the ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Ephesians 2:2)
“The god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4)
See if you’re not under the rule of the good king, you’re under the rule of an evil tyrant. There’s no middle ground. But God promises to overthrow the tyrant. In Genesis 3 God curses the serpent:
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (NIV®)
This is called the “proto-euangelion” or “first gospel” which means “first good news.” It’s good news because God is going to send a descendent of Eve, another ruler, another king, to crush the head of the serpent, to defeat Satan’s rule. And so we humanity begin to wait. Under Satan’s rule we continue to rebel so much God sends a flood to wipe all of humanity out. But God hasn’t lost hope because after the flood when people have filled the earth again God chooses a family to bring his kingdom and king through.
Chapter 4. God gathers a kingdom people. God begins a relationship with a man named Abram and promises him that he will bless him. He will make him into a great nation and will use his descendants to bless the world.
Genesis 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (NIV®)
It’s through Abram (or Abraham) that God is going to destroy the prince of this world and restore the kingdom of God on earth. Here we see the kingdom of God is a:
Reign: God reestablishing his presence on earth. Realm: God restoring all of creation from the fall. Redemption: God redeeming his fallen subjects.
So if someone asks you, “What is the kingdom?” you can say “The kingdom of God a reign, a realm, and the redeemed.” The only time enemy forces ever occupied our nation’s capital was in the war of 1812 when the British forced President Madison out of town and burned down the capitol, the white house, and several other buildings. Although Madison was still the President, for one day he not longer reigned in Washington DC, the realm burned, and his people needed to be redeemed from British rule. But Madison didn’t push the British out. They left because they wanted to. God promises to push Satan out. He has a plan to reestablish his reign, restore his realm, and bring redemption to his fallen subjects.
God is going to use Abraham and his descendants to bring God’s reign on earth, the restoration of his realm, and the redemption of his people. Through Abraham’s line God forms the Hebrew people. Although they spend 400 years in captivity in Egypt, God delivers them and brings them to the promised land of Israel where they ask for a king (1 Samuel 8).
Chapter 5. God provides a human king. When Israel asks for a king, they reject God as their king (1 Sam 8:5-9). But God knew this would happen. All the way back in Deuteronomy 17 God gave guidelines for how their king should rule.
Deuteronomy 17:16-17 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” 17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. (NIV®)
So the king couldn’t acquire lots of horses, which meant he couldn’t built a big army. He wasn’t supposed to lead the people back to Egypt, which was a place of oppression but also safety. He was not supposed to marry a lot of women, which was a way of forming political alliances. And, he wasn’t supposed to have a big savings account for a rainy day. But it doesn’t stop there.
Deuteronomy 17:18-19 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees (NIV®)
The king was supposed to take a copy of the law, the Hebrew Bible, and make a copy for himself, meditating and reading it every day of his life so that he could lead the people in obedience to God (v18-19). This king was supposed to do what Adam and Eve failed to do, rule justly while being dependent on God.
The kingdom of God is so much different than the worldly kingdoms we build. Our nation has l tanks, warships, fighter jets and missiles, political alliances, and a little place called Fort Knox. I doubt any of our political leaders are hand-copying the Bible for themselves. It’s true these guidelines are for the nation of Israel way back then, but they still reflect the kind of king that God is interested in. God gives Israel their first king, a man named Saul,but pretty soon he begins to acquire a big army and lots of wealth.
Chapter 6. The human kings fall short. Saul is just the first king in a long line of kings who give into the temptation to rule their way instead of God’s way. Even Solomon, the wisest king of Israel, gathers 12,000 horses, has 700 wives, and lots and lots of gold (1 Kings 4:26; 10:14-17; 11:3).
1 Kings 11:6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. (NIV®)
One thing that Solomon does get right is he builds the temple and the king’s palace right next to each other, showing the unity God intended for the king and God to experience. Solomon did love the Lord and was a template for a good king, but he wasn’t enough. After him came king after king who the Bible says “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 13:2). That phrase appears 15 times in the books of 1st and 2nd Kings. Each of the kings either loves power too much, or money, or conquest, or women, or relies on politics instead of God. Some genuinely love God, but even they are flawed. None of them are that king we were promised back in Genesis 3. None of them are spreading God’s kingdom reign, realm, or redemption from Genesis 12. There’s a pattern of continually falling short.
There’s a lesson for us in this. If you are looking to the kings of this world to rescue us you are sadly mistaken. Let’s go back to our opening ice-breaker. Do you really want a scientist to rule your life? That sounds good till you remember scientists invented the atom bomb and eugenics. A celebrity could make you famous and wealthy but just as unhappy and miserable as many of them seem to be. Politicians would never lead us into unjust wars or sell their vote to private interests or for personal gain, would they? Who are you looking to? President Trump? Hilary? Elon Musk? Mark Zuckerberg? JK Rowling? Oprah? If you’re looking to a human king, they will fall short. But God doesn’t forget his promises.
Chapter 7. God promises a final king. The best king of Israel was not Solomon, but his father, King David. God calls him “a man after his own heart” (1 Sam 13:14). He was a good king who loved and meditated on God’s word, even writing most of the Psalms. Although he was closer to the type of king God wanted, he didn’t bring God’s perfect reign, realm, or redemption. He too had flaws. But he did want to build a temple for God to help bring about those things. God says he won’t build it, but his son Solomon will. Instead, the Lord gives David a gift.
2 Samuel 7:16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’” (NIV®)
God promises David that it’s through his line that the future king will come. He will reign justly. He will restore the realm of heaven on earth. He will redeem God’s broken people. He will be called God’s anointed one. God anointed prophets, priests, and kings in Israel as a symbol of his divine authority on them. The Hebrew word for “anointed one” is Messiah. The Greek translation of the Messiah is Christos, or Christ. This Messiah or Christ is not going to be a normal human king, but will be God himself stepping down into our world. In the Old Testament we find this prophecy about the coming king.
Daniel 7:13-14 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Do you want to meet this final king, the good king? Do you want to meet this son of man? Do you want to meet the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ? Do you want him to take dominion of your life? Do you want the one person who isn’t broken by sin to love you and care for you and lead you into a life of holiness and joy? Then come back next week for part 2.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story. Download the PDF above for sermon endnotes.
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I want to start today with an ice-breaker question. “If you could choose, who would you prefer to be in charge of your life?” Myself Scientist Celebrity Politician King Now I want you to be honest. Don’t just give the answer you think I want to hear. Who could you trust to handle your life well? Maybe some of us would say, “I want to be in control, so I choose myself!” Are you sure you want that much responsibility?
When I was in college I was walking to my car when I found a poster slipped under my wiper blades. It advertised free pizza. All I had to do was go by the local Dominos and I would receive my own pizza. I looked at this poster for a long time. It didn’t say I had to do anything to get that pizza. It simply said that I had to show up and I would get my pizza. But it didn’t say why I would get that pizza or who was giving it to me. The poster told me one thing. Free pizza! But my heart told me something else. This pizza can’t possibly be free. There’s a catch. There’s always a catch! Tonight I make sure that each one of us understands the message of Christianity and that it’s not a bait and switch. But it starts with a similar message.
Salvation is free. (Romans Road to Salvation) I’m giving you a metaphorical flyer tonight and on this poster is the offer of free salvation. You can go home this evening with eternal life. I don’t know if I’ve ever really explained the message of salvation step by step at Cornerstone so I want to do so tonight. I’m using the Romans Road to Salvation which is a nice way to explain salvation using one book of the Bible, Romans. So you’ve just picked up the Romans Road to Salvation flyer, and the first line says this.
Everyone is broken by sin.
This is a startling headline! It’s intriguing. You want to know more. Our first verse from Romans explains it.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (NIV®)
Sin is anytime we disobey God in in thought or action. We sin anytime we do anything that does not reflect God’s perfect and holy nature. So I am sinful and broken and he is not. And if God is going to remain good and holy, he is not going to welcome sinful beings into heaven. The next line of the poster tells us the consequence of our sin.
The wages of sin is death.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV®)
The first half of this verse tells us that if we do not deal with our sin problem, our sin problem will eventually result in our destruction. At the end of time God is going to judge every sin and everyone who sins. If you are still in your sin when that happens, you will be condemned to everlasting death in hell. The wages of sin is death! But there’s good news because the verse doesn’t stop here.
God offers us eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV®)
As we look at the second half of Romans 6:23, we find a great deal of hope. Yes the wages of sin is death, but God offers us eternal life through Jesus. We don’t have to be consumed by sin and death but can live forever at peace with God. But this is only possible through Jesus Christ. How can this be?
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (NIV®)
While you were yet a sinner, Jesus went to the cross because he loved us. At the cross he took on God’s anger and wrath for sin and he died. But he didn’t die for his own sin. No. He was perfect, completely innocent, a spotless lamb (1 Peter 1:18). Because he had never sinned and was always obedient to God, he could die for someone else’s sins besides his own, and he choose to die for us.
Three days later Jesus rose from the grave defeating sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:3-6). Paul wrote Romans, and one of his other letters, 1st Corinthians, tells us “he appeared to more than five hundred” at one time. Now Jesus offers us the same eternal life he now has.
Jesus grants salvation to all who believe in him.
A little later in Romans we hear what it takes to receive this free salvation.
Romans 10:9-10 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (NIV®)
We need to both say we believe and actually believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the dead. This isn’t just intellectual assent, this is true faith coming from the inside. What is true on the inside should be evident on the outside through our words. We’re not saved by a verbal confession or by any other works but by faith (Eph 2:8-9). And then we receive this great news…
Our salvation is assured.
Once we receive the gift of salvation, nobody can take it away (see also Rom 5:1, 8:1).
Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV®)
Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sin, all we have to do is go to him through our repentance and belief. GotQuestions.org, who mapped out the Romans Road for me, invites anyone who recognizes their sin to pray the sinner’s prayer, but not just say the words, but to truly believe.
“God, I know that I have sinned against you and am deserving of punishment. But Jesus Christ took the punishment that I deserve so that through faith in Him I could be forgiven. With your help, I place my trust in You for salvation. Thank You for Your wonderful grace and forgiveness – the gift of eternal life! Amen!”
So it’s with these words, if they are driven by genuine faith in Jesus, that we receive the free gift of salvation. Salvation, is free, right? Or is it? We’re saved by faith alone through God’s grace alone, but those things are never alone. They’re always accompanied by a commitment to Jesus.
So I took the flyer, I got in my car, and I drove to Dominos. I got out of my car, I walked into Dominos, and a gentleman was standing there with a whole stack of pizza boxes full of pizza. But if I remember right (this happened about 10 years ago) there wasn’t anyone else in there getting pizzas and the man standing next to the pizzas looked both worried and guilty. See, next to the pizzas, he had a signup sheet. He said that if I would just fill out this application for a credit card, I would receive my free pizza. He even told me that I could simply cancel the credit card as soon as I received it. So I turned around and walked out of the door… is what I wish I did. What I actually did was fill out the application and eat my pizza.
That was a bait and switch. He lured me in with the promise of free pizza with seemingly no strings attached, but of course there were strings. I had to sign up for a credit card. I don’t want this to be true for any who are considering Christianity. I don’t want to lure you in with the promise of free salvation with no strings attached, because although salvation is free it’s also costly.
Salvation is free but it will cost you everything. (Luke 14:25-35) Now we come to today’s text in Luke 14:25-35. If you look down at the first verse we see it says “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus.” Luke 9 tells us Jesus once fed at least 5,000 followers. That’s a big crowd! Jesus is a hugely successful mega-church pastor by today’s standards. I’m sure if Jesus were on Instagram, he would have millions of followers and people today would call him an influencer. But Jesus isn’t interested in big crowds. He’s interested in real disciples. Jesus turns to them and says….
Luke 14:26-27 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (NIV®)
Jesus is explaining the cost of salvation. He uses a metaphor to describe its steep cost. A metaphor is a figure of speech meant to make a point. Elsewhere Jesus says to love your neighbor, so he doesn’t mean you literally have to hate your parents, wife, and children to be his disciple. Instead, he means that he has to be 100% more important in your life than each of them. In fact, you have to love Jesus more than your own life to be a true disciple.
If you love your father, or mother, or siblings, or spouse, or children more than Jesus, those good people have actually become idols to you. You can even become your own idol if you love yourself more than Jesus. How can you tell if a member of your family is more important to you than Jesus? If you obey them at the cost of obeying Jesus, then they’re an idol. For example, if your parents tell you to believe something that you know is unscriptural, don’t do it, because that would give them more importance than Jesus in your life. Or if your sibling wants to take you on a trip you know you can’t afford or to a show you know will cause you to stumble, don’t do it. Or if you ignore the responsibility God has given you to raise your children in the fear and knowledge of Jesus, and you don’t, then that is disobedience.
Notice that loving Jesus more than your family does not mean abandoning your family. Often times, it means exactly the opposite. God, these people are really hard to love, but instead of running away I’m going to keep loving them and sharing Jesus with them because that’s what it means to love Jesus most.
In my own life, I can tell you I’m trying to figure out what it means to love Jesus first but love my family well. Monica and I sense that Jesus might be leading me back to Gordon-Conwellto get a Doctorate of Ministry. A really unique opportunity has come up that would allow me to study a topic I’m really interested in and get the Doctorate as I do the Ockenga Program. But there’s costs to this: time with family as I study; time not spent working on the house or doing fun things I’d rather be doing; time with books instead of time with friends. The Doctoral Ministry projects are always meant to benefit the local church, so this would be something I would be working on in the context of Cornerstone, and is it something we need? That will come at the cost of other things I could be doing. Please pray for our family and the Elders as we continue to discuss this possibility, what it would look like, and how it could benefit the church. Ultimately, I just want to be obedient to Jesus and I know that’s Monica’s and the Elder’s desire too.
Salvation is free, but it will cost you everything. If Jesus handed out a flyer offering salvation, he might have the Romans Road on the front but he’d have the cost of being a disciple from Luke on the back. Besides the family and the cross he uses three illustrations to explain the cost: a tower, a war, and salt.
Tower: Count the cost of what it will take to be faithful to the end. (v28-30) Luke 14:28-30 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ (NIV®)
I’m finishing my basement and when you go to the town to pull a permit they make you record how much you think the project will cost, so you actually have to come up with an estimate before they’ll approve you. Jesus is telling us to estimate the cost of following him and whether or not we’ll be able to follow him till the end (our whole lives or until Christ returns). You wouldn’t start building a tower if you didn’t have the money to finish it. Only say the prayer of salvation if you’re willing to give every part of your life for your whole life to Jesus. Count the cost of what it will take to be faithful to the end.
War: Count the cost of surrendering all to king Jesus. (v31-33) Luke 14:31-33 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. (NIV®)
What if a king brings his army against us and when we look at ourselves, it’s obvious we’ll lose? Then we send a delegation to negotiate peace. I believe Jesus is the king in this passage. Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God and is the final king in David’s line (2 Sam 7). King Jesus is willing to offer us complete peace, eternal life, but he expects our unconditional and complete surrender. If you give him your whole life, every aspect, your marriage, your parenting, how you use your finances and time, your education, your gender and sexual identity, your politics, your popularity, your frontline, your past, your present, your future, your all, you won’t be disappointed. Is Jesus the Lord of every part of your life? That’s what it means to be his disciple. Count the cost of surrendering all to king Jesus.
Salt: A noncommittal disciple is a waste of a disciple. (v34-35) Luke 14:34-35 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
In the ancient world you could use salt to flavor or preserve your food like we do, to fertilize the soil, or even to kill weeds in manure piles. But if it becomes diluted, it becomes useless. Someone who calls themselves a Christian but is really a nominal believer (there’s no real clear evidence of Christ in their lives, they don’t serve Jesus in any way, the church and the teachings of the Bible are secondary to having a get-out-of-hell ticket, etc.), is really no Christian at all. They’re useless in God’s kingdom. Do you hear the message Jesus is trying to communicate to you? Salvation is free but it will cost you everything.
Salvation is free for us because it wasn’t free for Jesus. He asks us for our everything only after he laid down his everything for us. Jesus paid the ultimate cost on the cross, and if you’re willing to pick up your cross and follow him he will help you carry it. His yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matt 11:30). Jesus freely offers salvation to us, but this salvation will change everything in us.
Salvation is free but it will cost you everything. I applied for the credit card and received it in the mail. Since I’d always heard people cut up their credit cards when they have too many of them, that’s what I did. I cut it up and I cancelled it. At the end of the day, it really didn’t do me much good to sign up for something I didn’t really want. You may not have understood what you were signing up for when you first said the sinner’s prayer. That doesn’t mean Christ hasn’t saved you, but today can be the day for you to realize a simple prayer is not all there is to following Jesus. Jesus bids us come and die. Come and follow him. Come and give him everything because he gave everything for us. There’s no bait and switch here. Salvation is free but it will cost you everything.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to sermons or to read our story.
When I was in college I was walking to my car when I found a poster slipped under my wiper blades. It advertised free pizza. All I had to do was go by the local Dominos and I would receive my own pizza. I looked at this poster for a long time. It didn’t say I had to do anything to get that pizza. It simply said that I had to show up and I would get my pizza. But
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Cornerstone Luke 18:9-14 By Rev. Bernie Michaud, June, 2018 Question: Why did you come here today? What do you want form God? What do you need, what do you expect to receive from God today? I know that if we were perfect, we would not come as needy people; we would come just to sing praises and to worship God. But, we are just people who are in need, and God
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Cornerstone
Luke 18:9-14
By Rev. Bernie Michaud, June, 2018
Question: Why did you come here today?
What do you want form God?
What do you need, what do you expect to receive from God today?
I know that if we were perfect, we would not come as needy people; we would come just to sing praises and to worship God.
But, we are just people who are in need, and God cares for us.
Today we are going to be looking at the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
Two men who went to the temple, both for different reasons.
As we look at this parable this evening, I want us to think about why we come to church.
And, more importantly, how we approach God.
Try to see if you identify more with the Pharisee or the Tax Collector.
It’s good every now and then just to ask the hard questions and the questions today are: Why do I come to church; what do I want from God; what do I expect from God today, and, how do I approach God.
Read Luke 18:9-14
Jesus told this parable because there were many who’s hearts were not right.
People just seem to get this God thing mixed up.
We too can get things mixed up.
So, the Pharisee came into the temple thinking that he was somebody special.
Even standing before God he thinks himself to be great.
He doesn’t confess even one sin but begins by telling God, or himself, just how special he is.
“I’m not like other men; I fast twice a week, I tithe, I’m pretty darn great!”
BTW, according to Lev. 16:20, they were only required to fast once a year.
And he says all of this when there are plenty of people around to hear him.
What is the point of doing good stuff if no one see or hears you?
Next, he compared himself to others; robbers, adulterers and evildoers.
He didn’t compare himself to anyone that’s good, just the bad people.
Seeing the tax collector on the other side of the room; he told God how much more special he was than this man.
I hear people doing this all the time. They say, “I think I’ll go to heaven; I’m not that bad of a person, I don’t steal stuff at Walmart or cheat people.
I don’t even drink or smoke or chew gum!
Do you ever feel better about yourself when you are around people who are a mess?
This Pharisee didn’t realize that the tax collector was going to heaven and that he was on his way to hell.
It’s dangerous to be wrong about stuff.
Luke 18:9 says: He also told this parable to some who were confident in their own righteousness and looked down on others.
All of us fall short in many ways and yet God loves us all.
All of us are in need of a savior and God reaches out to us no matter what our sin is.
Now the tax collector on the other hand, cries out to God.
He’s ashamed of his sins.
He’s ashamed of himself.
He begs for mercy.
His heart is broken and he’s sick of being the way that he is.
He needs God’s touch on his life.
Do any of you ever come here feeling this way? (I know many who feel this way)
At the end of the parable Jesus says, Luke 18:14 (RSV) 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
So, both of these men came to the temple for different reasons.
The Pharisee to show how great he was.
He came looking for the praises of man.
The tax collector to beg God for mercy, not caring what any person thought of him.
For me, it’s not so important how they came in as to how they went out.
The Pharisee went out being proud, just the way that he came in.
He thought that all that he did and said really impressed everyone including God.
The Tax Collector went out justified by God.
He went out clean, loved and forgiven.
But, I’m not sure that he felt as though he was justified.
I’m not sure that he went away feeling clean, loved or forgiven.
I’m not sure that we always leave here feeling the love that God has for us.
When we come to God thinking that we have no needs we leave without any blessings. (Repeat)
On the other hand, when we come to God thinking that we are so wretched that even God couldn’t love us, we might leave without knowing that God wants to bless us.
But God loves us; He desires to meet us here today.
He desires to forgive our sins; to clean us and to love us.
I’ll ask again, what did you come here for today; how do you approach God?
What do you want, what do you need from God today?
My fear is that both of these men missed out on what God had for them.
My fear is that many of us miss out on what God has for us.
A while back I read the book, Radical, by David Platt.
He tells how a lot of people try to achieve a relationship with God by doing good stuff.
They think if they are special like this Pharisee.
Thinking that not only people, but God, will be impressed with them.
For a few of us who are really good, this might seem possible.
But for the rest of us who know just how wretched we are, we know that we will never make the grade.
We can try and try but we will always come up short.
So we never expect God to really bless us.
Let me read you a little clip from his book.
David writes:
I remember sitting outside a Buddhist temple in Indonesia. Men and women filled the elaborate, colorful temple grounds, where they daily performed their religious rituals. Meanwhile, I was engaged in a conversation with a Buddhist leader and a Muslim leader in this particular community. They were discussing how all of the religions were fundamentally the same and only superficially different. “We may have differences about issues,” one of them said, but when it comes down to the essential issues, each of our religions is the same.”
I listened for a while, and then they asked me what I thought. I said, “It sounds as though you both picture god (or whatever you call god) at the top of a mountain. It seems as if you believe that we are all at the bottom of the mountain, and I may take one route up the mountain, you may take another, and in the end we will all end up in the same place.”
They smiled as I spoke. Happily they replied, “Exactly! You understand!”
Then I leaned in and said, “Now let me ask you a question.
What would you think if I told you that the God at the top of the mountain actually came down to where we are? What would you think if I told you that God doesn’t wait for people to find their way to him, but instead he comes to us?”
They thought for a moment and then responded, “That would be great.”
I replied, “Let me introduce you to Jesus.”
Many of us, like this tax collector, are too broken to climb the mountain to reach God.
We know who we are and as much as we try, we never seem to be able to improve.
We feel as though we don’t deserve anything from God and that it would be wrong for us to ask God to bless a person like us.
But today’s message is that God sent His Son down from heaven to reach out to this broken tax collector.
He sent His son down from heaven to reach out to me and to you.
He loves us and he wants to bless us today.
How do you approach God?
What do you want from God?
What do you need from God today?
Each of us needs to approach God; we need to come to Him.
It’s God’s desire that we come to Him and that we leave Him knowing that we are justified.
It’s God’s desire that we see our sin, our brokenness, our rebellion.
But that we also see Him.
That we see His mercy, His forgiveness.
It’s God’s desire that we know that His Son came down from heaven that we who are too broken to climb mountains can know Him and receive His forgiveness.
Don’t just come to church, come with a purpose.
Come to stand before God.
Come to receive His mercy and forgiveness.
Then leave knowing that you are justified and accepted in His presence.
I’m not sure why you came here but don’t leave until you know that God loves you, that He accepts you, that He cares for you and that it is His desire to meet your needs.
God bless you all.
Bernie Michaud preached this sermon at Cornerstone Congregational Church.
I. Introduction: When I ride the subway in Cambridge from time to time, I love to pay attention to the subway ads. Being in an area that is flooded with research universities and major hospitals, there are usually ads for clinical studies or experiments in need of human subjects. For example, here is an ad that I found online for a clinical study at Mass General. They’re testing the effects of LEDs on brain function. So, if you’re
I. Introduction:
When I ride the subway in Cambridge from time to time, I love to pay attention to the subway ads. Being in an area that is flooded with research universities and major hospitals, there are usually ads for clinical studies or experiments in need of human subjects. For example, here is an ad that I found online for a clinical study at Mass General. They’re testing the effects of LEDs on brain function. So, if you’re lucky enough to qualify, you can sit in this contraption, have lights shone on your head, maybe improve your brain function, and pick up a few hundred dollars. Now, I want to congratulate each of you, because tonight you have been chosen to be part of a very special experiment. Now, you won’t make any money, and, technically, you didn’t volunteer. But, you’re here already, so you might as well make the best of it.
The experiment is that, instead of looking at a specific Bible passage for our sermon, tonight’s sermon text is the entire book of Psalms. That’s right, all 150. I hope you packed a snack. Now, my intentions in subjecting you to this experiment are not nefarious. I’m not here to make you suffer. Instead, I hope to accomplish two things by looking at the entire book of Psalms together.
A. Enrich your interaction with the Bible.
I hope that by having a bird’s eye view of the book of Psalms and an understanding of the book’s central message, you will enjoy a richer feast when you read the Psalms on your own.
At Cornerstone, we affirm that the Bible is ultimately a divine book; it comes from God. There is an implication from this that drives my own research as a biblical scholar: God did not only inspire the content of the Bible; he also inspired its shape. He inspired the literary genre, the way that the book has been put together, and the book’s structure.
Usually people think of the book of Psalms as Ancient Israel’s hymnbook or David’s greatest hits album. However, tonight I’d like for us to conduct a thought experiment. What if, instead of reading individual psalms in isolation from one another, we read Psalms as a book? What if we tried to understand it as a literary work that has been intentionally put together with a unified message? What if, instead of listening to the psalms as an anthology of Ancient Israel’s greatest hits, we listened to it like a concept album, where the individual tracks come together to have a greater meaning collectively than they do on their own? We can think of the book of Psalms like a quilt. Each square in the quilt is good and beautiful in its own right. However, there is another level of artistry in the way that the squares have been arranged and stitched together to make a final product. Or, we could think about the book of Psalms like a photomosaic, where 150 individual portraits have been arranged and combined to yield a collective portrait.
B. Deepen your faith in Christ.
When I say that I hope looking at the book of Psalms as a whole will deepen your faith in Jesus, I have in mind Jesus’s words in Luke 24:44. Jesus speaks these words to his disciples after his resurrection from the dead:
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
So, according to Jesus, the book of Psalms is not just Ancient Israel’s songbook; it is a prophetic witness to his person and work. It’s interesting to note that Jesus and the apostles were not unique in their own time in interpreting the book of Psalms as a prophetic book; the people who wrote the DSS and the people who translated Psalms from Hebrew to Greek, all of whom lived in the last centuries before Jesus’s birth, also believed that the book had a future, prophetic outlook.
So, in approaching the book of Psalms, we are essentially interested in two questions:
How has the book of Psalms been put together? How does the book of Psalms testify to Jesus and the gospel?
I contend tonight that these questions must be considered together for us to arrive at a satisfactory answer to either.
C. Prerequisites
Before we jump into these two questions, there are a couple prerequisites, things that the book of Psalms assumes you already know about:
God’s Covenant with David
David was the greatest king in Israel’s history, and his story is told in 1-2 Samuel. A key moment in David’s reign occurs in 2 Samuel 7. Here, David is dwelling in his newly built palace and his heart is struck when he realizes that God is worshipped in a tent while he dwells in a palace. He resolves to build a “house,” that is, a temple, for God and Nathan, the prophet of God, approves. God, however, sends a different message. He sends Nathan back to King David to say that David will not build a “house” for God (a temple). Instead, God will build a “house” for David, meaning that he will establish a royal dynasty for David. Hear the words of the promise that God makes to David (2 Sam 7:12-14a):
When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be his father, and he will be my son.
The promise is that David’s heir will succeed him as king, he will build God’s temple and be God’s son. In some sense, this promise applies to David’s son Solomon, David’s immediate successor and the builder of the first temple, and the entire succession of kings descended from David. However, from the perspective of those who put together the book of psalms, Solomon and the other Davidic kings had not exhausted God’s promise to David. The fulfillment of God’s words remains open-ended.
The Exile to Babylon
If you continue to read about Israel’s history in 1-2 Kings, you’ll see that most of David’s sons were not faithful to God as he was. They led God’s people into grievous sin and idolatry. As a result, God eventually brought the Babylonian Empire, under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar II, against Jerusalem. It is difficult to describe the devastation that followed. Jerusalem was conquered. The people were exiled. The temple was burned. The king descended from David was imprisoned. From a geopolitical perspective, Davidic kingship has never been reestablished.
It is very important to know that it is sometime after the exile to Babylon that the book of Psalms was put together.
This brings us finally to the book of Psalms itself. We will begin with a video put together by the Bible Project that gives a nice introduction Psalms as a unified book.
II. Bible Project Video:
For the rest of tonight’s message, I’m going to build on the description of the book of Psalms given in the Bible Project’s video. We’re interested in understanding the shape of the book of Psalms as well as how the book of Psalms should shape us.
III. The Book of Psalms teaches us about:
A. Jesus and Hope.
The “architecture” of the book of Psalms testifies to hope in a future Messiah.
By “architecture,” I mean the book’s organizing and structural framework, the clues to how it’s been put together and what the book’s editors cared about the most. When we read a book, we usually think of something that one person sat down and wrote beginning to end. However, this is the not the way that the book of Psalms was put together. The book of Psalms has topography. It has texture. Certain passages have a particular prominence. What do we see at these strategic locations in the book of Psalms. It is precisely at these places in the book that psalms about the king or God’s covenant with David are placed.
Remember that Psalms has a clear introduction (Psalms 1-2) and conclusion (Psalms 146-150). Both of these sections contain psalms about the Davidic king (Psalm 2; 148). Also, Book II of the psalms ends with a vision of the future messianic king (72), while book III ends with a lament concerning God’s covenant with David (89). Thus, the transition points between books 2, 3, and 4 all focus on the king. Also, recall from the Bible Project video that both books I and V have at their center psalms about the king. Psalms 18 and 118, for example.
What I want you to see here is that at the key, structural points of the book, the recurrent theme is the Messiah. God’s anointed king. The son of David. If the books of Psalms is a quilt, then the Messianic hope is both the border and the seamwork. It is the recurring melody of the symphony. This framing colors the way that you read everything else inside. So, noticing the messianic “architecture” of the book of Psalms shows us what the editors of the book were interested in and colors the way that we read the rest of the book.
We should also think about the political situation in Israel at the time that the book of Psalms was put together. Remember that there is no king. Yet, there are all these songs about the king. What does this imply? These are not just songs about the king; these are songs about the future king. These are songs of hope and expectation.
Application: Let us hope in Christ’s return.
This is one of the reasons that the book of Psalms is so important for Christians. The book reminds us that, though Christmas and Easter have come, we are not done waiting. We are not done hoping. Paul tells us in Phil 3:20 that our citizenship is in heaven and that we are eagerly waiting for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not done waiting. We are engaged; our heart’s love has given us a pledge of marriage. Yet, the wedding day has not come. So, we set our hopes on that day. We hope; we wait; we believe. Are you eagerly awaiting Jesus’s return?
May we heed David’s command in his lament in Psalm 27, where he concludes: I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
Or the refrain of Psalms 42-43, which open book 2 of the Psalms: Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; For I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
The “architecture” of the book of Psalms testifies to hope in a future Messiah. Therefore, let us hope in Christ’s return.
Next, the book of Psalms teaches us about Jesus and the Kingdom of God.
B. Jesus and God’s Kingdom.
Interpretation: The book of Psalms teaches that the Messiah will establish God’s kingdom on the earth.
This, to me, is one of the most fascinating aspects of what is happening in the book of Psalms. You see, elsewhere in the OT there is a tension between God’s kingship and human kingship. The two ideas seem to be like oil and water. However, in Psalms the threads of divine and human kingship begin to come together. Earlier we looked at the book’s architecture. However, what if we also read the book as though it were a story, one with a flow, a plot, twists and turns? Let’s take a look at how kingship develops within the story of the book of Psalms.
We’re going to look specifically at how the five books tell the story of kingship.
Books 1-2. Books 1-2 mostly contain psalms related to King David. We can consider this section of the psalter as home base, establishing a general confidence and hope in the Davidic king. The final psalm of book 2 (72) describes the ideal king and the blessing that will come to whole world when he reigns. There is a hard break at the end of book 2, which announces that the prayers of David are ended.
Book 3, on the other hand, is the low point of the psalter. This section contains the largest concentration of community laments. There are no praise psalms in Book 3. If Psalms is a symphony, Book 3 is definitely in a minor key. It ends on a particularly dark note. Psalm 88 is a lament that has no statement of hope. The last line of the lament states that darkness is the poet’s companion. Then, Psalm 89 is an extremely important discussion of God’s covenant with David. The psalm retells God’s promise to David of an everlasting dynasty in 2 Samuel 7. However, he cannot reconcile this with the current state of affairs in which there is no Davidic king; he has been cut off. The poet laments, “How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?” He asks the LORD where his faithfulness to his promises to David is. So, Book 3 is written out of the despair caused by the exile and the cutting off of Davidic kingship. It is a song of weeping arising from the dissonance between God’s promise and the current state of affairs.
In some sense, books 3 and 4 are like a call and response song, with book 4 providing an answer to the despair of Book 3. Interestingly, Book 4 is the only book that contains no explicit discussion of the covenant with David. This is because Book 4 is interested in something else. The centerpiece of Book 4 is a series of songs (Psalms 93-100) called “enthronement psalms.” There is a running refrain through this section that recalls the crescendo of Israel’s song after the victory over Egypt at the Red Sea: “The LORD is king.” In the face of the exile and the lack of a king on David’s throne, Book 4 gives a resounding response: “God remains king.”
Because of this, Book V returns to a renewed hope and confidence in God’s faithfulness to keep his promise to David. We see this in places like Psalms 110, 118, 132, and 148.
What I want you to see is that the two threads of divine and human kingship are starting to come together in the book of Psalms. They are no longer seen in opposition to one another. In fact, confidence that God is king is the foundation of the hope that the son of David will be king after all.
See how these two themes are tied together in the introduction to Psalms in Psalm 2. Let’s reread the first part of Psalm 2 (Ps 2:1-6)
1 Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break their chains
and throw off their shackles.”
The scene is one in which foreign kings are plotting to rebel against God’s anointed king, his Messiah. Note the response:
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
God is described as “the One enthroned.” What kind of people are enthroned? Kings. The psalm is depicting God as king. And he’s laughing, not because he thinks human rebellion is funny but because it’s futile. His rule is not threatened.
5 He rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 “I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
The theology of the song is clear. God is king. His rule is not threatened. Therefore, his chosen king will rule on the earth. Here, God’s kingship in heaven is expressed on the earth by the Davidic Messiah. The Messiah represents the coming of God’s kingdom to the earth. This is why in the NT, Jesus is constantly stating that, now that he has come, the kingdom of God is at hand.
The book of Psalms teaches that the Messiah will establish God’s kingdom on the earth.
God’s kingship is the grounds for our hope that the Messiah will indeed reign on the earth. The Messiah’s reign on earth is the expression and realization of God’s heavenly kingship.
This truth should reorient us toward God’s kingdom.
Application: Let us reorient our lives toward God’s kingdom.
This is a great comfort for us as well as a great challenge.
a. Comfort: At our lowest, darkest moment, deepest despair, when our parents are dying or our kids rebel or we lose a pregnancy or we’re laid off or the darkness in our own minds will not lift or we’re failing in school or whatever else you’re going through, God remains king.
What is the storm that you’re in right now? Know that God is king. We can know this because at the very darkest moment in all of history, when God’s own son was cruelly murdered, God was on his throne. He was still king. And we see clearly that he was still good. So, you can know that he remains king now in the midst of your storm. To borrow from artist JJ Heller, No matter how the wind may blow, it cannot shake the sun. Rest in God’s unshakeable kingship.
b. Challenge: Focusing on God’s kingdom shows us that God’s agenda is not ours. Ultimately, this is freeing, because God’s agenda is the only one that will truly satisfy us.
This is a call for us to surrender our petty kingdoms and exchange them for God’s kingdom. When you die, what will people say that you spent your life on? What is the kingdom that you are giving your life to build? You have one life to live; spend it well. Give it away for the sake of Christ, who is king, who is establishing God’s rule on the earth. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God is precious. It is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man happens upon. Upon finding this treasure, what does he do? In his great joy he sells all that he has and buys that field. May we spend our lives selling our petty kingdoms to buy that field. The book of Psalms redirects our focus to the preciousness of the kingdom of God.
C. Jesus and Suffering.
Interpretation: The book of Psalms describes a suffering Messiah.
Many portraits of David: musician, warrior, reigning king, heinous sinner, broken repenter. It seems to me, however, that the portrait of David that predominates in Psalms is that of the innocent sufferer. We see this especially in David’s laments, which dominate the first 72 chapters of Psalms. However, the messianic frame of the book of Psalms suggests that these laments of the righteous sufferer have significance beyond that of David’s life. David has come to prefigure the messiah. Thus, in some sense, David does not simply mean David in the book of Psalms. This might seem odd; however, it is not unique within the OT. Take Ezekiel, for example. Listen to the way that Ezekiel 34 describes God’s final salvation of his people (vv. 23-24):
I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.
Now, David has long been in his grave when Ezekiel writes these words. So, what does Ezekiel mean when he says that David will again be king over the people? Clearly, David does not mean David right here. It means David’s son, the messianic king, the new David.
Thus, many of the Davidic laments in Psalms take on a prophetic dimension. They are not so much songs about the Messiah as they are the songs that the Messiah himself sings. In David, we hear the voice of the New David. This is precisely the way that Peter reads Psalms in his sermon in Acts 2. After quoting Psalm 16, Peter says that this psalm was a prophecy of Jesus’s resurrection. On the basis of God’s covenant with David, David was prophesying about the Messiah. What is remarkable about reading Psalms this way is that in the psalms we often hear the voice of a Messiah who suffers. He is betrayed by those closest to him, he suffers unjustly. Yet, he entrusts himself to God and trusts that he will be vindicated. It is precisely these parts of David’s laments in the Psalms in which the NT sees prophecies about Jesus’s betrayal and crucifixion and God’s vindication of him at his resurrection.
- Application: Let us “sanctify” our suffering.
This has big implications for the way that the Psalms can help us in our own seasons of suffering.
My tendency: suffering is secular. The Psalms meet me in my suffering and are in invitation to pray honestly out of the depths of my suffering. The Psalms invite us to “sanctify” our suffering. Sanctify = set apart, make holy. To not treat my suffering as secular but as sacred, as an opportunity to deepen fellowship with God. This takes on a different dimension when we hear Jesus’s voice in the psalms. In the midst of our suffering, we find that we are sharing with Christ in his suffering. This gives us hope that as we share in Jesus’s suffering, we will also share in his vindication and glorification in his resurrection.
iii. In our suffering, we are invited to pray with Jesus.
D. Jesus and Scripture.
The Bible Project video does a great job of showing how the book of Psalms constantly combines the themes of messianic hope and meditation on God’s word. This happens in the introduction to the book, as Psalm 1 begins by saying “blessed is the one whose delight in God’s word” and Psalm 2 concludes by saying “blessed is the one who takes refuge in the Messiah.” This combination of Scripture and Messiah is also at the center of books 1 and 5 (Pss 18-19, 118-119). This combination drives home the message of Psalms 1-2: God’s blessing belongs to those who meditate on God’s word and have faith in the Messiah. It’s no accident that I began tonight by saying that my motive for subjecting you to this experiment is to (a) enrich your interaction with the Bible and (b) deepen your faith in Jesus. This is exactly what the book of Psalms is trying to do. Call you deeper into the Bible; call you deeper into Christ. For, there God’s blessing is found. Will you follow? Because God’s blessing belongs to those who meditate on God’s word and have faith in the Messiah, let us seek Jesus in the pages of the Bible.
Terry Iles preached this sermon at Cornerstone Congregational Church.
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The unit of thought starts at verse 22 and maybe as far back as the beginning of the chapter.
Subject: How can we not fear having what we need and/or giving things away?
Compliment: By trusting in our Shepherd, Father, and King, and by putting our worth in the eternal (the kingdom).
Homiletical Idea:
We need not hold tightly to possessions or fear giving because we can trust God desires to give us the Kingdom.
Introduction
When Jonathan asked me to preach and told me I could pick any passage from Luke that was not already being preached, I thought it was imperative to preach on the foundation verse for this portion of the series. I mean, if we thought it was important enough to memorize, it ought to be important enough to preach on, right? As I thought more about it, I remembered that last November I preached on 1 Timothy 6:17-19 and spent a lot of time talking about not putting our trust in money, but putting it in God. I even quoted the passage in Matthew which is similar to today’s passage in Luke about not storing up treasure on earth, which is uncertain, but storing up treasure in heaven, which is certain. The big idea from that sermon was that you can’t take hold of eternal life while holding onto money. I wondered if I was setting myself up for a repeat sermon, because at first blush, this passage seemed very similar. However, as I meditated on this passage, looked more closely at it, and sought out what other people have seen in it, God gave me a definitively new and different, although certainly not contradictory, message to share from this passage. The message from Timothy was about taking hold of eternal life and living for the age to come. I think this passage is much more about how God’s people should live here and why.
Context/Background: Luke 12:22 we see that Jesus is talking to his disciples; we see this message is for his followers. He is telling them not to spend time worrying about what they will eat or wear. Jesus notes that the pagans worry about these things. He assures them God knows they need them and he says if they seek the kingdom, all of those other things will also be provided.
We do not need to fear lacking daily necessities and care.
So, picking up in verse 32 it says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” There are a lot of things we can learn from this short verse by looking at the language Jesus is using. First, we are like sheep… not to bright, a bit helpless, and lacking direction. Second, Jesus is our shepherd. Third, we have a Father in God and we are part of a family. Fourth, our Father is good and generous and it makes him happy to give us His kingdom, which leads us to the fifth item; God, our Father, if he has a kingdom to give, must be a King. There is a lot in that little verse, and it certainly helps us understand why we don’t have to fear. Psalm 23 was our foundation verse in the previous sermon series. It says, The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now contrast that with this thought: I don’t have a lot of time to watch TV, but there are a couple of shows I find interesting when I have time. I tend to like to watch things I haven’t done, couldn’t do, or wouldn’t do. One such show is a reality show on the Discovery Channel called Naked and Afraid. In this show, two people are dropped off in a deserted and dangerous place with no shelter, no food, no water, and no clothes to survive for either 21 or 40 days depending on the show. Can you imagine? How much of your time would be spent worrying about what you will drink, eat, wear, etc. It would be all consuming.
When a child comes into the world with a good father, they don’t spend any time worrying about what they will drink, eat, or wear.
We have a good shepherd, a good Father, and a good King; we do not need to worry about what these things.
We are to be generous as our Father is generous
The beginning of verse 33 says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” Remember, Jesus is talking to his disciples. They are not walking around with a lot of cash; they don’t even have a lot of things. Yet, he wants his followers to be like him, generous. I remember in 2010 or 2011, when we had just completed one adoption and we in process on another, and cash was not abundant, I had finally come into ownership of a handed down snow blower. I had wanted one for a long time, and this one came to me free. I was quite pleased. Shortly after getting it, God clearly told me I was to sell the snow blower and give the money to man I had met in Haiti who had a wife and two sons, but no home. I was obedient in that, and it provided joy to me to think about them, and pray for them each time I shoveled. n/a As John Piper says it, sell the treasure that will not last, and seek the treasure that will not fail. I happen to know the person I sold the snow blower to, and it is still running strong. But, I can guarantee it will be in the scrapyard someday. Sell the treasure that will not last and seek the treasure that will not fail. This brings us to the next point.
Seek the treasure that will not fail.
The rest of verse 33 says, “Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” How do we do this? I think the answer is in the first part of the verse. “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” Each time you do this you are loosening your grip on the things of this world and seeking the Kingdom to use the language of the earlier part of Luke 12. Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” There seems to be some correlation between giving in this life and what will be given to us in the coming age. In addition, we see in Matthew were Jesus welcomes in the coming age those who shared things with the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned, etc. “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Likewise, Jesus sent away those who cared more about their possessions than the needs of others. “whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” Seek the treasure that will not fail. Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven.
Jesus calls us to abundant life
I said this passage is about how Jesus’ followers should live and why. I think I have laid out the how, and perhaps a little of the why, but I think the why so far is a little abstract; about treasure in heaven. The final verse brings us to the practical why for the here and now; for life on earth. Verse 34 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” In John chapter 10, another chapter about Jesus being the shepherd and thieves stealing and destroying, Jesus says that he, as the good shepherd, has to not only protect his sheep but to give them abundant life. What does it mean, where your treasure is, there you heart will be also? The heart is the source of joy and hope in our life. Think of the sayings we have. It fills up my heart means that something brings you joy. Don’t lose heart means don’t lose hope. If our heart follows our treasure, then it would stand to reason that if our treasure is secure, our joy and hope are secure; if our treasure is not secure, our joy and hope are not secure. Our joy and hope must be in Christ, in God, in the Kingdom. Certainly we understand that we cannot treasure things that obviously devalue and degrade over time, right? We are keenly aware of what is temporary, right? We would never treasure a car or a boat. Would we treasure our lawn or our house? What about our job? Our 401K balance? How about our athletic ability or our health? Our ability to walk? How about our spouse or our family, we are supposed to treasure them right? What happens if you lose your job and they repossess your car? Would you still have joy? What if the stock market drops by 50%? Would you still have hope? What if your house burned down? What if you were paralyzed in an accident? Would you still have joy? What if, like Job, you lost everything including your family? Would that take your hope and joy? There are very few absolute promises in Scripture outside of the attributes of God, although throughout Christian history people have taken things out of context or twisted things to claim a prosperity gospel or to condemn those who are sick or poor. Here are some of the promises Jesus made to his followers:
Luke 9:23-24 “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
So, it will be hard to follow Jesus, and we know this world is broken. Life will not be easy. But, thankfully, Jesus made other promises to his followers such as abundant life, rest, power through the Holy Spirit, eternal life, that he is preparing a place for us, that he is coming back…
Jesus wants us to reduce the things we treasure on earth and increase the things we treasure in heaven because he wants to guard our hearts, or joy, and our hope. [Christine Caine if time] What can we do to treasure Jesus more? What can we do to treasure God more? What can we do to treasure the Kingdom more? Sell our possessions and give to the poor.
We need not hold tightly to possessions or fear giving because we can trust God desires to give us the Kingdom.
Conclusion:
Sell the treasure that will not last, and seek the treasure that will not fail. Remember that we have a good shepherd, a good father, a good king. God desires to give us the kingdom. We cannot exhaust God’s resources. Be generous as our Heavenly Father is generous. Hold loosely to the things of this world and give to those in need. Help those in need of help. Don’t be afraid to give beyond what seems smart. Store up treasure in heaven. Treasure God. Treasure Christ. Your heart, your joy, your hope will all follow your treasure. Protect them by putting them all in a secure place. Please pray with me.
Prayer, and don’t forget the offering.
Benediction: Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Andy Bradshaw preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to more sermons or read our story.
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32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The unit of thought starts at verse 22 and maybe as far back as the
I want us to start by thinking of the last people we had over for dinner. Whether that was last week or a month ago, think of the last people you shared a meal with. And if you didn’t have them over for dinner, think of those you went out to dinner with. Do you have them in your mind? What are they like? Are they similar to you or different than you? Do they share a similar education background?
I want us to start by thinking of the last people we had over for dinner. Whether that was last week or a month ago, think of the last people you shared a meal with. And if you didn’t have them over for dinner, think of those you went out to dinner with. Do you have them in your mind?
What are they like? Are they similar to you or different than you? Do they share a similar education background? Do they have a Bachelors or Masters or even a Doctorate? Do they look like you? Are they white, Asian, red-headed? Do they make about what you make? When they go on vacation, do they go to the kind of places you go? Do they send their kids to the same schools as your kids? Are they like you?
Now I want to ask another question. Are they the kind of people Jesus would eat with? When Jesus began his ministry, he told us who he came for.
Luke 4:18-19“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (NIV®)
From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry he told us that he came for the unexpected, the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and oppressed. So it makes sense Jesus would spend time eating, drinking and talking with them.
Luke 5:29-32 29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
(Let’s all say our foundation verse together…)
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (NIV®)
The Pharisees, a strict religious order, didn’t like that Jesus spent time with tax collectors and sinners, the kinds of people they didn’t want to associate with. Sinners and tax collectors are ritually unclean, unholy, un-purified, but Jesus still spent time with them.
Jesus eats with the unexpected. (Lk 12:1-14) I want to briefly go over the first part of our passage today. In verse one Jesus goes “to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee” on the Sabbath and as he ate “he was being carefully watched.” Jesus didn’t eat with them because he preferred the rich and powerful, but because he had something to teach them.
In verses 2-6 he heals a sick man to show them it’s right to do good on the Sabbath; but then in verse 7 Jesus notices how the dinner guests are jockeying for places of honor around the table. I read the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary that said this:
Meals were important social rituals in the ancient world, and one would normally eat only with those of his or her own social class. One’s place at the table was determined by social status, and the places beside the host represented the highest status.
And so Jesus tells them that when they go to a wedding (a party of great importance), they should seek out the lowest seat with the least honor. Because if they go to the highest seat, and someone comes along who deserves it more than they, they’ll be asked to move and dishonored. But if they’re at the lowest seat and asked to move up, they’ll experience more honor. Then Jesus adds, “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (NIV®)
Have you ever been to a movie theater and you’re told to move because you sat down in the wrong seat? It doesn’t feel great. How about at a wedding? Hopefully you’ve never sat down at the wedding party’s table without an invitation. Jesus is laying a framework for us to think differently about hosting others. It’s a ministry. It’s not meant to be a time for us to climb up the social latter, but to climb down.
In verse 12 Jesus tells the host himself to not invite his family and friends to his next meal, because they in turn can invite him and repay him, but to “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed” because “they cannot repay you” and ‘you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (v13-14) Jesus eats with the unexpected and he tells us to eat with the unexpected too.
When Monica and lived in our Lowell Apartment, we had lots of opportunities to eat with our neighbors from lots of different backgrounds. Monica jokes that when our fire alarm went off, I would get excited and rush outside to meet our neighbors… which is true. While we lived their we met an Indian family and we invited them over for dinner. I remember the husband told me when they came over that they had never been invited to an American’s house for dinner before. There’s a growing population of Indian families in Westford, many of whom are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants. But despite this influx I don’t think we can assume that they feel welcomed and integrated. It’s tempting to just spend time with people that look like us and eat the food we’re used to, but we need to be reaching across ethnic lines to eat with the kinds of people Jesus would eat with, the unexpected. I want to encourage you that many of us are doing this. Thank you! But if you’re not, now is a good time to begin.
Why do we do this? Is it because we’re good people and want to be seen as such, or is it because of what Jesus has done for us?
Jesus invites us to a great banquet. (Lk 14:15-16) When Jesus instructs his host to stop inviting the rich to dinner and invite the outcasts instead, it get’s awkward, and someone tries to change the subject by bring up the great banquet God is going to host for his people at the end of the age.
15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. (NIV®)
In our story, Jesus is first and foremost addressing the Pharisees and his wider Jewish audience. He has invited them to this eternal banquet but they are refusing to come. We spoke about this theme last week. By rejecting Jesus as Lord, the nation of Israel is rejecting their place at the feast. (Rom 9-11).
But Jesus not only extends this invitation to those people back then but to us today. We’re each invited to the great feast in the kingdom of God. But will you be there?
Many make excuses and have other priorities. (Lk 14:17-20) 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ (NIV®)
Banquets were costly. People in that culture usually didn’t eat meat apart from special occasions. He had already invited each of these three guests and each of them had said they would come (v17). But when the time came for the party they each cancelled last minute.
This is like a wedding. When you get married first you send out “Save the Date” cards so people know when the wedding is going to be. Then you send “RSVP” cards so that people can say if they’re coming or not, and if they’re bringing a guest. And finally, you expect those who RSVP to show up, don’t you? It’s costly. The average price of a wedding in the U.S. right now is $35,329. Dinner alone usually costs over $100 a plate. We had a classmate who told us the day before in person that he would be there and then he didn’t show. Now maybe he had a medical emergency but it still hurt. Now what if he had sent me a Facebook message that said, “Sorry I couldn’t make it to your wedding Jonathan. I have to sit on the couch and watch Netflix.” Do we ever do that to the Lord? “God, I would spend time with you, I would go to church, I would read my Bible and pray, I would serve the lost, but I have to watch Netflix.”
The first guest in verse 18 says he just bought a field and has to go see it. That man would have already inspected that field many many times before buying it. The second guest in verse 19 claims that he’s just bought five yoke of Oxen (ten total) and has to go try them out. Would you expect him to have tried them out before he bought them? You test drive a car, right? You’d test drive your cattle too.
The first two guests ask to be excused, but the third guest in verse 20 doesn’t bother. He says, “I just got married, so I can’t come.” Remember, this man already said he was coming, and now he’s using his bride as an excuse. All three guests make excuses and have misplaced priorities.
Now remember these three guests represent the people of Israel who were choosing just about anything over Jesus (Lk 16:14; Mt 6:5). Jesus invites us to the greatest banquet, and you might have every intention of showing up, but life get’s busy and you find less and less time for Jesus, for church, for the Bible, for knowing God. And by the end of your life you find that you really don’t know him at all. Maybe you already sent in your RSVP. You said the sinners prayer and you’ve told others you believe. But I’m not interested in what you say. I’m interested in what your life shows. What do you prioritize over Jesus? Many make excuses and have other priorities. So what does the man in Jesus’ parable do (who represents Jesus)?
Jesus invites the social outcasts and foreigners. (Lk 14:21-24) 21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ (NIV®)
Jesus tells his servant to invite the social outcasts, those within their community that people looked down on. Who are the kind of people we shy away from within our community? Is it the guy at the post office who never takes a shower? Is it your noisy neighbor who you try to avoid? Is it the single mom struggling to raise her kids? Is it the has-been athlete who has a painkiller addiction? Is it the gay couple you see at school or your transgendered classmate? Who do you think of when you think of social outcast? That’s the kind of person we’re supposed to invite into our homes so that we can invite them to an even greater banquet. In Jesus’ story we’re the servants. We’re called to invite the social outcasts into our lives.
When Monica and I lived at the apartment complex one night Monica prayed that the Lord would bring more gay people into our life. We didn’t know many gay people and felt convicted. The next night there was a knock on our door, a friend of a friend was dropping by, and over time we built our own friendship. And as we walked through that friendship she told us she was a man and asked us to start calling her by a male name. We had him and his girlfriend over for dinner several times, and got to share Jesus with them. But when he scheduled an operation and I told him not to do it, we lost the friendship. I wonder if I’ve permanently turned this friend away from Jesus. Jesus calls us to invite the social outcasts for dinner, and we have to trust the results up to him. It could end in disaster, but we can’t lose hope that it could also lead to sharing a great banquet for all eternity. This fall I’m leading through two five-weeks studies of what it means to offer both grace and truth to LGBTQ people. I hope you’ll join me so that we can all learn together.
In New England, we’re struggling with the opioid epidemic. I was listening to the Holy Post Podcast this week. At the end of the episode the host and his guest spoke briefly about the opioid epidemic. The guest said “the researchers at Duke have found that relationship and connection and community are actual real ways that Christians can participate in helping to turn the tide.” I don’t know where he got the data but the host added that he saw a recent statistic that said “40% of Americans don’t have a single friend.” We live in New England where the opioid epidemic is raging. 346 people died of drug overdoses in Middlesex county in 2017, six in Westford. What a difference it could make if we invited these people into our homes to share meals and form friendships. Jesus calls us to love and eat with the social outcasts.
Food itself is a ministry. At the preaching breakfast this week we had something really cool happen. I lead a breakfast every Tuesday morning where we meet at either Paul’s Diner or the Forge Village Restaurant. We read the upcoming sermon text from the Bible, discuss the passage, and pray. After we finished a man came up and introduced himself and asked about us reading our Bibles. He shared his story, we got to share about Jesus with him, and we invited him to church. This is why we do ministry over meals! This is why we have fellowship dinners at church and say to bring a friend. This is why we have cheese and crackers and sometimes cake after the service! Jesus invites the social outcasts and foreigners to his great banquet.
Next Saturday Mark is going to show a clip from Safe Families. Safe Families is a program that helps poor and low income families, usually single moms with no-support network, with temporary housing for their children in a time of need. They’re giving us a special presentation on Saturday, August 18th after the church service. I hope you’ll come. Jesus doesn’t limit this call to just our own communities.
22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’” (NIV®)
The roads and country lanes symbolized those people outside the Jewish community, the Gentiles, the non-Jews. To put this into practice we too need to invite people into our homes from different countries, immigrants and aliens. I don’t think it matters what side of the political aisle you’re on. We live in a moment in U.S. History that feels very hostile to immigrants. It’s our job as Christians to go above and beyond to love the foreigner, to love the immigrant. One of the ways I’ve tried to do this is when this issue first really got heated, and the news started reporting how fearful immigrants felt, I sent my Indian friend from my apartment an email to assure him that I wanted him here and to encourage him.
At the end of the day there is hope for Israel and the Jewish people. Romans 11:26 suggests that one day God will turn the heart of the Jewish people to Christ. If like the three men in our story you’ve made excuses and had other priorities, there’s hope for you too. I want to give you my big idea and in closing talk a little bit about this message in light of the gospel.
The banquet is served. You’re invited. Bring an outcast. The banquet is served. You’re invited. Bring an outcast. Revelation 19 gives us a glimpse of the final banquet when all God’s children will eat together at the marriage supper of the Lamb (v6-9). Jesus bought us the privilege to come to this banquet through his blood shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. He left the riches of heaven to go out into the alleys and byways to save the lost and foreign, the Jew and the Gentile. He was crippled as his feet and hands were nailed to the tree. He did all of this so that we can come to the banquet. If you want to come to the banquet, you need to know the host, Christ Jesus, and to accept the payment he made for you. For those of us who have RSVPd, we’re called to follow Christ’s example and to invite others. The banquet is served. You’re invited. Bring an outcast.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to more sermons or to read our story.
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One of the most important questions any of us can ask is this. Will I be saved? Will I go to heaven? How can I know God will save me? Will I be saved when I die? Can you think of a more important question with such long-term implications? I mean, we’re talking eternity here. How do people answer?
I’ll go to heaven because all paths lead to heaven. It’s like we’re all hiking up the same mountain we’re just taking different paths. It doesn’t matter if you’re Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, or an Atheist. We’ll all float on okay. I’ll go to heaven because I have faith. What matters is not that you believe the right thing, but that you believe in something. As long as you believe in some sense of God and the spiritual you’re good. I’ll go to heaven because I’m generally a good person. My good deeds outweigh my bad deeds so I don’t need to worry. I’ve never murdered anyone and I’m a happy person so I’ll be safe. I’ll go to haven because my family is religious and I attend church. I’ve paid my dues. I’ve gone to church and given money. My parents take me to church so I’m a Christian. God will let me in.
How do you answer this question…
Will I be saved? (v22-23) Maybe you even answer one or two of these ways. In the Bible, Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem when a seeker like us asked him a similar question. “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
This individual was confused by Jesus’ teaching. This person was a Jew and had been raised to believe that the nation of Israel was favored by God. That descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were special. But Jesus is saying that it’s not who you are, but how you respond to him that matters (Luke 12:8-9; 13:3). Jesus answers this man’s question by giving two analogies.
1. The narrow door – Not everyone will be saved. (v24) Luke 13:24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to (NIV®)
The Greek word for “make every effort” sounds like our modern english word for “agonize.” Agonizomai means “to strive, fight, struggle.” It literally means “to be a combatant in the public games.” This is a word the ancients used for sports played in a stadium where the athletes strove against each other to win. It’s like today how the vast majority of Americans make time every weekend to watch Crossfit. We watch the athletes strive to be stronger and better than each other.
Jesus calls them to strive to enter through the narrow door because salvation is not guaranteed. It’s not a shoe-in. Now this doesn’t mean that we can earn our salvation. For this man it means that just because he’s Jewish doesn’t mean he’s saved. For us it means that just because we have belief, or are good people, or attend church, we’re not guaranteed a spot in heaven. Not everyone get’s in. The door is narrow.
There’s a place to go caving near my home town of Estes Park Colorado. There’s a mountain called Old Man Mountain and mid-way up the mountain you can squeeze into a crack that leads through a series of crevices and caves and comes out at the base of the mountain. That initial crack determines who get’s to go caving and who doesn’t. The crack is about 12 inches wide. But if you’re any larger than that you’re not getting in. Anytime I went there were always a few people who didn’t get in, a dad, a friend, a sister. That’s what Jesus is getting at. There are going to be good people, religious people, our people who don’t get in. Not everyone will be saved. Jesus uses a second analogy to say there’s a limited time for receiving salvation.
2. The closed-door – The opportunity is limited. (v25a) Luke 13:25a Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ (NIV®)
Here Jesus isn’t just speaking to this individual, but to all the people of Israel. When he says “you will stand outside knocking and pleading” he’s saying “you all will stand outside knocking and pleading.” Throughout the course of his ministry Jesus taught and instructed the people, but the Pharisees and religious elite and many of the Jewish people rejected him. Jesus is incredibly patient, leaving the door open even for them, but one day he promises it will close.
Maybe you’re not a Christian but you think, I’ll live the life I want now and say the sinner’s prayer at the very end and God will let me into heaven. So I get to live the life I want and still get to go to heaven. We don’t know when the door is closing. Jesus may return at any moment, and the door will be closed. Or we may die at any moment, and the door will be closed. It’s only in this life that we have the opportunity to be saved, and the opportunity is limited.
I recently asked the Elders to approve me applying to the Ockenga Fellows Program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which is a two-year program for early career pastors in New England meant to equip us to do ministry. I asked the Elders if I could apply since I would need to travel up to the seminary a couple days each quarter and they said yes. When I received the initial email application, it said the deadline was May 31st, but when I pulled-up the application page last week it said the registration window had closed. My heart sank. How did I miss it?! I thought I had until the end of May. I thought I had more time. There’s some things it’s okay to miss, things like this, but there are other things like eternity in heaven or hell that we can’t afford to miss. Don’t wait until the last day. The window is closing. The Ockenga program opened up just for me and I was accepted into the program. This widow is still open for you.
At the end, Jesus promises that we will all recognize he is Lord. Notice what those outside say, “Sir.” This is the Greek word kurie, which means “Lord” and was often used to refer to God. At the end, we will all recognize Jesus is the Lord God, some willingly, many not, but it will be too late to change your mind. The opportunity is limited.
Those who reject Jesus will object when he rejects them. (v26, 28) When the door shuts, Jesus says those who have rejected him will say it’s not fair.
Luke 13:26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ (NIV®)
Luke 13:28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. (NIV®)
They object because they had Jesus in their homes and he walked their streets, but Jesus says it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t even matter that they are the descendants of the great Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their proximity to Jesus and their heritage will do them no good.
You can have a Bible in your home. You can pray to bless your dinner. You can go to church regularly. You can hang a cross over your mantle. You can be friends with the Pastor. Your grandma may go to church zealously and pray for you. You can get confirmed or go to Sunday School. You can even say you’re saved. But none of those things will matter when we stand before God. We can be in close proximity to the truth without the truth doing us any good.
The CDC reports, “More than half of the people killed in car crashes were not restrained at the time of the crash. Wearing a seat belt is the most effective way to prevent death and serious injury in a crash.” So that means that over half-of the people who died in a car crash were literally touching the object that may have been able to save their lives when they died, but instead of wearing their seat belts they either forgot to put them on or chose not to. You may think you’re not rejecting Jesus by forgetting about him or postponing your decision, but you are. We either choose him or reject him. There’s no middle ground.
Those who reject Jesus will object when he rejects them. So this is pretty grim. Where’s the hope? How can we be saved? How can I know I will go to heaven?
The key to salvation is knowing and being known by Jesus. (v25b, 27) I want you to notice how Jesus gives the same reason twice for why so many will not be saved. He says that he doesn’t “know” them in verse 25 and again in verse 27.
Luke 13:25b …“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ (NIV®)
Luke 13:27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ (NIV®)
Jesus gives two reasons why they won’t get in. First, he doesn’t know them. They don’t have a relationship with him. They haven’t let him into their lives and tried to get to know him. One of the elders in the church I grew up in preached one of the few sermons I remember from my childhood. He preached on the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 and he pointed out that when the five foolish virgins show up late to the wedding banquet, the bridegroom won’t let them in because, he says, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’ (Matt 25:12b). It doesn’t say “you don’t know me” but “I don’t you know.” Does Jesus know you?
Maybe you’ve heard the expression, Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship. Well, there’s a lot of truth to that. The difference between someone who is saved and someone who is not is whether or not they know Jesus and are known by him. It’s who you know that matters.
If you’re not sure that’s you, and you want to know him, pray from your heart with me, “Jesus, I want to know you. I want to know your goodness and your truth and your grace and your love. And I want you to know me. I want you to know my heart, the good parts and the bad. Please forgive and change the sinful parts and cultivate my love for you and others. Amen.”
The second reason Jesus denies them is he doesn’t recognize where they’re from. To not recognize where they’re from is him saying that he does not recognize their identity. Just because they’re from Jerusalem or Judaea or Israel doesn’t mean he’ll show them favoritism. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, or the good things you’ve done with your life. It’s all about who you know, not me, or other Christians, but Jesus.
Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (NIV®)
But maybe you’re thinking you’re not good enough or it’s too late.
Anyone can know Jesus and be saved. (v29-30) It’s not about being good. It’s not about coming from a Christian family. It’s who you know that matters.
Luke 13:29-30 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” (NIV®)
This would have been startling to Jesus’ audience, the Pharisees, the crowds, and even his own disciples because Jesus is talking about the Gentiles (the non-Jews). He’s saying that people are going to come from all over and enter into God’s kingdom. He’s flipping their expectations. They expected to be first, but Jesus says they will be last. And they expected God to judge the Gentiles harshly, but he says he’s going to give them grace. That means there’s hope for us, for all of us. Anyone can know Jesus and be saved.
It’s who you know that matters. I’m going to transition us into a time of communion now. We’re going to take the Lord’s Supper and I want to apply our sermon to communion. In the Lord’s Supper, we’re going to eat and drink. You can do this routinely and mechanically by just taking the elements and eating and drinking them without thinking about what you’re doing. But don’t do that, then you’re just like the people in this passage who were so close to the truth but missed it.
Instead, open your heart to Christ, pray, talk to him, confess your sins, receive his grace and love, as you receive the bread and the juice. Jesus told us to remember him in this supper. I think he meant for us to not just remember that he lived and breathed and walked the earth, but that he is still living and breathing and we can be in a relationship with him today. Remember your love for him.
1 Corinthians 11:23-24 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (ESV)
1 Corinthians 11:25-26 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (ESV)
It’s who you know that matters. If you don’t know Jesus, then this supper isn’t for you. But for those of you who do know him, maybe even just recently or not real well, come and take this meal as a way to get to know Christ Jesus. It’s who you know that matters.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to more sermons or to read our story.
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One of the most important questions any of us can ask is this. Will I be saved? Will I go to heaven? How can I know God will save me? Will I be saved when I die? Can you think of a more important question with such long-term implications? I mean, we’re talking eternity here. How do people answer? I’ll go to heaven because all paths lead to heaven. It’s like we’re all hiking up the same mountain we’re just
As I prepared this week I listened to a sermon on Psalm 136 where a pastor asked his congregation to write down “One thing God has changed, saved, or redeemed in my life.” We’re going to do the same thing. Would you write down “one thing God has changed, saved, or redeemed in my life”? We’re going to come back to these as part of the service, so write something you’re comfortable with others hearing. Would you do that? (pause
As I prepared this week I listened to a sermon on Psalm 136 where a pastor asked his congregation to write down “One thing God has changed, saved, or redeemed in my life.” We’re going to do the same thing. Would you write down “one thing God has changed, saved, or redeemed in my life”? We’re going to come back to these as part of the service, so write something you’re comfortable with others hearing. Would you do that? (pause for writing) Once you’ve written your one thing would you pass the piece of paper to our volunteers? Thank you. Let me pray.
Our Psalm today is all about the ways God has been faithful to the nation of Israel. We don’t know when it was written but this Psalm is a salvation-history Psalm. That means it recounts the ways God has saved his people, specifically the nation of Israel. It starts with creation, then how God brought his people out of slavery in Egypt, the Red Sea crossing, Israel’s wandering in the wilderness, when they encountered two kings, Sihon and Og, and ends with God giving them the promised land.
According to tradition, Psalm 136 is known as “The Great Hallel.” Hallel is the Hebrew verb for “praise.” It’s where we get the word hallelujah, which means “praise Yahweh.” Although that Hebrew word isn’t in our Psalm. There was a number of other “Hallel” Psalms but only this one is known as the Great Hallel and would have been recited more often. Tradition says the Israelites sang this song during Passover and other festivals and celebrations like Pentecost.
The Priests or Levites could have sang the first half of the verse, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.” Then the people would have responded with the second half of the verse, “His love endures forever.” (1 Chr 16:41; 2 Chr 5:13, 7:3, 6; Ezra 3:11) It’s a call and response Psalm. So today I’m going to read through the text and I’d like you to call the refrain back to me, “His love endures forever.” Do you think you can do that? Does anyone need a Bible? Let’s give it a try with the first three verses.
Psalm 136 1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures forever. (NIV)
The beauty of this Psalm is it gives the congregation a chance to praise God together. In other words, it gives us a chance to praise God in unison. Together, we can recount God’s faithfulness and praise him for it. This Psalm truly is a corporate prayer. It’s an opportunity for us in one voice to pray and praise. As we pray and praise through this song, I want you to have my big idea, since it can be easy to miss in our text…
His love endures forever. (v1-3) I’m not kidding. This refrain is so common it’s easy to let your eyes gloss right over it and miss it. But let’s pause and think about it. We’ve just heard about the character of God in verses 1-3. We’ve heard about the Lord, who is good, who is the God of gods (that means the only one true God), and who is the Lord of Lords (which means he is in control over everything). And this God. This good, true, all-powerful God loves us! His love for us with an everlasting love.
This word for love is a word I’ve talked about so many times it’s easy to let it grow dull and boring. It’s the “hesed.” But don’t let it grow dull and boring because this is a special covenant love. That means this good, true, all-powerful God doesn’t just give his people his love and then revoke it. No. It means God loves his people no matter what, even when we don’t deserve it. He promises his love to us.
I’m married. My wife made vows to love me even when she doesn’t feel like it. I made vows to love her even when I don’t feel like it. We promised to give our love to each other and then signed our names on a marriage certificate, a binding promise with legal ramifications. We live in a culture that says, “If you really love each other, you don’t need to get married.” That’s a love you can walk away from at any moment. That’s not safe. That’s not secure. God’s love is a special, covenantal, unbreakable promise.
Do you want that kind of love? Do you need that kind of love? Maybe you’ve experienced that kind of loving promise in your own life? That’s a dim picture of the kind of love God offers you. Or maybe you’ve never experienced love that’s lasting and safe. God offers it to you tonight. His love endures forever!
His love has endured from our beginning (v4-9) We’re going to read responsively from verse 4 through 9. As we read these verses, notice where the Israelites start their song of praise. They thank God for the beginning, for creation all the way back from Genesis 1. As we recite these words, thank God for creating this world, the sun, and moon, and stars, oceans, and human beings like you.
4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. 5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever. 6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever. 7 who made the great lights— His love endures forever. 8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. 9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever. (NIV)
I know our heads aren’t bowed and our eyes aren’t closed, but we’re praying. We’re speaking to God. We’re thanking him. We’re praising him. That’s what prayer is. His love has endured from our beginning.
His love endures in both captivity and deliverance. (v10-15) Although we don’t know who wrote this Psalm, it’s written for the nation of Israel because it jumps over most of the book of Genesis and goes straight to Exodus and the formation of Israel as they came out of captivity in Egypt. As we recite verses 10 through 15 notice how we praise God for two events, the Exodus from Egypt and the crossing at the Red Sea.
10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever. 11 and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever. 12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.
13 to him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever. 14 and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever. 15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever. (NIV)
Egypt was one of the first-world countries of its time, and the Lord absolutely crushes them to deliver his people. But that was only after 400 to 430 years of captivity in Egypt under hard cruel slave-labor (Gen 15:13; Exod 12:40). Do you think in those 400 years the Israelites ever despaired? Do you think they ever doubted God and wondered where he was? Do you think they ever wondered when they would be free?
When we’re captive to something it’s easy to despair. When you’re tied-up by a boss or coworker who is cruel, by a sickness you just can’t shake, by an addiction to drugs, alcohol, or pictures, by bitterness so deep you don’t know if it will ever leave, God doesn’t love you any less. Even if the captivity is your fault, if you’ve chosen your shame, God still loves you. He loves us because he poured out all his anger at our sin upon his Son, Christ Jesus. Jesus suffered and died to set the captives free. The cross displays God’s love.
God supernaturally delivered the Israelites by sending plagues on the Egyptians, striking down their firstborn and drowning Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. Just like it’s a real temptation to believe God loves me less when I’m trapped in my sins or life’s not going well it’s just as much a temptation to believe that when God finally delivers me from those things it must be because I’ve finally gotten something right and God can really love me now. God promised his people his love no matter what. His love endures in both captivity and deliverance.
His love endures even when we wander. (v16) We’re just responding to one verse this time.
16 to him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever. (NIV)
I just want to point out that God took the Israelites out of Egypt and then to Sinai and all the way to the border of the promised land, but because they didn’t believe they had to spend the next 40 years wandering in the wilderness. Having you ever seen a missing persons poster? Families put those up not because they’re mad at their family member for being lost, but because they love their family member and want them to come home. When our hearts wander, when we run away from our church family, when we get into relationships we shouldn’t, when we fail, his love still endures. His love endures even when we wander.
His love endures when others attack us. (v17-22) As the Israelites wandered the wilderness they encountered hostile kings and their armies, but rejoiced because even in the face of aggression God’s love endured.
17 to him who struck down great kings, His love endures forever. 18 and killed mighty kings— His love endures forever. 19 Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever. 20 and Og king of Bashan— His love endures forever. 21 and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever. 22 an inheritance to his servant Israel. His love endures forever. (NIV)
You can read the story of the Lord delivering the Israelites from Sihon and Og in Numbers 21:21-35. Moses had to lead the Israelites through the land of the Amorites and so he sent word to king Sihon saying he and his people wouldn’t eat from their vineyards or drink from their wells if Sihon would let them pass through. But Sihon was an evil king and he attacked them. God defeated him and gave Israel their lands. When people attack and hurt you unfairly, God can use it for your good because he loves you.
When the Israelites sang verse 19 it reminded them of God’s love for them in the past. When we recite verse 20, how God defeated the mighty Og king of Bashan, it can remind us of God’s love for us today. Bashan was a lush countryside full of wild bulls. When have we talked about Bashan before in our sermon series in the Psalms?
Psalm 22:12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. (NIV)
Do you remember how Psalm 22 is a prophecy of the Messiah? When Jesus was surrounded by a whole company of soldiers (Matt 27:27-31), as many as 600 men who struck him, beat him, and spit on him, I think he was symbolically surrounded by the forces of darkness, the spiritual descendants of Og king of Bashan. Moses defeated Og king of Bashan foreshadowing how one day Christ Jesus would defeat the bulls of Bashan by dying and rising again. Jesus died to defeat our bulls of Bashan, to defeat our sin and rebellion and the hurt and attacks in this world.
Did you know according to tradition the Priests, Levites, and people sang Psalm 136, the Great Hallel, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb? The Bible tells us Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn as they left the Passover meal to go to the Mount of Olives (Matt 26:30; Mark 14:26). Jesus fulfilled Psalm 22 as he hung on the cross and he may have sung Psalm 136 on his way to that cross. Can you hear Jesus singing out, “His love endures forever” as he walks towards the cross?
When I feel like I’m surrounded by strong bulls of Bashan, when people as powerful as Sihon and Og attack me, or I am oppressed by the spiritual forces of darkness, I can think of Jesus surrounded by strong bulls of Bashan, reciting, “His love endures forever.” If you trust in Jesus you too can whisper, “Jesus’ love endures forever.” His love endures when others attack us.
His love endures forever! (v23-26) As we think about everything Jesus did, would you join me as we recite the last part of our Psalm? This section brings us full circle back to the same God who made the heavens.
23 He remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever. 24 and freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever. 25 He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever. 26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever. (NIV)
Andy has gathered the ways God has changed, saved, and redeemed our lives. He is going to lead us in our own brand-new Cornerstone worship song. When I listened to the other church do this, I was so encouraged I thought this would also be a nice moment for us to share. He’s gone through the slips of paper and removed any ones that were repetitive or too private and now he’s going to come up and read them. And after he’s read one, we’ll all recite, “His love endures forever.” We’ll keep going until Andy finishes them and that will lead us into our final worship song and the offering. Would you join me in proclaiming, “His love endures forever!”
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to more sermons or to read our story.
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Honesty is refreshing. In our current culture people aren’t honest. I don’t think it’s because we’re intentionally dishonest. We just want to put forward our best selves forward and we do that by posting happy photos of ourselves on Facebook and Instagram. Have you ever posted a photo of how you’re actually feeling? How did people respond? Did people want to see it? When I climbed Long’s Peak back in 2010 I posted this picture of my face from the
Honesty is refreshing. In our current culture people aren’t honest. I don’t think it’s because we’re intentionally dishonest. We just want to put forward our best selves forward and we do that by posting happy photos of ourselves on Facebook and Instagram. Have you ever posted a photo of how you’re actually feeling? How did people respond? Did people want to see it?
When I climbed Long’s Peak back in 2010 I posted this picture of my face from the top of the mountain. The beauty of this photo is that my face displays exactly how I felt after reaching the peak at 14,259 feet. I felt terrible. My friend Nick climbed the mountain with me and he said this when I posted it.
Nicholas: Mom says, “I can’t believe he put this picture of himself on here.” (to which I replied…) Jonathan: I’m all about transparency Nick. I think this will also attract women.
Full transparency. I was single at the time and this photo did not attract any women. Although Monica says it’s cute. I’m going to put up a blank slide so my mountain face isn’t staring at you. We know it’s good to be honest but that hard part about being honest is that honesty often doesn’t make us look good.
Today’s Psalm is an example of honesty. It’s an example of a man named Asaph who lived 3,000 years ago taking a picture of his own heart and writing about it for others to see. It’s not always pretty, but it is authentic. This Psalm is written down for us to meditate and pray on, and can become for us a template of what it means for us to be honest in our prayers before God.
An Example of Honest Prayer Before we begin to go through this Psalm, you need to know who Asaph is. He’s a musician who was employed by King David and was tasked with ministering before the ark of the covenant in Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16:37). So when David writes at the beginning of many of his Psalms “For the director of music. With stringed instruments.” he was likely writing notes for Asaph and those who followed him. Asaph himself is credited with having written 12 Psalms; including Psalm 73 through 83.
By today’s standards he was a successful worship leader. We often assume those who lead us in worship, the singers, the worship leaders, the band, they must really love and enjoy God all the time. But that’s not fair because they’re human and they struggle too, which leads me to the first way Asaph sets an example.
1. Admit your struggle. (v1-12) Asaph admits his struggle. As we read Psalm 73:1-3 watch for Asaph’s struggle.
1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. (NIV®)
By our standard, Asaph has everything, a successful career, he’s a gifted and talented musician, but he’s still not happy. In fact, he’s envious (aka. jealous). Envy is wanting what others have. It’s coveting what doesn’t belong to you (Exod 20:17). Timothy Keller gives a fuller definition, “To envy is to want someone else’s life. It’s to feel not just that they don’t deserve their good life but that you do and God hasn’t been fair.” Envy, is ugly. Asaph’s envy is extra-tricky because he’s envying the wicked.
The wicked are people who live their lives in disobedience to God. They ignore God’s rules and God’s laws and live life however they want. And as Asaph looks at them, it seems like they’re not just getting away with it. They’re actually getting ahead because of it.
(v4) They’re successful and healthy. (v5) Their lives are easier than most. (v6-8) They’re prideful, arrogant, and greedy and aren’t afraid to use others to get ahead. (v9-10) They have it all. (v11) They deny God and don’t believe in him.
Verse 12 is a summary, “This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.” (NIV®) Do you struggle with whether God can be good and true when you look into this world and see evil people going unpunished? Maybe you have a coworker who doesn’t mind lying or cutting corners and they keep getting promoted when they should really be fired. They just bought a nice new car and it makes you a little jealous. Maybe you have a family member who has stolen money from you and lives life for themselves, making it hard on the rest of the family. Maybe you think of a politician or government official who lies and is corrupt and yet they keep getting re-elected. Can God still be good if he’s letting bad people get ahead? This is a struggle; and Asaph admits it. But this struggle leads him to confession.
2. Confess your doubt. (v13-15) 13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. 14 All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.
15 If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children. (NIV®)
Asaph puts all of his doubt on the table before God. He doesn’t sweep it under the rug. He says it’s vanity. In the original vanity means “emptiness” or “nothingness.” In other words, he’s saying, “It’d done me no good to live a life of obedience to God.” In fact, in verse 14 he suggests that this decision has actually made his life worse, “All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.”
See we can do everything right. We can live moral lives. We can love Jesus. We can read our Bibles and pray. We can go to church and give tithes and offerings. We can serve on missions trips and tell our frontlines about Jesus We can obey Jesus in all things and we still get sick, our loved ones still die, and we still experience disappointment, heartache, and loss. I think we’ve all had those moments where we’ve looked up into the sky and shaken our fists and asked “Why?”
God would rather have us confess our doubts to him than for us to run away and hide. God is not interested in our Instagram or Facebook faces. He’s interested in our haggard beat-up honest faces. What does your honest face look like? Where are the creases and the worries? Are you willing to come before God and to say, “Here’s my envy. Here’s my doubt.”? If I wasn’t willing to let Nick see me at my worst, I couldn’t have gone on that hike with him. We couldn’t have experienced the beauty of the summit together. Honesty allows us to enter into relationship. Honesty creates intimacy.
3. Go into God’s presence. (v16-28) 16 When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply 17 till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. (NIV®)
Asaph goes to the sanctuary of God. This is the tent that housed the ark of the covenant (1 Chron 15:1). The ark was a chest made of acacia wood and overlain with gold. According to Hebrews 9:4b, “This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.” On top of the ark were two cherubim with outstretched wings that served as the Lord’s throne. So the ark acted as a footstool for God. It’s in the sanctuary near the ark that Asaph encounters the presence of God. He worships God and it completely changes him. God’s presence:
(v18-20) Helps him see God’s final plan for the wicked.
Asaph realizes that the wicked aren’t going to get away with it. Have you ever had a dream and you were absolutely convinced it was real? I really can fly! And then you wake up and just as quickly realize it wasn’t real? That’s how it’s going to feel one day when all who follow Jesus wake up and the wicked go away like a bad dream. God is going to judge the wicked. They may get away with it in this life but not the next.
(v21-22) Helps him see his own sin and repent.
Just like Asaph had enough courage to express his struggle and his doubts he has enough confidence to express his sin and repent. “I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.” (v22) When we’re open and honest with God, it opens up a space for him to work in our heart and change us from wanting sin for seeing what it really is, worthless.
(v23-28) Helps him see God has always been with him.
23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. […]
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (NIV®)
God has not left Asaph and God has not left you. God isn’t scared by our envy or doubt. If you know him, he’s always been with you and will never leave you no matter what. When we remember that, it changes us.
Today we can’t go to the ark of the covenant to sense God’s presence, but we have something even better. We have prayer. We have the Holy Spirit inside of us who speaks to the Father on our behalf. We have Jesus. We have Jesus who stepped into our struggle and was exposed to our doubts. He was the best of men who suffered the worst of fates at the hands of wicked men. He died on a cross, but God used that for good to win our salvation. Jesus promises eternal life to all who repent of their sin and believe in him. He died to change wicked men and women into children of God. He brought God’s presence down into this world so we could step into God’s presence.
I hope today’s Psalm will encourage you to bring your honest face before God. When we’re honest with the ones we love it gives us the opportunity to be in relationship with them. The same is true of God. We come before him honestly in prayer to be in relationship with him. Bring your honest prayers to God.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to more sermons or to read our story.
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Today I’m going to do something a little different. I’m going to pray the 23rd Psalm. Most of us are familiar with this Psalm. We’ve heard it read at funerals, we’ve seen it written on Hallmark cards, we’ve recited it in church, and maybe we’ve even heard a sermon or two on it. Maybe this is your favorite Psalm. You know it by heart. For others of us. We know about it, but it hasn’t sunk into our hearts. Praying
Today I’m going to do something a little different. I’m going to pray the 23rd Psalm. Most of us are familiar with this Psalm. We’ve heard it read at funerals, we’ve seen it written on Hallmark cards, we’ve recited it in church, and maybe we’ve even heard a sermon or two on it. Maybe this is your favorite Psalm. You know it by heart. For others of us. We know about it, but it hasn’t sunk into our hearts. Praying this Psalm will help it sink into our hearts in a way that talking about it won’t.
Our sermon series is supposed to teach us how to pray the Psalms, but I would fall short as your pastor if I didn’t take the time to model what this can look like. So for the next 30-35 minutes, I’m going to read this Psalm line by line and pray through it. My prayer will have elements of teaching because I’ve studied this Psalm a lot this week, but my desire is that we will each walk away having a better sense of how to pray the Psalms. I hope that when you go home, you’ll open up Psalm 23 and try praying it through on your own.
Now, you do not have to close your eyes and clasp your hands the entire time I pray. You can, but you can also open your eyes and look to heaven or outside. You can look at the cross. You can look at the text in your Bible. Some of you may fall asleep. That’s alright. The Lord is just making you lie down in green pastures. But I pray most of all that you would attune your heart to mine. That means to listen, think about, and hopefully agree with what I’m praying—to amen it. When you whisper or think “amen” you’re saying, “Let it be so, Lord. Let it be true.” Let’s pray…
A Psalm of David. (ESV) Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for King David who wrote this poem. He lived 3,000 years ago but was a man just like us (James 5:17). He was sinful and broken. He committed adultery. He murdered. He was jealous and sinful. And yet, you say he was “a man after [your] own heart” (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22). Father, if David can be a man after your own heart, we can be men and women after your own heart. Please help us become men and women after your own heart. I think he was a man after your own heart because he continually opened his heart to you both when he was doing well and in his sin. He wasn’t afraid to ask for forgiveness and to praise your goodness. Help us do the same.
1 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Thank you God that you have revealed yourself to us. Thank you that we don’t have to pray to a god of our imagination that hides behind the clouds but you have revealed yourself to us as not just as god, but Lord, which is the original covenant name of God, “Yahweh.”
You’re the God who created the universe but you invite us to call you our shepherd. You are our shepherd and we are your sheep. Shepherds lived lives of sacrifice and hardship to guard and watch their sheep. They had to be with the sheep 24/7. Shepherds could never leave the sheep to themselves. We give you thanks that Jesus is our good shepherd. John 10:11 says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
Thank you Jesus for being our good shepherd, and yet you know what it’s like to be a lamb. You are the lamb slain for us (Rev 5:6). Thank you for laying your life down for us on the cross so that you will never leave or forsake us (Heb 13:5-6). Thank you for giving the ultimate sacrifice, paying the penalty for our sin so that you can be our good shepherd for all eternity.
Good shepherd, thank you for the under–shepherds you place in my life and have given to our church. Thank you for Andy, for John, and Terry. Thank you for our Elders. Would we together be examples to the flock. Would we shepherd your flock as 1 Peter 5:2 says, “exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as [you] would have [us]” (ESV). Would you guard and protect your under-shepherds. Help them lead us well. Help us lead from a place of humility and love.
Father, this Psalm says “I shall not want” but I confess my heart looks for satisfaction in other places besides you. I look for satisfaction and contentment in food, in entertainment, in friendships, in crossfit, in the success of this church. I know we all wrestle with satisfaction and contentment too. Father, help us appreciate the good things you give us and find our peace and satisfaction in you.
Father I read parts of the book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Kellerthis week. This is a man who meditated on your word as he shepherded a flock of sheep. He tells about a very beautiful sheep he owned. She was gorgeous, the exact right proportions, a perfect looking sheep with a great coat of wool. But she had a problem. “She was restless — discontent — a fence crawler.” Whenever they were in one field she was always looking to the next field. She might be in the most lush green field, but she would be sticking her head through the fence to try and get to the rocky and barren field on the other side.
Father, I’m just like her. I always want more. I’m not content and I have you! This is sin. Forgive me. Satisfy me. Give me contentment in my relationship with you and what you have given me instead of the field on the other side of the fence. In his book Phillip said his sheep was so discontent she began to lead others astray. The only solution was to slaughter her. Father, change our restless hearts before we lead others astray. Jesus, we thank you that you are “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (ESV) (John 1:29) Thank you for taking away my sin. Thank you for being slaughtered for me so that I don’t have to die. Please give me greater faith and greater contentment in you.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. God we want to praise you for being the one who makes the green pastures, who makes the white mountains, who makes the trees and their branches and their seasons. We praise you for making the ocean and the cool waters. We praise you for hikes and sunbathing. We praise you for swimming and wading in the water. We praise you for creation and how it refreshes us.
Father, you give us so much that displays your glory and power and we forget to lie down and rest in you. We think it’s a sin to be bored and to rest. Help us stop the busyness, end the madness, and rest in your presence. You provide a river of the water of life (Rev 22:1). Father, would we enter your rest (Psalm 95:11) through Christ Jesus (Hebrews 4:3). Would he be our rest, even in the busyness of life.
Thank you for the ways you refresh us physically, but also how you refresh us spiritually. Thank you for your Word, the Scriptures. Would you give us a greater love for your Word. Help us to love and meditate on the Scriptures. Would each of us feel confident enough to pray the Psalms with you. Would you lead us to your life-giving Word?
3a He restores my soul. Holy Spirit, some of us are all poured out from life. All the busyness and stress of life has gotten to us and we have nothing left to give. We want to give to our families, to our friends, to our coworkers, to those who need Jesus, but we have nothing. We’re out of breath. This word for “soul” is the word “nephesh” and it means “breath” or “life.” Holy Spirit, we feel so out of breath. Would you fill our lungs? Would you help us catch our breath?
We cast all our anxiety on you because you care for us (1 Peter 5:7). Would you pour into me so that I can pour into others? Would you fill us up as a church body? Would we be known as a place where the Holy Spirit’s presence is real and active and filling us up! Would you satisfy our souls?! We need you. Would you restore my life? Our souls?
3b He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Jesus, thank you for the ways you’ve lead this church. Thank you for the people and the plans you brought together. You put this building in our lap. You formed a team. And most importantly you brought people with gifts and talents to give to your kingdom. Thank you! Thank you Jesus. Help us pick up our crosses daily and follow after you (Luke 9:23).
Would you lead us forward in paths of righteousness? Righteousness means right standing before God. Would we experience right standing before you God through your Son Jesus Christ. Would we know we are walking on the right path because we’re walking after him? Would he be the leader of Cornerstone, the Chief Shepherd, and would he lead us forward (1 Peter 5:4)?
Help us live lives that honor and obey you. We recognize Lord that nothing less than your name and reputation are on the line. I confess Father that I often live ashamed of Jesus, and don’t live to bring him fame. I want to live a life that honors your reputation and brings you fame. Help me do this, and help us as a church do this.
4a Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; Some of us are walking through dark valleys, Lord. We’re sick and need your healing. I thank you for taking Joe and Jennie through the dark valley of cancer. They’re almost out. Please heal Jennie completely. I pray for Andy’s back and Keri’s migraines, two types of shadows that cripple. Please heal Andy and Keri. I pray for Diane’s chest cough and damage to her lungs. Would you give her peace and heal her? I pray for Mark’s parents, Doug and Turnice. Please take away Doug’s seizures and keep Turnice healthy. I thank you for providing for Lisa’s vehicle needs. Would you continue to walk with her through the valley of care troubles? I pray for Noah’s family. They’re walking through a very dark valley. Please comfort them. I pray for those who are walking through dark valleys who I don’t know or have not mentioned. Would you comfort them and if nobody knows would they tell someone so we can walk with them in this time?
I remember The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. I remember how Christian has to walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death to get to the Celestial City. It’s “A wilderness, a land of deserts and of pits, a land of drought and of the shadow of death…” It’s a land of demons and Satan and unspeakable misery. Clouds of discouragement and confusion hang over the valley. Death spread its wings and hovers over it. As Christian walks through it he had to avoid a ditch on his right and a quagmire on his left.
The pathway there is so dark that when he lifts his foot to take a step forward he has to place it down entirely by faith. It was so black he can’t see one step in front of the other. It’s in this valley that Christian stares into the very mouth of hell, but instead of pulling out his sword, he prays. He cries, “Oh Lord, I implore you to deliver my soul!” And “I will walk in the strength of the Lord.” Help us hear the same words Christian heard another pilgrim praying just ahead of him, “Though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”
This valley is dark but Christ is brighter. Father, would you provide the light we need through him? Help us look to Jesus Christ, the one who walked through the dark valley of the shadow of death first. If he died and rose again, what do we have to be afraid of? If Jesus has set us free from sin and death through the cross, and has given us eternal life, we have nothing to fear. There’s no evil that can do us any lasting harm. Help us look to our good shepherd as he leads us forward.
4b your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Thank you Father for your rod. The rod was a tool shepherds used to protect their flock, to beat away the wolves. Thank you for the ways you’ve spared us from dangers we didn’t know about. Thank you for those times you’ve used the rod of discipline on me. Thank you for my parents and their discipline. Thank you for those other Christians who have had the courage to confront my sins. Father, would you give our Elders and our Congregation wisdom for those times when we may need to use the rod of discipline. Give us humility and teachability for those times we need to receive it.
Father, thank you for the staff used to rescue and lead the sheep. Thank you for the ways you’ve hooked me out of the brush and traps I’ve gotten caught in. Thank you for both your discipline and your rescue.
Your Holy Spirit is known as the comforter. Thank you for the Holy Spirit’s comfort in my life. Would you Holy Spirit comfort my brothers and sisters who are sick and hurting and still in the valley of darkness. Would your Holy Spirit fill our church with peace.
5a You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Father, you are a God who reconciles enemies. Father, I think of the evils of abortion. It’s absolutely evil, and yet the people that ask for abortions are desperate and the doctors who give them are humans like us, broken by sin. Father, would you provide opportunities for pro-choice and pro-life advocates to sit at the same table and share a meal? Would we be pro-grace? Would you end abortions in this country, but in a way that surprises us all, a way overflowing with grace and compassion and forgiveness. Would we become a church that provides for the needs of the unborn, for foster kids, for children in need?
Father, there are a lot of racial tensions in our country right now, especially between the black community and the police. Would you reconcile the black community and the police? Would they hear each other, and come up with longterm solutions and healing?
I confess Jesus that I feel like those with different politics often feel like enemies. And when I look at other people who think and vote differently than me, or just understand life through a different lens, I’m often impatient. Would you give me and all of us greater grace, greater humility, and listening ears. Would I invite them into my home and eat with them, listening to their story. Thank you for how you reconcile broken people, people who should be enemies and sit at separate tables. You bring us together, you give us fellowship at one table where Jesus Christ is sitting at the head.
5b you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. I remember how the Elders last week prayed for and anointed Diane. I remember how Terry explained that anointing in the Bible was a special way of consecrating priests and kings. These people were anointed as a special way to say they belonged to God and set apart for him. So when the Elders anoint someone with oil they’re consecrating their body to the Lord for healing and service. Father, this Psalm says you anoint us. Would you consecrate us? Would you set us apart for service to you? Thank you for overflowing cups. Thank you for a completed church budget, that we don’t miss meals, and for your abundant blessings.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Surely goodness and hesed, lovingkindness, your covenant love, shall follow me all the days of my life. Thank you Father that this Psalm is not really meant for funerals. It’s meant for today. It’s meant for living Christians who are journeying through life. It’s meant for pilgrims like myself and your people here today. Would you remind us everyday of your goodness and lovingkindness? Would we find the clearest picture of these in Jesus Christ and what he has done for us. We look forwards to the day when we will dwell with him for all eternity. Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to more sermons or to read our story.
Picture: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16818
Do you ever have a really bad dream? I mean just a terrible dream. I have a recurring dream of being chased by a bear. Maybe you’re lost and alone in the woods or maybe a close family member or friend dies? Isn’t it great when you wake up in the morning and realize you’re not lost or alone and your loved one is still there? In those moments do you ever just take a deep breath and say, “Thank
Do you ever have a really bad dream? I mean just a terrible dream. I have a recurring dream of being chased by a bear. Maybe you’re lost and alone in the woods or maybe a close family member or friend dies? Isn’t it great when you wake up in the morning and realize you’re not lost or alone and your loved one is still there? In those moments do you ever just take a deep breath and say, “Thank you God!” That’s what Psalm 18 is like. It’s one big thank you for God delivering King David from desperate and dark times.
David is waking from a really bad period in his life and so he thanks God. He wrote it “when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” So David is thanking God for delivering him from trouble. The Psalms are like his prayer journal. He sang and prayed this Psalm as a reminder of the ways the Lord had delivered him, and so can we. As we look at how David prayed in this Psalm, we see he prays three ways. He prays in desperation, in darkness, and in deliverance (three Ds).
The purpose of this sermon series is to learn how the Psalms can guide our prayers. In other words, I can read a Psalm and pray what the Lord is saying to me through it. I hope that by the end of this series we’ll each feel comfortable reading the Psalm and praying back to God what we hear. So what do we see in this Psalm? We find three ways to pray, in desperation, darkness, and deliverance…
Pray in desperation (Psalm 18:1-5) But what type of desperation? This isn’t necessarily a negative desperation. First, pray in…
a. Desperate love (v1) 1 I love you, Lord, my strength.
This word for love, rāḥam, is less common (47x) than other Hebrew words for love, ʾahab (217x) and ḥesed (249). Rāḥam usually describes the Lord’s compassionate and merciful love for people, but here we find a person using it to describe his love for God. This word for love, rāḥam, shares the same root of the Hebrew word for the womb, reḥem. David is saying that he loves God with his deepest depths like a mother loves her child from the womb. It’s a really sweet picture of how we can approach God in prayer.
Do you pray because you love God or because you want something from him? I was listening to a sermon where the pastor pointed out the first and greatest commandment is to love God.
Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (NIV®)
When an expert in the law asked Jesus, “which is the greatest commandment…?” he said the same thing.
Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ (NIV®)
The pastor pointed out that despite this being the greatest commandment there are very few examples of people actually saying they love God in the Old Testament. This is a rare occurrence. Do you pray because you love God or because you want something from him?
A couple years ago I had a friend from high-school message me saying how fun it would be to try and reconnect and stay in touch. She asked for my number and she called me, but instead of getting caught up she asked if I wanted to earn a little extra money and offered me a business opportunity. Have you ever had that happen? When we call God, do we spend time loving him and receiving his love, or do we try and convince him of a great business opportunity? I want to stop and take a moment to pray for God to fill us with love for him (stop and pray). Just because we need to approach God because of our love for him doesn’t mean it’s wrong to approach him with our needs. Second, let’s pray in…
b. Desperate need (v2-5) King David remembers how God was there for him when he needed him most.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. 4 The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. 5 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. (NIV®)
When David was a boy God called him to become king of Israel, replacing the current king Saul. David became famous very quickly because he defeated the giant Goliath and was a mighty warrior. But as David’s fame grew so did Saul’s jealousy until he tried to murder David multiple times. Saul even pursued David and his men into the wilderness. But God provided caves and crags where David and his men could hide from Saul. David is saying that the Lord was his rock and fortress where he took refuge. God hid him and kept him safe. Without God providing for his need he wouldn’t have made it.
We see the desperate nature of David’s need in verses 4-5 where he uses words like death four times (4x), “the cords of death, the torrents of destruction, the cords of the grave (or Sheol), the snares of death…” In the Hebrew verse 4 says “Belial terrified me.” 2 Corinthians 6:15 tells us “Belial” is a name for Satan. David’s need is physical (death and despair) but it is also spiritual (demonic). We can pray no matter what we face, whether we face death, despair, or even the demonic. God can be our refuge against all things.
My old office had this photo on the wall of a man standing in the door of a lighthouse with giant waves crashing down. This photo is one of the most reproduced photos in the world. In fact, when most people saw this photo they assumed that the man standing in the doorway perished moments after this photo was taken. When people see your troubles do they think you’re going to perish? “He won’t believe in God. He’s been through too much. She’ll start drinking because her despair is just too great.”
The lighthouse guard is a frenchman named Theodore Malgorne and when he heard the waves crash down he ducked back into the lighthouse. He lived and so can we as we bring our desperate needs before God in prayer. Duck into your refuge. “God, be my refuge. Be my lighthouse. Keep me safe from the storm.”
First, pray in desperation, desperate love, desperate need. But sometimes our desperation doesn’t turn to deliverance. Sometimes the storm gets worse before it gets better.
Pray in darkness (Psalm 18:6-15) I want to draw out a couple points as we read these verses.
1) God can hear us in the dark. (v6) 6 In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. (NIV®)
No matter what you are going through, the Lord can hear your prayers. Sometimes it feels like God can’t hear us when our desperation feels so dark. When we’re overcome with depression so deep we’re numb, we may not be able to hear God but God can hear us. Just because we can’t hear words of encouragement doesn’t mean God can’t hear our words of pain. God can hear us in the dark. Second…
2) God is present in our darkness, even bringing the darkness. (v7-11) I want you to notice who is the cause of the darkness in verses 7-11.
7 The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. 8 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. 9 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. 10 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him— the dark rain clouds of the sky. (NIV®)
Who brings the darkness? God brings the darkness! In our Psalm David is saying that when God came to rescue him the whole earth shook, fires burst forth, and he parted the heavens and came down in darkness and storm clouds. This is what we call a “theophany”—a manifestation of God’s presence in a storm cloud. What does this tell us about God? God isn’t safe. He’s dangerous.
As far as we know there’s no record of God using a storm like this to rescue king David, but that doesn’t mean God didn’t use weather to hide him from Saul. But I think David is actually doing something else. He’s nudging us to think of another time when God came down in darkness, clouds, and fire. He’s reminding us of Moses at Sinai. The God who was present at Sinai is still present for David and me today.
When I was in seminary I took a spiritual formation class and the teacher asked us to spend our semester with a spiritual teacher from another time and Christian tradition. I chose a man named “Juan de la Cruz” or “Saint John of the Cross.” He was a Spanish Priest who lived in the second half of the 1500s and was a mystic. A mystic is someone who embraces the strange parts of the Christian faith. He wrote the poem the “Dark Night of the Soul” and several commentaries explaining it. John was someone who struggled with depression and feeling overwhelmed. He came to believe the darkness is actually God’s blessing and love upon us. His brightness is so powerful it seems as if it’s darkness. 1 Timothy 6:16 says God “dwells in unapproachable light” and yet he chooses to wrap himself in darkness at Sinai, and even in our lives, so that his light won’t destroy us and he can draw us close. Maybe you’re going through a dark night of the soul. God is present in the darkness, even bringing the darkness. Third…
3) God can scatter my darkness. (v13-15) 13 The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. 14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them. 15 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, Lord, at the blast of breath from your nostrils. (NIV®)
When the darkness overwhelms you, remember the Lord can scatter the darkness. He does it with lightning he can do it with hope. Verse 5 says “The valleys of the sea were exposed…” When you feel swept away by the ocean like that man standing on the lighthouse, remember how the Lord parted the red sea and his people walked through on dry land. God can reverse the waves that are about to come crashing down on us. Like a movie rewound God can defeat our darkness. God can scatter your darkness.
Like David, we pray in desperation, and sometimes when it get’s worse, we pray in the darkness. But if Christ is your lighthouse, the sun will rise in the morning.
Pray in deliverance (Psalm 18:16-19) David once again returns to how the Lord has delivered him.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. 17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. 18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. 19 He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. (NIV®)
If God can rescue king David he can rescue us. He can reach down and draws us out of the dark waters, out of the despair and desperation. If that’s you, if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you can be confident one day Jesus will draw you out of your darkness. I don’t know when that will be, but it’s my prayer for you that it would be soon. Jesus gets what you’re going through. Look at verse 50 how king David ends this Psalm. Psalm 18:50
50 He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing love to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever. (NIV®)
Who is the king? Who is the anointed? Who is the one and final descendent of David? It’s King Jesus! Jesus stepped out of the brightness and joy and happiness of heaven and into our dark world. He stepped down into sin and pain and hurt and despair and depression, bringing hope with him. But that doesn’t mean that it was easy. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed in desperation for his father to take the cup of the cross from him (Luke 22:42). When Jesus hung on the cross, for three hours darkness covered him and the whole land (Luke 23:44). But God delivered him when he raised Jesus from the grave three days later, conquering death with life, despair with joy, darkness with light. Jesus is the lighthouse we can hide in. He swam in the waves of death so we can have eternal life.
Pray in desperation, in darkness, in deliverance. My opening illustration about waking up from a bad dream isn’t original to me. Pastor Timothy Keller told it first, but as an illustration for the resurrection. See, this life often feels like a bad dream, a bad dream full of desperation, despair, and depression. But if you are hidden in Jesus, if he is your lighthouse, one day you will wake up. You’ll wake up and be reunited with friends and family who knew Jesus too. You’ll wake up to the fullness of eternal life, and there will be no more shadows. God will deliver us to the brightness of an eternal day. Pray in desperation, in darkness, in deliverance.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to more sermons or to read our story.
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When I sat down to write this sermon, I looked out the window and the urge to write the sermon left me because it was so beautiful outside. The birds were chirping, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and it felt like spring had finally arrived. I got a powerful urge to go outside and spend a few moments enjoying the sun, and the sky, and the birds before writing my sermon, and so I did, and it
When I sat down to write this sermon, I looked out the window and the urge to write the sermon left me because it was so beautiful outside. The birds were chirping, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and it felt like spring had finally arrived. I got a powerful urge to go outside and spend a few moments enjoying the sun, and the sky, and the birds before writing my sermon, and so I did, and it was great.
Are you ever at the office or school or home and you look out your window and all you want to do is go outside? You see how beautiful it is and something inside you says, “I just have to go outside and take it all in.” There’s a biological reason for this. Our bodies need vitamin D to feel good, which we get through being in the sun. But I think there’s a spiritual reason for this too.
Psalm 19 tells us that we actually encounter God through creation—that nature and this earth speak of God. So when our hearts yearn to spend time outdoors, our hearts are yearning for something more than the birds and the trees and the sky. Our hearts are yearning for the one who made all those things and reveals a little bit of himself through them.
Our current series is Praying with God.The Psalms are poetry inspired by God that we can use to shape the way we pray. In Psalm 19 the Psalmist David invites us to pray with our eyes open—open to three things: creation, scripture, and ourselves. As we look at each of these, let’s open our eyes to how God reveals himself to us. The first place we find God is outside through…
Creation (Psalm 19:1-6) 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth. (NIV®)
David focuses on two elements that declare God’s glory, the heavens and the sun. Did you know that on Wednesday the European Space Agency released a brand new map of the Milky Way Galaxy. This map shows 1.7 billion stars that took the Gaia satellite spacecraft one million miles away from earth 22 months to capture. It shows how far away the stars are, their brightness, and their colors. From this we’re going to learn things about our universe and sky we never knew before. Scientists and Physicists got up early Wednesday morning just so they could be there for the release of this data. One scientist used the data to find a hyper-velocity star that travels a “few million miles per hour.” Only about 20 had ever been discovered. David also talks about the sun. This picture shows the size difference between the sun and the earth. The sun is 864,400 miles wide, or 109 times that of earth’s diameter, which is only 7,917.5 miles. And you know what, David didn’t have a telescope when he wrote this, but he still sensed the stars and the sun tell us something about the greatness and glory of God.
Psalm 19 invites us to pray with our eyes open to creation because creation speaks to our hearts. But God only reveals himself partially through creation. Theologians call this…
General Revelation: God reveals a general sense of himself through nature. If you look carefully at verse 1 of your english translation of the Bible you can see something taking place in the Hebrew. Notice how verse one calls god “God.” The Hebrew word for god here is “el,” which is the most generic name for god, and can sometimes be used for false gods. But when you skip down to verse 7, what do you notice? God is called by a more specific name, Lord in all capital letters, which is our signal that it’s the special covenant name of God, “Yahweh.” Verses 1-6 talk about creation, and in them we can get a general sense of who God is, but we can’t know God specifically yet. We can have a general revelation of God, but not a specific revelation, which is what we get in verses 7 and following.
But that doesn’t mean we should ignore creation. Creation has something to tell us (verse 2) even if it doesn’t use words (verse 3). In one of his sermons, Pastor John Piper pointed out this is a paradox. David is saying creation speaks without speaking. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul puts into words what creation tells us. Romans 1:20-21
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (NIV®)
Verse 20 tells us God reveals his power and character in nature, but that means we’re all responsible for if we don’t believe. Verse 21 answers the question, “Is believing in a general sense of god enough to save us?” No. We need something more. This is why we need Scripture, which is what our next section is about. But before we go there, I want to give us one way to apply the first six verses.
Pray with your eyes open to nature. When you pray, it’s okay to open your eyes and look at creation. As long as you recognize the sun is created by God and is not god it can open your eyes to God’s glory. For me personally, I’ve gotten a better sense of God’s glory lately through tree branches. I really like tree branches right now. I took this picture to try and capture a little bit of God’s glory. This is one single branch that is beautiful. This branch holds a unique beauty. In the winter it’s covered in snow. In spring it has little red buds, in the summer green leafs, and in the fall yellow and orange foliage. So the beauty of this branch is constantly changing, but it’s just one branch of thousands of branches on this single tree. And this tree is one tree of an estimated 3.04 trillion trees on planet earth, each constantly growing new branches with new beauty day after day, night after night, displaying God’s glory. You’re only going to see a handful of these trees in your lifetime. God puts them where nobody will see them and it shows his glory. Pray with your eyes open to nature.
But as great as the branches are, they don’t tell us a complete story. A friend once told me before he was a Christian he would go for hikes and spend time outside and think, “There must be a God.” But that’s not enough. We need more. We need…
Scripture (Psalm 19:7-11) 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.
10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. 11 By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (NIV®)
Notice how many times the special covenant name of God, Lord, (which means “Yahweh”) is used. From verse 7 through 14 it’s used 7 times. What reveals God’s actual name, who he actually is? The Scriptures. The Bible. Our text calls the Hebrew Scriptures the law, statutes, precepts, commands, fear and decrees. This is one of the best parallelisms in the Psalms using lots of different synonyms to talk about God’s word and what it does. Each word helps us look at the same thing different ways. God’s law is his commands and decrees. Statutes and precepts are the testimony and instruction given by God. Fear, reverence, is how we feel when we realize we are encountering the God of the universe in the words of the Scriptures.
How does God’s word affect our lives? It refreshes our soul. It makes us wise. It gives us joy. It gives light to our eyes (it opens our eyes). It endures forever. What this tells us is that God’s word is sufficient. God’s word is sufficient to change our lives, to give us wisdom, to lift our hearts, to teach us the truth. See general revelation (nature) is good but it’s not enough. That’s why we need…
Special Revelation: The Lord reveals a saving relationship with himself through the Bible. The Bible, the 66 books of the Old and New Testament, have what we need to have a saving relationship with God. Verse 11 warns us of our sin. If we repent and put our faith in God the scriptures reveal we receive the reward, eternal life. It’s not until we meet the one told in the story of the Bible that we can receive salvation. Who is the Bible speaking of? When God first made the heavens and the earth it was perfect and without sin, even the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. But they sinned against God and all of the world, including creation fell into sin and became dangerous. Now creation that was meant to give us joy and show us God’s glory, like wildlife and tall mountains, can cause death. But God promised to send a rescuing hero, a Savior, to rescue us from sin. Despite thousands of years of rebellion, God finally sent his Son to be that hero through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus says that any who repent of their sin and believes in him will receive eternal life.
Pray with your eyes open to God’s word. When you pray, read a Psalm first, or another Bible passage. Let what you read there guide your prayer, and turn your prayer to Christ as all of Scripture does. When we read the Scripture together as a church or when we learn a new foundation verse, you can recite it as a prayer. But you should know that this is dangerous. See creation tells us there is a God. Scripture reveals who that God is, Yahweh, Jesus. But Scripture also opens our eyes to…
Ourselves (Psalm 19:12-14) 12 But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (NIV®)
There’s a third type of revelation the Scripture gives us.
Self Revelation: When we peer into our hearts we realize we need a Savior. The Psalmist writes of two different types of sins, hidden faults and willful sins (v12-13). Hidden faults are those sins we commit but don’t realize it. This could be a thought we think in hate towards someone else but don’t realize it or not doing a good thing. A willful sin is when I know and am aware of what God wants me to do but I choose something else. I do life my way instead of God’s way. What the Bible tells us is that we commit both types of sin and we need forgiveness, “Forgive my hidden faults.” (v12) Do you realize how far you fall short of God’s standards? Do you realize how much you need forgiveness for? According to this verse, you can’t. We sin so much we can’t keep track. This Psalm ends by telling us where we can find someone to forgive us, someone to save us, someone to redeem us.
The last verse says, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (v14) The Lord, Yahweh, is also the Redeemer. A redeemer in ancient Israel was a close relative who was responsible for you. If you were sold into slavery it was the redeemer’s job to buy you back. Jesus is our redeemer. He purchased us back from slavery to sin and death. But there’s only one way to save a life—a life for a life. He traded his life for ours. He died on the cross so that if you repent of your sin and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ you will be forgiven of your sins, and receive eternal life.
Pray with your eyes open to Jesus. Is Jesus your redeemer? Has Jesus rescued you from your sins. If you don’t know Christ, you may sense there is a god out there, but that won’t save you. Only Jesus can save you. It’s time to take that step. It’s time to repent. It’s time to fall on your knees not just before the God who created the Milky Way Galaxy and the Sun and tree branches, but the one who speaks through Scriptures and whispers his own name, Jesus.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV®)
All of creation, all of the Scripture, and even the sin in your heart, they all point to our need for Jesus. Do you know what eternal life will be like? One day you’ll be able to ride through the galaxies and stars with Jesus, or just watch the branches and leaves change season after season with him, listening to the birds and watching the sun shine, or maybe you’ll study his word with him, learning how it speaks his name from beginning to end. Pray with your eyes open. Pray with your eyes open to creation, to Scripture, to Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to more sermons or to read our story.
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Listen to Bernie’s Psalm 80 sermon on how the church is a place where the people of God cry out to God together. You can download Bernie’s sermon manuscript by clicking “Save” and “PDF.” Thanks!
Our God and our savior, tonight we cry out to you. We pray that you would forgive us of our past sins and teach us to be your people, your church. We thank you for your Son Jesus who died for us that we might become your children. Come and save us Lord, fill us with your Holy Spirit and make your face shine upon us. Help us to love as you love; to see as you see. Give us a love for each member of your family here at this church, as well as a love for our families and our communities. Give us a pure love that is not self-seeking; let your rest fall upon us. And God, help us to desire you above all else; may we rejoice in you and you alone. Save us oh God. Amen
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Listen to Bernie’s Psalm 80 sermon on how the church is a place where the people of God cry out to God together. You can download Bernie’s sermon manuscript by clicking “Save” and “PDF.” Thanks! Our God and our savior, tonight we cry out to you. We pray that you would forgive us of our past sins and teach us to be your people, your church. We thank you for your Son Jesus who died for us that we might
No one likes a complainer, but everyone likes to complain. Have you ever heard that? As human beings, we complain—we vent, we express, we share. But no one really wants a perpetual Eeyore in their lives. Eeyore is Winnie-the-Pooh’s donkey friend who has a never-ending rain-cloud hovering just above his head. He’s gloomy, depressed, pessimistic, and grey. He’s a complainer. Do you have a friend or family member who constantly complains? If you do, you probably don’t want to spend time with them. If you don’t know anyone who is a complainer, you may be the complainer.
What if I were to tell you God invites us to complain? He invites us to complain to him in our prayers. What if I were to tell you God isn’t afraid of gloomy, depressed, pessimistic, and grey Eeyores? What if I were to tell you that God inserted a whole bunch of prayers designed just for you in the Bible?
The most common type of Psalm in the Bible is not a Psalm of thanksgiving or praise, but of lament. Of the 150 Psalms, over 60 of them are either individual or corporate laments. In fact, the first Psalm to call itself a Psalm (the Hebrew word “mizmor”, which means “psalm” or “melody”) is Psalm 3, and it’s a lament. Psalm 1 is about the goodness of God’s law. Psalm 2 is about the Messiah. And Psalm 3 is a complaint.
Because of the presence of sin and evil in this world, complaining is necessary; but God can redeem our complaining for good if we bring our complaints to him. In Psalm 3, King David models how to bring our complaints to God. His lament follows a six element pattern that other laments tend to follow. So when you read other laments, you can look for these six elements. It’s as we reflect and incorporate each of these six elements into our prayers that we can be assured that we are complaining to God well.
Now I did not come up with these six elements. I’ve taken them from How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart. It uses Psalm 3 as an example of them, so I’m drawing from his book, so I encourage you to check it out. But I think each of these six elements of a lament, if we understand and use them, will help us complain to God well. What’s the first element of a lament?
1. Address (v1a) Looking at the very first part of verse 1, which is what “1a” means, we find King David addresses his Psalm directly to the Lord. When we encounter Lord in all capitals that’s a signal to us that this is the special covenant name of God, Yahweh. When David begins this prayer, he recalls the one true name of God and all the goodness and promises associated with his name.
This pattern of addressing God directly continues throughout the Psalms and into the New Testament. When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray he teaches them to say, “Our Father, who is in heaven.” (Matt 6:9) When the first church martyr Stephen is stoned he prays, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (Acts 7:59)
When you pray, do you speak directly to God or do you speak about him? When you pray, do you say, “I pray the Lord would give me a good night’s sleep” or “Lord, would you give me a good night’s sleep”? Let’s say you’re the mother of a child. Wouldn’t it be weird if your child came up to you and said, “I really hope mom will buy me that toy.” That’s manipulative, that’s talking about you, not to you. But our Yahweh is interested in a relationship. And what does every healthy relationship need? Being on a first-name basis. If I can’t remember someone’s name at my gym, and call them “dude” or “hey you” it means I don’t know them very well. This is why we address our God directly. Our first element is address.
2. Complaint (v1-2) Before I jump into verse one, I actually want us to pause and look at the header, which is verse 1 in the Hebrew translation of the Bible, “A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.” If you ever read about David’s life in 1-2 Samuel, it reads like a soap opera. He is a young man who comes from nothing to become King over Israel. But along the way he makes some mistakes, the biggest of which is killing a man so he could marry his wife Bathsheba. This act profoundly impacts how he rules. As he has sons and they do evil acts he is afraid to confront them. He lacks moral courage. His eldest son Amnon forces himself on one of his half sisters Tamar and David doesn’t do anything about it. Another one of his other sons Absalom is so angry he murders Amnon and David doesn’t do anything about that either.
Instead of addressing the sin, he lets 5 years go by without ever seeing Absalom. Absalom grows so embittered and angry he leads a coup to overthrow his father and become king (2 Sam 15). He raises an army and David has to flee the capital of Jerusalem to save his own life. It’s at this time that King David composes this prayer to express his hurt and frustration.
1 Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! 2 Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” (NIV®)
I want to make two points. 1) David has something specific to complain about. David doesn’t complain for the sake of complaining. When he’s joyful he rejoices and when he’s thankful he praises God. So when we come to God, we can address specific hurts in our lives, but we shouldn’t complain just because we like to complain. And 2) David doesn’t pray from a place of innocence. David is partially responsible for the situation he is in, but that does not prevent him from coming to God with his complaint.
Think of a situation you’ve complained about recently. Maybe you’ve even complained to God. Are you entirely innocent? Is it really all their fault? We usually have some level of responsibility for the situations we complain about. God doesn’t mind that. God doesn’t tell us to go cleans ourselves up first, and then he’ll hear our prayers. He cleans us up while we pray. David doesn’t stay in complaint. He moves forward to…
3. Trust (v3-6) In the next few verses David moves from complaint to trust.
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. 4 I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. 6 I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.
David uses the language of his circumstances to fill his prayer. This is a military coup, so he pictures the Lord as a shield, the type of shield used in battle. This type of shield would have been either round or torso length and was meant to be maneuverable and offer protection from any side. David is picturing the Lord as a maneuverable defense protecting him from threats all around.
I’ve never been a car wreck where airbags were deployed. Praise the Lord (I’m not going to knock on wood; that’s pagan mysticism…). But my Pontiac Vibe has had its airbags recalled. Today car airbags are designed to protect you from any direction. Since Ford and GM began installing airbags in cars in the 1970s, they’ve developed more and more airbags. There are steering wheel airbags, dashboard airbags, side torso airbags, and side curtain airbags. Now automakers are making knee airbags, center airbags, rear curtain airbags, seatbelt airbags, and even pedestrian airbags for the outside of the car. Our God can protect us from anything he chooses, financial threats, relational hardship, sickness, spiritual oppression, etc. So when you pray tonight you can pray, “But you, Lord, are an airbag around me. You protect me on every side. And you will never be recalled.” First, David’s trust is all-encompassing.
Second, David’s trust is also confident. In verse 4 David has been chased away from Jerusalem, where the holy mountain is. This is the place where they keep the tabernacle and one day the place where the temple will be built. But David knows that even though he’s far from the holy mountain, God still hears him. So no matter where we are in life, whether we’re close to God because we’re at church or are reading our Bibles and praying all the time, or if God seems far away and we’re going through a dry season, God still hears us. You know that place on your drive home where the service drops and you lose connection with your spouse? God hears you there. He never drops us. We can have all-encompassing and confident trust in him.
Verses 5-6 tell us this trust should give us actual peace. David has been driven from his home and his men, women, children, and soldiers are refugees. They’re exhausted and tired and there is a chance for Absalom to pen them down with their backs to the Jordan River and destroy them, but God protects David and his people. He provides them with food and rest (2 Sam 16:2, 17:28-29). In the midst of all this stress, David lies down and has a good night’s sleep because the Lord sustains him. Absalom has a chance to send 12,000 men to destroy King David, but God thwarts his plans and saves David (2 Sam 17:1).
Our trust in God can give us actual, not imagined, peace. Imagined peace is when we busy our minds with other things like television or work or try to clear them through by just putting it out of mind. It doesn’t last. Actual peace is when we are aware of our circumstances but our understanding and trust in who God is gives our hearts rest. So let’s trust, but with hope of…
4. Deliverance (v7a) We’re only looking at the first half of verse 7.
7a Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God!
I think Stuart makes a really good point in How to Read Your Bible. He says, “Notice how the direct request for aid has been held until this point in the psalm, coming after the expression of trust.” Both “arise” and “deliver” are imperatives. David is making his request, but after he’s spent four verses trusting God first.
Sometimes I treat my prayers like letters to Santa. “Dear Santa, I’ve been good this year. I’d like a new bike, a new Nintendo, a new trampoline, and…” What if we tell our Heavenly Father we trust him ever before we ask for help? I don’t think it’s wrong to ask for help right away. Sometimes we need to get right into it. Neither do we tell God we trust him first because that increases the odds he’ll answer our prayer. Rather, we express our trust as a way to prepare our hearts to ask with humility, accepting whatever answer he gives. Our next element is…
5. Assurance (v7b) When we assure someone that something is going to be okay, we try to give them confidence. Here David is making a statement that God will indeed deliver him. It’s like when we say in our prayers, “God, I know you’re going to act. You will deliver me. It may not be the way I’m asking for, but you’ll do it.” David nowhere says in this Psalm that God has to deliver him a certain way. God may let bad things happen to him, even death, but he knows that God will vindicate him according to the promises of God.
7b Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
Psalm 3 is poetic and so this is a metaphor for God knocking out all of David’s problems. God is big enough to give our issues a mean right hook. Sometimes we need assurance that God is going to use our circumstances and prayers for good. We can find that assurance here and in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (NASB) This is another reason we need a church community. We need brothers and sisters in Christ to come alongside us in our complaints and comfort us that God is going to use it for our good, and we will get through it with his help. The 5th element is assurance… The final is…
6. Praise (v8) 8 From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.
David goes back to the name of the Lord, Yahweh, because he is his deliverer, and he knows that in the end, no matter how God acts, whether in this life or the next God will deliver him and bless his people. So often I forget to just praise God for how good he is, and how he can deliver us. David praises God and so can we.
Do you want to know what happened to David and how the story ends? Absalom leads his army into the woods to kill David, but David’s generals defeat Absalom. Absalom was a very prideful man who loved his own hair. He grew it out and as he was riding through the woods on his donkey his hair got caught in the “thick branches of a large oak” (NIV®), and the ESV says he was “suspended between heaven and earth” (2 Samuel 18:9). That’s when one of David’s commanders took three javelins and ran them through Absalom’s heart and he died. To die on a tree was to be considered cursed by God (Deut 21:23).
The Lord delivers King David through great heartbreak. The Hebrew words for deliverance in verse 2 where his enemies say “God will not deliver him” and in verse 8 where David says “From the Lord comes deliverance” are the same Hebrew word. They’re the Hebrew noun “yeshua” which is where we get the name Joshua, which is where we get the name Jesus. The Hebrew name Yeshua means “Yahweh saves.” The angel told Joseph to name his child Jesus “because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21b) Psalm 3 whispers the name of Jesus. In his tears King David spoke his savior’s name and so do we.
Jesus, Yeshua, is not a son who rebelled and sinned against his father, trying to overthrow his father’s kingdom. No. Jesus is the humble and submissive eldest son who obeyed his father’s will perfectly. He is the one who willingly climbed up onto a tree, the cross, and hung suspended between heaven and earth to bridge the gap for us, delivering us from death to life. He became a curse for us so that we who were enemies of God, could join the family. Now we can bring him our prayers no matter how high or how low we feel, even our complaints. When we remember Jesus it turns our complaints into praise.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to moresermons or to read our story.
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No one likes a complainer, but everyone likes to complain. Have you ever heard that? As human beings, we complain—we vent, we express, we share. But no one really wants a perpetual Eeyore in their lives. Eeyore is Winnie-the-Pooh’s donkey friend who has a never-ending rain-cloud hovering just above his head. He’s gloomy, depressed, pessimistic, and grey. He’s a complainer. Do you have a friend or family member who constantly complains? If you do, you probably don’t want to spend
Today’s Psalm starts by asking God to bless his people. When you think of blessing, what do you think of? Maybe you think of blessing your meal before you eat. Does a voice from the past or from a recent Holiday tell you to, “Count your blessings”? Maybe you think of the last time you gave money to a homeless person or the bell-ringer for the Salvation Army and they said, “Bless you…” Maybe you’ve had a priest or a
Today’s Psalm starts by asking God to bless his people. When you think of blessing, what do you think of? Maybe you think of blessing your meal before you eat. Does a voice from the past or from a recent Holiday tell you to, “Count your blessings”? Maybe you think of the last time you gave money to a homeless person or the bell-ringer for the Salvation Army and they said, “Bless you…” Maybe you’ve had a priest or a nun say, “Bless you my child” (that happens in the movies so it must be true). Someone gave us a decorative serving dish with the traditional Irish blessing:
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Today’s psalm, Psalm 67, also starts with a blessing. This is a Psalm of corporate thanksgiving and praise and it starts by asking God to bless the people. But the Psalmist doesn’t ask God to bless his people for selfish reasons (like, “God would you bless us all with Ferraris.”) but with a very specific purpose in mind.
May God bless us so that all the world may know him. (v1-2) Growing up my dad modeled how to pray. He often prayed for God to bless my brothers and me. Now I pray for God to bless my family, the church, people I talk to. But what does that mean? What does it mean for God to bless us? I want to break down my first point to…
May God bless… In the Psalmist’s prayer, which was meant to be sung with stringed instruments just like a worship song, and like worship songs sometimes have strange lyrics, the Psalmist asks for God to bless and shine his face on his people. The two are connected. God blesses us by shining his face on us. The concept of God shining his face comes from Moses’ experience with God at Mount Sinai. Moses used to meet with God directly at a tent outside the camp.
Exodus 33:11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. (NIV®)
But when the Israelites made a golden calf and worshipped it, God threatened to leave the Israelites for their sin of idolatry. So Moses made a special intercession for the people, and God had mercy and promised not to leave them. But Moses wanted a demonstration from God that he wouldn’t leave them. He asked for God to show him his glory. And in response, God reveals himself to Moses, but not fully.
Exodus 33:19-20 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (NIV®)
I believe when Moses spoke to the Lord face to face in the tent, he was speaking to the subdued presence of God. Some think he was speaking to the pre-incarnate Son of God (aka. Jesus before he became a baby). The Bible elsewhere says that no one can see God and live (John 1:18, 6:46; 1 Tim 6:16). So to see the actual face of God is to see his unsubdued presence. At Sinai, Moses doesn’t get to see God’s face (essence) but God does go by him and Moses sees his back (Exod 33:21-23), and just seeing God’s back transforms him.
Exodus 34:29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. (NIV®)
Moses’ face was so radiant the people were afraid. After Moses told the people what God said he covered his face with a veil so they wouldn’t see the glory leaving his face. But seeing Moses’ face like this seems to have impacted the whole community because when the Lord institutes the priesthood, he tells the priests to pray this prayer for the people.
Numbers 6:23-26 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
“‘“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’ (NIV®)
So how is God’s face connected to his blessing? The blessing is God’s face. God’s face is his presence. So when we pray for God to bless us, we’re asking God to be present with us in a real and personal way, for God to show us his compassion and mercy and character, for God to show us his power. When God shows up, it changes us. When we spend time with him, our lives and even our physical demeanor can change. Have you ever been super stressed and you spent time in prayer and it relaxed you? The face of God is changing your face. Or have you ever been about to get angry at a family member, and you remember God’s Word, and in obedience, you calm down? The face of God is changing you.
I was at Free Christian Church in Andover this past Thursday for a pastor’s roundtable discussion. They have honorary paintings of their previous pastors on the walls (don’t worry, this isn’t a hint). One of the paintings was of my mentor who died several years ago, Pastor David Midwood. I read its plaque, and it explained that the painting was based on a compilation of photos of David, and in all of the photos he was smiling, so he’s smiling in the painting. It’s kind of funny because all the other pastors have serious faces. His plaque said, “He will be remembered as a man who loved God and lived to share Christ’s love with everyone he met.” Every morning David got up for about an hour and spent time studying, praying, and worshipping the Lord, and that time with the Lord is what filled him with joy for the rest of his day.
That’s an individual application, but this Psalm is really a corporate Psalm of praise and thanksgiving. We encounter God through the Holy Spirit as we worship together, listen to God’s Word together, and also as he directs our hearts towards Jesus Christ. God most clearly shows himself to us through the person of Jesus Christ. We see God’s compassion and mercy most clearly as we gaze upon the cross and remember how Christ Jesus sacrificed himself so that we can live. Any who repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus, God’s face shines on them. So when we ask for God’s blessing, we’re asking for him his presence, and we can ask him to do this through Jesus Christ. But this blessing is not just for me, it’s for us…
May God bless us… Before I get to the purpose of this prayer, I want you to notice something. This whole Psalm is directed to the community. Every word and every phrase is directed to “us” or “the peoples.” “May God be gracious to us.” “May the peoples praise you.” Today the people of God is the church. God gives us these Psalms so we as a community can pray them together. You’ve heard the song, “All by myself…” That person needs Christian fellowship! Being a part of a regular church community is essential to the faith. Praying by yourself is good, but God actually calls us to pray corporately together. That’s why we’re incorporating praying together more into the service. May God bless us… But his Psalm has a purpose in the blessing.
May God bless us so that all the world may know him. Why does God bless us in verse 1? The reason is in verse 2, “so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.” Now, this is a pretty amazing Psalm because the Jewish people were not historically known as a missionary people. But here the Psalm is asking for God to make his presence known among his people so that all the peoples of the earth may be saved, Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). The goal and purpose of God’s blessing is to share the blessing with the whole world.
If we look back to the forefather of the Hebrew people, Abraham himself, we find the Lord telling him this very same message. Genesis 12:2-3
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (NIV®)
Just like Abraham and the Israelites, we want God to bless us (to be present among us) so that we can tell others about what he has done. We want to be so changed by Christ so that when we speak to others about Jesus, they catch a glimpse of Jesus in our eyes and on our face.
In the fall I interviewed Bruce about how God uses him on his frontline. Your frontline is the place where you spend lots of time with people who don’t know Jesus yet. Bruce takes lots of airline flights and he likes to tell people the story of our church and how God has blessed us. According to Psalm 67, this is not only a valid form of evangelism, it’s God’s form of evangelism. Do you all know the story of Cornerstone? Do you know how God has blessed us as a new church in Westford? It’s an amazing story that you should ask Bruce to tell you. One of the reasons we “count our blessings” as Christians is so that we can give God the credit and tell others what he has done.
Would anyone be willing to share one way God has blessed you or answered your prayer this week? God’s blessing is a demonstration of God’s presence in our lives. This week I want to challenge you to think of ways God is answering your prayers and blessing you, and then to share how God has done so with a family member or friend. May God bless us so that all the world may know him.
May God bless us so that all the world may know and praise him. (v3-5) Notice verses 3 and 5 are the exact same verse, “May the peoples pray you, God; may all the peoples praise you.” This is a Hebrew poem and it’s forming an inclusio, which is when a Psalm or section of Psalm begins and ends with a similar verse. Inclusios are meant to draw our attention to what’s in the center.
The outside, verses 3-5 is all about praise. May everyone praise you God! But what’s in the center? The center tells us what everyone (aka. “the nations”) is praising God for. Verse 4b, “for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth.” When the nations hear of the God of Israel’s just rule and how he leads his people, they praise him. But this isn’t meant to just be an outside praise, this is meant to be praise from the inside as the nations join the believing community and become the people of God.
Have you ever had a conversation with someone who tells you they don’t believe in God because of all the bad things that are happening in the world? They say, “Either God doesn’t exist or God isn’t good because he has let war, and disease, and genocide, and pollution, and evil things happen.” I think we as Christians need to take a little bit of ownership for their view of God, because if we’re not telling them about all the good things God is doing, how can they know?
As believers, we need to point out God’s presence and blessing to those around us because they’re not going to see God’s blessings and presence on their own. When God heals someone from cancer, we need to tell others. When God provides a mortgage payment when money is low, we need to tell others. When God takes someone who is drowning in addiction and brings them back to life, we need to tell others. When God forgives someone of their sin and removes a mountain of guilt, we need to tell others. When God cures someone of their pride and self–centeredness, we need to tell others. When God shows up in the big things or the small things, we need to tell others because we want them to praise Jesus too! May God bless us so that all the world may know and praise him. Last verses…
May God bless us and meet our needs so that all the world may know and praise him. (v6-7) The last two verses speak of the land yielding its “harvest” and the whole earth “fearing” him. I think the fear it’s talking about is one of awe and reverence for what God can provide. I like how verse 6 pulls us back into reality. God does want to provide for us spiritually, to be in his presence and to have God’s presence in our lives, but sometimes that seems a bit intangible. God provides for our human needs as a way to demonstrate his goodness and power. This is why I’ve already mentioned God healing our sin but also our sickness. Our God is not just a God of the clouds, but of the everyday.
When God provides for our material needs, we should praise him. As we’re approaching the end of our ministry year, let’s give praise for all the gifts God has given us and all the ways he has provided for us financially and for the budget. So here’s my closing big idea.
May God bless us and meet our needs so that all the world may know and praise him. Last week I asked Bernie to say the closing prayer to the sermon, but this week, since this is a corporate Psalm of praise and thanksgiving, I want to ask all of you to pray together. In response to the message, please pray with those sitting next to you or near you by filling in these two blanks. You’re free to sit by yourself, but I hope none of you will pray alone. First, we start by remembering God’s blessing and then we pray for the nations. “God, thank you for blessing ___________. Would you help me share this blessing with ___________?” For example, “God, thank you for blessing our church with a wonderful Easter breakfast. Would you help me share this blessing with people who ask me about my Easter.” The worship team will lead us forward when it’s time. Let’s pray.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to more sermons or to read our story.
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Have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t do? Kids do this all the time, right? You tell them not to eat the chocolate chip cookies and when you come back into the room the cookies are gone. And you ask the child, “Did you eat the cookies?” And he says, “No, my brother did.” Of course, you have to ignore the chocolate wiped across his face, that he’s holding an empty cookie jar, and that his brother was
Have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t do? Kids do this all the time, right? You tell them not to eat the chocolate chip cookies and when you come back into the room the cookies are gone. And you ask the child, “Did you eat the cookies?” And he says, “No, my brother did.” Of course, you have to ignore the chocolate wiped across his face, that he’s holding an empty cookie jar, and that his brother was with you the whole time.
But what if someone blamed you for something more serious like stealing from a bank or hurting someone? What would you do then? That’s the question that faced a crowd of people gathered in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. A man named Peter got up to speak and declared that they were responsible for the death of a local Rabbi named Jesus (Peter was one of his first disciples). Some of them were from Jerusalem, and were probably there when he was crucified, maybe even shouting with the mob “crucify him, crucify him!” But others were from other parts of Israel and were probably not there. But Peter says that they are collectively responsible for the death of Jesus.
Acts 2:22-23 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. (NIV®)
Peter reminds them who Jesus is. Jesus is from the small dusty town of Nazareth. People wondered if anything good could come out of Nazareth (John 1:46). We may not like to admit it, but there might be places we think, “Can anything good come from there?” I grew up in Colorado; and for me was a place called Greeley. If you drove through Greeley in the late afternoon, the whole city smelled like cow manure because it was right next to cattle farms. Jesus was from a place like Greeley.
We love those stories of people who come from humble beginnings but make it big, like Mark Wahlberg from Dorchester or Amy Poehler from Burlington. Well Jesus attracted quite a following in his day because he performed miracles. He opened the eyes of the blind. He healed the crippled. He cleansed the lepers. He cast out demons from the possessed. He raised people from the dead. And he forgave sins. Jesus was not just a man from God, he actually was God. In Jesus, God came in the flesh.
So when Peter says they nailed him to the cross, he’s pointing out their rejection of Jesus. We also can be held responsible for something we didn’t do individually, but collectively. If a small group of soldiers carries out a mission on foreign soil, we as a nation can be held responsible. Whether or not Peter’s audience was physically there, everyone in the crowd was responsible. And so are we today.
You and I are also responsible. We may not have driven the physical nails through Jesus’ hands, but we are responsible for what we do with the message of Jesus Christ. If we reject him, we’re just as guilty. Now that escalated quickly! First we were blamed for stealing cookies and now we’re crucifying Jesus?! We’re only innocent if there’s no chocolate on our face. But if I look in the mirror, I find I often reject Jesus. I don’t always believe in him and I often prefer my way instead of God’s way.
If you’re like Peter and follow Jesus, are you daily accepting or rejecting the message of Jesus Christ? We can say we believe in Jesus, but still live lives far from him. That’s like going through your day with chocolate on your face. Don’t you wish you had looked in a mirror and wiped it off? If you’re like the crowd, are you willing to believe that you’re responsible for doing something with the message of Jesus. A true friend is someone who tells you when you have food on your face or between your teeth. Now you now you have chocolate on your face. What will you do now?
Peter has given the crowd a pretty tough message, but before he even tells them they’re responsible, he gives them hope. He says they may be responsible for Jesus’ death, but it was God’s plan for Jesus to die. God used their rejection of Jesus to accomplish our salvation. Peter says…
Acts 2:24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. (NIV®)
God used humankind’s rejection of Jesus to defeat death. How do you defeat death? By reversing it, by coming back to life. God raised Jesus so that sin no longer has a hold on us. God raised Jesus so that you and I can be forgiven, and don’t have to be held responsible for our rejection of him. Jesus is the brother who takes our place. He wipes the chocolate off our faces,takes the empty cookie jar out of our hands, and deals with the sin in our hearts. He forgives us and he pays the penalty for us with his own life.
At the end of the day, none of us are blameless but Jesus. He’s the innocent brother, he’s the holy God; and he offers to take our punishment so that we can live. When Peter’s original audience heard they were guilty, the Bible says “they were cut to the heart” and asked him what they should do (Acts 2:37).
Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (NIV®)
Repentance means confessing your sins. Confess the ways you have rejected God in your everyday life, whether through a life lived far from him or not believing in Jesus. Peter also says to be baptized. Baptism is when you’re immersed in water for a symbolic reason. It’s a little chilly to do any baptisms today, so let’s ask what baptism means. Baptism is a picture of the resurrection. In baptism, when you go under the water that’s a symbolic death with Jesus, and coming back up from the water is a symbolic resurrection with Jesus. If you get baptized, it means you believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and identify spiritually and one day physically with him.
So for us today, Peter’s call to repent and be baptized means to confess our sin and believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection. That’s what Easter is really all about. It’s about us who are guilty and dying in our sin letting Jesus take our place. He’s the brother that willingly takes our blame. If you don’t know Jesus, I encourage you to repent and believe and experience the resurrection of Jesus Christ in your life.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message at our Easter Sunrise service for our church and the community of Westford. Click to listen to more sermons or to read our story.
I love listening to people pray because we all pray a little bit differently. I appreciate how people from a Catholic background or a more formal (aka. liturgical) church setting pray. Their words always seem so reverent and thoughtful. But I also like listening to people pray who just talk to Jesus like they’re talking to a friend. Their prayers seems so relational and honest. I even like hearing people pray who are going through a hard time. There’s something beautiful when you pour out your heart to God.
The Bible has a whole book full of different kinds of prayers, some reverent and formal, some relational and honest, and others for hard times. This book of prayer is called the Psalms. The Psalms are poetry the Israelite community sang and prayed together. God inspired human authors, King David, the Sons of Korah, and others, to write the Psalms to help us pray (this is why I call our series Praying with God).
If you’re feeling thankful, we have a Psalm for that. They’re called Psalms of Thanksgiving. If you’re feeling sad, we have a Psalm for that. They’re called Psalms of Lament. If you just feel like praising God, we have a Psalm for that. They’re called Psalms of Praise.
And it doesn’t stop there. There are lots of different Psalms that can help us pray no matter our situation or circumstance. Today we’re focusing on a very special type of Psalm, a prophetic Psalm. King David wrote it about the Messiah, a coming hero who was going to rescue the Israelite people from their sins.
This Psalm, Psalm 22, actually ties directly into Easter. This Psalm, which King David wrote about 1,000 years before the birth of Jesus, tells us about the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that as Jesus was dying on the cross, he was actually meditating on Psalm 22.
Jesus lived and prayed Psalm 22. The Gospel of Matthew makes very clear connections between what Jesus was seeing, experiencing, and saying with Psalm 22. I want to look at four fulfillments between Matthew 27 and Psalm 22.
Matthew 27:35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. (NIV®)
Psalm 22:18 They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.
King David wrote much of Psalm 22 from the point of view of the hero Messiah. It’s his perspective, so he’s saying this about his own garments, and then it happens exactly as foretold to Jesus Christ. The Roman soldiers take and divide up his garments by lot. But it doesn’t stop there.
Matthew 27:39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads
Psalm 22:7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
Lot’s of people mocked Jesus as he hung on the cross. Those passing by insulted him. The priests, teachers, and elders mocked him (v41). Even one of the criminals hanging on the cross next to him insulted him. I think Jesus would have recognized Psalm 22 as he heard their taunts. They taunted…
Matthew 27:43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
Psalm 22:8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
At the end of Matthew chapter 27 we come to the most glaring similarity, the one that jumps right off the page and that clearly tells us Jesus was meditating on this passage.
Matthew 27:46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
Jesus witnessed what was happening, knew Psalm 22 by heart, and used his last moments to fulfill this prophecy completely. But he didn’t just cry those words because he knew they were the right answer, he cried them because he meant them. Jesus usually called God his “Father,” but here we find him calling him the more formal “God.” This is because there has been a break in the relationship. The Father has forsaken and abandoned the Son. The Father has turned his love away from the Son. It’s not that the Father stopped loving Jesus, but rather that the Father denied his Son the experience of that love.
Have any of you seen the Still Face Experiment on Youtube? It’s a video of a mother and her baby. At first, she is very expressive and loving towards her baby. She speaks and makes loving faces at her baby girl and they interact, and the baby absolutely loves it. She is engaged and happy and pointing at things. But then mom turns away and comes back completely blank faced, and her baby doesn’t know what to do with it. First she tries to get her mom’s attention, and then he becomes distressed, then cries and get’s upset. Now imagine Jesus who has known and experienced his Father’s love for all eternity past, a perfect and ever present love. Now imagine that is gone. Jesus is heartbroken.
But the illustration breaks down because the father not only removed Jesus’ experience of his love, he replaced it with an experience of his wrath, which is his anger towards sin. God is so good and perfect and just he must punish wrongdoing. God can either punish us for our sin, and so we experience the wrath, which is what hell is, or God can take our punishment upon himself. See at the cross, God himself, in Jesus, bore the punishment we deserve. And God takes that love that Jesus has known and experienced for all eternity, and gives it to all who confess their sin and puts their faith in Jesus Christ. God turned his face away from his Son so that he could turn his face towards us. Jesus prays “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” so that you and I can pray “My Father, my Father, you love me!”
Have you ever read a book or article, and thought, “If I could just get my friend to read this, she would really love it.” We’re supposed to think of Jesus when we read Psalm 22.
Pray Psalm 22 with Jesus in mind. (v1-21) Meditate on what Jesus experienced and prayed as you walk through your experiences and prayers. I want you to notice the structure of this Psalm. It jumps back and forth between the Messiah describing his experience, and then praying to God. It does this three times, starting with verses 1-2 (situation) and verses 3-5 (prayer). This is the first way we pray with Jesus in mind.
When you feel abandoned (v1-2), remember Christ’s presence (v3-5). Sometimes we go through periods in life where we feel abandoned by the ones we love, our friends or family, or even by God himself. Maybe you’re sick, and wondering if God even exists. Maybe your spouse is divorcing you, and you feel so unloved. Maybe your kids are moving to college and you miss them. Maybe you’re going to college and feeling homesick. Maybe you’re spending time in the Bible and prayer but never feel like you hear from God. These are all ways we can feel abandoned. It’s at these moments that we remember Jesus is still present in our lives just like he chose to remember his Father’s presence.
Remember David wrote this Psalm from the Messiah’s perspective. What does the Messiah do? He purposefully recalls to mind that the Lord is enthroned, he is king, and he is holy. And then he remembers his ancestors, how his family before him trusted in God and God delivered them, like when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, when God gave the Israelites manna in the desert, and when God delivered the nation from foreign oppressors time and time again during the rule of the judges. Even when Jesus is forsaken by his Father, he remembers his Father still rules and is still good.
Do you remember the first time your parents left you alone in your house? I remember a time when everyone left our house and I didn’t know where they were. It was oddly quiet and I wondered if I had missed the rapture. Then you start to feel scared and worried, and what do you do to combat that fear? You say, “I know my family loves me. They’ll be back. They’ve never abandoned any of my brothers (I think).” Even when our earthly family isn’t reliable, we have a heavenly family, a heavenly Father who will never abandon us because he already abandoned Christ on the cross and that was enough. God hasn’t left generations of Christians and he won’t leave us.
So when we pray, we can say, “Father, I feel like you’ve abandoned me, but I know it’s not true. You’ve never forsaken any of your children except for Christ Jesus on the cross; which you will never have to do again.” When you feel abandoned, remember Christ’s presence.
When others look down on your faith (v6-8), remember Christ’s faithfulness (v9-11). We live in a culture where people never judge each other. Sometimes when others hear about our faith in Jesus, they will judge us. There are times we may lose friendships or job promotions because of Jesus. When this happens, remember Jesus was also rejected, but he kept his faith in his Father. When the Messiah was rejected, he prayed a prayer in the Psalm remembering God’s faithfulness to him throughout his life, “from my mother’s womb you have been my God” (v10b). When we are rejected by others, let’s pray, “Jesus, when others reject me because of you, help me remember your faithfulness till the very end.” When others look down on your faith, remember Christ’s faithfulness.
When you suffer (v12-18), remember Christ’s suffering and deliverance (v19-21). When we go through physical or spiritual suffering, we can remember Christ’s suffering and deliverance. In verses 12-18, the Messianic Psalmist uses metaphors to describe his suffering.
(v12) Strong bulls of Bashan surroundme. These bulls were wild, untamed animals, known to attack and gore people. Christ was surrounded by a whole company of soldiers (Matt 27:27-31), maybe as many as 600. They mocked him, spit on him, and struck him. When you go through physical suffering like cancer or depression or migraines or the flu, remember Christ suffered physically too. (v13) Roaring lions tear their prey. Lions are a vicious predator that can tear their prey apart. Satan is often pictured as a “roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8). Jesus at the cross was also undergoing spiritual suffering as he bore the weight of our sins and the attacks of Satan. If you’re suffering spiritually, feeling overcome with guilt or like God doesn’t love you, Jesus can relate. (v15-16) Verses 15-16 tell us specifically that the Messiah will die, and how he will die. Verse 15b, “you lay me in the dust of death” and verse 16b “they pierce my hands and my feet.” King David wrote this Psalm when crucifixion wasn’t even invented yet. The only way Jesus can fulfill this is by actually dying on a cross, and that’s exactly what he does. Jesus dies.
But then the poem begins to change its tone in verse 19. He begins to speak of deliverance and at the end of verse 21 he says “save me from the horns of the wild oxen!” But the Hebrew word for “save” is in the perfect tense, which means it happened in the past with continuing effects. So it should really say, “You have rescued me” or “you have heard me”!
When Jesus cried out the first verse of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he knew verse 15 would come, his own death, but he still believed verse 18 would come, “You have rescued me!” Even in his suffering, Jesus was meditating on his future deliverance.
As we go through trials, we can pray and remember that Jesus suffered, but he was also delivered. If you know Jesus, you’ve been delivered from sin and everlasting death, and one day God will use your death to deliver you into heaven with Jesus. When you suffer (v12-18), remember Christ’s suffering and deliverance (v19-21). Pray Psalm 22 with Jesus in mind. Why? Because…
Jesus prayed Psalm 22 with us in mind. (v22-31) When Jesus prayed Psalm 22:1 on the cross, I believe he knew the whole Psalm by heart. Although this Psalm prophecies the Messiah’s death in verses 15-16, it prophecies his resurrection (coming back to life) starting in verses 22 through the end of the Psalm, “I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you.” This resurrection hope doesn’t stop with Jesus, it extends to anyone anywhere who will believe in Jesus. You. Me. People from all the earth and all the nations can receive eternal life (v27), including everyone sitting here today. Jesus shouted the last line of Psalm 22 right before he died.
John 19:30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Psalm 22:31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
When Jesus said “It is finished” he is echoing Psalm 22’s “He has done it!” God’s work of salvation through Jesus Christ is complete. Now any who repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ receive eternal life. Have you accepted Jesus’ finished work of salvation? Maybe you’re still trying to earn it or add to it; or you think Jesus needs your help. Do you think if I gave you a paint brush you could improve the Mona Lisa or make the Sistine Chapel more beautiful? On the cross, Jesus painted a masterpiece of salvation, and now he offers it to us as a gift. Will you receive it? Jesus prayed Psalm 22 with us in mind.
Jesus prayed Psalm 22 with us in mind. Pray Psalm 22 with him in mind. In closing, I’d like to take a moment and put into practice what we’ve just learned. So I’ve asked someone from the congregation to come and pray the closing prayer for this sermon, praying back who we discover Jesus to be in Psalm 22. Jesus prayed Psalm 22 with us in mind. Pray Psalm 22 with him in mind.
Pastor Jonathan Romig preached this message at Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click to listen to more sermons or to read our story.
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I love listening to people pray because we all pray a little bit differently. I appreciate how people from a Catholic background or a more formal (aka. liturgical) church setting pray. Their words always seem so reverent and thoughtful. But I also like listening to people pray who just talk to Jesus like they’re talking to a friend. Their prayers seems so relational and honest. I even like hearing people pray who are going through a hard time. There’s something
Christians believe that one day Jesus is going to come back. We believe his return is going to be unexpected, surprising, and everyone will see it. Today’s passage explains how to prepare for that day. That got me thinking about other times in life where we prepare for someone’s arrival, but we don’t know when they are coming. And of course that reminded me of our upcoming baby’s arrival. Our care provider has given us a due date of Saturday,
Christians believe that one day Jesus is going to come back. We believe his return is going to be unexpected, surprising, and everyone will see it. Today’s passage explains how to prepare for that day. That got me thinking about other times in life where we prepare for someone’s arrival, but we don’t know when they are coming. And of course that reminded me of our upcoming baby’s arrival.
Our care provider has given us a due date of Saturday, June 9th, but for those who have had children or know someone who has, you know that’s just a date. The baby could come at any time! He could come 3 weeks early or a week late. He may come during the middle of the day, or decide, “Hey, it’s 2am! Let’s go!” So how do you prepare for someone’s arrival when you don’t know when they’re coming? You get the nursery ready. Check! You take a birthing class. Check. You pack a go bag full of every item you might need for your stay at the hospital… I’ll be right back. I need to do that.
What should you pack in a go bag? I assume the essentials are going to be things like my Xbox, my iPad, Netflix, and a lava lamp. Okay, so maybe we should take things like toiletries, and our own pillows, a change of clothes, pajamas, a couple baby outfits, etc. But what’s the most important part after packing all of these helpful items in your go bag? It’s actually remembering to take it with you. I bet none of you forgot your go bag on your big day…
How should we prepare for Christ’s return? If we imagine a spiritual go bag, what sorts of things should we pack? In Luke 12:35-48, Jesus tells us two things he wants us to pack, two things that will get us ready for his return. What should we pack in our go bags? First we should pack..
Readiness (Luke 12:35-40) Jesus tells us to be ready for his return, but I want to add that the principles we should live by apply to us even if Jesus doesn’t return in our lifetime. He may come back at anytime, but we may also go to him at anytime. None of us know when our time is up, so Jesus’ words still apply. He tells us to be ready with a parable, an illustration or allegory of servants getting ready for a master that may return at any time.
35“ Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. (NIV®)
The NIV has done a great job of bridging the gap between the ancient and the present because the Greek actually says “Let your loins be girded.” This is an idiom that describes how ancient people would tuck up their robes into their belt to travel (Exodus 12:11). Likewise, ancient people usually didn’t keep their lamps burning all night without a special reason. A good servant is a servant who is ready and waiting for his master’s arrival, no matter the time of day or night. The “middle of the night” and “daybreak” were the last watches of the night. Jesus is saying that even if he comes when we’re most tired and least expecting him, he want us to be ready. Jesus uses a second illustration to explain it will be a surprise.
39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (NIV®)
If you knew when I thief was thinking about breaking into your home, you’d install a security camera and steal your neighbor’s little blue sign to put in your front yard, “Secured by ADT.” But just like thieves don’t tell us when they’re going to rob us, Jesus doesn’t tell us when he’s coming back. So we need to be ready all the time, but Jesus doesn’t define readiness in our passage, so we actually have to take a broader look at Luke.
Readiness is… Repenting of your sin and believing in Jesus. (Luke 7:1-10)
The story of the Centurion teaches us none of us is righteous, not even the best of us. The Centurion recognizes he doesn’t deserve Jesus to come into his home, no matter how much good he has done. Likewise, being ready involves a daily recognition of sin, repenting of that sin, and turning to Jesus. Even on my best day, the only reason Jesus will have mercy on me when he returns is because he paid the penalty for my sin on the cross. The gospel is the good news that Jesus saves me despite myself.
Sitting at the feet of Jesus. (Luke 10:38-42)
Do you remember the story of Martha and Mary, and how Martha was doing for Jesus and Mary just wanted to be with Jesus? Before we start to be overcome with anxiety over busyness, Jesus invites us to come and sit at his feet, to sit at the feet of our Rabbi. We do this by spending time in prayer and by studying his Word, the Bible. This is why we do personal devotions and come to church and participate in small groups. We want to know Jesus’ words so we can know God. I asked Jennie what she thought being ready for Jesus’ return meant and she said, “If he came back, would I know him? Would I recognize him? Spending time in his word helps us get to know him.”
Caring for the least of these. (Luke 4:18-19)
Back in Luke 4 at the start of his ministry, Jesus explains he has come to proclaim “good news” to the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, and oppressed. He did this throughout his ministry and one of the ways we get ready is by doing the same thing. How are we caring for the least of these? Are we giving money to the poor? Are we ministering to the oppressed and the sick? I’m really encouraged by how you all help each other when you’re sick or in need. That’s really wonderful and it’s one of the ways we live ready for Jesus’ return.
Eating, drinking, and talking with sinners. (Luke 5:27-32; 10:1-24)
Jesus ate and drank with sinners and tax collectors. These weren’t the good religious people, but the outcasts and the rejects. Maybe some of you remember our previous foundation verse? Can you say it with me?
Luke 5:31-32 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (NIV®)
Jesus calls us to spend time with people that could make us look bad by association. I think Jesus will be pleased if he returns and finding you sitting at the bar with a friend from your frontline talking about him.
Picking up our crosses daily and following him. (Luke 9:18-27)
We finished our second foundation verse today. Let’s see if we have this one memorized too.
Luke 9:23-24 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. (NIV®)
Being a disciple of Jesus means learning his teachings and seeking to put them into practice each day of our lives. Sometimes this will mean difficult days where the cross is heavy; and other days it will be easier. But it’s trying to go through each day submitting to whatever Jesus has for us that day.
Let’s look back over what it means to pack readiness and ask what type of bag we’re packing. Are you packing a go bag or a bug-out bag? A bug-out bag is what preppers pack in case of armageddon. If the world ends, they want matches, a compass, food rations, rope, a knife, and some type of weapon. They want to grab their bag and run! Am I a go bag Christian or a bug out Christian? A bug-out Christians believes that in the end this world is going to be burned up so nothing really matters. “It’s me and Jesus so who cares what happens to my neighbor.” As Christians, being ready for Jesus is not packing a bug-out bag.
A go bag on the other hand is about preparing for a relationship. You pack it with baby outfits and a change of clothes and items for relationship. You carry your go bag with you through daily living, in the car on the way to the store, to gym class, wherever you are so that you’re ready. Go bag Christianity starts with a personal saving relationship with Jesus Christ, but it extends outward to caring for those around us and sharing Christ. It means reading your Bible and praying and repenting and believing, but it also means caring for the poor, spending time with your non-Christian friends, and just trying to be faithful wherever Jesus calls you. But this call isn’t just for me, it’s for us.
We all need to be ready. (v35) In our passage, Jesus isn’t just saying “you” (singular) be ready but “you” (plural) be ready (you all). Yes we need to take individual responsibility, but this is a call for us as a people, the church, to get ready for Christ’s return. This is why I’ve found it so encouraging to be a part of an evangelism small group; because we can pray for each other, encourage each other when it’s hard, and celebrate when God does something.
Maybe some of you are wondering what is going to happen this summer when we have the baby, who is going to fill this pulpit. I’ll be out for three weeks, so Andy and Terry are preaching, and one more. But we don’t know exactly when that is. I’ve told Andy and Terry to get ready; but my son is going to let them know when they’re on. We together get ready for Christ’s arrival. We help each other with the ways God has gifted us, filling in for each other’s weaknesses and giving our strengths so that we’re ready together.
Jesus will reward our readiness. (v37) Verse 37 tells us that when the master returns, if he finds his servants ready, he will dress himself to serve them. The text uses that same word for “gird” again. We gird ourselves for service because one day Jesus is going to gird himself to serve us. That idea was absolutely radical in their culture. Masters didn’t serve servants. Can you imagine it? Either Christ has returned or you die and go to heaven; you’re finally meeting your King face to face for the first time; and you just want to fall on your knees and worship him; and he says, “Thank you for your service. Take a seat and let me serve you.” Jesus will reward readiness.
So first we pack readiness in our eternal go bags. But second we should pack…
Faithfulness (Luke 12:41-48) 41 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” 42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. (NIV®)
Peter is confused, so he asks Jesus if he is talking to the disciples or to the crowds, and of course Jesus doesn’t give a straight answer because both can apply what he is teaching. He says in v42 the second way we get ready is for “faithful and wise manager(s)” to give his servants “their food allowance at the proper time.” This word for “manager” means someone who is in charge of running a household.
So if God has entrusted you with leading or co-leading a household, if you are a mom or a dad, a spouse, or a leader of the church household, God expects faithfulness from you. He expects you to feed those under your charge. Well does that mean? The Bible calls the word of God food (Matt 4:4; Heb 5:12; 1 Cor 3:2). So being a faithful manager means teaching God’s Word to those he has entrusted us over.
Parents, are you teaching your kids about God? Are you teaching your kids the stories in the Bible? Maybe you don’t know them super well so you’re learning as you go. That’s okay! Are you modeling the truth of God’s Word in your own life? Are you confessing your sin to them when you wrong them? Are you sharing how God is speaking to you and changing you? That’s how we pass on the faith. Spouses, are you loving your husband or your wife? Are you praying for each other and encouraging each other with God’s word? Ephesians 5:26 has a special call to husbands to wash their wives with the word. Husbands, are you sharing the Scriptures with your spouse and praying with her? Wives, are you sharing what you’re learning with your husbands and praying for him? Elders, are we feeding our people God’s word? Some people on our church service time survey wrote down that they want to learn God’s word more. We agree! We want to disciple you; we want to teach you God’s word. We’re just trying to figure out what that looks like. Does it look like small groups, Bible studies, a discipleship hour, or something else? This is a challenge to us as your leaders to figure out a way to make sure we’re all being feed.
But what if you’re not in charge of anyone? Are you feeding yourself? We’re called to faithfully feed each other. But in Luke Jesus takes a pause and reminds us he is very serious about this.
There are consequences for unfaithfulness. (v45-48) 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. (NIV®)
This passage is meant to shock us. It’s meant to jar us. If we take the gift of knowing God and use it to Lord over others or don’t pass it along to those under our care, there will be a stiff penalty (1 Peter 5:3). In fact, if you are someone who uses God’s word to control and manipulate others, you might not be a Christian, and when Christ returns he will assign you a place with unbelievers in hell. But he will be fair.
47“ The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (NIV®)
The consequences of unfaithfulness will be perfectly fair and just. God will judge those who didn’t know or understand less strictly, but those who should know better will have to answer for it. So what’s my big idea?
Get your go bag ready! Although our passage appears to end on a more negative note, I think it’s important to point out that Jesus is saying in v48, “much has been given to you” and “you’ve been entrusted with a lot.” Jesus doesn’t give us this responsibility so we can fail, but so that we can rise to the challenge. You are safe in Christ, so don’t be afraid. Everyday is an opportunity to pack our eternal go bags with readiness and faithfulness, so that when Jesus returns or calls us home, we hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matt 25:23) Get your go bag ready!
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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My family has a history of heart-attacks. My uncle died of a massive heart-attack, and my dad had two heart attacks. So I personally am interested in not having a heart attack, but also being able to identify the signs of a heart attack. The American Heart Association lists Warning Signs of a Heart Attack:
Pain or discomfort in chest Lightheadedness, nausea, or vomiting Jaw, neck or back pain Discomfort or pain in arm or shoulder Shortness of breath
It’s no fun to talk about the warning signs of a heart attack, but it’s better to talk about them when you’re fine, so that if something happens to you or the one you love, you can identify the problem and get help.
Today, in Luke, we’re also talking about 6 warning signs of a heart problem. The state of our hearts is what separates true religion from false religion, Godly faith from destructive beliefs, life from death. Jesus was having dinner with Pharisees and and experts in the law when he confronted them about their hearts. But the author Luke doesn’t record this story so that we can look back at those Pharisees and experts in judgment, but so that we can examine our own hearts and look for disease.
We may have a heart problem. (Luke 11:37-41) 37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
I don’t know about you, but when I see someone walk out of the restroom without washing their hands, it grosses me out. But that’s not what surprises the Pharisee here. Hand-washing was not about personal hygiene, it was about ceremonial cleanliness. The Gospel of Mark’s parallel account explains this further.
Mark 7:3-4 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) (NIV®)
This Pharisee was surprised that Jesus didn’t ceremonially cleanse himself before eating, but Jesus doesn’t care for their extra-Biblical tradition (Talmud). He sees it for what it is, a man-made ceremony meant to make people feel like they are acceptable to God, but this is not what makes someone acceptable to God.
39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. (NIV®)
Jesus teaches us God cares about what goes on inside our hearts, not what we look like on the outside. Something has gone wrong in their hearts. They’re full of “greed and wickedness” (v39). And so he speaks six “woes” against them. These “woes” are judgments that act both as a curse and a revelation. They reveal both the sin itself and the consequences of their sin.
First, Jesus cries three woes at the Pharisees. When we think of Pharisees, we think of the religious elite. In many ways they were, but they were also lay people. In other words, they weren’t priests or professionals, they were normal men who were passionate for tradition and God’s word. So our first three warning signs (of a heart problem) are for laity, normal everyday people who are trying to obey God (not pastors; they’re perfect…). These signs help us see if we have a heart problem. What’s the first warning sign?
1. Love of religiosity over love of neighbor and love of God (Luke 11:42) “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. (NIV®)
By “religiosity” I mean someone who loves being religious, who loves going through the motions, going to church, putting their offering in the plate, signing the songs, and listening to the sermon. But this same person who loves being religious might yell and scream at their coworker at work the very next day. They don’t go to church because they love Jesus, but they love tradition. It makes them feel good.
The Pharisees neglected justice, neglected the poor, neglected God’s law, and didn’t really love God. Although they went through religious motions, they weren’t living out the great commandment, love God and love your neighbor. They were so careful to look religious they gave a 10th of their garden herbs, which the law didn’t say to do. Jesus says that’s good, but what matters even more to God is what’s in our hearts.
Do you love being religious more than you actually love your neighbor or God? Do you care more about how you sound when you sing at church or how you speak to your spouse and children when nobody else is around? Would you rather volunteer at church than volunteer at your local soup kitchen? I know I would. Do you care more about your Bible knowledge and being orthodox (having all your ducks in a row) than loving The One found in the Word? In v41 Jesus doesn’t say “get your doctrine right, and everything will be clean to you” but “be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.” The first warning sign of a heart problem is love of religiosity over love of neighbor and of God. What’s second?
2. Pride (Luke 11:43) “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces. (NIV®)
The most respected teachers and elders sat at the front of the synagogue facing the congregation. In fact, if you visit some old congregational churches, they may have chairs on the platform for the elders, pastor, and other leaders of the church to sit. But is sitting up front wrong? No, it’s sitting up front to be seen by others. The issue is their pride. They loved receiving special honorary greetings in the marketplace too.
Let’s make the jump to New England today. I doubt many of us go to church or are Christians to get words of affirmation from our culture. But if we look into our hearts, and find a desire to be seen as better-than-others because we’re Christians, then that’s pride. I want to look good when I preach, and I bet members of our worship team want to look good when they sing. But is that why we do it? So that others might look at us and say, “Wow! They must really know God!”? Do you raise your hands (or not) so people will know you’re spiritual? These are all warning signs of a heart problem, of pride. What’s the final warning signal?
3. Infecting others (Luke 11:44) “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.” (NIV®)
In Israel tombs and limestone ossuaries (containers or rooms to store bones) were were made to look white (white-washed) so they looked like the white-monuments and mausoleums we can find at today’s cemeteries. This prevented travelers from accidentally stepping on them and contracting ritual uncleanliness. Numbers 19:16 says if you touched a bone or grave you were unclean for a week until you underwent a cleansing process. Jesus is saying that when people come in contact with the Pharisees, they get infected and unclean.
Did you know that in 1846 a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis tried to figure out why so many mothers and their newborn infants were getting sick and dying right after childbirth. He studied two wards, one full of doctors and medical students, and one full of midwives, and discovered that those in the care of the doctors and medical students were five-times more likely to die than those birthed by the midwives. Although he didn’t know about germs, he discovered that when doctors and students washed their hands in chlorine, the mortality rate dropped dramatically. The doctors and students went from studying corpses to delivering babies, and would spread infection. They were accidentally killing the ones they wanted to save.
If we don’t deal with what’s going on in our hearts, we can spread the infection too. If you have a lot of pride, you need to deal with that. If you don’t, you could leave behind a trail of sick and broken people hurt by your brand of Christianity. If you love being religious, you’re not going to spread love of God or love of neighbor, but traditionalism and works-righteousness. Three warning signs of a heart problem for normal everyday Christians are love of religiosity over love of neighbor and God, pride, and infection.
We’re all born with an infection, sin. This is why the Son of God entered into this world as a small baby boy, an infant. He is the infant that sacrificed his life by taking on our infection so that we could live. He came to cleanse us, to baptize us in his Holy Spirit, to make us new so that we don’t spread infection but life. If you repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus, he will cleanse you and make you new.
But then our passage turns to the experts in the law. The ESV says these were “lawyers.” They were the professionals who earned a living from knowing and interpreting God’s word. So these next three warnings are for church-leaders, for Elders, Deacons, Ministry Team leads, small group leaders, anyone interested in church leadership, teens or children who imagine themselves serving as a leader one day. We should all pay attention to three warning signs (of a heart problem) for leadership:
1. Loading others down with rules and regulations (Luke 11:45-46) 45 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”
46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. (NIV®)
As one author explained, when you read the Old Testament law it doesn’t cover everything. So you can either try to fill in the gray areas by making more detailed lists and spelling out what exactly people could and could not do in various situations, or you could give general principles for people to follow. The lawyers gave details, and made life hard for people, but then figured out creative ways to get around their own rules. Jesus gave principles, and freed people.
As leaders, details are important, are they not? This is why we have by-laws and a playbook and policies and procedures because details can help clarify and help us do ministry. But organizational details are different than religious details. What if we the Elders created a playbook for Christianity that outlined what you could say and do, movies you couldn’t see, music you couldn’t listen to, restaurants you couldn’t go to? But then you find out we don’t go to those restaurants, we just order takeout? Do we look around at others and judge them for their choices, but give ourselves grace when we make the same choices? The first sign of a heart problem for leaders is loading others down with rules and regulations. What’s the second sign?
2. Resisting God’s message and messengers (Luke 11:47-51) 47 “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’ 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all. (NIV®)
This paragraph’s logic is a little challenging to follow, but what I think Jesus is saying here is that the lawyer’s ancestors killed the prophets. And of course, these lawyers believe that if they had been there they would not have done so, so they built monument tombs for them to try and show their innocence. But even as they do this for the prophets, they reject an even greater prophet, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The lawyers, like their forefathers, resisted God’s message and God’s messenger, Jesus Christ and what he taught.
As leaders we need to make sure we have teachable hearts (1 Peter 5:5). This means that when others come to us, trying to speak truth through the Holy Spirit and based on God’s Word, we need to have listening ears. This may not mean we do what others want or agree with them, as we have to compare the message and the messengers to the Bible as well. If you struggle with a teachable heart, ask your Heavenly Father to give you one. He will. We don’t want to resist God’s message and messengers. Third?
3. Hindering others from understanding God’s word (Luke 11:52-54) 52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
53 When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say. (NIV®)
These lawyers didn’t help people learn God’s Word. They actually made it harder for others to understand. As leaders in the church, we need to examine our teaching to make sure we are helping people understand God’s Word clearly and easily as God intends it to be understood. We do this through our actual teaching, but also through our actions. We teach not just with our words, but with how we live.
As we look at these warning signs, maybe you see them in your own heart, maybe you’ve identified a heart problem. Now what should we do? Turn to the great physician!
Bring your heart-problem to Jesus. Last year my my dad’s doctor said he was concerned about my dad’s left ventricle wall thickening in his heart, so he gave him an EKG test. The results came back good, but my dad still complained about shortness of breath, lack of stamina, and tiredness, so the doctor gave him a treadmill stress test, which showed there might be blockage in his heart (he called it a “widow maker”). So the doctor wanted him to get a heart catheterization done as soon as possible.
So my dad asked his elders to pray for him and anoint him, and then he spent extra time in personal prayer the week before the procedure. He said when he was praying he felt his Heavenly Father’s presence in a special way, like he came into the room. When the doctor went in with the catheter, the arteries were clear and he said my dad had the heart of a 20-year old. My dad thinks God healed his heart.
If you have a heart problem, God can heal you. If as we went through these signs today, you were convicted or concerned that you might have these symptoms, call out to your Heavenly Father to heal you. Confess your sin and ask Jesus to remove the blockage. The Gospel is the good news that through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit gives all believers new hearts that love God, love neighbor, and want to seek him. Bring your heart-problem to Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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My family has a history of heart-attacks. My uncle died of a massive heart-attack, and my dad had two heart attacks. So I personally am interested in not having a heart attack, but also being able to identify the signs of a heart attack. The American Heart Association lists Warning Signs of a Heart Attack: Pain or discomfort in chest Lightheadedness, nausea, or vomiting Jaw, neck or back pain Discomfort or pain in arm or shoulder Shortness of breath It’s
Do you ever feel burned out by church? Churches have a tendency to burn people out. When first-time guests Benjamin and Olivia Smith walk through our door, we hope they’ll come back the next week. When they do we’re so excited, we invite them to our fellowship dinner, and when they’re at the fellowship dinner we tell them about all our fantastic ministries and ask if they’d like to join any of them.
When we find out Benjamin can play the drums, we might ask, “Are your Wednesday nights free to try out the worship team?” And when Olivia tells us she loves children, we say, “We have just the ministry for you.” Pretty soon Benjamin is on the worship team upstairs, and Olivia is helping teach the children’s ministry downstairs, so they’re no longer sitting together in church most weeks.
And when they are in the service, they hear announcements for upcoming Outreach events like the Apple Blossom Parade or the Trunk or Treat. Of course those are good things, so they sign up. And when Pastor Jonathan preaches on the importance of spending time with their frontlines, they try to spend time with their neighbors and non-Christian friends. And they just keep getting more and more busy.
But pretty soon, they also feel themselves getting more and more exhausted. They find they’re giving much of their physical and emotional energy to serving the church, and have no time for small groups, even less time for personal devotions and prayer, and rarely have a date night together as a couple. Some weeks when they’re not signed up to play the drums or volunteer in children’s ministry, they skip out on church so they can rest and have a break. It’s just getting to be too much.
What’s happening is Benjamin and Olivia are slowly burning up. The busyness of ministry is exhausting them. Maybe they’ll stay at the church, or maybe they’ll look for another church where they’re asked to do less. As a church we just want to love and care for the Benjamins and Olivias, but somehow that becomes us asking them to do stuff, at least to help us do less. We don’t want to burn out either!
Today’s text teaches us about ministry burnout. The story of Mary and Martha tells us how one woman got so wrapped up in serving Jesus she forgot to love Jesus. The Gospel of Luke records the story of Mary and Martha right after the story of the Good Samaritan. A lawyer asks Jesus, “What should I do to inherit eternal life?” The short answer is “Love God and love your neighbor.” Then Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan as an example of a person sacrificially loving their neighbor. The last thing Jesus says at the end of this story is, “Go and DO likewise.”
So I think Luke gives us this story of Mary and Martha next to remind us it’s not all about doing ministry. Yes God wants us to get out there and serve him. God does want us to love our neighbors, to do good deeds, and serve the church. But Luke makes sure to add this story to remind us at the end of the day Christianity is not about staying busy for Jesus, it’s about loving Jesus. My big idea for my sermon is this, “Do less for Jesus to be more with Jesus.” Let’s see how Mary and Martha teach us to do less for Jesus.
Do less for Jesus. (Luke 10:38-40) 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (NIV®)
I want to start out by by defending Martha a little bit. We can be too quick to condemn her.
Martha is doing a good thing (serving Jesus). Martha has a servant’s spirit. She is hospitable. She opens her home to Jesus and his 12 disciples. She knew he was an important Rabbi, a teacher, so she wanted to do a really good job. Do you ever imagine what it would be like to have a President over for dinner, or a famous celebrity or Christian speaker you really like? You’d clean the house, pull out your best china, and make your special dish. You’d try to be the perfect host. Martha was just like Martha Stewart. She wanted to serve Jesus well.
The Greek word for “preparations” (v40) is diakonia, which means “service” or “ministry.” This is where we get the church word “Deacon.” We have a Board of Deacons dedicated to serving the church and people. What Martha is doing, “serving,” is a physical act. But serving also has a spiritual component, which is why we also translate diakonia as “ministry.” Martha’s act of service to Jesus is an act of ministry to him. But she seems to have gotten so caught up in the ministry itself she’s forgotten who she is ministering to.
As Christians, we can serve Jesus lots of ways. We can serve him by serving inside the organization of the church: leading a small group, joining the welcome team, playing on the worship band, and so on. We can also serve Jesus by serving outside of the weekly service: inviting our neighbors for dinner, volunteering at a service project, going on a missions trip. These are all good things just like Martha’s act of service. But sometimes we can do a good thing the wrong way.
Martha is doing a good thing the wrong way (forgetting Jesus). She is so focused on doing ministry for Jesus that she actually tries to use Jesus to accomplish her own plans. When she comes up to Jesus and says, “Tell her to help me” (v40) the word “tell” is an imperative. Martha is commanding Jesus to do something for her. She wants to serve him, but now she’s telling him what to do. Martha is using Jesus for her own ends.
We never do this, right? We never make lots of ministry plans and then tell Jesus to bless them… We never spend so much time working for Jesus we forget to spent time with Jesus… We never make great plans then blame Jesus when our plans start to fall through… “Jesus, this outreach event would be so much better if Benjamin and Olivia had just shown up to help! Why aren’t they mature like me? Don’t they love the church? Don’t they care about you?” We can get so wrapped up in serving God we forget to love him, and we start to blame him and others when our plans fall through.
When we started Cornerstone, our Core Team read a book entitled Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts. The first and most important mistake church plants make is “Neglecting the Great Commandment in Pursuit of the Great Commission.” In other words, we’re so excited to reach the world for Jesus and do lot’s of great ministry we forget the greatest commandment.
Luke 10:27b “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (NIV®)
Martha is doing a good thing (serving Jesus), but she is doing it the wrong way (forgetting Jesus). But Luke doesn’t just give us the negative example of Martha, he gives us the positive example of Mary. We do less for Jesus to…
Be more with Jesus. (Luke 10:41-42) 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (NIV®)
Before Jesus corrects Martha, he emphasizes his love for Martha by saying her name twice, “Martha, Martha.” If you’ve been so overcome by busyness and doing ministry for Jesus you’ve forgotten Jesus, Jesus will correct you, but also remind you of his love. Jesus loves us so much he bore the punishment for our sin on the cross. He loves us so much he takes the consequence our sins deserve. He sacrificed himself for us so that our sins can be forgiven and we don’t have to be afraid that he doesn’t love us.
Jesus loves us so much we don’t need to be afraid to receive his correction. He provides a safe space so he can addresses our sin and we can repent. Repentance means to turn from sin and to God. What’s taking Martha’s eyes off Jesus is the sin of worry and fear, the fear of not getting stuff done. Jesus calls her to repentance (to change what she’s doing) by leading her to a better pathway, Mary’s pathway.
Mary is choosing the one thing that matters (Jesus himself). In the ancient middle-eastern culture, women were expected to serve and run the household and men were expected to get an education and work. So when Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, she’s breaking typical gender norms. She’s taking the posture of a disciple (Acts 22:3). Women could go to synagogue and listen to teachings, but Rabbis didn’t teach girls in schools, only boys. Mary is choosing to follow Jesus, to learn from him, to choose him even though culture and her own family say to do other things.
Some of you have family that question your faith and why you’re a Christian. Maybe some of them have asked you not to be a Christian. I want to encourage you that you are choosing the right thing by choosing Jesus. Likewise, culture tells us it’s not who you believe in that matters but how much you can accomplish. Sometimes we as Christians pick up and repeat this message, “How much I do for Jesus determines how good a Christian I am.” Maybe you’re not a Christian but you’ve believed a similar message, “If I can just be a better parent, or a better person, God will accept me.” The world wants us to believe this false message. The message of Christianity is that Jesus loves us and he wants to spend time with us. Jesus wants to know you, and be known by you.
Notice back in verse 39 how Mary chose Jesus. She sat at his feet listening to what he said. The word “said” is the Greek word “logos” which means “word.” She is purposefully listening to the words of Jesus, which are the words of God. So if you want to be like Mary, you need to first accept that the world’s message is not true and second you need to make time for Jesus through his word.
I want to ask you a question. Is right now, this 35 minute sermon, the only time you spend focusing on the word of God every week? What if you only ate one meal every week? You’d be malnourished, now matter how much food you packed in. Are you so busy with work and family and church activities that you don’t have time for Jesus? Jesus says right here that he is the one thing that really matters. We need to spend personal time with Jesus reading and studying his word (the Bible) and praying, but also corporate time.
The Elders oversee small groups, and we’ve talked about why small group attendance is so low at Cornerstone. It seems like it has decrease most semesters and this semester we cancelled one of our small groups because only three people signed up. And yet, I think most people (maybe 80%) are serving a team or a ministry. If we’re already doing church one night of the week, and then on worship team and a ministry team, we don’t have any more time to be apart of a small group. But if Ministry Teams are where we do for Jesus and Small Groups are where we be with Jesus, maybe we need to do something differently.
I don’t know what the solution is, but we all need to know the problem. We can grow in Jesus in our Ministry Team meetings and as we volunteer, but that’s not their primary focus. Their primary focus is doing the ministry of the church. The primary focus of a small group is helping you sit at the feet of Jesus and learn his word. If the choice is between you serving a ministry of the church and being discipled in a small group, I’d rather you join a small group. But maybe you just don’t like small groups. Sometimes I find them exhausting. Let your Elders know if there are other ways you’d like to sit at Jesus’ feet. We want you to choose Jesus first. Mary is choosing the one thing that matters (Jesus himself).
Jesus loves both Marthas and Marys. It’s tempting to think that Jesus loves Mary more because she’s a better disciple, but that’s not the gospel. Jesus loves all of his disciples. Jesus has another encounter with Martha and Mary when their brother Lazarus dies and Jesus raises him from the dead. I read through that story again this week in John chapter 11 and I noticed how much Jesus loves them.
John 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. (NIV®)
Jesus loved both of them, and actually, it’s Martha that get’s her name here, not Mary. Jesus loves the Marthas and the Marys of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Jesus doesn’t tell Martha to stop being Martha and become a Mary. He loves her for who she is. If you’re a Martha and you love to serve and you sometimes forget who you’re serving, Jesus still loves you. And if you’re a Mary, who loves to be with Jesus, Jesus loves you too, but you’re not better than Martha. If you’re a Martha, you do need to focus on Jesus and his word before you worry about serving. You can even focus on him as you serve, and as you minister. Jesus loves both Marthas and Marys.
Do less for Jesus to be more with Jesus. I’ve been working on getting our nursery ready for “Lancelot’s” arrival in June. I’m not much of a handy man so it’s been a lot of work to sand and stain the floor, and paint, and fix the window, and put up a ceiling fan. I’ve gotten a lot done, and many people have helped me, but I have more to do. I’m so excited to bring our baby home and show him the room. I’m sure the first thing he’ll say is, “Great job on the room dad! It looks like you put a lot of hard work into it.”
But what if the big day came for our baby came into this world and I just kept working on the baby room. What if Monica told me, “It’s time to go to the hospital” and I said, “You go ahead without me. I got a few more things to do here.” There comes a point where we need to recognize we’ve done enough for Jesus, and it’s time to just be with Jesus. I can’t wait to be there for my son’s arrival, and to meet him. We have an opportunity to meet with Jesus, and to sit at his feet, every day. Do less for Jesus to be more with Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Do you ever feel burned out by church? Churches have a tendency to burn people out. When first-time guests Benjamin and Olivia Smith walk through our door, we hope they’ll come back the next week. When they do we’re so excited, we invite them to our fellowship dinner, and when they’re at the fellowship dinner we tell them about all our fantastic ministries and ask if they’d like to join any of them. When we find out Benjamin can play
I want to start by talking about my job. What are pastors for? At Cornerstone, we have “roles of ministry.” We believe elders are called to lead and shepherd, deacons are called to serve the people, and the pastor is called to equip the congregation who are to engage in ministry. Our philosophy of ministry says: “Staff Equipped: We believe that Pastors are called to serve the church by equipping the believers for the work of the ministry.” This is
I want to start by talking about my job. What are pastors for? At Cornerstone, we have “roles of ministry.” We believe elders are called to lead and shepherd, deacons are called to serve the people, and the pastor is called to equip the congregation who are to engage in ministry. Our philosophy of ministry says:
“Staff Equipped: We believe that Pastors are called to serve the church by equipping the believers for the work of the ministry.”
This is based on what the Bible says our job is.
Ephesians 4:11-12 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (NIV®)
But what do we mean by equipping for ministry? Is it the Pastor’s primary job to teach people how to run the church, or is the ministry we’re talking about broader than that? I believe it’s my job to help you use your whole life for Jesus, and that may mean serving Christ on a formal church Ministry Team, but it first means using your normal everyday life to spread the love and good news of Jesus Christ.
In today’s text in Luke we come to the story of normal everyday people who Jesus equips for ministry. But he doesn’t label them “pastor.” When Jesus calls the twelve disciples, he designates them “Apostles,” which means “someone sent as a messenger” (Luke 6:12-16). In Luke 10, Jesus uses this word for send (“apostello”) again, but not to describe the twelve, but to send out the rest of his followers.
Luke 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. (NIV®)
You don’t need to be a big-a “Apostle” to be a little-a “apostle.” If you believe in Jesus, you’re a little-a “apostle.” You don’t have to have a formal ministry title for Jesus to use you.
Jesus sends us out. (Luke 10:1-12) Jesus picked the twelve disciples to signify the twelve tribes of Israel, to say he is starting a new chapter in the people of God. But then he chooses 72 because all the way back in Genesis 10, the Bible lists 72 nations (in the Greek version, LXX). We call this chapter “The Table of Nations.” So here Jesus is using the 12 to found Christianity and sending out the 72 to symbolically reach the whole world.
But what does this have to do with us? You and I are not big-A Apostles, but we are sent. Luke calls them the “seventy-two others.” I think you and I are the others. We receive the same commission as them. As others, we’re sent by Jesus out “ahead of him.” In Luke 1-9, Jesus spends most of his ministry in and around northern Galilee, but in Luke 9:51 Jesus sets out for Jerusalem. He begins his journey, and he sends these people ahead of him to prepare the way. They’re like John the Baptist, preparing the way for the Lord. We too are called to prepare the way for the Lord.
Your frontline is the place where you spend the majority of your time with non-Christians. So it could be your neighborhood, your office, your college friends, your gym, the local coffee shop, anywhere. Do you believe Jesus has sent you there to prepare for his coming? I think this requires a shift in how we think about our frontlines. Today, when I go to work, I’m getting my office ready for Jesus. Tonight, when I have dinner with my neighbors, I’m getting our neighborhood ready for Jesus. Tomorrow, when I go to school, I’m getting my school ready for Jesus.
Now it’s not that Jesus isn’t there already (he’s omnipresent), but this does take the pressure off us. I’m going to get ready for Jesus, but he decides when he shows up. This is a big calling. There are two truths and three commands that Jesus gives us to equip us for this task.
We are valuable. (v2) First truth, we are valuable to God and his mission. In verse 2 Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” What’s the most valuable commodity any business has? Its people, its employees, its customers. Without people, the harvest won’t come in. Jesus could say a command, and all the wheat and fruit could magically float in, but that’s not how he likes to work. He likes to use his creation to do his work. He likes to use normal people in their everyday lives to produce a great harvest.
The Boston Vere Institute reports that 78% of people “think their work is less valuable than a Pastor.” Do you feel you’re a valuable part of what God is doing, or do you just think the pastor and elders and worship team are more valuable? Every harvest worker is valuable, whether in full-time church ministry, or full-time everyday ministry. We are (all) valuable.
We can’t do it alone. (v1-2) Truth number two, we can’t do it by ourselves. We need two types of help. First, we need the Holy Spirit’s help, which we receive through prayer. In verse 2, Jesus says, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” That word for “ask” means “pray.” What’s our human response when we hear about a need? To do something! To get to work! But what if we’re just to first get on our knees and pray? I find that when I start my day with prayer, I go about my day less anxiously and sometimes more productively than when I jump right into my to-do list.
The second type of help comes from other Christians. If we go back to look at verse 1, we see Jesus “sent them two by two.” He doesn’t send them alone. Maybe you want to reach your frontline, but you feel afraid or burnt out. Pray for Jesus to give you another Christian in your workplace, school, or neighborhood to help you reach those around you. I need my wife to help me pray for our frontline, to help me invite people over for dinner, and I get to help her by chaperoning school dances and spending time with her coworkers.
Karyn shared her frontline story last week, how she prayed for her neighborhood (her frontline), but also for this church (other Christians). God brought it all together, using her and her church family to reach her neighbors. When we as a church went Christmas caroling in her neighborhood, we were helping her reach her frontline. Tonight, after the service, I want you to ask someone during fellowship time about their frontline. Say, “How’s your frontline?” Then ask how you can pray for their frontline, “How can I pray for your frontline?” We all need prayer and encouragement to reach our frontlines.
Our two truths are: We are valuable and we can’t do it alone. Now three commands.
Go weak! (v3) Jesus says in verse 3, “Go.” This isn’t a suggestion, “Go?” This is a command, “Go!” But what happens when you break routine? What happens when we leave our comfort zone, what we’re used to? We put ourselves at risk. “I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” Jesus doesn’t win motivator of the year. Go! It’s going to be hard and dangerous and people will want to tear you apart.
I listened to a sermon by Neil Hudson this week. He’s a pastor in the UK and works with the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC), the organization that produced Fruitfulness on the Frontline. He preached on Luke 10 at Park Street Church in downtown Boston, and he shared a story of a woman named Betty from a church near San Francisco.
Betty learned about the idea of a frontline but felt like it was a difficult challenge for her because she was retired. She didn’t have an office she was in every day, but she did have a gym. She went to that gym for several years but her friendships there were strictly gym related. She began to expect that God would do something and he did. One of the women said she was worried about her daughter, and Betty told her that when she was worried about her own daughter she prayed for her. Betty asked if she could pray with her right then, and she agreed, so she prayed with her.
A few days later Betty’s gym friend told her she felt her daughter was safe because of Betty’s prayers. Betty asked if she could pray with her again to thank God, and she did. And then Betty asked her gym friend if she had ever invited Jesus into her life. She said she hadn’t, and so Betty asked if she wanted to pray to invite him into her life right then, and she did. So Betty and this woman prayed to invite Jesus into her life. A little while after this Betty invites her and another gym friend to a ladies event and they both come, plus the second lady brings a friend. Now the four women attend a ladies Bible study together.
But then Neil goes back through this story and points out Betty’s vulnerability, her weakness. She is retired. She doesn’t have a lot of contacts. When God does bring another woman to her, she doesn’t say, “I’ll pray for you” but says, “When I’m worried about my daughter, I’ve found prayer really helps.” That’s a place of weakness, not strength. I’m no better than you. I’m needy. Then she offers to pray for her right there. That puts her at risk. What if she says no? It’s much easier to say, “I’ll pray for you!” Then when the story comes back around, Betty once again says, “Can we thank God together?” More vulnerability. And then she asks her if she wants to know Jesus, and then invites her to church. At any moment this woman could have turned into a wolf and bitten Betty. She could bad-mouthed her around the gym or turned away. But Betty kept putting herself at risk for Jesus and Jesus used her to bring in the harvest. Go weak!
Where’s a place in your life that you can be vulnerable with others? Would you pray that Jesus gives you an opportunity this week to be weak and vulnerable for him? I had two opportunities this last week, one I was open and weak, and one I closed up. You may not get it right, but that’s okay, Jesus can use you again. You can start in the foyer after the service by sharing about your frontline. First command. Go weak! Second…
Go dependent! (v4-8) In verse 4 Jesus says, “Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.” Don’t depend on your money or your resources for your success! Don’t depend on your amazing advertising or social media presence. Don’t depend on your social relationships. Depend on me! And then Jesus instructs his disciples to stay in the homes of the people they meet and to eat and drink what they’re offered. If you look at Jesus’ journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, he spent time in the homes of Pharisees, but also of tax collectors and sinners. And since he had to go along the edge of Samaria, his followers may have stayed with non-Jews (Luke 17:11).
Jesus is putting his follower’s holiness at risk. He’s encouraging them to go into the home of whoever welcomes them, whether they are Jewish or not, whether they eat kosher food or unclean food. These followers are forced into uncomfortable situations where instead of relying on ritual purity or tradition, they have to depend on Jesus’ acceptance of them for their holiness.
None of us would ever say we would remove ourselves from others because of ritual purity. But have you ever said, “I can’t be friends with that person because they’re no good” or “we can’t spend time with that family because they’ll be a bad influence on my family.” Maybe when I’m a parent, I will guard who my children can spend time with, so I understand if we need to set up boundaries. This kid is a bad influence, but don’t cut him out. Make sure you always spend time with him at your house and pray and talk about Jesus. If you’re a teen, spend time with teens that need Jesus. Don’t flirt to convert, but pray to convert.
Jesus says to these followers. “If you’re welcomed, stay with them!” I like to call this “messy discipleship.” Messy discipleship is when we go places that make us uncomfortable and put ourselves and our families at risk for the sake of bringing others to Jesus. We don’t worry about them negatively influencing us, but seek to influence them with the love of Jesus. In messy discipleship we can’t depend on our circumstances for our holiness, but have to depend entirely on Jesus. First. Go weak. Second. Go dependent. Third…
Go expectant! (v9) I’m amazed by what Jesus says the 72 should do when they’re welcomed. Verse 9, “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near to you.’” So when you go back to work or school on Monday, I want you to find a coworker who has a cold and pray that God would heal them. Actually, I don’t think this is that far off. Jesus still heals people today, supernaturally and naturally.
Many of you know that Jennie received good news recently that she is now cancer free. Praise God! But when I spoke to Jennie, she said the level of healing and absence of cancer cells is really unusual. She has not just beat cancer. The cancer is gone! When Jennie first found out that she got cancer, she called me and asked me to come and pray for her, and then I asked if she was interested in having the Elders anoint her and pray over her before she started her treatment, and she was.
James 5:14-15 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. (NIV®)
The Bible calls us to have the Elders anoint and pray for us. Jennie donated her massage oil, so we have plenty of oil! If you’re sick, please let us pray for you. I believe Jesus can heal people to advance his kingdom. As followers, we have the unique opportunity to pray God would heal people and when they’re healed, tell them, “It’s because of Jesus!” Let’s expect Jesus to do great things. Go expectant!
So how does this work out for the 72? Do they end up getting eaten by wolves? How is this going to work for us? Will we be okay? We’ll actually be more than okay.
When we go out we will come back with joy. (Luke 10:17-20) Look at how the 72 come back in verse 17, “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” And then in verse 21 it says Jesus was full of joy! But in verse 20 Jesus says this, “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Jesus’ master plan of evangelism will work, but at the end of the day, there’s something more important. The most important thing of all is knowing Jesus and the salvation we have.
The 72 could cast out demons “in Jesus’ name” because they knew Jesus. Don’t rejoice that the mission will succeed. Rejoice that Jesus loves you. At the end of the day, it’s not the possibility of success that drives us, but the love of Jesus. When we realize Jesus is the most valuable and precious Son of God, and that he was willing to become weak and vulnerable for us, it fills you with joy. Jesus depended on his father all the way to the cross with the great expectation that God would use his sacrifice to save us. Jesus is the lamb of God who was slain for us. When we go out we will come back with joy!
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Why does God take us from mountaintop worship experiences into everyday chaos? You can listen, watch, or read Mark Pender’s sermon from Luke 9:28-43a to find out why. The sermon manuscript is available by clicking “Save” and then “PDF.”
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Why does God take us from mountaintop worship experiences into everyday chaos? You can listen, watch, or read Mark Pender’s sermon from Luke 9:28-43a to find out why. The sermon manuscript is available by clicking “Save” and then “PDF.”
Have you ever had to answer a question like your life depended on it? Maybe some of you have seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail. King Arthur and his men are on a quest to find the Holy Grail, and they come up to the Bridge of Death, where they “must answer three questions from the bridge-keeper to pass.” The bridge-keeper, an old hermit with a scraggly beard, asks the first knight, “What… is your name?” “Sir Lancelot of Camelot” he answers (isn’t that a great name?). “What… is your quest?” “To seek the Holy Grail.” “What… is your favorite color?” “Blue” he answers and is allowed to pass.
The next knight, Sir Robin thinks that’s easy, so he hurries up to the to answer the questions. First he asks him his name, then his quest, and then he asks him, “What… is the capital of Assyria?” He exclaims, “I don’t know that!” and is then launched into the chasm. I bet if each of you had to pass the Bridge of Death you would have given the bridge-keeper the right answer because you would have thought of the story of Jonah, and how God sends him to Nineveh (Jonah 1:2). Nineveh is one of Assyria’s two capitals.
One day we will also come to the bridge of death, and how we answered three questions in this life will determine if we cross the bridge into heaven. Now just to be clear, when we die we will not get quizzed by Saint Peter at the pearly gates. But, there are some vital questions that how we answer them now has implications for all eternity. The first question is…
- Who is Jesus? (Luke 9:18-21) I believe this is the most important question any of us could answer. For some of us it will be easy. You grew up being told Jesus is God, and one day you accepted that as what you believe. For others it won’t be so easy. People never told you who Jesus is, and you don’t know how to answer the question yourself, so maybe your answer is “Jesus was a great teacher and a good man like Ghandi and Buddha.”
If you’re struggling with this question, you’re not the first. In fact, in the Gospel of Luke, besides the angel that announced his birth and the demons he casts out, people aren’t sure what to make of Jesus (Luke 1:31-33; 4:34). The people in his hometown don’t know what to make of him. The Pharisees and teachers of the law don’t know who he is. His relative John the Baptist isn’t sure. People he ate dinner with didn’t know. King Herod didn’t know. Not even the disciples understood (Luke 4:22; 5:21; 7:19; 7:49; 8:25; 9:9). But here in Luke 9, we find Jesus raising this question with his disciples.
18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”
21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. (NIV®)
Peter answers “ton Christon tou Theo.” Most Bibles translate it “the Christ of God” but the NIV says, “God’s Messiah.” Usually the NIV translates Christos as Christ but here it clarifies the point Peter is trying to make—that Jesus is the Messiah. Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah. So who is he?
The Messiah Messiah literally means “anointed one.” Three types of people were anointed by God in the Old Testament, the high priest, prophets, and kings (Lev 4:3; Psalm 105:15; 2 Sam 22:51). When Queen Elizabeth was coronated in 1953, the service was televised except for her anointing. When the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed her with sacred oil, he said these words:
“Be thy head anointed with holy oil; as kings, priests, and prophets were anointed. And as Solomon was anointed king by Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet, so be you anointed, blessed and consecrated Queen over the Peoples, whom the Lord thy God hath given thee to rule and govern.”
When Peter says Jesus is the Messiah, he’s saying something similar. He’s saying that Jesus is the one chosen by God to rule and govern his people and all peoples (Jer 23:5-6). So this is great news! Right? Jesus is the Messiah! But here’s the deal. The Jewish people are under Roman occupation, and they thought God would defeat the Romans using the Messiah. Many thought the Messiah would be a military leader, a commander of sorts. They were right in that he is a military leader, but he leads the fight against sin and death, not against the Roman government. Peter got the right answer, but Jesus commands his disciples to not tell anyone because they don’t see the complete picture yet.
We need to not just understand who Jesus is, that he is the Messiah or that he is the Son of God (both of which are true), we need to understand why he came. If you’re struggling with understanding who Jesus is, look at what he says he came to do. Jesus links his identity to his work. That’s not that foreign to us. Although it’s not always healthy, we find a great deal of our identity in what we do, “I’m a lawyer. I’m a Pastor. I’m a tuna-fisha.” How would Jesus answer that? “I’m a Son. I’m a Savior.” So question two…
- What did he come to do? (Luke 9:22) Luke 9:22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (NIV®)
Do you see anything in this Bible verse about Jesus coming to gain military, political, social, or economic power? Do you see anything in this Bible verse about Jesus coming to grant us riches and wealth and neighbors we like? Do you see anything in this Bible verse about Jesus coming to make friends? Do you see anything in this Bible verse about Jesus coming to live a long healthy life? Do you see anything in this Bible verse that Jesus came so he could feel happy all the time. No. We don’t. What did Jesus come to do?
To suffer, be rejected, die, and rise again When Jesus talks about his suffering in Luke, he seems to be talking about the Passion, his arrest, trial, flogging, and crucifixion (Luke 22:15). Part of his suffering is being rejected by the very people who should have welcomed him with open arms. Not only will they reject him, they will demand Pilate crucifies him, and he will die. But if why Jesus came stops there, we should all go home.
To get Monica excited about watching Olympic figure skating, I texted her a short video clip I made of one of the Russian pairs skating. They started their performance, skated to the back of the rink then to the center gaining speed. Then the man picked up his partner and tossed her into the air into a spinning roll. I cut it before she landed, which I thought was hilarious. What would happen?! Would she stick it?!
When you think of Jesus, if you think of him hanging on a crucifixion, you need to finish what Jesus came to do. The story doesn’t end with Jesus’ body on the cross, but with an empty cross and an empty tomb. Jesus came to suffer, be rejected, die, and… rise again! He rises from the grave. He doesn’t stay dead. One of the ways you know if you’re a Christian is if you believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection and that he can save you from death too.
If you don’t believe but you want to, I want to invite you to do one thing. Pray. In v18, before Jesus said who he was and what he has come to do, he prayed. Pray that God would reveal who Jesus is to you. I think he will. But once he reveals who Jesus is, the story doesn’t stop there, because this information is supposed to change us. Our final life and death question is this…
- What does this mean for me? (Luke 9:23-27) We can learn all this great information, but if all we do is ascent to some sort of intellectual truth, and nothing about our lives changes, then we’ve missed the whole point. People who are Christians in “name only” (aka. nominal Christians) are not Christians at all. Just listen to Jesus’ words.
Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (NIV®)
A disciple is a follower of Jesus. If you want to follow Jesus, you have to follow him into his suffering, into his rejection, and into his death. Our verse breaks discipleship into three parts:
a. Deny yourself (v. 24) First, we deny ourselves. I think Jesus explains what he means by this in the very next verse.
Luke 9:24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. (NIV®)
The Greek word for life is “psychē”—which means “life, breath, soul” and really “encompasses the whole person.” Modern psychology tries to understand what is going on in a person, in their mindset and thoughts. Are you willing to give up everything about you? Your life, breath, soul, mindset, thoughts? For Jesus? Are you willing to let Jesus touch and change everything about you? What you do with your money, how you treat your loved ones, how authentic and real you are with others, your gender identity, what you do with your life? Jesus promises that if you give him all these things, if you deny yourself, you’ll find life.
This word “deny” is the same word used to describe Peter when he denied Jesus three times (Luke 22:57). Peter knew who Jesus was, the Messiah, but when his life was put at risk, and he might have to suffer with Jesus, he denies him. How often do we deny Jesus when the going get’s hard? Peter denies Jesus three times, but in John 21, Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Each time Peter says, “You know I love you.” What Jesus is doing is walking Peter back through his denials, but this time in the right direction. It hurt Peter and it may also hurt us to revisit those places we’ve denied Jesus (John 21:17).
In those places where you deny Jesus, those conversations with coworkers when you aren’t honest about your faith, those choices you make to love money more than the things of God, those places where you elevated self above God and others, Jesus may make you walk back through them. He may ask you to go have another conversation with your coworker, give your money away, confess your selfishness to the ones you’ve hurt. Jesus gives us fresh opportunities to deny ourselves. Church tradition tells us Peter was nailed upside-down to a cross for Jesus. If Peter first denied Jesus to save his own life, then denied his own life for Jesus, there’s hope for all of us. Deny yourself.
b. Pick up your cross daily (v. 25) Luke 9:25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? (NIV®)
When the Romans crucified prisoners, they made them carry the horizontal beam (the “patibulum”) of the cross to the place of their crucifixion. This walk was a final reminder that they had forfeited their life. This decision to follow Jesus isn’t a one-time prayer, it’s a daily dying of myself and embracing of Jesus. This means that every day we have an opportunity to say, “How would you have me carry the cross today, Lord?” “How can I give up myself and trying to gain this world to gain you today?” Jesus may give us a day of easy cross carrying on Tuesday, but Thursday it may be really hard. All he asks, is for us to keep carrying the crosses he gives us and following after him. Which leads me to…
c. Follow him (v. 26) Luke 9:26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. (NIV®)
To follow Jesus is to obey his words. What we find contained in the Scripture explains how we can live lives of obedience to Jesus everyday. When we obey what the Bible says to do, we’re following Jesus. Obedience is hard, and we won’t always get it right. But the question is, are we wiling to try? Or, like v. 26 asks us, are we ashamed of Jesus and his words?
Whose words matter more? The words of Jesus or the words of men? Sometimes I feel afraid to be honest about what I believe with others because I worry about what they will think if they knew that I believe, especially about the hard topics like sin, hell, and judgment. That shame can paralyze us, which is why we should not only focus on the difficult parts of our faith, but on Jesus, and the good news of forgiveness and grace he offers. We follow Jesus and his words.
In Monty Python and the Holy Grail the next knight to try and cross the Bridge of Death is asked the original three questions. “What… is your name?” “Sir Galahad of Camelot.” “What… is your quest?” “I seek the grail.” What… is your favorite color?” And he says, “Blue… no yellow!” And he is launched into the chasm. We need to answer today’s questions with certainty, like our lives depended on them.
Who is Jesus? The Messiah! Why did he come? To suffer, be rejected, die, and rise again! What does this mean for me? I will deny myself, pick up my cross daily, and follow Jesus. And when I’m done following him in this life, I will follow him into his resurrection.
The final knight comes up to the bridge to cross. “What… is your name?” asks the bridge-keeper. “It is Arthur King of the Britons” he says in a commanding voice. “What… is your quest?” “To seek the Holy Grail.” “What… is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?” King Arthur says, “What do you mean? An African or a European swallow?” The bridge-keeper says, “Hu?! I don’t know that!” And the bridge-keeper is launched into the chasm. We also have a King who has defeated death itself, King Jesus. And now he offers us the Holy Grail, eternal life.
King Jesus defeated death by doing long ago what he asks us to do today. He only asks us to carry our crosses because he already carried the one cross that matters. Now As we approach the bridge of death, we no longer need fear death itself because King Jesus has won. Come. Deny yourself. Pick up your cross. Follow him.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Have you ever had to answer a question like your life depended on it? Maybe some of you have seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail. King Arthur and his men are on a quest to find the Holy Grail, and they come up to the Bridge of Death, where they “must answer three questions from the bridge-keeper to pass.” The bridge-keeper, an old hermit with a scraggly beard, asks the first knight, “What… is your name?” “Sir Lancelot of
Last summer we went through a series called What We Believe and Bernie preached on Satan. I’ll admit it. For some reason I was a little jealous. Well today I get to preach on Satan and demons, but now I’m not so sure that’s anything to be happy about. See, demons are dark and scary and not fun to study. One of my very first introductions to the fallen angel Satan and demons was on one of those old church
Last summer we went through a series called What We Believe and Bernie preached on Satan. I’ll admit it. For some reason I was a little jealous. Well today I get to preach on Satan and demons, but now I’m not so sure that’s anything to be happy about. See, demons are dark and scary and not fun to study.
One of my very first introductions to the fallen angel Satan and demons was on one of those old church felt boards. Felt Satan threw felt fiery darts at felt Jesus, but they wouldn’t stick. The idea of demons didn’t really scare me until I was about 10 or 11 years old and my best-friend Jordan told me he saw a demon. He said he woke up during the night, the room was totally dark, and he looked over his bunkbed railing and saw a demon that was blacker than darkness staring at his younger brother on the bunkbed below him. He said it looked up at him and he told it, “In the name of Jesus, be gone!” And immediately the demon threw up its hands and disappeared.
That story totally freaked me out. I was convinced for years after that I was going to see a demon during the night and I was so afraid. I made matters worse by reading some of Frank Peretti’s books on angels and demons, and then attempting to write my own. My fear of demons got so bad that my brother was afraid to walk by my bed late at night because I would wake up calling him Satan and casting him out. That would be unnerving for anyone. Sometimes I still think I see things at night and it makes it hard to sleep.
Talking and thinking about demons is chilling, and can make us feel afraid no matter how old or young we are. This is for a good reason. The Bible tells us demons are real, but also that we don’t need to be afraid if we know and trust Jesus. I want us to look at the demons and their power first, and then turn to Jesus.
Demons are real and they have real power (Luke 8:26-30). 26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29 For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. (NIV®)
A demon is a fallen angel who works under the ruler of the demons, Satan, to lead people away from a saving relationship with Jesus Christ and to tempt Christians to sin.
All throughout Jesus’ ministry we see him encountering demons. In Luke 4, he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness for 40 days and he drove out an impure spirit in Capernaum after leaving his home town of Nazareth. In Luke 6, people traveled to Jesus to be healed of evil spirits. At the beginning of Luke 8, we’re introduced to Mary Magdalene who Jesus cast seven demons out. Now in Luke 8, we come to a man who doesn’t have, one, or seven, but has so many demons he calls himself “Legion.” A legion is a battalion of about 6,000 Roman soldiers. Demons are real and they have real power.
Notice what the demons have done to him. They drive him away from his home, family, community, and out into the wilderness to live in tombs. They give him supernatural strength to break chains on his hands and shackles on his feet. Mark’s account says the man would “Cry out and cut himself with stones” (Mk 5:1-20). Clearly, here in Luke, he’s not in his right mind. He’s naked, wild, and crazy, someone we would lock up today. These demons have destroyed this man’s life, causing him harm and the ones he loves.
Demons are not the boogey-men of our imaginations, but a very real presence that can hurt people. As Christians, we’re taught demons are still active today.
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (NIV®)
Do we believe that the real battle for the hearts and lives of those in Westford is not primarily a physical battle, but a spiritual one? This is what spiritual warfare is. Do we believe that there is a battle between evil spirits and the Holy Spirit, his angels, and the saints of God? One of the reasons we’ve offered Christianity Explored classes and advertised them through the Roudenbush Community Center is because of all the other classes that center has offered in the past: The Art of Divination, Whispers From Heaven, Introduction to Shamanic Journeying & Healing. I personally had two women approach me asking me to pray for their Reiki spa because they claimed occult activity had taken place there.
A couple weeks ago, I sent out a prayer request in the prayer network to pray about spiritual warfare. Some of us probably never think about it, and some of us are very sensitive to it. I’m grateful when God reveals spiritual oppression in my own life. How can we recognize if something is demonic? When I was feeling discouraged, a church-member shared a list of The Devil’s Seven Ds he uses against us.
He causes us to Doubt God’s goodness (Gen 3). He Deceives (Gen 3). He Distorts the truth (Gen 3, Matt 4). He Discourages (Matt 4). He Distracts (Matt 4). He Divides (1 Cor 11). He Devours (1 Pet 5:8).
I bet you can pick out 1-2 of these Ds that Satan loves to use against you. This doesn’t mean every time you feel discouraged it’s a demon, but we shouldn’t discount his power either. This is why it’s so important to pray. Demons are real and they have real power. But should we be afraid of them? Is there someone who has more power and authority than demons? Yes. Jesus is bigger than our demons.
Jesus has divine power and authority over demons (Luke 8:31-33) 31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. (NIV®)
I want to get one thing absolutely clear. Demons have no power against Jesus. In verse 28, The demons call Jesus the “Son of the Most High God.” The gospel of John tells us Jesus was there at the beginning, and everything was created “through” him (John 1:1-3). Jesus is divine. He is the Son of God who created the angels that rebelled against God and became fallen angels, demons (Isa 14:12-15; Rev 12:4). Which do you think has more power? The creator or the created thing? The creator! Jesus has complete control.
We see their submission to Jesus three ways: 1) by how the demon-possessed man positioned himself, “he cried out and fell at his feet” (v. 28); 2) by how the demons beg him not to “torture” them by sending them into the “abyss,” (v. 28, 31); and 3) by how Jesus gives the demons “permission” to enter into the pigs (v. 32). There’s no contest here. The demons beg Jesus for leniency and need his permission to act.
I was listening to a sermon by Pastor Skip Heitzig on this text, and he pointed out that demons never anyone harm except with Christ’s permission. When you feel doubt or discouragement from demonic activity, it’s because Jesus loves you and will use it for good (Rom 8:28). It’s when the devil makes us feel overwhelmed with doubt and discouragement and all the other Ds, that’s when we can look to Jesus for faith and joy. When I am weak, he is strong (2 Cor 9:9-10). When we as a church body are threatened with Satanic division and ministry distractions, it’s because Jesus allows it so that we can find our unity and set our focus on him. Jesus calls us to fall at his feet just like this man, asking for deliverance.
There is a limit to how much demonic activity God will allow in our lives. Evil spirits may at times discourage us, confuse us, and even physically harm us (with Christ’s permission), but they can never possess us. Christians can be oppressed by demons, but never possessed. When God saves us, he sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Every real Christian has the Holy Spirit living inside of them.
1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; (NIV®)
Do you think the Holy Spirit is willing to be roommates with the devil? No! The Holy Spirit won’t share his bunkbed with the evil one. If you’re a Christian, you can’t be possessed. But if you’re not a Christian, I can’t extend this same promise to you. Satan does have more authority over your life, but not if you repent of your sin and believe in Jesus to deliver you. Then the Holy Spirit will dwell in you and you’ll be safe.
At first glance, it may look like Jesus bargains with the demons. He spares them from the “abyss” by letting them go into these pigs, which drown in the lake. What is the abyss? Abyss means “a deep hole” and is a special place where demons are locked away till the final judgment (2 Pet 2:4). I’m not sure if it’s the same place as hades, where non-Christians are locked away till final judgment, but I think the idea is the same. The abyss is actually where Satan is locked away right now.
Revelation 20:1-3 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. (NIV®)
I believe Jesus bound Satan and threw him into the abyss at the cross. In the gospels, Jesus explains how he has bound the strong man and plunders him (Matt 12:29; Mark 3:27; Luke 11:21-22). I believe every time someone comes to Christ, that’s a sign Satan is bound and Jesus is plundering. These demons don’t want to join Satan in the abyss. But by sending them to the lake, Jesus actually reminds them that they are headed to a worse fate than the abyss. They’re headed to gehenna, which is hell. What is hell? It’s the lake of fire!
Revelation 20:10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (NIV®)
The demons don’t want to be thrown into the abyss, so Jesus symbolically sends them to the lake of fire. Jesus has divine power and authority over demons. Jesus is bigger than our demons!
This is such great news I thought we should stop the sermon and sing a praise song. This song isby a little praise band from the 80s called Stryper. Please play the actual music (0:37-1:32).
Speak of the devil He’s no friend of mine To turn from him is what we have in mind Just a liar and a thief
The word tells us so We like to let him know Where he can go
To hell with the devil To hell with the devil
Stryper is the first Christian heavy metal band and I love this song. Jesus is sending the devil and his demons to hell, and we can take satisfaction and comfort in knowing that. When you’re tempted, or feel down or overcome, just sing “To hell with the devil!” Jesus is bigger than our demons! Now a question…
Do you want Jesus to drive out your demons? (Luke 8:34-39) 34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.
38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. (NIV®)
In our last section we see two different responses to Jesus’ miracle. The first response is the pig herders and the townsfolk. They were likely Gentiles (non-Jews) because pigs were unclean according to the law. When they see the miracle, they’re afraid, and more concerned with their economic loss than the healed man.
Do we really want Jesus to drive out the demonic presences in our lives? It will cost us something. Financial greed is demonic. Do you want Jesus to drive it out or do you like it? Pornography and the lust of the flesh is demonic. Do you want to Jesus drive it out or do you like it? Our overpowering need for peer approval instead of God’s approval is demonic. Do you want Jesus to drive it out or do you like it? What demonic power do you want to hold onto in your life? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal this to you.
The second response to Jesus is the demon-possessed man himself. He is absolutely submissive to Jesus and completely changed. He is sitting at Jesus’ feet and clothed. He’s in his right mind and he just wants to be with Jesus. He wants to go with him but Jesus won’t let him. Instead, Jesus tells this man to go back to his home and tell how much God has done for him. Notice how verse 39 says “tell how much God has done for you” and then Luke writes “So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.” This man knew Jesus is divine and he told everyone.
If Jesus has driven demons and sin out of our lives, and filled us with his Holy Spirit, shouldn’t we tell others about him? I don’t think Jesus has driven all demons out of Westford but he has driven Satan out of Westford. Satan is in the abyss awaiting release for a short time. I think the way Jesus continues to drive out the power of Satan from our town is through prayer [and fasting], which is what Jesus says it takes to drive out some evil spirits(Mark 9:29; Matt 17:21), and by us sharing* the gospel.
You don’t have to look far to find the gospel. It’s really quite beautiful in our passage. In order to heal people broken by sin and demonic powers, Jesus enters into this brokenness himself. This man was tormented naked, and so was Jesus (Luke 23:34). This man was cast out of his hometown, and so was Jesus out of Nazareth (Luke 4:14-30). This man was harassed by demons. Jesus was tempted by the devil (Luke 4:1-13). This man was chained and shackled. Jesus was bound and led to the cross (Mark 15:1). This man lived in tombs. Jesus was crucified and laid in a tomb (Luke 23:53). Jesus entered into this man’s dirt and filth and ours too so that we could all, just like this man and Jesus himself, rise again. Jesus takes on our demonic sin, pays the ultimate price, and gives us his pure holiness. To receive this gift you just need to repent and believe in him. Then you too, like this man, will be set free from sin and death.
Jesus is bigger than our demons. To hell with the devil! As you go home and go to sleep tonight, you don’t need to be afraid. Jesus has won. He has divine power and authority over demons, and he only lets them into our lives to refine us and draw us closer to himself. We can rest easy knowing that one day soon Satan and all his demons will be consigned to hell, to the lake of fire. That’s worth celebrating. Jesus is bigger than our demons. To hell with the devil!
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Did you ever play sports as a kid? What’s the worst part of starting a game? Picking sides! Someone appoints team captains and they line everyone up. Then each team captain picks one kid and then another and another. And who do they always end up picking first? They pick the tallest kid or the fastest kid, definitely the most athletic kid. And when they pick them, it’s like, “High five! Yeah! We got you!” But then, all the best
Did you ever play sports as a kid? What’s the worst part of starting a game? Picking sides! Someone appoints team captains and they line everyone up. Then each team captain picks one kid and then another and another. And who do they always end up picking first? They pick the tallest kid or the fastest kid, definitely the most athletic kid. And when they pick them, it’s like, “High five! Yeah! We got you!”
But then, all the best kids are taken, and the team captains have to choose the average players. That’s when they start to concentrate, their foreheads scowl as they focus, and their teammates whisper to them who they should choose because they’re trying to figure out which kid is just a little bit better than the others kids. This group is the moderately fast kids, maybe those kids who aren’t great at sports, but they’re not bad either.
Finally, we get to the last group. The group nobody wants to choose from. These are the skinny nerds, the boys and girls who don’t want to be there but got forced to play, and the kids that want to play, but lack size, height, and don’t have that poor hand-eye coordination. These are the freaks and geeks nobody wants.
Do we ever treat our faith this way? We look at some people and say, “Wow, you would make a great Christian!” Some we think, “You’d do okay.” And there are those that it’s just like, “No way.” Luke wrote his Gospel to show us the types of people Jesus draws to himself. Today we’re in Luke chapter 7, but do you remember back in Luke chapter 4 when Jesus described the purpose of his ministry?
Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (NIV®)
So already, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when he is just starting out, we see Jesus intends to reach, the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed. They are all groups of people in that culture, and even in today’s culture, that we wouldn’t choose for a winning Christian team.
The best players, the most religious, the ones who knew their Scriptures the most were the Jews in that culture, especially the educated or socially active Jews, the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, and teachers of the law. Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth recognized his power, and thought he was going to “pick them first.” But Jesus tells two stories to illustrate his message is for those standing on the outside.
Luke 4:25-26 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
The region of Sidon was in ancient Syria in “the heartland of Baal worship.” God sends Elijah out of the land of Israel to a place where people worship demons. Elijah actually ends up saving this woman and her son from starvation, but later her son dies from an illness. But Elijah performs a miracle and raises him from the dead (1 Kings 17:8-24). Salvation is for outsiders. And then Jesus continues.
Luke 4:27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” (NIV®)
This story comes in the time of Elisha, who lived around 850 years before the birth of Jesus, and was Elijah’s protégé. Naaman, also from Syria and an enemy of the state of Israel, comes down with leprosy, but his Jewish servant girl says the prophet Elisha can heal him. His king gives him permission to go, and he travels from Syria to Israel. There Elisha says to bathe seven times in the Jordan river and he will be cured. At first he refuses, but then he washes, and is healed (2 Kings 5:1-14). Salvation is for the outsider.
Throughout the many books in the Bible, God is telling a story—how he loves to give grace to people who, at first glance, don’t look like his kind of people. That’s so different than we as a culture function. We like to choose the best and the brightest. Did you know the first episode of American Idol played in 2002? That’s 16 years ago! The format of American Idol is pretty simple. A contest goes before a board of panelists and is judged on their star potential, which is some combination of how good they look and their ability to sing. And if the contests could make it through the initial tryout, and Hollywood week, 24 of them were rewarded with being judged by the entire nation till just one was left. So it wasn’t just the Hollywood judges that picked their favorites, we did too. I called in to cast my vote! And now we have lots of tv shows just like this one where we can pick who is in and who is out.
The Bible tells us God isn’t a panelist. He doesn’t pick those with the greatest star power. He picks someone different. In Luke 7, Jesus’ relives those old stories from Elijah and Elisha’s days to demonstrate that he is the same God who chooses those on the outside.
In Luke 7:11-17, the passage right after our’s today, Jesus encounters a widow whose son has just died. It’s her only son, and so she is destitute. Her son was her retirement plan. Now she has no future, no grandkids, no one to take care of her. And what does Jesus do? He has compassion on her.
Luke 7:13-15 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”
Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. (NIV®)
Jesus does the same thing Elijah’s did! He raises the widow’s son, proving that Jesus is telling the same story of grace and redemption for the needy and the poor. Jesus loves the underdogs and those picked last. Jesus loves the Sandlot kids, the Mighty Ducks, the Island of Misfit Toys.
Today’s story comes right before the raising of the widow’s son. It’s the story of the centurion in Luke 7:1-10 and his sick slave. It matches or parallels the second story of Elisha healing Naaman the Syrian because they’re both foreigners that God heals (them directly, or their servant). Jesus has a Greek speaking Roman, a foreigner, send message to him to please come and heal his servant.
Luke 7:1-3 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. (NIV®)
At first, when we hear about the centurion, we might think Jesus won’t have anything to do with him. After all, a centurion commanded about 80-100 Roman soldiers, and the Romans had invaded Israel and were ruling over the Jews against their will. This centurion may have killed Jews with his own hand, or ordered his soldiers to take their lives. He’s an outsider, but a different kind of outsider.
He falls into the category of people who are considered outsiders, but personally, he is actually quite favored by the Jews. If we’re to go back to the sports analogy, he’s like the new kid nobody wants to play with at first, until they find out he can pass like Tom Brady, then everyone wants to be his friend. The centurion may be a religious outsider, but because of the way he treats them, the Jewish people love him.
Luke 7:4-6a When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them. (NIV®)
This centurion seems like a man Jesus should heal. He cares for his servant, which is an unusual character quality at that time. Slaves could be discarded like property, but the Greek says his servant was “precious” to him (Lk 7:2). When he calls him his “servant” the second time, he uses the same Greek word for “child” (Lk 7:7). Jewish elders are willing to go and appeal to Jesus on this man’s behalf, which is unusual. And they vouch for him that he loves Israel and even built them their synagogue, their version of a church. So it makes sense that Jesus would go with them, right? Because he deserves it. He’s a good guy.
If I were to put up two pictures on the screen, one photo of the most loving, caring, and kind person you can think of, someone you know and love yourself, and the other photo of someone you do not like, and who you are pretty sure does not like you—in fact, the second person has been unkind and mean to you—which one of these people deserves Jesus’ compassion more? The good person. Not the bad person. Right? But as we read the story, we see the “good guy” admits he’s not a “good guy” at all. We all have sin in us.
Luke 7:6b-7a He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. (NIV®)
Earlier, the elders said the centurion “deserves” Jesus to heal his servant. But what do we see the centurion saying about himself? He says, “I don’t deserve you!” And then he says it twice! “I do not deserve to have you come under my roof” and “I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you” (v. 7). The centurion is demonstrating amazing humility. Jesus is a popular Jewish Rabbi. He’s a nobody in comparison to the great nation of Rome. But the centurion humbles himself before him.
How often do we approach Jesus this way? Jesus, I’m not worthy to approach you. Jesus, all my merits are for nothing. I can’t produce anything that makes me worth saving.
I want to stop for a moment and ask a question. What’s the difference between outsiders Jesus accepts and those he doesn’t? The answer is actually not their level of poverty. This man is wealthy. Is it because he’s a foreigner? Some foreigners come to Jesus, and some don’t. Jesus doesn’t save us because of our economic or social status. It has entirely to do with our faith.
Jesus saves the outsiders who put their faith in him. This centurion doesn’t place his hope and trust in himself or his merits but in Christ’s merits. He admits that even with all his good works and treating others fairly, he’s not worthy. Rather, he places his hope and trust in the person of Jesus, in who he is and what he can do.
Luke 7:7b-8 But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (NIV®)
The Roman centurion uses his own chain of command as a way to illustrate the power Jesus has. At the top of this chain are those that have given him his authority, the Roman Government, Caesar (like our Congress and President). He is a military man, like an officer in our military. He uses the authority give to him to control those below him, his soldiers and his slaves, who carry out his commands and wishes (just like officers outrank and order enlisted men today). He says that Jesus has that same kind of authority. But Jesus is actually more powerful than him, because when Jesus speaks the physical world reacts. Jesus is on a different chain of command entirely, not human but divine. He has the power to heal with just his words. Although the centurion doesn’t outright say it, he implies that only God could grant Jesus that kind of authority. He sees Jesus as being something more than just a Rabbi, he has the power of God. That’s faith!
Luke 7:9-10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. (NIV®)
The word for amazement means “to wonder” or “to marvel.” This word usually describes how people felt about Jesus and his miracles, but twice it’s used to describe how Jesus himself felt, once at the unbelief of his hometown of Nazareth (Mark 6:6), and once right here at the faith of the centurion. Jesus marvels at the centurion’s faith! He’s never met the centurion, but the centurion believes from afar. The centurion isn’t a practicing Jew, but he still believes. It’s not that the people in Israel don’t believe, but that this is the greatest faith Jesus has ever found. His faith is not placed in himself, but Christ.
And the story closes by saying they went home and found the servant well. Although Matthew’s account is a little different, Luke implies that it wasn’t Jesus’ words that healed the man, but the centurion’s own faith. This is what we call resurrection faith. He believed Jesus could carry his servant safely through the storm of death, and Jesus did just that.
There are several applications for us here. Saving faith does not approach Jesus with, “I deserve this” but rather “I don’t deserve this.” Saving faith doesn’t say, “look at all the good things I’ve done, or the people I know, or all my merits” it says, “I am nothing. Look at Christ’s merits.” Saving faith doesn’t say, “Look at me, Jesus” but “Look at you, Jesus.” Saving faith says, “I am unworthy but he is able.” Saving faith puts all of our hope and confidence in the person and power of Jesus Christ.
And the great news is, anyone can have this type of faith! Anyone can believe this way. Anyone can humble themselves and put all their hope and trust in Jesus to deliver them from death. If you don’t know Jesus, if he hasn’t saved you, he doesn’t ask you to clean up your life before getting to know him. He doesn’t say do community service or get off your addiction before he can love you. He doesn’t even say you need to be like all the other church people and know all your Bible stories. He just invites you to come and experience his power to heal you. Jesus saves any outsiders who put their faith in him.
Jesus saves the outsiders who put their faith in him. Are you an outsider? Do you ever feel like you’re on a sports-team lineup and that Jesus is going down the lineup choosing the best people to play on his team? I think one of our unspoken fears is that when we die, we will wake up to find that Jesus didn’t pick us for his team, and that we will have to sit out while all the other kids play, the kids who are better, and smarter, the kids who did more for Jesus.
The Gospel tells us a different story. The Gospel tells us Jesus walks down the lineup and he doesn’t look at what the other kids see. He doesn’t look for the greatest achievers or the smartest kids. He doesn’t look for the most religious or even those with the best character. He picks those who recognize they’re nothing and yearn to be on Jesus’ team. He looks for faith. To each one of those kids, Jesus gives his team colors, and says, “Come and play on my team.” Jesus saves the outsiders who put their faith in him.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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What is the Sabbath? I want to offer you two definitions: “Biblical Sabbath is a twenty-four-hour block of time in which we stop work, enjoy rest, practice delight, and contemplate God.” The Emotionally Healthy Leader by Peter Scazzero “Saturday; the holy day when Jewish people were commanded not to work.” Luke 1-12 For You by Mike McKinley Our first definition is more modern and explains how the Sabbath matters for us. Our second definition goes back to the original context
What is the Sabbath? I want to offer you two definitions:
“Biblical Sabbath is a twenty-four-hour block of time in which we stop work, enjoy rest, practice delight, and contemplate God.” The Emotionally Healthy Leaderby Peter Scazzero
“Saturday; the holy day when Jewish people were commanded not to work.” Luke 1-12 For You by Mike McKinley
Our first definition is more modern and explains how the Sabbath matters for us. Our second definition goes back to the original context of the Sabbath, and how it mattered for the nation of Israel thousands of years ago. Both definitions are good, but does the Bible have a definition? Let’s turn to the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (NIV®)
Why do we throw out this commandment? We don’t do that with any of the other 10 Commandments. The Bible says Jesus perfectly obeyed the law, but that doesn’t mean we can now murder or steal (Matt 5:17-18). Jesus kept Sabbath, and as a follower of Jesus, I believe we’re called to keep a day of Sabbath rest still. In our passage today, Jesus doesn’t end the practice of Sabbath, but clarifies it. He doesn’t say, “You should no longer do this” but rather, “This is how you should do it.” In one sense, Jesus offers us his own definition by first tellings us what the Sabbath is not, and then what it is.
The Sabbath is not… a day for burdensome rules. (Luke 6:1-2) Luke 6:1-2 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
When the Pharisees see the disciples picking and eating heads of grain on the Sabbath, they believe they have broken the Sabbath law. They counted the act of plucking as reaping, the act of rubbing as threshing, and the act of eating as preparing a meal, all of which are work. They did all this to get a small gooey pellet of food, which I’m sure tasted like something you can buy at Whole Foods.
For a long time the nation of Israel broke God’s sabbath laws and this is one of the reasons God sent Israel into exile (2 Chronicles 36:21). So as the Jewish people came back to Israel, they created extra rules to prevent themselves from breaking the Sabbath again. If there’s a fence around the Sabbath, they created a fence around the fence so that they wouldn’t come close to breaking the Sabbath. They did this by forbidding 39 activities on the Sabbath, and that day the disciples broke at least four of their rules.
But if you look at the restrictions around the Sabbath in the Bible, there aren’t that many. You’re not supposed to work, collect, prepare food, or start a fire, you’re supposed to rest, and a few others. It doesn’t say you can’t write or erase two letters, but their list of 39 rules said that.
When we add rules to God’s way, we create religion. What a religion based on rules does is create fear, guilt, and anxiety. In the grainfield that day, Jesus challenges their additional rules and the guilt it creates.
There’s a very simple application for us here. The Sabbath is not a day for burdensome rules. As Christians, God gives us a day of rest each week. This is not a day to worry about if you’re doing Sabbath rest right or wrong. Trying to do Sabbath right should not stress you out. However, neither should we use our conviction of Sabbath rest to lord it over others and to look like a superior religious person.
The Sabbath is not… a day for burdensome rules. But does that mean it’s a day for no rules at all? The Bible itself gives some rules for Sabbath rest. Should we just ignore them now because Jesus obeyed them each perfectly on our behalf? Or perhaps, is part of what it means to follow Jesus to have a day of Sabbath rest like him? Some might argue that Sabbath is optional based on Romans 14:5-6a where Paul says to be fully convinced in your own mind about whether one day is special or not. I respect that view, but I still think God provides a day of Sabbath rest, with healthy (not burdensome) boundaries, for our good.
Let’s go back to the fence illustration. Trail Ridge Road is near the town I grew up in, Estes Park Colorado. This road is the “highest continuous paved road in the United States, reaching an elevation of 12,183 feet.” When you drive that road, do you think you feel safer on the stretches of roadway that have a guardrail or the stretches that don’t have a guardrail? You feel much safer when there’s a guardrail. God gives us guardrails for our Sabbath days. The key is to discern his guardrails and not to place our own where we shouldn’t put them.
The Sabbath is… a day for boundaries that liberate. (Luke 6:3-11) Here we find three boundaries (or principles) of keeping Sabbath rest. We don’t have a story in the Bible of Jesus encountering an overworked individual who never takes a Sabbath. Maybe it’s because most Jews were trying to keep it. I still think we can draw out principles that apply to us who have trouble stopping.
1) Sabbath is a day to have our needs met. (Luke 6:3-4) Luke 6:3-4 Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
In 1 Samuel 21:1-6, David is fleeing from King Saul. Saul wants to kill David because God chose David to be king instead of him. But David and his men quickly run out of provisions and the only food available is consecrated bread that only the Priests were supposed to eat. The priest agrees to give David the bread, and they take and eat it. Jesus is pointing back to this story for two reasons. First, if David used consecrated bread to meet his needs, we can use a Sabbath day to meet our needs.
Mark 2:27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
When we think about our Sabbath day, we should think about it as a day to meet our spiritual, emotional, and physical needs. If I am a glass of water that is poured out over the course of a week, how can I be filled back up on my day of rest?
How can I be filled up spiritually? Maybe I spend time in prayer or reading my Bible or singing or playing an instrument I enjoy. How can I be filled up emotionally. Maybe Monica and I go for that walk together, or I invite friends over to watch a movie, or we play board games. How can I be filled up physically? Maybe I sleep in and take a nap or go out for a nice meal, or if you’re like one of our ushers, go run 60 miles.
The Sabbath is a day to have our needs met. The Second reason Jesus tells this story is because King David foreshadowed a greater king to come. King David was a Messianic figure, and so he has special authority. But he wasn’t the true Messiah, God’s final chosen King. Jesus is, and so he claims even greater authority than King David. He is Lord of the Sabbath, which leads us to our second boundary.
2) Sabbath is a day to commune with Christ. (Luke 6:5) Luke 6:5 Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
There’s only one way to truly experience Sabbath rest, and that’s in Christ. Back in Genesis, at the end of the creation account God rested on the seventh day. We read about this in Exodus 20:11. God created the world in six days but entered into a special divine rest on the seventh day. The Bible never tells us God left that state of spiritual rest. In fact, the very first people, Adam and Eve, were supposed to share in this eternal rest with God, but they sinned and separated themselves from God’s rest.
Hebrews 4:9-10 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.
So how can we enter into this rest? Through Christ! That’s why Christ came, to restore our access to our Sabbath rest with our Heavenly Father.
Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
We all spend our whole lives looking for this Sabbath rest. We want peace and happiness, but no matter how many vacations we take, or how much exercise we get, or how many football games we watch, we still feel unrested and unsatisfied. See, we can’t find lasting rest in things or experiences, but in a person, Jesus.
Jesus Christ is our Sabbath rest. Jesus stepped down out of heaven and into our unrest. He took the chaos of our sin upon himself on the cross and died. He didn’t stay dead. He rose and ascended into perfect heavenly rest. Now he invites us to come and join him in this rest. He offers us his perfect spiritual rest for our imperfect spiritual unrest. By confessing our sins and believing in him, he gives us his rest. He makes it so that we no longer have to be perfect to please God, so that we’re no longer slaves to sin, and so that we are children of God. We have so much rest in Jesus!
Our day of Sabbath rest is a symbol of much greater rest. Just like the local church is the visible manifestation of the universal church, a day of Sabbath rest is the visible manifestation of our eternal Sabbath rest. When we stop for a day to be in communion with Christ, we tell the world we don’t have to work hard for God to love us. We won’t know full rest until eternity, but we can begin to taste that rest today through spending a day in relationship with him.
Question. Do you spend time communing with Christ on your Sabbath? Is he Lord of your Sabbath? I’ve included a Sabbath assessment quiz in the bulletin that I’d like you to take after the service. It will give you a good idea of whether or not you’re taking a Sabbath rest with Christ or not. First, Sabbath is a day to have our needs met. Second, Sabbath is a day to commune with Christ. Third…
3) Sabbath is a day to do good things. (Luke 6:6-11) On another Sabbath, Jesus enters the synagogue and there’s a man there with a withered hand. He has some sort of disability that made it so he can’t move or use his right hand. The Pharisees, who loved rules, think that maybe Jesus is going to break another one of their rules by healing on the Sabbath. They said you weren’t supposed to do this except for life-threatening emergencies.
Luke 6:9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”
Jesus goes on to heal the man, proving that the Sabbath is a day on which we can do good things, and this makes the Pharisees so mad they are “filled with fury” and begin plotting against Jesus.
Sometimes I feel mad at Jesus for asking me to do good things on my Sabbath day. Like I really don’t like doing home improvement projects or manual labor on Sundays, my Sabbath day. I don’t really like helping people move, but sometimes Jesus asks me to do those good things. And you know what? I’ve had people come help me on their days off, which I’m so grateful for.
The Sabbath is not a day for burdensome rules… But, the Sabbath is a day for boundaries that liberate. There’s a tension here. We don’t want to be burdened by legalism on our Sabbath day, but we could still use some guidance for how to treat this special day. There’s a paradox here.
I want us to take a moment and run everything we’ve learned through a case study. Joshua has always had trouble knowing if he is doing Sabbath right, and because he is more left-brained, more type a, more analytical and organized, he has written down his Sabbath boundaries. He doesn’t want to be a legalistic Pharisee, but he also doesn’t want to ruin the day of rest God has given him. So he has asked us as a church to review what he has put together. First he wrote down his goal for his Sabbath:
Goal: Rest from work, feel refreshed, and spend time with Jesus, family, and friends.
Based on what I understand of the Sabbath, I think Joshua has a good goal. Next he decides when it will be.
Duration: Our Sabbath day starts at church Saturday at 5pm and lasts till Sunday at 5pm.
Of course, Joshua goes to the greatest church in the world, Cornerstone Congregational Church, so he kicks off his day of Sabbath rest by going to church on Saturday evening, even serving with the welcome team. Then he writes down his boundaries for what his family’s Sabbath is, and what it is not.
Our Sabbath is:
A day to spend time with Jesus at church through worship and at home through personal and family devotions and prayer. A day to spend time with my wife and children, eating meals, playing outside and games, going on family outings, watching a movie together. A day for our family to spend time with friends (so long as it doesn’t sacrifice family time). A day for each of us to have some alone-time being refreshed or doing what we enjoy (football, hike, paint, read, nap, etc.). A day for us to serve and love others in need.
When I look at these boundaries, I see spiritual, emotional, and physical needs being met. I see intentional communion with Christ, but also communion with Christ throughout the day, and I see lot’s of good things. I do see a danger that if every Sabbath is an opportunity to serve and love others, then you may never rest or spend time with family. Of course, any of these could become Pharisaical rules, so they should all be held loosely. Now let’s look at what his family’s Sabbath is not.
Our Sabbath is not:
A day to check emails, finish work projects, or do homework from school. A day to do housework, chores, or home improvement projects. A day to over-consume media or over-commit to sports. A day centered on me, but on Christ.
I think it’s harder to come up with boundaries you won’t do on your Sabbath day, as it’s easy to become legalistic. Joshua doesn’t find home improvement projects relaxing and enjoyable, but some of you may. He tends to work too much, so he needs to remind himself to stay away from email. These boundaries may need to be broken on occasion. Joshua may have to finish work because a deadline is looming, but if a deadline is looming every week, it’s time for him to change jobs. Joshua may also need to prepare for his Sabbath day. The Jews took a day of preparation to get their house clean and food prepared. What can he do to prepare for his Sabbath day? (prepare a meal, do the dishes, take out the trash)
I hope these boundaries don’t feel like legalism to you. Many of you know how to rest naturally and don’t need them. But what I like about them is they actually set Joshua free and they can set us free too. I don’t have to check email today! I don’t have to strain my eyes sitting in front of a computer all day! I don’t have to do dishes! So I want to encourage you to go home, talk with your family, and create your own Sabbath plan to help you enjoy the liberation Christ gives you on this day. Here’s my closing big idea.
The Sabbath is a day of need, a day of communion, a day of good things. We’re going to close by singing “Resting Place.” The first verse says this, “My faith, has found, a resting place. Not in my work or deed. I trust, the ever-living One. His wounds, for me, shall plead.” We can take a day of rest with Christ because we already have a day of eternal rest in Christ. When we rest, we say, “It’s not about my work” but his. The Sabbath is a day of need, a day of communion, a day of good things.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
Photo by DXR – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36876544
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The first sermon I can remember on Jesus eating and drinking with sinners was at the first church-planter’s conference I attended. In March 2013, I attended the Nineveh Project, which was the 4C’s (our denomination’s) church planting conference. It was in Revere Massachusetts and I went because Monica and I had taken a class on church planting the previous summer. I met the Conference Minister Ron Hamilton there and he told me he heard Monica and I studied Westford in
The first sermon I can remember on Jesus eating and drinking with sinners was at the first church-planter’s conference I attended. In March 2013, I attended the Nineveh Project, which was the 4C’s (our denomination’s) church planting conference. It was in Revere Massachusetts and I went because Monica and I had taken a class on church planting the previous summer.
I met the Conference Minister Ron Hamilton there and he told me he heard Monica and I studied Westford in our church-planting class. He thought that was very interesting because he had been praying for a new ministry to take on Westford Bible Church’s building to start a new church plant. This church-planting conference took place 3 months before I got hired at Immanuel and 9 months before Westford Bible Church approached Immanuel to take their building.
One of the speakers at this conference was a Pastor named Matt Kruse. Some of you may remember Pastor Paul McPheeters who lead us through the Quest Church-Plant Training before we launched Cornerstone. Matt Kruse planted a church called Seven Mile Road out of Paul’s McPheeters church. When Matt got up to speak, he talked about Jesus’ bold act of eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners, and how as Jesus’ disciples today we’re to do the same. He shared how that’s what they were doing as a church plant.
That sermon really convicted my heart, and got my excited about church planting. I walked away wanting to eat and drink with people who don’t know Jesus. We got the chance to start Cornerstone in October 2015 and now as I look out on all of you I do sense it’s our desire to eat and drink with people who don’t know Jesus. I believe we have a desire to do this, but I don’t know if we are doing this.Maybe this is because I don’t see your daily lives and only know what you tell me, or maybe it’s because we’re not doing it.
So I hope today’s sermon does two things. If you are spending time with non-Christians, I hope today’s message acts as a confirmation that you’re doing the right thing, and as an encouragement to keep going (Gal 6:9). But if you can’t remember the last time you ate a meal with a non-Christian or went out to drinks with them, I hope this sermon will convict your heart, lead you to repentance, and motivate you to intentionally spend time with people that need Jesus. (let’s pray)
Jesus has begun his ministry. He grew up in Nazareth, was baptized by John in the Jordan river, and successfully resisted the temptations of Satan in the wilderness. He returned to his hometown of Nazareth where he explained his ministry is to the poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed, but his hometown doesn’t like that he won’t play favorites with them and tries to kill him. He escapes and goes to preach in other parts of Galilee as he casts out demons and performs miracles to prove that he is the Messiah.
In Luke 9-19 we’ll see Jesus make his way down to Jerusalem for his crucifixion and resurrection, but in Luke 4-5 he is doing ministry near Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee. In fact, at the Sea of Galilee in Luke 5 Jesus calls his first disciple Peter shortly before he calls another disciple named Levi. In these we learn…
Jesus calls sinners to become disciples. (Luke 5:27-28) Luke 5:27-28 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. (NIV®)
One of the first sinners Jesus came to rescue is a man named Levi. Levi has two names. If you read the parallel account in Matthew you find out Levi’s name was also Matthew. Levi Matthew is the same tax collector who eventually wrote the gospel of Matthew.
Jesus is walking along the sea of Galilee and spots Levi sitting in his tax-collector’s booth. If you read Mark’s account, you learn the tax booth was by the lake (Mark 2:13-17). This is the same lake Jesus was just at when he called Peter to become his disciple in Luke 5:1-11. Peter and his partners were out fishing all night and didn’t catch anything; but Jesus tells them to go back out and cast out their nets again. When they do, they catch so many fish they begin to sink. Peter recognizes who Jesus is.
Luke 5:8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (NIV®)
Peter is a sinner. He recognizes that he is a selfish, prideful, sinful man. Outwardly, those around him might accept him and think highly of him, but when he encounters the Lord of the universe, he sees his own sin. Levi is also a sinner, but everyone knows it. At this time in history, at around 30 AD, the Romans ruled the nation of Israel. So if you were a Jewish tax collector, you were actually an agent of a foreign government, a traitor. Imagine if the British won the Revolutionary War and were still imposing taxes on us. You would dislike the IRS even more. They hated them so much they were barred from the synagogue and temple.
When Jesus sees Levi, he doesn’t care what others think of him. He sees a disciple, and says, “Follow me.” Levi gets up, leaves everything behind, and follows him. He leaves his tax collector booth, leaves his career, leaves the good graces of the Roman government (he’s never getting that job back); but he finds so much more. He finds Jesus, and he follows him. Here are two applications we can apply to our lives:
You’re not too sinful for Jesus. Your sins don’t make you so gross that Jesus can’t love you. When kids play in the mud and get covered from head to toe in grime, their parents don’t say, “I don’t love you anymore!” Their parents say, “Here, let me clean you up.” Do you want our Heavenly Father to clean you up? He has a hose called the gospel just waiting to spray you down. A disciple leaves everything to follow Jesus. Both Peter and Levi left everything to follow Jesus. Jesus calls you to leave your old sinful life behind to purse a life of holiness with Jesus. This doesn’t mean you have to quit your job or become a missionary (Luke 3:13-14), you may have to, but you do have to leave behind the old way of doing that job, doing it for yourself, doing it to get ahead. Now you do that job as an agent of God’s kingdom, as Christ’s representative.
Jesus calls sinners to become disciples. But not everyone accepts this call.
The “righteous” reject Jesus and his ministry. (Luke 5:29-30) Luke 5:29-30 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (NIV®)
Tax collectors and others join Jesus for dinner. The “others” were those despised by the religious elite, maybe even prostitutes (Luke 7:37). But the Pharisees and teachers of the law refuse to be a part of the meal. They believed eating a meal with someone was a sign of acceptance and fellowship. I think they’re right. Even in today’s culture, you eat a meal with someone to spend time with them and chat.
But the Pharisees were too good for tax collectors. They were separatists. When they saw sinners, they ran away. They were pure and expected everyone to be pure. They actually wanted to take the level of purity required for the priests and the temple and extend that to all people. But they were actually pretty powerless. They only had social power, which they go through politicking, recruiting, and social maneuvering.
The Pharisees actually remind me a little bit of the first pilgrims. The pilgrims separated from the Church of England so they could start their own church and government that honored God. They started a little movement called Congregationalism. So I think our DNA is a little similar to that of the Pharisees.
When Jesus shows up, he challenges their beliefs. He challenges their belief that separation can create purity. It can’t. He challenges their believe that sin only runs through “bad people.” It also runs through “good people” (Luke 18:9-14). He challenges their belief that obeying the OT law and its values makes them better than others. They’re not. He challenges their belief that power will win the day, not the powerless.
The Pharisees believe themselves to be better than others. They perceive that they are good and the others are bad. They would never eat and drink with sinners like Jesus. Today, Pharisees aren’t much different:
You may be a Pharisee if you won’t spend time with their foul-mouthed coworkers because you’re afraid they might make you look bad. You may be a Pharisee if you have put yourself in the category of “good” and when you look at others you put them in the category of “bad.” You may be a Pharisee if you try to get others to obey God’s commandments before you share the message of Jesus Christ with them. You may be a Pharisee if you want to have power over others.
Pharisees don’t need Jesus because they’re good enough. The “righteous” reject Jesus and his ministry.
Jesus rejects the “righteous.” (Luke 5:31-32) Luke 5:31-32 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (NIV®)
This illustration isn’t original to me, but I want you to think about that for a second. Why do you go to the doctor? Because you have a head-cold, or a fever, or you pulled a muscle from doing too much CrossFit. Would you ever go to the doctor if there was nothing wrong with you? Your doctor would look at you and ask, “What hurts?” And you would say, “Nothing.” Then he would ask, “Why are you here?” And you’d say, “Because I just wanted to see you.” And then you’d have to find a new doctor.
Jesus hasn’t come to save people who think they are well. Jesus hasn’t come to save people who think nothing is wrong with them. Jesus has come to save people who know something is wrong with them, who will admit they’re sick. Do you know you’re sick? I know I’m sick with sin and will die in that sin unless Jesus saves me. If you won’t admit you need saving, Jesus will respect your decision so much he won’t save you. Jesus rejects those who think they’re “righteous” without him.
Jesus accepts repentant sinners as righteous. (Luke 5:32) Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (NIV®)
Repentance means to turn from sin and turn to God (Acts 3:19). I asked my CrossFit friend what she thinks repentance is and she said, “Repentance is buying flowers for your wife when you haven’t done the dirty dishes for a week.” I like that idea. Let me add to it. Repentance is saying “I’m sorry for what I did wrong” (like buying flowers when you make a mistake); but then repentance is also doing the right thing (washing the dishes). Repentance is not just buying flowers but not washing the dishes; but neither is repentance trying to be better by washing the dishes without confessing your sin. Repentance is turning away from sin and to God.
The gospel is the good news that people who are born in sin and classified as sinners, through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, are now classified as righteous. We’re all born sinners, but through the righteousness of Christ, we become righteous ourselves. In this life, I will never truly leave everything and follow Jesus entirely. That’s why Jesus left everything to come for us. He left heaven and came into this world to share a table with broken sinners and make them into beautiful saints (Phil 2:5-11). Jesus took on our sin so that we could take on his righteousness. He died so that we can live.
Now Jesus calls us saints to do the same thing. Leave the heavens we’ve created and enter into the mess. Like Jesus, I hope they call you “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matt 11:19). That’s what I call messy discipleship. Here are two applications:
Let’s eat and drink with those who don’t know Jesus (yet). What if you were to go out from here and begin to form intentional relationships with your neighbors and coworkers? What if you invite a neighbor to get Starbucks or you sit with a coworker in the cafeteria during lunch time? When I worked for the Farm Credit Administration, back in my 20s, I stopped going to lunch with my coworkers because I wanted to go for noontime runs. The Lord gave me the opportunity to form a friendship with a running buddy, and we talked about faith, but part of me thinks I signaled to my coworkers that I didn’t like them very much. How can we do this as a church? I love how much we eat and fellowship as a church; it’s great. Did you know that on Friday, February 23rd, we’re doing a game-night at Cornerstone. Bring a snack or drink to share and invite your non-Christian friends so that we can do this as a church together. Let’s eat and drink and… Let’s talk about grace and repentance with them. Let’s tell them about the Savior who came eating and drinking with outcasts and people who didn’t have it all together. Let’s also call them to repentance, which is the hardest part for me. Jesus wasn’t content to leave sinners as sinners, but called them to righteousness. You can invite your friends to church, and I’ll try to tell them about repentance and grace, but I bet if you have a conversation with them it will mean more. This is hard, so let’s pray for each other to trust the Holy Spirit and for him to open our mouths to speak. I recently received some really great advice on how to start a conversation about Jesus. Explain how important spirituality or your faith is to you and ask if they’d be comfortable letting you share a little bit. For example, “You know spirituality is a big part of my life. Would you feel comfortable talking with me more about this part of my life?” Then see where it goes. If you need more help and some accountability, sign up for our evangelism small group starting soon. Talk about repentance and grace with people who don’t know Jesus yet.
To remember our two applications, remember the title of this sermon: Eat, Drink, Talk. We do this because Jesus accepts repentant sinners as righteous. I want to close with a question.
Are you righteous or repentant? If you’re righteous, you’ll walk out of here saying, “I’m fine. I’m good enough.” By walking out this way, though you may perceive yourself as righteous, God won’t, and his opinion is what matters.
But if you’re repentant, would you pray this prayer of repentance silently with me as I close?
Heavenly Father, I’m sorry for the ways I perceive myself as better than others. I do this by the little judgments I make in my heart towards others. Father I confess this is sin. Would you help me change? Help me invite broken people who don’t know you into my life. Help me eat and drink with people who don’t know you just like your Son Jesus did, and help me talk with them about grace and repentance. Help us do this together as a church. Thank you for counting me as righteous despite my sin because Jesus lived a perfect life, died an innocent death, and was raised again so that I will live. Thank you for forgiving me and filling me with your Holy Spirit. I love you. We love you. Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Jesus cares. Jesus cares about the poor. He cares about those who live on welfare, those below the poverty line, those on Medicaid, those who will never live in Westford unless it’s in low-income housing. He cares about the rural white poor and the inner city black poor. Jesus cares about prisoners. He cares for those behind bars, not just the innocent ones, but the guilty ones too. Jesus cares for felons, for violent offenders, for white-collar criminals, for sex
Jesus cares. Jesus cares about the poor. He cares about those who live on welfare, those below the poverty line, those on Medicaid, those who will never live in Westford unless it’s in low-income housing. He cares about the rural white poor and the inner city black poor.
Jesus cares about prisoners. He cares for those behind bars, not just the innocent ones, but the guilty ones too. Jesus cares for felons, for violent offenders, for white-collar criminals, for sex offenders. He cares about those locked up in MCI in Concord and Middlesex House of Correction near Route 3.
Jesus cares about the blind. He cares about those who can’t see, both physically and spiritually. He cares about the sick and diseased. He cares about chemo treatments, surgeries, infertility, and catching the flue. Jesus cares about those with mental illness, with sick bodies, and with sick souls.
Jesus cares about the oppressed. He cares about those who are socially and economically beaten down, who are spiritually and morally beaten down, and those who are depressed and just plain sad. Jesus cares about unjust laws and burdensome taxes. Jesus cares.
Luke wrote his gospel for the oppressed, the downtrodden, the outsider. Luke wrote it to a Hellenistic audience, an audience who stood on the outside of normal religious life. He wrote it to show how God elevates the lowly in the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43). The first of Jesus’ sermons Luke records shows just how much Jesus cares.
After Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he returns to the region of Galilee, a marginalized region, to Nazareth, a town we think of about 400 people, and he goes into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day, Saturday. He opens the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and begins to read these words.
Isaiah 61:1-2
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, (NIV®)
Jesus reads the first couple verses following Isaiah 60. In Isaiah 60, the prophet pictures the whole world in darkness, a thick darkness covering all people (Isaiah 60:1-2a). But then, like a sunrise, God’s promises to shine his glory on his people Israel, and through them to light up the world. They are supposed to act as a light to the people living in a great darkness.
At the beginning of Isaiah 61, the chapter Jesus reads, Isaiah explains how this new day will dawn. God will send his anointed one, which is what Messiah means, who will preach good news to the poor, captives, sick, and prisoners. He will proclaim the rising of a new day, of a new era, the year of the Lord’s favor.
Have you ever been camping and your batteries ran out? I once went camping in a cave and my batteries in my lights ran out. It got real dark, and I had to depend on the lights of my friends. Imagine for a moment that you and your family are camping and all of your batteries go out and clouds are covering the moon and stars. It would get really dark and your wife and kids would get scared but you wouldn’t. Every noise would sound like a bear and there would be nothing you could do, but try to go to sleep till the morning. But then you remember you’re camping in Alaska and it’s going to be night for another 65 days. Now you really want that light. But thankfully, you call for help, and a park ranger brings lamps to your campsite. He has the light, and gives it to you, and now the darkness isn’t dark anymore.
Isaiah tells us the whole world is covered in a darkness called sin, but God will provide a light for his people, forgiveness for sin, and the Messiah will bring that light to them. But this isn’t a light the Messiah will carry in his hand. This light will actually shine through his mouth. Isaiah says he will “proclaim good news” and he will “proclaim freedom.” When he speaks, he can forgive sins. When he opens his mouth, the darkness flees. By his words, he will liberate the people in spiritual captivity.
God wants to address our sin problem. He is not content to let us live in darkness. He wants to set us free from captivity to our lusts, passions, greed, selfishness, and bitterness. He wants to set us free from our pride and ego, from ourselves. Over the last couple years I’ve wrestled with bitterness towards an individual. Every time I felt the hurt, I tried to forgive and stuff it away, but it kept resurfacing. This passage really helped me this week as I focused on how Jesus came to set the captives free. Believing Jesus came to set me free, I had a hard conversation this week with the individual to confess my bitterness and address some issues. God used it to set my heart free. I am a captive released from sin’s power. Jesus wants to set you free from whatever sin is oppressing you. Come to him believing he sets the captives free.
But spiritual liberty can feel a bit abstract, can’t it? Light and darkness, sin and forgiveness? The passage in Isaiah, which Jesus reads, isn’t for philosophers. It’s for concrete reality. Isaiah 61:1 isn’t unique. It’s quoting another part of the Bible. This is like the movie Inception, a dream within a dream. We’re quoting Luke, who is quoting Jesus, who is quoting Isaiah, who is quoting Leviticus and the Year of Jubilee.
Leviticus 25:10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. (NIV®)
The Hebrew word for “liberty” in Leviticus 25:10 is the same Hebrew word for “freedom” found in Isaiah 61:1. I know this because Terry told me so, and because I double-checked it. The Year of Jubilee is a special year God gave Israel every 50th year. Property owners were supped to return all purchased lands to their original families who owned them, all slaves and servants were supposed to go free, and all debts were supposed to be cancelled. But as far as we know, Israel never celebrated the Year of Jubilee.
God’s kingdom is supposed to look different than all the other kingdoms of the world. He wants spiritual liberty, but also social, economic, and physical liberty. He wanted Israel to taste that in their world and he still desires this for us. God cares about social justice and the social gospel. He wants to end slavery in all parts of the world. He wants to set free women who sell their bodies and men who sell their lives. He wants to cancel debts. He wants to give homes to the homeless. God not only wants to fix our hearts, he wants to fix our world. He doesn’t promise everything will be made right before the return of Christ, but as we come to Christ, pockets of light and change should pop-up all around is.
By reading this passage in Isaiah, which is then referencing Leviticus, Jesus is saying his ministry is about spiritual liberty and physical, social, and economic liberty. Jesus isn’t imposing this on the text. It’s there in Isaiah, and in Leviticus too. The Year of Jubilee kicked off on the holiest day of the year, the Day of Atonement (Lev 25:9). The Day of Atonement was a special day set aside every year for the High Priest to make sacrifices for the sins of the people, to atone for them. The people were supposed to see how God’s liberty is all encompassing, for our souls, our cities, and our world. His freedom is spiritual, physical, total.
Being in the synagogue on that Sabbath day, Jesus would have seen both their physical need and their spiritual need, and he’s the one who can do something about it. He reads:
Luke 4:18-19
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (NIV®)
Then he rolls up the scroll, gives it back, and says in verse 21, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus is claiming to be the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ. Jesus bears the flashlight! He has the mouth-light. He speaks the good news. When he talks the sun rises, our sins flee, and the poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed are lifted up as valuable and precious. When Jesus comes, his kingdom comes too, not in its fulness, but in its beginnings.
Luke 4:43 But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” (NIV®)
As we read the book of Luke, we see Jesus ushering in his kingdom with both its spiritual and physical healing. Jesus sets the spiritually and physically oppressed free by forgiving sins and driving out demons (Luke 4:31-37; 5:17-26; 8:26-39). You see him caring for the physically poor and spiritually impoverished (Luke 14:15-24; 19:1-10). He cares for the blind, the sick, and the dead (Luke 18:35-43; 17:11-19; 8:40-56).
In fact, in Luke 7 John the Baptist sends his disciples to investigate if Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the anointed one, and this is what happens.
Luke 7:21-22 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. (NIV®)
So what does this mean for us? If we think back to Isaiah 60, we remember that Israel was supposed to become a light to the nations. As followers of Jesus, we’re supposed to become a light to the nations too. We’re supposed to spread the kingdom. How do we do that? Isaiah 61 and Luke 4 tell us Jesus proclaimed the good news, so we do the same. Just like the light came through Jesus’ mouth, we bring the light through our mouths. We talk about Jesus, how he forgives us and takes care of all our needs. We’re supposed to take this message to the outcasts, to those others look down upon, the poor, prisoners, the sick, and oppressed.
At Cornerstone, we have a target audience. It’s families with children and teenagers who are probably just like us. That’s a starting point; but based on this text it’s not the same one Jesus started with. From our passage, what do you think Jesus’ target audience looks like today? If you were to imagine the kind of people Jesus is trying to reach, what would they look like?
I think of someone who grew up in Lawrence, in low-income housing, who dropped out of high-school, who can’t hold down a job, and is close to overdosing on opioids. Who do you think of when you hear Jesus came for prisoners? Do you think of someone locked behind bars, covered in tattoos, has a shaved head, and can benchpress twice your bodyweight? I bet when you moved to Westford, you looked up some of your local felons so you could buy a house close to them. Who do you think of when you hear Jesus came for the blind? Do you think of your spiritually blind yoga instructor who embraces all forms of spirituality? Do you think of you think of your elderly neighbor who can’t see well anymore? Jesus does.
I know when I think about trying to reach the lost with Jesus, I tend to think about people that look and talk and smell just like me. This passage challenges me to cross boundaries (social, cultural, and economic) to share Jesus with others. We’re called to share the gospel message with people that don’t look like us, talk like us, and smell like us. They need to hear that Jesus cares about them because in our modern world they’re not valued. Jesus cares.
When Jesus’ audience in the synagogue heard Jesus say these things and that he was going to fulfill Isaiah 61, at first they thought it was great. Verse 22 says they were amazed at his gracious words and asked, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” They’re not criticizing him, they’re claiming him. They’re saying, “He’s from Nazareth. He’s one of us. He belongs to us.” It’s like the celebrities we claim from Boston, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Amy Poehler. They claim Jesus like it somehow makes them better, but Jesus won’t have it.
Luke 4:23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” (NIV®)
He knows these people aren’t really interested in spiritual liberty. They just want physical liberty, but that’s not the full gospel. It’s not everything Jesus offers. They want the benefits of Jesus’ kingdom without the rule of the king over their lives. They want the prosperity gospel. They want health and wealth and power in this life, without recognition of sin, repentance, forgiveness, or realizing the full kingdom is yet to come.
So Jesus tells them two stories. He tells them of the Old Testament prophet Elijah who could have helped any of the widows in Israel, but instead helped a widow outside of Israel. Then he reminds them how Elisha only healed Naaman the Syrian of leprosy, a non-Jew. The good news is for more than just the insider. The good news is for the outsider. The gospel isn’t just for us. The gospel is for them.
When the people of his hometown of Nazareth hear this, it makes them so mad they try to murder him. They take him to the edge of a cliff and try to throw him over, but he escapes. They can’t take the idea that their hometown boy is the Messiah and he won’t show them favoritism (c.f., Luke 4:43).
Do you ever feel like the gospel is just for a us? Do you ever feel like Christianity is just for Christians? I saw a Chevy commercial over the Holidays. It featured Chevy employees, not actors. It showed them going home for the Holidays, getting Christmas trees with their kids, and preparing Christmas dinners with their families. As the commercial plays with lots of nice new Chevy vehicles in almost every scene, employees say, “This time of year is all about family, and we’d like you to be apart of ours, so our Chevy employee discount is now available to everyone. You pay what we pay, and not a cent more. We’re so happy to share this with you. It’s our way of saying Happy Holidays and welcome to the family, the Chevy family.” That had to cost them something right? It must have cost them financially (although I’m sure they’re hoping to make it back), but it also cost them privilege. Sharing Jesus with others is worth the cost.
We have something better than a new chevy. We have the kingdom of God. We have light in the darkness and we share it with our mouth flashlights. We have the the year of the Lord’s favor. We have the the Year of Jubilee. We have liberty for the captives, for the spiritually and physically oppressed. We have the good news that Jesus cares and that is going to right every intangible and tangible wrong on earth. Jesus cares.
May we embrace the good news of spiritual and physical liberty Jesus offers us, but may we share that with the world, with the outsiders, the poor, the broken, the downtrodden, prisoners, the sick, and outcasts, with people that don’t look, talk like us, or smell like us. It’s a good thing that Jesus came to save people who don’t look, and act, and talk like him. That’s all of us. May it be said of us that we care. Why? Jesus cares.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Please listen to or watch Terry Iles‘s sermon on the temptation of Jesus. You can download his sermon notes by clicking “Save” then “PDF.”
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Please listen to or watch Terry Iles‘s sermon on the temptation of Jesus. You can download his sermon notes by clicking “Save” then “PDF.”
Chances are this is the last sermon we’re going to hear in 2017. Next Saturday will be a whole new year, 2018. How do you feel about 2017? Did you love it? Did you like all the crazy news? Will you remember 2017 as a good year for you and your family, or a hard year? How do you feel about 2018? What kind of expectations are you setting? Are you finally going to get in shape, read your Bible, take that cooking class? Maybe you hope to have kids or get married.
This time of year always involves two things: 1) a letting go of the previous year with its successes and failures; and 2) a welcoming-in of the new year with its potential and possibilities. Out with the old; in with the new. Right? Today, we find a similar theme in Luke chapters 2-3. We’re looking at three stories that share an ending and a beginning.
As we look at these texts, and grow in our understanding of God’s word, I hope that today’s sermon will help you let go of 2017 and look forward to what God might have for you in 2018. It’s not that we want to forget what God taught us in 2017, but we want to open our hearts to what he might teach us anew in 2018. Out with the old; in with the new. We start with a man and and a woman who knew what it means to be old.
Simeon & Anna (Luke 2:22-40) Joseph and Mary take Jesus to Jerusalem so that Mary can be purified 40 days after giving birth to Jesus (Lev 12:1-4). At the temple, they meet the elderly man Simeon. Luke describes Simeon as “righteous and devout” and waiting for the “consolation of Israel.” The consolation of Israel means the comfort of Israel. Isaiah 40 explains that God comforts his people by forgiving their sins (Isa 40:1-2).
When you were a kid, did you ever break a window? That caused you a lot of terror and fear, right? You didn’t receive comfort in that moment by running away or blaming your older brothers, but by telling your parents or your neighbors what you did. And when you told them, although there were consequences, they also forgave you, and that forgiveness is what gave you comfort. It’s the same with God. We’ve broken his window, his creation, but he forgives us. That is comforting. That gives us hope.
But what if you were still waiting to be forgiven for breaking the window? What if our parents, and grandparents, and our great-grandparents, and so on and so on had been waiting thousands of years to be forgiven? You’d feel impatient. You’d lose hope. But what if the Holy Spirit told you that before you die you would meet the one who will forgive your sins?
As Simeon stands there with Mary and Joseph, his hope is realized, “Now I can depart in my peace because I have seen your salvation.” But this hope and comfort won’t just be for him. Verse 32, he will be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.” God’s message of comfort is not just for Israel, but all nations, including the Greek-speaking audience Luke is writing to. So forgiveness is not just for me who breaks windows, but for other neighbor kids who break windows too. We can all be forgiven.
Simeon even explains how when he says to Mary, “a sword will pierce through your own soul…” (Lk 2:35) This child will experience discomfort to give God’s comfort to all peoples. Simeon speaks of the cross.
Then the story turns to the prophet Anna who was very elderly, but also never gave up hope in God for 84 years (Lk 2:37). When she sees Jesus, she identifies him as the one who will redeem Israel. To redeem something means to buy it back. Jesus will buy back his people at the cross. When you break a window, someone has to pay for it. Either you have to pay for it, your parents, or your neighbor. Jesus pays for our broken window. He takes tge cost upon himself. Simeon and Anna leave us with a lesson in hope.
Out with impatience; in with hope. They both had to wait their whole lives to see the Messiah—the one God chose to comfort and redeem his people from their sins. But when we meet them in the narrative, they’re clearly not disheartened. They’re happy. They’re joyful. They’re fully of the Spirit and they’re excited for the arrival of the Messiah. May we also wait patiently and hopefully for Jesus too.
May we wait patiently and hopefully when we don’t get our way. May we wait patiently and hopefully when he leads us down a road we don’t expect. May we wait patiently and hopefully when we pray and he is silent. Are you waiting on Jesus? Or are you going ahead with your own plans, trying to solve your problems your way? Out with impatience; in with hope.
My family adopted a rescue dog from the animal shelter when I was a kid. She was a blonde Cocker Spaniel and we named her Taffy. When we first got her, she was very shy. Whoever owned before us abused her. When you felt her side, you could feel a broken rib. When she walked forward to greet you, she would walk sideways towards you, so that she could run away if she thought you were going to hit her. It was really sad. But over time she really warmed up to my dad.
The rest of us were kind to her but she just put up with us. I think my dad provided a sense of calm and comfort teenage boys cannot. He would take her on long walks where she could bound through big fields. In our house she found a window perch where she could lay in the sun and wait patiently for my dad to come home from work each day. When he got home, she would greet him with excitement and he would greet her. She would lay down near him, and then the next day my dad would leave and she would return to her perch, waiting patiently. Taffy once told me, “I know my comforter is coming, the one who purchased me from the pound, and so I can wait patiently and hopefully through anything, even teenage boys…”
Jesus is worth waiting for. He is our comforter, our redeemer. He may not do what we want in our timing, but he will never let us down. Out with impatience; in with hope. Out with the old; in with the new. We see this theme continue in the next story of Jesus’ parents.
Joseph & Mary (Lk 2:41-52) Joseph and Mary live a life of obedience to God’s laws. Remember how Mary and Joseph traveled to Jerusalem that first time to be ceremonially purified in obedience to the law. Luke emphasizes the “Law of Moses” or “the Law of the Lord” three different times in verses 22-24. This law is all God’s commanded for his people from Genesis to Deuteronomy. Jesus had to obey the whole law in order to be perfect.
One of those laws, found in Exodus 23:14 and Deuteronomy 16:16, said everyone was supposed to travel to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The year Jesus turned 12 years old, which was one year shy of being considered a man according to Jewish custom, something interesting happened. When Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem to return home, they traveled a day’s walk from Jerusalem before realizing that Jesus wasn’t with their extended family. So they turned around, walked back to Jerusalem, searched for a third day, and finally found him in the temple talking with the teachers of the law. People were amazed at his understanding and answers (Lk 2:47). But his parents were less impressed. Mary said…
Luke 2:48b “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” (NIV®)
Clearly Jesus was in big trouble because Mary said, “Your father and I…” You say “Your mom and I…” or “my wife and I…” when you want to use your full authority as a married couple or as parents. But Jesus says he answers to a higher authority than his earthly parents, his Heavenly Father.
Luke 2:49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (NIV®)
As Jesus grew in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:40, 52), he came to understand who he was and God’s plans. He felt called to obey his Father’s will, but that seemed to come into conflict with his parent’s will. So what should he do? He’s the perfect one, right? They’re the sinful ones. What does he do?
Luke 2:51a Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. (NIV®)
This Greek word for obedience (hypotassō) means submission or subordination. In order to live a perfect and sinless life, Jesus had to submit himself to those God the Father placed over him, including his fallible human parents. He had to honor his father and his mother (Ex 20:12; Eph 6:1). So what’s the out with the old and in with the new theme here?
Out with disobedience; in with submission. We’re all called by God to submit to God-given authorities. In Romans 13, Paul calls us to submit to our government. In Ephesians 5-6, Paul calls husbands to love their wives and wives to submit to their husbands and children to obey their parents. In Hebrews 13:17 and 1 Peter 5 God calls the church to submit to their elders. But this isn’t easy is it. Mike McKinley (who showed me this point on submission) writes:
“We are happy to obey our leaders in the church (Hebrews 13:17), so long as they don’t instruct us to do anything we don’t want to do. We respect those who rule over us in government (Romans 13:1), so long as they enact and enforce the policies we advocate. Wives submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22-24), so long as they are getting their emotional needs met.”
I’ve learned a lot of things by serving on our Board of Elders, one of which is that all of us are fallible. We’re fallen and sinful just like Mary and Joseph, and yet God has placed each of us in a position of authority. And if you’re a Christian and a regular attender at Cornerstone, I believe God is calling you to submit to this authority. I want to give you two ways you can submit to your Board of Elders this year.
If you’re not a member, please prioritize investigating the membership process and becoming a member of the church. Maybe you’re asking this question, “Is modern church membership necessary?” I think a better question is, “Is membership a way I can demonstrate my submission to the authority God has placed in my life?” I believe the answer is yes. But what if you’re already a member? Great! You’re in perfect submission… A way you can show submission is by attending regularly and consistently. Aim to be here at least 3/4 weeks a month and try to put what you’re learning in the sermon and in your small group into practice in your own life.
Submission isn’t easy. Did you know your life depends on submission? Your life depends on Jesus’ perfect submission to both his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, and his Heavenly Father. He walked that difficult line perfectly, all the way to the cross.
Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (NIV®)
Its Jesus act of perfect obedience and submission that becomes our own through repentance and faith. Through Jesus, God counts us as perfectly submissive. That doesn’t mean that we’re free not to submit, but that when we don’t submit perfectly, as none of us will, we are forgiven. As we head into 2018, may we seek to obey our Heavenly Father by obeying and submitting to the earthly authorities he has given us. Out with disobedience; in with submission. Out with the old; in with the new. We have one more…
John the Baptist (Lk 3:1-22) Remember how the angel promised Zechariah and Elizabeth a son and they gave birth to a son and named him John? After John was born, Zechariah prophesied this:
Luke 1:76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, (NIV®)
John is a prophet like Elijah who will go before the Lord. In fact, he is the last prophet signaling the end of the Old Testament and the arrival of the Messiah. We see him going before the Lord in Luke chapter 3. He goes into the wilderness, the word of God comes to him (Lk 3:2), and he preaches.
Luke 3:3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.(NIV®)
Baptism is a symbol of repentance. It’s repentance that God asks for in order to forgive us our sins. Then in verse 4-6, Luke quotes the book of Isaiah chapter 40. Simeon spoke of the comforter hinted at in Isaiah 40:1-2, a coming comforter who will save people from their sins. Now Luke (in Luke 3:4-6) speaks of the prophet prophesied in Isaiah 40:3-6, who will go ahead of the Lord to prepare the way.
Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.(NIV®)
John calls us to repent of our sins because that get’s us ready for Jesus.
Out with sin; in with repentance. To prepare our hearts for Jesus in the new year, we need to recognize where we sin and repent to prepare our hearts more fully for Jesus in 2018. Repentance mean turning from sin and to God. When the people hear John’s preaching, they ask, “What should we do?” (Lk 3:10). He calls tem to turn their current lives towards God, by obeying God where they’re at. He calls for those who have to give to the have nots. He calls tax collectors to gather taxes fairly. He calls people in power to not mistreat the powerless.
In 2018, let’s let go of our sin and turn to Jesus. That’s easier said than done, right? That’s why we have to ask the Holy Spirit to change us one day at a time in 2018. Jesus paid for our sin, but we need the Holy Spirit to help us let them go. Let’s pray to let go of those things we hold so tightly they’re blinding us to what God has in store for us. Let’s let go of what we have so that we can give to those who don’t have. Let’s let go of trying to get ahead of others so that we can do our jobs ethically. Let’s let go of our need for power so that we will identity with the powerless. Out with sin; in with repentance.
Out with the old; in with the new. I remember trying to stay awake on New Year’s Eve December 31st 1999. I was eleven years old, just about to turn twelve, and it was the turn of the century. Mom and dad must have let me stay up late but I eventually got in bed at about 11:45pm. My plan was to lay in bed, watch the clock turn to 12:00am, and then go to sleep. I woke up at about 12:02am.
I missed the turn of the century. It was huge. I was crushed. I was sure I would go through the rest of my life regretting missing that moment. So I came up with a solution. I picked up my clock, set it to 11:59pm, and watched it turn to 12:00am. I tried to convince myself that it counted, but I knew it didn’t. I tried to go back to capture something I could never have again.
Let’s not go back. Let’s not try to recapture the success and victory of last year. As the ball drops on 2017 and 2018 begins, may we go forward and embrace what God has in store for us this year. Out with impatience; in with hope. Out with disobedience; in with submission. Out with sin; in with repentance. Out with the old; in with the new.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Chances are this is the last sermon we’re going to hear in 2017. Next Saturday will be a whole new year, 2018. How do you feel about 2017? Did you love it? Did you like all the crazy news? Will you remember 2017 as a good year for you and your family, or a hard year? How do you feel about 2018? What kind of expectations are you setting? Are you finally going to get in shape, read your Bible,
Last year Monica and I traveled to my hometown of Estes Park Colorado for the Holidays. It’s known for being the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. A lot of people visit there in the summer, but only about 10,000 live there year round. Many who grow up there leave when they graduate high school. Estes doesn’t have corporate jobs. It doesn’t have a great school district. It has lots of elk and lots of tourists, nothing special ever seems to happen there.
That first night we were there, we were eating dinner with my family when we heard a knock on the door. I went and answered it and it was my childhood friend Jake with his new wife Maggie, who looked very pregnant and very tired. I invited them inside and they sat down on our couch exhausted. Now I hadn’t hung out with Jake in years, but I’d recently Facebook stalked him because he’d just married Maggie, who he met up north where he worked as a carpenter building houses.
As Jake sat there, I asked him what was going on. He explained the Governor of their state had passed a new bill requiring workers to demonstrate proof of citizenship. Of course it was being challenged in the courts, but he’d contacted the hospital in Estes anyways to send him a copy of his birth certificate. Due to a clerical error, they lost his paperwork, so they had to travel home to get his registration figured out. I said I was sorry for them, especially during the Holidays, but asked why he’d come to us.
He told me that none of his family lived in town anymore, and every hotel, inn, and Airbnb was full, and of all his old friends in town, he knew that my parents rented out our home as a vacation rental, so would they have an extra room they could spare for the night? I said, “normally, yes, but there’s no room in our vacation rental. My mom and dad are hosting my three older brothers, their wives, and my combined ten nieces and nephews, so our house is packed.”
Maggie burst into tears and said, “We just need someplace to stay. I don’t want my unborn baby to sleep in the cold. He’s special… An angel told me he is going to be the King of Kings and will change the world.”
I thought, well that’s kind of weird…
I think she saw the look on my face because she said, “The angel really told me the Holy Spirit would give me a baby and that I should name him Joshua because he will save his people from their sins. People are going to call him the Son of the Most High, the Son of God.” (Luke 1:26-38)
What could I say to that? I was pretty sure from their wedding photos that their wedding was a shotgun wedding, since she was already pregnant. I thought she was crazy. Of course Jake was the father. I didn’t believe her. I thought she was making it up. I didn’t even stop to consider if there were some truth in what she was saying. Maybe this baby would change the world, but he definitely wasn’t the Son of God.
“Are you sure you don’t have a place we could stay?” Jake asked.
That’s when I remembered that my parents were building a tiny house to live in the next summer as they rented out their home, but that although it wasn’t quite done, it did have insulation in the walls and a wood burning stove. We were housing our bunnies out there, so it did smell like bunnies, but they didn’t care. I moved our bunnies to the garage, took Jake and Maggie out to the tiny house, got a fire started, and left.
But five minutes later Jake banged on my door, his face white as a sheet. He said, “Maggie is having her baby!” So I said, “So take her to the hospital!” But he said, “We don’t have insurance.” I said, “Bring her inside!” But he said, “It’s too late, we can’t move her. We’re having the baby tonight in the tiny house!”
So I ran and got my sister-in-law who gave birth at home. And for the next couple hours we all sweated it out as Maggie screamed and yelled and Jake ran back and forth getting hot water and towels and looking terrified. Then the cries of pain stopped, and the cries of a baby filled the night air. And a few minutes later, the newborn baby stopped crying, swaddled by his mother, and it became a silent night, a holy night.
By this time it was late. We thought about going out to meet the new baby, but newborn babies are gross and none of us were family, so slowly we made our way to bed. But I stayed up thinking about what Maggie had said—that they would name this child Joshua, that he would save his people from their sins, and that he would be called the Son of God. I googled on my phone what “Joshua” means. I found out that Joshua is a Hebrew name that means “the Lord saves” or “Yahweh saves.” Yahweh is the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. This child’s name was special, if nothing else.
That’s when I heard another knock on the door. It was different than the first two times, faster, more impatient.I ran over to the door, expecting Maggie was having some sort of post-delivery complication, but to my surprise someone else was at the door.
It wasn’t just one person, but a whole family. I knew them instantly. It was Tom and Linda Shepherd and their five kids. They lived outside of town in the mountains and didn’t usually come into town. They were known around town for being a little offbeat. The dad and mom loved animals, and had given their love of animals to each of their five kids. The Shepherds family had horses, goats, four dogs, an actual herd of sheep, and the whole family smelled like they slept in the barn with those animals. Honestly, they were social outcasts who kept to themselves, but tonight they were at my doorstep.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
Tom said, “We were out by the pasture watching our flock of sheep tonight when an angel appeared in the sky!!!”
Oh no, not more of this… But he kept going. He said, “God’s glory shown all around us. The whole sky lit up! It looked like the trees and the hills and everything was on fire. They were glowing with heavenly light.”
I interrupted him and said, “That’s impossible! You must have seen a shooting star.”
His oldest son said, “Look, I posted a picture on Snapchat!” He showed me a picture on his phone but I couldn’t make anything out, it just looked like a bright light, like he’d taken a picture of the sun, or a lamp, or lightning. What caught my attention was not the photo but the look in his eyes. I could tell he believed it was true even if I didn’t. They all had that look.
Tom continued, “The angel must have saw how terrified we were because he said, ‘Don’t be afraid! I’m here to give you good news that can make you and all people really happy.”
Alright, I like good news.
“‘Today in town a Savior is born, a Savior who is the Messiah, God’s only chosen King, the Lord! Go look for a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a feeding trough, a manger.’ And then immediately a whole angelic choir appeared and began to sing God’s praises. They sang:
Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.
And then they disappeared. All the angels went back to heaven.”
“What do you think it means?” I asked him.
“It means the savior of sinners is here!” Tom practically shouted back at me. “It means that nothing will ever be the same! It means God has finally given peace to his people.”
“Peace,” I thought. “We need peace in this world. There’s no peace, just wars and politicians and greed and bullies and injustice. I don’t even know what true peace is. It’s not out there and it’s not in me. I feel guilt and shame all the time. I feel sinful and condemned because of the things I’ve done. I need peace.”
Tom interrupted my thoughts, “Once the angel left, your name came to mind as someone I should find. Do you know where the baby in the manger is?”
I said, “Well, no, but Jake and Maggie just had their baby in our tiny house. Do you mean them?” With that, I led him and his family out back. I knocked on the door and Jake opened it. As he opened the door I felt the warmth of the stove and the smell of bunnies pour over me. I saw the light flickering on Maggie’s face and her baby’s face as she stroked him. She’d wrapped him up in a baby blanket and placed him inside a big wooden bowl used for serving bread—a feeding trough, a manger…”
The Shepherd family pushed their way past me and they fell on their knees before this baby. They didn’t say anything. They bowed their heads, closed their eyes, and praised God. They worshiped this small child as if he were God himself.”
Maggie, looked up at me. Her eyes caught mine and it felt like she asked me, “Do you believe now?”
Everything I’d witnessed here seemed unbelievable. I’d been given an opportunity to believe earlier that evening when they first arrived at the house, but I hadn’t. Then I’d been given an opportunity to believe again when the Shepherd family told me what was happening, but I hadn’t. But now I was here, seeing the baby for the first time myself, and I had to figure out what I was going to do.
Was I going to shut the door and go back inside? Or was I, like the Shepherds and Maggie, going to believe in this tiny baby boy and worship him? He looked normal, like a newborn baby, but clearly he was something special. Would he change the world? Was he the Savior? Was he God’s only chosen King?
If you haven’t caught on by now, it’s time for me to confess that this isn’t my story. This is a creative retelling of the story of Joseph and Mary and the birth of Jesus in Luke chapter 2. “Joshua” is the Hebrew form of the Greek name “Jesus.” This is me imagining myself into the story as the innkeeper who had no room in the inn. I wanted to intentionally place myself intothe story because that’s how we’re supposed to read it. Now I want you to intentionally place yourself into the story and consider for a moment if it might be true. If you were in the story, how would you respond?
Are you like one of the shepherds? A social outcast who doesn’t care what others think, and when you receive the good news of Jesus you believe? If you believe, “spread the word” just like the original shepherds. Praise God as you tell others the good news this Christmas that the story is real. Or maybe you’re more like Mary (aka. Maggie). It says in Luke 2 that she “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Maybe you need to mull this over, to think about it. Go home and read Luke 2 and imagine yourself in the story. Are you like her? Or are you like the inn keeper? We don’t know much about him but we do know he shut the door on the King of Kings. Either your heart isn’t ready to believe or you still think it’s all just a fairy tale. It wasn’t any easier for those first people who heard the story to believe than it is for you today.
You’ve probably heard the story of Jesus and his claim to be God before, and like me in our story, you probably thought it was really weird the first time you heard it. You probably thought, this is ridiculous, this can’t be true. But in so doing, I think you missed the possibility that it just might be real.
What if the story of Jesus were true? What if it really happened?
What if Jesus really was born 2,000 years ago in the small town of Bethlehem? What if he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin? What if angels really did fill the sky to announce Jesus’ birth to shepherds? What if Jesus really came to save his people from their sins? What if Jesus is the Son of the Most High, the Son of God, God’s only chosen King? What if he lived a sinless life and died an innocent death on a cross to pay the penalty for your sins? What if he didn’t stay dead? What if three days later he rose from the grave? What if he promised that if you confess your sins and trust in him, he will give you eternal life? What if eternal life is not just living forever, but having a relationship with Jesus, the Son of God? What if this Christmas is not like any other Christmas because this year you believe in Jesus and worship the King of Kings? Will you shut the door or believe?
See, you’re in the story now whether you like it or not. What will you do? Will you shut the door or believe? Will you believe like the shepherds and tell others? Will you treasure it in your heart like Mary? Or will you shut the door like the inn keeper?Don’t close your heart. For a moment consider that the original Christmas story just might be true. I promise you, that if you believe in Jesus as your Lord and King, you will never regret it. Will you shut the door or believe?
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
Last year Monica and I traveled to my hometown of Estes Park Colorado for the Holidays. It’s known for being the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. A lot of people visit there in the summer, but only about 10,000 live there year-round. Many who grow up there leave when they graduate high school. Estes doesn’t have corporate jobs. It doesn’t have a great school district. It has lots of elk and lots of tourists, nothing special ever seems to
Have you ever noticed how two people can respond differently to the same news? “Look, free puppies!” Great news for kids. Bad news for parents. “Mom and dad, I got into my first choice of college, the expensive private one!” Great news for their child. Bad news for their bank account. “The verdict is… not guilty.” Great news for the defendant. Bad news for the plaintiff. In Luke chapter one, we read how two different people respond to similar news.
Have you ever noticed how two people can respond differently to the same news?
“Look, free puppies!” Great news for kids. Bad news for parents. “Mom and dad, I got into my first choice of college, the expensive private one!” Great news for their child. Bad news for their bank account. “The verdict is… not guilty.” Great news for the defendant. Bad news for the plaintiff.
In Luke chapter one, we read how two different people respond to similar news. The news is delivered by the angel Gabriel to Zechariah first, and then Mary. Gabriel tells them both that they are each going to have a child, and their child either prepares the way for the Messiah (Zechariah’s son John) or is the Messiah himself (Mary’s son Jesus). The Messiah is the deliverer God promised to his people. This news is difficult to believe. Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, is old and barren, so it’s nearly impossible for her to conceive. And Mary is a virgin and so it’s impossible for her to conceive.
Chances are the angel Gabriel has not appeared to you this Christmas and said, “You will bear a child and you should name him John or Jesus.” But we’ve all received good news we can celebrate this Christmas—the birth of Jesus Christ, not to mention all the promises of God. There’s plenty to celebrate.
I don’t know about you, but I struggle to find hope at Christmas time. I feel a little like Charlie Brown in A Charlie Brown Christmas. I find it hard to believe, hard to celebrate. I like all the Christmas lights and the snow (not so much Santa). I like all the gift and the wrapping. But I don’t like the busyness and consumerism. And I often find it hard to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
That’s a little bit like the heart-attitude of Zechariah. He heard the good news, but like Charlie Brown, and like me, and maybe like some of you, he struggles to believe. I want to have hope, and I think we can, but we first need to examine our own hearts, and we can do so by looking at Zechariah’s heart.
Zechariah the doubter (Lk 1:5-25) Here’s the story: In the time of King Herod (probably around 4 B.C.) there was a priest named Zechariah who had a wife named Elizabeth (1:5). Both of them were good people. It’s not that they did more good than bad, but they sought to obey God, his commands and decrees, and so God considered them righteous (1:6). But there was only one problem, they were childless. They were both old and Elizabeth was infertile (1:7).
One day Zechariah was chosen by lot (what looked like chance but was God’s will) to burn incense in the temple before God (1:8), and when he goes in, the angel Gabriel appears to him (1:11, 19). Of course, this was terrifying, but the angel assured him he didn’t need to be afraid.
Luke 1:13a, 17 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous— to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (NIV®)
The angel promises Zechariah that he and Elizabeth will have a child in their old age just like God gave other infertile couples in the Old Testament children as a sign of his promises: Isaac to Abraham and Sarah (Gen 21), Samson to Manoah and his wife (Judges 13), and Samuel to his mother Hannah (1 Sam 1). This child John will be special like them. He will fulfill the prophecy from the Old Testament book of Malachi that the prophet Elijah would come again to prepare the way for the Lord (Mal 3:1, 4:5-6). John is a miracle baby and the second Elijah. That’s amazing news! But does Zechariah believe?
Luke 1:18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” (NIV®)
Zechariah is saying this to the angel, “Prove it! You say I’m going to have a baby. Prove it! I don’t believe you.” Have you ever told a friend, or sibling or child something and they say, “Prove it!” It’s annoying, isn’t it? And that’s kind of like how the angel reacts.
Luke 1:19-20 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” (NIV®)
The angel sees Zechariah’s unbelieving heart. Zechariah asked for a sign, as if an angel isn’t enough, so he gives him a sign—silence. The angel says Zechariah will be both “silent and not able to speak…” (Lk 1:20). Later Zechariah’s family has to make signs to Zechariah to get his attention (Lk 1:62). Zechariah isn’t just mute. He’s also deaf. He can’t speak or hear—complete silence. He leaves the temple that way and the people wonder what happened (1:23). There are two lessons for us here.
Doubt can turn into disbelief. It’s okay to wrestle with doubt, but it’s not okay to lose the wrestling match. There’s a doubt-monster in all of us—a hopeless Mr. Hyde of sorts. He wants to change us from believers to doubters to unbelievers, but we can’t let him win. Zechariah had literally just received news he had waited for his whole life, but somewhere through the years his doubt smothered his hope and joy. When disbelief takes hold, we hear God came into our world as a baby boy, but say… “prove it.” We learn God cares enough to send his Son to rescue us, but we say… “so what.” Doubt can turn into disbelief.
The consequence of disbelief is silence. After a while, doubters can come to expect silence from God. And pretty soon, silence is all they want to hear too. Silence is the consequence of disbelief. Zechariah walked out of that temple in silence and unable to speak. That means he couldn’t tell his wife Elizabeth the good news with his own lips (1:24). So he must have written it down, and when she read it, he could only watch her face. He couldn’t hear her laughter and joy. When we don’t believe, we don’t share. If we read something on Facebook we believe to be true, what do we do? We share it.
If you don’t believe that God can use all things for our good, even hard times, then you can’t share that message of hope with those going through hard times. Silence. If you don’t believe that God is making all things new, even as we age and experience death and tragedy, then you can’t share the message of eternal life with those who need it. Silence. If you don’t believe God is good when he doesn’t give you what you want, then you can’t share that God is good with others who go through disappointment. Silence.
Zechariah doesn’t believe, but thankfully, someone else believes…
Mary the believer (Lk 1:26-56) The story continues: God sends Gabriel to Nazareth in Galilee to the teenage girl Mary who has made a binding-promise to marry Joseph (1:26-27). Gabriel appears to her and says:
Luke 1:28b “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” (NIV®)
Mary, like Zechariah, is afraid. It must be scary to meet an angel. But Gabriel assures her and says.
Luke 1:31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (NIV®)
Gabriel is delivering the most amazing news Mary or any human being has ever received. “Mary, God is going to give you a child who is the Son of God, who is the final descendent of King David, and who will rule the whole universe forever and ever.” But what does she say? She says…
Luke 1:34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” (NIV®)
Zechariah says “prove it!” Mary says “explain it.” Mary asks “How will this be?” The key-word is “will.” How “will” this happen? In other words, “I don’t understand how this is going to happen. Can you explain it to me?” But like a savvy lawyer, the angel doesn’t answer her question. He says the Holy Spirit will make it happen, and that her relative Elizabeth has a child too (1:35-36). Before the angel leaves, Mary says she is the Lord’s servant and affirms that God’s words will be fulfilled (1:38). Her faith shows us two things:
Believers hear good news and have faith (despite their circumstances). Mary hears the good news and believes, and that’s what it means to be a believer, a Christian. Mary’s belief is not dependent on her circumstances. She’s supposed to get married, and she probably knows her soon-to-be husband Joseph may divorce her for her unwed pregnancy because it looks like she committed adultery. Maybe that’s why she runs away to stay with Elizabeth. But despite all of this, she believes.
Sometimes it’s hard to believe the good news of Jesus and the promises of God. I grew up with Jordan. He married Arielle and a couple years later they got pregnant and had baby boy. Two months later they got devastating news. Arielle had cancer, aggressive cancer. They knew that nowhere in Scripture does God promise to heal cancer. So instead they clung to a list of the promises of God found in Scripture. Jordan printed out this list of the promises of God and put it in his wallet, which I’ve brought for you today.
Thank you God:
…that you are for me and not against me! (Romans 8:31) …that you jealously desire relationship with me! (Deuteronomy 5:9) …that you just want to be with me! (John 17:24) …that I am no longer a slave to sin, but a son and daughter in your eyes! (Galatians 4:7) …that because of what you did, I have confidence (and joy) to draw near your presence! (Hebrews 4:14) …that you have given me everything I need for life and godliness! (2 Peter 1:3) …that you don’t call me a servant, but a friend! (John 15:15) …that you don’t put fear on me, but have given me love, power and self-discipline! (2 Timothy 1:7) …that I can consider myself dead to sin, and alive in you! (Romans 6:11)
Whether you’re going through infertility, or joblessness, cancer, a hard relationship, or are struggling with depression, these are the promises of God you can hold onto. Take home this sheet and put it in your wallet or on your bathroom mirror, and when hopeless Mr. Hyde threatens your joy, hold onto them. Believers hear good news and have faith (despite their circumstances). This leads us into worship.
The reward of belief is hopeful praise. Clinging to God’s promises allowed Jordan and Arielle to praise God in the treatment and to continue to praise God as she is disease free. But those promises will also help them praise God even if it returns. When Mary goes to visit her relative Elizabeth, she sings a song of praise—The Magnificat. It starts like this.
Luke 1:46b-49 “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. (NIV®)
Mary is singing a song of praise and thanksgiving for God’s deliverance like Moses and Miriam did when God delivered his people from Egypt (Ex 15:1-21), like what Deborah sang when God delivered the Israelites from the Canaanites (Judges 5:1-31), or like what the infertile Hannah sang when God gave her baby Samuel (1 Samuel 2:1-10). Tonight, like Mary and Moses and Miriam and Deborah, and Hannah, we also have a chance to sing a song of praise because our deliverer came in a manger.
We always sing a worship song after the sermon because it gives us an opportunity to praise God for the things we’ve learned and how he’s spoken to us. If life is good right now and you’re enjoying Christmas and worshipping Jesus, would you sing just a little bit louder to help those of us who are struggling. And if you’re struggling, would you sing even if you don’t feel like it. Sing not because you feel good, but because Jesus is born. Sometimes it’s the act of praising God that changes our hearts.
God offers grace to doubters. (Lk 1:57-80) The story doesn’t end in silence for Zechariah. Elizabeth gives birth. She tries to name her child John, but her relatives pressure her to name him something else (1:57-61). Zechariah motions for a writing tablet and writes four words of faith, “His name is John.” Do you know what John means? John means “Yahweh is gracious.” Yahweh is God’s name and he is full of grace towards us who need it. God opens Zechariah’s mouth and he sings a song of praise just like Mary (1:67-80).
Over 9 months, God has changed Zechariah’s heart. He drains the hard-heartedness, the bitterness from years of disappointment, and the unbelief, and he fills his heart back up with joy, and hope, and faith. Maybe you’ve experienced weeks, months, or years of disappointment. You’re completely drained. God can fill you back up with hope and joy and praise, not because he gives you what you want, but because he gives you himself through the Christ-child Jesus. Jesus came, lived a sinless perfect life, and died a terrible tragic death as a sacrifice for you and for me. None of us have enough faith. We’re all guilty of doubt and disbelief, but because of Jesus, God declares us “not guilty.” So what’s my big idea? What’s the point?
God offers grace to doubters, hope to believers, and Jesus to all. Charlie Brown is depressed and down in A Charlie Brown Christmas. He feels this way despite all the traditions and due to the consumerism. Linus says to him, “Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you’re the Charlie Browniest.” He tries several things to make himself feel better, but none of them work. The chaos builds and builds and finally in desperation Charlie Brown asks, “Does anybody know what Christmas is all about?” And with that, Linus walks center stage and reads Luke chapter 2.
“8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.”
“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” God offers grace to doubters, hope to believers, and Jesus to all.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Fake news… What’s the difference between news that is real and news that is fake? And if you were put to the test to determine what news actually happened, would you get it right? Today, I’d like to put you to that test. I want to show you some headlines and for you to guess if they’re real or fake. “Gatorade banned and fined $300k for bad-mouthing water.” Do you think this is true or fake? This is actually true
Fake news… What’s the difference between news that is real and news that is fake? And if you were put to the test to determine what news actually happened, would you get it right? Today, I’d like to put you to that test. I want to show you some headlines and for you to guess if they’re real or fake.
“Gatorade banned and fined $300k for bad-mouthing water.” Do you think this is true or fake? This is actually true news. Gatorade made an app game that portrayed water as bad and got sued. “Elderly woman trains 65 cats to steal from her neighbors.” You can picture it. Owner trains cats to pick up shiny objects in their mouths in their homes. But is it real? This is fake news. “Celebrate pancakes with a maple syrup bath at famous Japanese hot springs resort.” Don’t you like pancakes so much you just want to bathe in syrup? Guess what? You can! This is true news. “The story of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is true.” Our sermon series is entitled “The Certain Gospel” because I believe what Luke’s gospel account records for us is true, it’s certain, and it’s good news, which is what gospel means. So we could call our series “true good news.”
But whether Jesus is true news or fake news is the big question, isn’t it? Luke set out to answer this question about 40 years after Jesus’ crucifixion—somewhere around AD 70. We don’t know exactly when he wrote this gospel, but he does tell us why he wrote it, how he wrote it, and what he wrote. In our sermon today we’re going to answer those three questions:
What did Luke write? (Lk 1:1) How did he write it? (Lk 1:2-3) Why did he write? (Lk 1:4)
It’s as we answer these three questions that we will will begin to understand whether or not Jesus is true news or fake news. Jesus is the most important person in all of human history, and he makes some pretty startling claims about how we should live our livesand what comes next after we die. I want to know if Jesus is true or false. So let’s get started.
What did Luke write? Let’s see if we can find the answer in verse one.
Luke 1:1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, (NIV®)
Another way you can say this is, “Many have tried to draft the story of what God promised to do and did among us.” Luke is setting out to write two things: 1) a narrative, a history, a record of what took place among them; and 2) how it is a fulfillment of God’s promises in the Old Testament. Luke is writing Christmas! Luke writes how God stepped down into human history, which is what we celebrate.
The story of God stepping into human history. As we look at all the big themes we’re going to see in Luke, we see over and over again God stepping into human history—that he is becoming apart of our narrative. I’ve adapted and condensed the major themes from Mike McKinley’s Luke For You series into four themes.
The Holy Spirit moves: The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity (Father, Son, Spirit), one God, three persons. The book of Acts is famous for the movement of the Spirit, but Acts is the second book in a two-part series. The Spirit shows up first in Luke (Lk 1:35; 2:25-27; 4:14; 10:21). Prayer works: Prayer is talking with the one true God. Skye Jethani illustrates the 4 Stages of Prayer. Prayer is not talking at God, but talking to him, listening to him, and being with him. Luke records when Jesus prays and his teachings on prayer (Lk 6:28; 9:18, 28; 11:1-9; 18:1-14). God saves his people: When the angel announces to the shepherds the arrival of Jesus, the angel says “a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah” (Lk 2:11). The Messiah was God’s promised Savior. Since Adam and Eve sinned and this world fell into brokenness, God has been unfolding a plan to save people who put their faith in him, and this plan comes to completion in Jesus (Lk 4:21; 19:10; 22:37; 24:44). Jesus flips the norm upside-down: When Jesus comes, he blesses social outcasts like the poor and the sick and prostitutes and tax collectors. And he says the prideful, the religious, and the powerful don’t have any part with him (Lk 1:45; 5:27-32; 7:36-50). Jesus brings both spiritual rescue and social justice—he lifts up what the world discards and humbles what the world values. (Stranger Things, upside-down?)
As we look at these themes, what do we see? We see God stepping down from eternity and into our human story and this changes everything. This is what Luke is writing about in his gospel.
Do you know the story Alice in Wonderland? Lewis Carroll first told this story to his friend Henry Liddell’s three daughters, Lorina, Alice, and Edith. In fact, in the prefatory verse (aka. opening poem) to Alice in Wonderland he names them Prima, Secunda, and Tertia. And then of course, he names the main character Alice after the second daughter. Carroll writes Alice into the story. He draws out these girls imaginations by drawing them into the book. That’s kind of like what God does. God the Father wrote his Son Christ Jesus into our story.
And if God has entered our story, that changes everything, how I live my life, why I’m here, what I should be doing. It gives me both hope that I have an ultimate purpose but challenges me to stop living life just for myself. When we hear that God has entered our story, it can seem a little fantastical, but although it is supernatural, it’s not fantasy. How do we know it’s not pure make-believe? By how Luke wrote his book.
How did Luke write it? Let’s look at the next couple verses. Luke drafted this story of things fulfilled…
Luke 1:2-3 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, (NIV®)
So how did he write it?
Carefully, based on eyewitness accounts. Like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Luke carefully investigated Jesus’ life and death to find the truth. As we read Luke, you’ll notice he’s a combination of Sherlock, who notices the small things, the little details that tell us this is a true story, and the trained mind of Dr. Watson. In fact, Luke is a Doctor.
Colossians 4:14 Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. (NIV®)
This doesn’t mean that Luke was wealthy or had status, but he did have medical knowledge and training. So we can safely assume that he would go about investigating the story of Jesus just as carefully as he might operate on a patient or care for the sick. Like Sherlock and Watson talk to different witnesses, so did he.
He could have spoken to Men who knew Jesus. When the 11 apostles (disciples) chose someone to replace Judas, they chose from among men who had been there from Jesus’ birth to the resurrection (Acts 1:21-22). Luke probably spoke to these men. In Corinthians Paul tells us that over 500 people saw Jesus alive; and Luke probably talked to some of them (1 Cor 15:6). He’s writing around 40 years after Jesus’ ministry, when many of them were still alive. In their oral society, people worked hard to remember and truthfully retell significant events because they didn’t have easy access to reading and writing. So their testimony is reliable. Luke also likely talked to Women who saw it happen. One of Luke’s primary sources was probably Mary herself (Luke 2:19), who knew Jesus his whole life. He also likely spoke to Mary Magdalene and Joanna since he records them being among the first to discover Jesus risen from the grave (Luke 24:9-11), but the men didn’t believe them. Both Jewish and Roman law didn’t think much of a woman’s testimony, but Luke trusted them. Now he is asking us, do you trust them?
But maybe some of you are thinking. Why are there four different gospel accounts? Don’t they contradict each other? Have you ever been to the Newseum in Washington DC? Out front of the museum on the street they have a row of cases displaying the front pages of a bunch of different newspapers from all around the world. When something big happens, many of them may cover the same event, but with different headlines and different reporters writing to different audiences. Same event. Different reporters. Different audiences. That’s what the four gospels are. Same event (the life of Jesus). Differentreporters (with different perspectives). Different audiences:
Matthew – Original disciple writing to Jewish Christians. Mark – Peter’s account written to church in Rome. Luke – Early believer writing to Hellenized Jewish Christians. John – Disciple writing to convince Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.
Luke writes for the social outcasts, those not accepted by the majority of Jewish people. We see this in the name Theophilus. That’s a Greek name that means “friend of God.” Theophilus was the wealthy benefactor who paid for the account but the intended audience was always larger than him. Luke probably referred to Mark as one of his eyewitnesses. Luke wrote his gospel carefully based on eyewitness accounts. But why did he write this?
Why did Luke write? Luke gives us his purpose statement in verse four. He did all this research and investigation…
Luke 1:4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (NIV®)
Why did Luke write his gospel account?
So that we can believe with certainty. The Greek word here for “certainty” means truth. In other words, Luke writes so that we can know what the first Christians and what we still believe today is true. But this word for certainty can also mean security. Certainty equals safety. There’s safety in truth, isn’t there?
Imagine for a moment that you are moving all of your belongings in a big moving truck. Your whole life is packed into your U-Haul. You pack your family in and you begin driving. You’re driving to your new home when you come up to a bridge. It has a sign that says “weight limit 4 tons.”And as you look ahead, you see a bridge that’s rusty but looks stable. What do you do? Do you take a big breath and drive across the bridge or do you use Waze to find another route? Is the sign fake news or is it telling the truth? How do you know what decision to make? Do you know how much your table, chairs, and trunk full of furbies weighs? Or are you willing to risk all of that, your whole life on your best guess?
You would never risk your life on your best guess. But are you risking your eternity on your best guess? One day we’re each going to face a much greater bridge—death. This is the scariest of all bridges. It’s dark and looks like it will collapse and we can’t see the other side clearly. But there is a sign above it. The sign over the bridge says this.
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die…” – Jesus Christ (John 11:25b)
Jesus is not just a best guess, he’s a certain guarantee. I want to challenge you, whether you’re a Christian or not to stop risking the next-life on your best guess. Jesus himself said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6) and he backed up that claim from rising from the grave. He walked back across the bridge and offers to walk with you through this life, across that bridge, and into the next. He asks you repent of your sins, trust him, and come and follow him.
You can call yourself a Christian and never get serious about following Jesus. You’ve taken your best guess. Maybe your parents were Christians so you are, or all of your friends are Christians so you go to church. You’ve said the prayer and you call yourself a Christian but your life doesn’t look different than anyone else’s. Jesus isn’t really Lord of your life. You’re driving onto a bridge you have not examined. Get real about your faith. Get real about Jesus. Stop messing around.
If you’re not a Christian, or haven’t taken the time time to see if this Jesus story is true, I want to invite you to join us for the duration of this sermon series. Come every week. This can be your investigation. You can also pick up The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel at our Welcome Center. Lee Strobel was an atheist journalist who took the time to investigate the truth claims of Christians, and he found the evidence to be good, to be certain. But don’t take my word for it. Read his book. So is Jesus fake news or true news?
Jesus is a true story. Jesus isn’t fake news. He’s true news. He’s good news. Jesus isn’t a myth or fantasy or made up. People like you and me saw it happen and Luke wrote it all down really carefully. Jesus is the certain gospel. He’s the truly good news. Jesus is a true story, and true stories are the best stories. Jesus is a true story.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Do any of you have friends who have an in-home camera? You can buy some of them that connect to an app on your phone. I want you to imagine for a moment that on Black Friday you purchased the SpaceTime 2000 NestCam with a crystal clear picture and audio feed. You install it in the ceiling-corner of your dining room. It works great, but one day when you tune to check in on Fido, you see a different scene.
Do any of you have friends who have an in-home camera? You can buy some of them that connect to an app on your phone. I want you to imagine for a moment that on Black Friday you purchased the SpaceTime 2000 NestCam with a crystal clear picture and audio feed. You install it in the ceiling-corner of your dining room. It works great, but one day when you tune to check in on Fido, you see a different scene.
Please click “Save” then “PDF” to download a copy of the manuscript with extras. Sermon slides available at the bottom of this page.
There seems to be a glitch because the camera app is now showing you a live-video stream of the Last Supper. You know it’s the Last Supper because the app’s clock says AD 30~, it’s clearly a middle-eastern house, the long-wooden table is low to the ground, and Jesus and his 12 disciples are sitting on only one side of the table. As you listen in, you see Jesus take the bread and cup with his disciples, Judas leave, and you see what you would expect to see from the Gospel accounts.
After dinner, Jesus lifts up his eyes to heaven and prays. Just like our sermon series in John 17, he opens his prayer by focusing on his Father in heaven. Once he prays for his father to be glorified, he prays for his disciples. You even see him glance around at Peter, James, John, and the others. But once he finishes praying for them, he looks up to the top corner of the dining room directly at you. The 4th wall is broken. He is now praying for you. In fact, he addresses you by name, “I pray for Diana, for Bruce, for Kathy…”
This is what is happening in John 17. First Jesus prayed for his Father’s glory, then he prayed for his disciples, and now he is pray for all believers after his disciples, including us today.
John 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, (NIV®)
Last week I talked about what Jesus prayed for his disciples, and so might be praying for us today. Today I’m talking about what he definitely prayed for us. Do you want to know what Jesus prayed for you?
Jesus prays for our union. (John 17:21-26) Jesus prays for our union. What is union?
Union: A relationship that binds people together in love, togetherness, mind, and purpose.
Who can we experience union with? Jesus prays for our…
Union with other believers. (v. 21a, 22b, 23b) Jesus fills this portion of his prayer with repetition and parallel words, but our modern English translations don’t do a great job of showing it. Of the ones I looked at, I thought the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) did the best job.
21 May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me.
22 I have given them the glory You have given Me. May they be one as We are one.
23 I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Jesus wants us to be “one”—to be unified, to love each other, fellowship, share the same mind and purpose.
Jesus’ first call, and repeated call, is for horizontal unity among believers. We picture this as a horizontal arrow demonstrating a connection between believers in the local church, but also believers in the universal church. The type of unity Jesus is calling for is global (“may they all be one!”). In the Nicene Creed, we say, “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.” What does that mean? Holy means set apart. Catholic means universal. Apostolic means built on the teachings of the Apostles (NT).
In our Cornerstone Playbook, we say how we try to do this as a church.
We believe that like-minded local churches can help promote the cause of Jesus Christ by cooperating with one another by prioritizing fellowship, mutual accountability, and a unified witness.
We desire to work with “like-minded local churches” who believe the gospel, who want to promote the message of Jesus Christ. Jesus prays for us to be unified with other local churches, and what is taking place all around the globe. We can demonstrate our global oneness by praying for missionaries and financially supporting them. When we had Thierry Mirone preach here that was a chance to show our oneness with the church in France.
We can also show we’re apart of the universal church body by supporting our church conference, the 4Cs and other 4Cs churches. As a church plant, we have a unique opportunity to show our unity by how we interact with our parent church, Immanuel. As we speak highly of the leadership there, and express our gratitude, we are one, and we’re a positive witness for Jesus. But the converse is also true. If we speak negatively of them or any Christ-centered local church, we are a negative witness.
So we should pray for other churches to encourage and support us, and for us to be an encouragement and support to other churches, and do everything in our power to make that happen. Jesus prays for us to have union with other believers. But we can’t do this alone, so Jesus also prays for our…
Union with the Father and the Son. (v. 21b, 23a) Let’s look at our passage once more for where it speaks of unity with the Father and the Son.
21 May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me.
23 I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me. (HCSB)
To understand Jesus’ prayer for vertical unity between us, the Father, and himself, we need to understand how Jesus and the Father are unified, not just as God, but in relationship.
Dependency – Jesus was dependent on the Father (John 5:19 “the Son can do nothing by himself”) so we are dependent on the Father (complete reliance on God). Work – Jesus did his his Father’s work (John 10:25 “The works I do in my father’s name”) so we do the Father’s work (serving church, serving community, frontline, social justice). Words – Jesus spoke his Father’s words (John 8:28 “speak just what the Father has taught me”) so we speak the Father’s words (truth of Scripture). Being – Jesus shares unity in being with the Father (John 10:21 “You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us”) so we share in the relational aspect of God’s being (through the Holy Spirit in us). Love – Jesus is loved by the Father (John 17:23 “[You] have loved them as You have loved me.”) and he invites us to share that very same love (most important part!).
I want to pause for a moment and have you write something on a piece of paper. Take your bulletin and a pen and write, “The Father loves me.” Do you realize the Father loves you as much as he loves his Son Christ Jesus? How can we possibly know that? Just look at the cross.
At the cross, Christ Jesus makes possible our union with the Father and himself (John 17:3). At the cross, Jesus forgives our sins. He takes on the full wrath of God upon himself so that we can now experience God’s love instead of anger. And because we have been forgiven a great debt, we can now look all around us at our brothers and sisters in Christ within our church, in the next town over, or on the other side of the globe, and we can extend them this same kind of forgiveness and grace. It’s because of the cross that we can be one with the Father and with Christ Jesus, experiencing true spiritual union.
Have you ever seen those Russian nesting dolls? Kathy brought this illustration to the preaching breakfast this week. Apparently they’re called “matryoshka dolls.” They stack one inside the other inside the other all the way down. I saw one picture of a 40-piece set, but I didn’t bring it because I thought you would be too distracted by how great it is. When people look inside of us, they should find the Son’s love, and when they look inside the Son, they will find the Father’s love, and when they look inside the Father they should find our love, and so on and so on. It’s the eternal Russian nesting doll! When they see us, and are around us, we should remind them of Jesus. There’s something different about her! When they hear the teachings of Jesus, it should remind them of us. The Bible says “Love your neighbor.” I know my friend must be Christians because they do that.
Jesus prays for our union with other believers and with the Father and the Son. Prayer ultimately is not about doing something (talking at God), but about being with someone (speaking to and hearing from God). Did you know Jesus desires for you to be with him?
24 Father, I desire those You have given Me to be with Me where I am. Then they will see My glory, which You have given Me because You loved Me before the world’s foundation. (HCSB)
Jesus has promised us that one day he will take us to be with him (John 14:2). But until that day, we can have a little taste (a foretaste) of what being with Jesus and the Father is like through prayer. It’s as we are in this relationship, that the world will know Jesus is the real thing. We pray for union for two reasons:
So that the world may know Jesus is from God. So that the world may know the Father loves us.
We find this in verses 23 and 25-26.
23 I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me
25 Righteous Father! The world has not known You. However, I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me.
26 I made Your name known to them and will make it known, so the love You have loved Me with may be in them and I may be in them. (HCSB)
Jesus calls us to love one another and the Father as a powerful witness to the world (c.f., John 13:35). If we want better outreach, let’s pray for union with each other, with the Father, and with the Son. At the end of the day, we can’t do this. None of us have the power to experience true union with God or others apart from a work of the Holy Spirit. Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to grant us union.
Let’s pray for union with the Father, with Jesus, and with each other. I don’t know about you but when I hear a sermon on prayer or read a book on prayer, I just want to pray. So that’s what we are going to do. We’re going to spend the next few minutes in corporate prayer as a church. I’m going to lead us through praying what we learned in John 17. I want you to pray with the people sitting in a seat near you. If you’re a visitor, we invite you to participate, but you don’t have to.
We’re going to start like Jesus started his prayer, by praising the Father, by glorifying him. For example, you can pray, “Father, you are glorious or good or kind…” Say a short prayer, and go around (or hop around) your circle as you feel led. Keep praying till I take you to the next prompt.
“Father, you are ___________.”
“Father, would you make us one with ___________.”
“Father, may the world know ___________.”
Please finish your time in prayer as I invite the worship team to lead us into worship. Righteous Father, please give us union with yourself, with Jesus, and with each other…
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
*If you listened to the audio or watched the video, Pastor Jonathan said Mark is one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. Please excuse this slip. Mark was not one of the 12 disciples. You can find the full list here, Who were the twelve (12) disciples / apostles of Jesus Christ?
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One of the things Monica and I encourage engaged couples to do when we’re going through pre-marital counseling with them is to make a last will and testament after they get married. Now that’s kind of morbid, right? You’re about to get married! But you also may die… We’re not saying they should see a lawyer on their Honeymoon, but for sure in the first 2-3 years of marriage. Please click “Save” then “PDF” to download a copy of the
One of the things Monica and I encourage engaged couples to do when we’re going through pre-marital counseling with them is to make a last will and testament after they get married. Now that’s kind of morbid, right? You’re about to get married! But you also may die… We’re not saying they should see a lawyer on their Honeymoon, but for sure in the first 2-3 years of marriage.
Please click “Save” then “PDF” to download a copy of the manuscript with extras. Sermon slides available at the bottom of this page.
Why do we make last wills and testaments? If you die, it can make a difficult time much easier on your family. You create a will because you don’t want the bank to be in charge of dividing up your assets. And you do want good things to happen. You want your children to receive your money or home so they can use those assets to help their families.
Last week I told you John 17 is one of Jesus’ last prayers before his crucifixion and death. This is kind of like Jesus’ last will and testament. In it, we see him saying what he wants for his disciples. He doesn’t leave them his carpentry business or say who can have his cloak and staff. Instead he asks three things (three petitions) for his disciples. Jesus prays that his disciples would be:
- Not at odds, but as one.
John 17:11b …Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. (NIV®)
- Not of it, but in it.
John 17:15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. (NIV®)
- Not swept away, but set apart.
John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (NIV®)
There is so much in John 17 I’m narrowing our message down to these three things Jesus specifically prays for his disciples. Now why should you care about what Jesus prayed for his disciples? The Bible says Jesus is our intercessor (Rom 8:34). So if Jesus prayed this 2,000 years ago for his disciples back then, he’s probably praying something very similar for you 2,000 years later right now. What is Jesus praying? First, Jesus prays for us to be…
Not at odds, but as one. John 17:11b …Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. (NIV®)
Jesus prays the Father would protect their unity—“so that they may be one as we are one.” How are the Father and Son unified? Earlier Jesus described his relationship with his Father.
John 14:10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. (NIV®)
Jesus is spiritually unified with his father. They’re distinct persons but one God. His Father lives in him and he lives in his Father. Now he’s praying for a similar unity for them. “Father, may they be one as we are one? Would you live in them and do your work through them?” It’s as we are with our heavenly Father in relationship with him that we become unified with believers who are also with him. The key word is “with.” That’s what Christianity is, going through life day by day with Jesus and the Father.
This is why Jesus prays, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me…” It’s God’s true name that unites us with each other and the Father. Earlier in verse 6 when Jesus says, “I have revealed you” in the original Greek it’s, “I have revealed your name.” Why does God’s name matter? When God reveals his name, he reveals his identity, which means we can know him (Ex 33:19).
The right name can both reveal and unify. I have a lot of friends who are pregnant right now. They tell us about naming their babies. The story can go like this. “If we have a boy, I want to name him Jackson, but my husband wants to name him… Lancelot.” This is important because a name can shape the direction of a child’s future. Will he be the popular cool kid, Jackson? Or will he get made fun of and attacked with broomsticks, Lancelot?” But the story doesn’t stop there because after reading through a thousand baby names, a husband and wife somehow manage to find the right name together. But we don’t know what that name is, because they won’t tell us. A name brought them from a point of disunity to unity. It’s through this final name that they will one day be in a relationship with their child.
How much more significant, and powerful, and God-revealing is the name of Jesus?Did you know the name Jesus means “Yahweh saves?” (Matt 1:21). Yahweh is the Old Testament name of God. Jesus is Yahweh who has come to save his people from their sins. Jesus reveals God’s identity. Does the name of Jesus unify us? Are we not at odds, but as one, because of the name of Jesus? When we’re tempted to go our own way, remember the name Jesus.
Let’s compare two similar sentences.
“I want my way.” — This sentence is the source of almost every conflict. Why can’t I agree with my wife? I want my way. Why do I disobey my parents? I want my way. Why can’t I get along with my coworkers? I want my way. Why do I dislike liberals or can’t stand conservatives? I want my way. Why am I so upset about the decision those Christians made? I want my way. I want my way leads to strife and hurt and a bad witness. So is there another way? Here’s a second option… “I want the way of Jesus.” — This changes everything. How I view conflict and disagreement. When I can’t agree with my wife, I want the way of Jesus, so I humble myself. When my parents make me upset, I want the way of Jesus, so I choose to obey them even when I disagree with them. When I’m having a hard time at work, I want the way of Jesus, so I put others before myself. In politics, I want the way of Jesus, so I love those across the aisle. Those Christians made a decision I disagree with, but I want the way of Jesus, so I walk forward in faith.
As a church, let’s pray for each other.“Father, help us resist wanting our own way and instead want the way of Jesus. May we do this by wanting a relationship with you.” Jesus prays for us to be… not at odds, but as one. What else did Jesus pray? Second, Jesus prays for us to be…
Not of it, but in it. John 17:15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. (NIV®)
First Jesus wants us to be unified, but he wants us to be unified in a certain time and place, in the world. Tim Brister explains being in the world this way:
Christians are in the world in the sense that they occupy the same space, go to the same markets and interact in the same society as non-Christians. They are not people who form their own sub-cultures or ghettos to avoid the world. They recognize where God has placed them and do not run from that reality. They are relatable, accessible, and approachable to those in the world in normal, ordinary ways (e.g., friend, neighbor, coworker, classmate, teammate, etc.).
So we’re called to be in it, but not of it. We’re to continue to believe and obey the teachings of Jesus just like the first disciples (John 17:6, 8). How will the world feel about this? The “world” is all those who reject the message and teachings of Jesus Christ, and so they will reject us.
John 17:14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. (NIV®)
We find two priorities of Jesus here: 1) that we would live and be in the world, but 2) that the world would not control or define us. The good news is that Jesus will use us to rescue some from the world.
John 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, (NIV®)
As a Christian, I think this is one of the hardest things we’re called to do. We’re called to not just know Christians butto form meaningful relationships with non-Christians, but at the same time be willing to be rejected for Jesus as we share the truth of his message, believing that he will rescue some.
I don’t know about you, but I struggle with this. I want friendships. I want to be loved by the people on my frontline (my non-Christian friends), but I also want them to know Jesus. I can think of a dozen times over the last two year where I could have been more bold about my faith or what I believe as a follower of Jesus, and I didn’t take it because I was afraid of what they might think. I guess it’s my prayer that Jesus would be honored in this struggle, and that for every dozen failures, he would give me one success.
I have a name for what this feels like, being in the world but not of it—messy discipleship. Messy discipleship is when I risk getting dirty for the sake of Christ. Messy discipleship is when you go to your non-Christian friend’s party, even though you know there will be lots of drinking, just because you want to spend time with them. Messy discipleship is when you form friendships with universalists who assume you believe the same things they do and you first ask them questions about what they believe. Messy discipleship is inviting your gay neighbors over for dinner even though your kids may say something awkward. Messy discipleship is being willing to eat and drink with sinners and not caring what other well-meaning Christians might have to say about you (Luke 7:34).
Messy discipleship brings us to our knees as we realize we’re probably not doing it right. Clean discipleship allows us to wash our hands of the whole thing, “I know I’m not of the world because I’m not in the world.” But who are we counting on for our righteousness (our right standing before God) by living that way? Ourselves. In messy discipleship, you have to rely completely on Christ’s justification of you, his forgiveness of your sins and his granting of righteousness, for your right standing before God. And we have to pray, just like Jesus, that the Father would keep us safe from the the evil one because we’re on his turf.
It’s as we struggle to be faithful that we grow to be more like Jesus Christ. This leads me to Jesus’ third petition, that the Father would sanctify us. Jesus prays for us to be…
Not swept away, but set apart. (John 17:17-19) John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (NIV®)
To sanctify means “to set apart.” In other words, Jesus is praying that the Father would differentiate his disciples from the world, making them more like Jesus. So let’s summarize so far. Jesus is praying for us to be unified through our relationship with the Father as we go out into the world, and that as we’re in the world we would stick out as different. It’s like he’s praying for the Father to pick us up and set us on top of a big boulder in the middle of a raging river, and that we wouldn’t be swept away.
Aren’t we going to drown in the torrent, slip in the mud, or get lost in the darkness? We’ll be fine because we’re standing on the boulder—the word of God. We’re on solid ground. We’re in the light. Jesus gave his disciples the truth of God and they believed (John 17:8). Now Jesus is praying that as we go into the world, we hold fast to this truth. If we want to hold fast in today’s world, we have to hold onto the Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus no matter what.
Jesus uses this combination of holding fast to his word while being in the world to sanctify us. If we look at verses 15-19, we jump back and forth between the world and sanctification. In v15-16, Jesus talks about being in the world, then in verse 17 he talks about being sanctified, then he goes back to the world in verse 18 (“I have sent them into the world), and then back to sanctification in verse 19 (“For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”). There is a close connection between being sent and being sanctified. It’s as we’re sent, and have to cling to God’s word, that we become set apart by Christ.
If you believe that the best way to grow in holiness is to read God’s word, but stay far away from the world, you need to repent. You need to confess that you may have been reading God’s word but you haven’t been obeying it. The Father doesn’t want us to retreat, he wants us to risk ourselves for the sake of redemption.
We risk ourselves for the lost because Christ Jesus risked himself for us. At Christmas, Jesus left his Holy Father in heaven to enter into our mud, our darkness, our torrent. He allowed himself to be swept away so that three days later he could sweep away our sins. At the cross, he bore our disunity, our worldliness, and every time we’ve ever given into the world’s peer pressure. He takes all that away and offers us perfect unity with the father, out-of-this world righteousness, and a rock we can stand on that will never be moved.
As we think about everything Jesus prays for us, and we can pray for each other, may this be our prayer too.
As we’re with the Father, let’s pray to stand out in the world. A couple weeks ago a friend at my gym asked me why I became a pastor. I told her I wasn’t happy doing bank examination, which is what I did before, and that I felt God called me to become a pastor. She thought that was cool, but I wasn’t super happy with my answer. Because in our world, “God” could mean anything. I wish I’d said, “Christ called me to pick up my cross and follow him” or something like that…
Then I asked her, “Do you know any other pastors?” She said no, and another woman said no too, and a third woman said she loved her universalist unitarian pastor. That’s when I realized that I was the only pastor most of the people at my gym know. I hope you’ll all have a similar realization—that you are likely the only true follower of Jesus your coworkers, friends, and classmates know. Jesus has placed you where you are so you can tell them about him. Like me, you probably struggle to be bold, which is why we need to remember we’re not alone. We’re with the Father. As we’re with the Father, let’s pray to stand out in the world.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Tonight we’re starting a three-week sermon series called How He Prayed. We’re looking at how Jesus prayed in John chapter 17 as a model for how we can pray. John 17 is known as the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. A priest is someone who acts as an intermediary between God and people. So as Jesus prays this passage, we can also learn how to go before God on behalf of ourselves and others. Please click “Save” then “PDF” to
Tonight we’re starting a three-week sermon series called How He Prayed. We’re looking at how Jesus prayed in John chapter 17 as a model for how we can pray. John 17 is known as the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. A priest is someone who acts as an intermediary between God and people. So as Jesus prays this passage, we can also learn how to go before God on behalf of ourselves and others.
Please click “Save” then “PDF” to download a copy of the manuscript with extras. Sermon slides available at the bottom of this page.
I chose this series because our general theme for this year is Prayer & Discipleship and because I thought focusing on Jesus would make for a nice Christmas series. After thinking about it, since Jesus prayed this prayer after the last supper the night before he was crucified, it would also make a nice Easter series. Since it’s first a prayer series, let’s start there.
Father, show us your glory. Father, show me your glory. Father, would we not hear this sermon series on prayer and walk away prayer-less. Father, would you change us into a church known for praying, for depending, for crying out to you for the sake of knowing you. Father, would your Holy Spirit fill this place so that we encounter your life-giving presence and the life-giving presence of your Son Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.
If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you pray for? For a longer life? For more time with those you love? When Jesus prayed this prayer, he knew he was going to die tomorrow.
John 17:1a After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come…
The hour has come. The hour of his passion, his trial, his scourging, his crucifixion, his rejection, his execution. I feel like many Pastor’s favorite movie for illustrations is Braveheart. Braveheart is the story of William Wallace (played by Mel Gibson), who rallies the Scottish against their English oppressors. At the end of the movie, he’s been betrayed and is awaiting his execution in an English prison when his love interest comes to him and gives him a sedative to drink so that his death will be easier.
She makes him drink it, kisses him goodbye, and when she leaves he spits it out. He wants to face his trial fully aware so that he won’t betray Scotland in a moment of weakness. Jesus could pray here for a sedative, “Father, make it hurt less. Father, make it go fast. Father, save me.” But instead he prays…
John 17:1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. (NIV®)
Jesus doesn’t pray for Tylenol, but for glory. He first prays for glory for himself so that he can glorify his Father. Does this remind you of any other prayer Jesus taught us to pray?
Matthew 6:9b …“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, (NIV®)
To “hallow” something means to “make it holy.” So here in Matthew 6 and John 17 we see two examples of Jesus praying. And in both examples he starts his prayer by focusing on honoring and glorifying his Father. So when we pray:
- We can begin with glory. (John 17:1) What is glory? What is Jesus praying for? Glory means “to honor or praise.” But it’s not just applause. It’s recognizing the worth or character of something. The movie Glory is based on the true story of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry regiment, which was a military unit made up mostly of African-Americans. It’s the story of their humiliation and disrespect, and ends with their heroic charge on Fort Wagner. To glorify something is to reveal its honor. They were pressed down by racism, but they broke through as they broke the fort’s wall, revealing their inherent courage, bravery, and valor. Likewise…
Glory is God’s presence revealed. (Exodus 33:14, 18-19) So when Jesus prays, “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you” he is praying to reveal the honor of the Son so that the Son may reveal the honor of the Father. Do you all know the story of the golden calf? When Moses was on Mount Sinai talking to God, the people of Israel got worried and made a golden calf to worship. And because of this, God nearly destroys the whole Israelite people. But Moses intercedes for the people just like Jesus intercedes for us, and God relents. He promises to send an angel with them to the promised land, but he won’t go with them (Ex 33:2-3). Everyone breaks into mourning and Moses asks once more for God’s presence to go with them, and God relents.
Exodus 33:14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (NIV®)
But Moses isn’t satisfied with God’s answer. No, he wants a sign. He needs to see God for himself to know that God will not abandon him, so Moses prays this.
Exodus 33:18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” (NIV®)
Moses asks for God to reveal his glory and this is God’s reply (c.f., Ex 33:22; 1 Kings 19:8, 11).
Exodus 33:19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. (NIV®)
God doesn’t just reveal his physical presence, he reveals his character. Good. Merciful. Compassionate. Don’t you want to see God’s glory? Don’t you want to see God’s goodness, his mercy, his compassion?
Have you ever wanted to see something because you knew it was greater in person than in pictures? I never saw the ocean until I was about 12-years old. My family would drive 3-days from Colorado to Virginia every fall to visit family, but we always stopped 3-hours short of the ocean. Finally, I told my parents I really wanted to see the ocean, and they agreed so we drove down to Virginia Beach. As we drove up onto the Chesapeake Bay Bridge it happened, the Atlantic ocean. All at once I was surrounded by the biggest body of water I had ever seen on all sides. The ocean was huge! I couldn’t see the end of it! Isn’t the ocean glorious? Then we drove to the beach, got out of our van, and got attacked by seagulls.
Do you think my interest in the ocean was only in seeing it or in experiencing it? I didn’t just want to look at it and go home. I wanted to touch the water. I wanted to smell the ocean and look for seashells to know if this thing was everything I’d ever heard it to be. When we pray, “God, show me your glory” we’re praying for God to let us dip our toes in the shoreline waves of his infinitely good presence.
God, show me your glory. Splash me with your ocean. Soak me in your presence. So the Father says, “Have you seen my Son?” Glory is God’s presence revealed and…
God’s presence is revealed in Jesus Christ. (John 1:14) Have you ever wanted to see God’s glory? Just look at Jesus!
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV®)
Jesus reveals his Father’s glory. God’s presence is in Jesus. God’s goodness, his mercy, and compassion are all in Christ Jesus. Here’s where Christmas enters into the sermon. There’s something glorious about Christmas isn’t there? The lights, snow, trees, decorations, gifts, smiles, laughter, food. People give to charity around Christmas when they might not give the rest of the year. Despite the consumerism and the stress, there’s still something special because on this day we celebrate God’s glory breaking into this world in the form of a tiny little babe. God’s presence is revealed in Jesus Christ.
So when we pray, we can start just like Jesus starts his prayer in John 17. We can pray to honor and glorify Jesus and the Father. “Father, would you be glorified. Jesus, would you be glorified. Would my words and thoughts and deeds not only honor you but would they reveal your presence to this world? Oh God, show me your glory. Show me your presence through Christ Jesus. Amen.” When we start by focusing on glorifying God and experiencing his glory, it turns our prayers from being man-centered to God-centered.
When we pray this way, we’re asking God to lead us into the ocean of his glory. But how do we know we won’t drown? How do we know we won’t be crushed by the waves? Won’t we be consumed by God’s complete holiness, by his wrath against our sins? For sinful beings to experience an infinitely good God we must ask him for a life preserver. When we pray: 1) We can begin with glory…
- We can pray for eternal life. (John 17:2-3) We come humbly before Jesus Christ, confessing our sins, and asking him to give us eternal life.
Eternal life is a gift. (John 17:2) Eternal life is not something we can earn by doing good deeds. It’s not a merit badge. It’s not a promotion. It’s not an employee of the month award. Eternal life is a Christmas gift.
John 17:2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. (NIV®)
So to experience God’s glory safely, we need the gift of eternal life, which we can’t have through our own works. In fact, as if just to emphasize that point. Jesus says he only gives this gift to those his Father gave him. So it’s like Jesus is re-gifting a gift his Father gave him, but this isn’t a fruit-cake nobody wants. This is the most valuable gift ever given. What is the gift of eternal life?
Eternal life is the gift of knowing the Father and the Son. (John 17:3) One commentary said eternal life is not living forever. That’s the result of having eternal life. Eternal life is a relationship.
John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (NIV®)
Did you hear the definition? Eternal life is “knowing” the only true God (Jesus is talking about his Father) and knowing Jesus Christ himself. Do you want to experience glory? Then you have to know the Father and Jesus. The Greek word for “know” here can mean intellectual understanding, but that’s not how John is using it. The type of knowing he’s using here is intimate (John 10:14-15). It’s like saying, “I know my wife” or “I know my husband” or “I know my children” or “I know my parents.” Do you just have an intellectual understanding of them? Or do you know their fears, their joys, what they love, what makes them laugh, what makes them sad? Do you know Jesus? Does Jesus know you? Do you tell the Father your fears, your joys, what you love, do you laugh with him or let him see you cry?
If you want to step into the ocean of God’s presence, but never have before, I can tell you the ocean is dangerous apart from Christ. If you want to experience God apart from Jesus, you will drown in the abyss. But in Christ Jesus, you can swim forever. We had a baptism today. The one we baptized isn’t dipping her toes into God’s presence. She’s diving in. If you’re not a Christian, come on in. The water’s fine. Eternal life is the gift of knowing the Father and the Son.
So let’s review. When we pray: 1) We can begin with glory (which is God’s presence revealed). 2) We can pray for eternal life (which is knowing the Father and the Son); and so how can we close our prayers?
- We can close in praise. (John 17:4-5) The right response to glory is praise. The right response to God’s infinite goodness revealed in Christ is worship. And that’s what we want to do when we read the last two verses.
John 17:4-5 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. (NIV®)
Jesus says he has finished the work his Father gave him to do. What’s his work? It’s a life lived in obedience to the Father—teaching the Words of God to his disciples, healing the blind and mute, rebuking the hard-hearted. Jesus, of course, is including the final work he is about to do, the cross. The death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus are his final work. He will die, rise again, and ascend into heaven and sit down in glory (Acts 7:55-56; Phil 2:6-11). The final word William Wallace yells in Braveheart before he is executed is “Freedom!” In Glory, the black regiment fights for freedom from oppression and slavery. When Jesus died, he finished his work to give us freedom. Are you free? Are you experiencing his finished work?
We can pray this way because of the finished work of Jesus. When we pray: 1) We can begin with glorybecause Jesus stepped down out of glory to reveal God’s glorious presence to us. 2) We can pray for eternal lifebecause Jesus sacrificed his life for us. We can have a relationship with the Heavenly Father, because, for a time, Jesus lost his relationship with the Father at the cross. And 3) we can close in praise because right now Jesus is sitting with his Father at the throne in heaven, completely victorious over sin and death. The best way to end a sermon on prayer is in prayer. Would you join me? Father, show us your glory!
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Instructions for the Rich | 1 Timothy 6:17-19 One of the great things about getting the opportunity to preach occasionally is that you all get to know a little more about me. So, I want to establish one thing right up front before I get too far into this sermon that you should know about me. I’m rich. Seriously; I am extremely wealthy. I know you may not be able to tell by looking at me or my clothes or
Instructions for the Rich | 1 Timothy 6:17-19
One of the great things about getting the opportunity to preach occasionally is that you all get to know a little more about me. So, I want to establish one thing right up front before I get too far into this sermon that you should know about me. I’m rich. Seriously; I am extremely wealthy. I know you may not be able to tell by looking at me or my clothes or inspecting the car I drove here today in all its Gorilla-taped glory. In fact, I think the Gorilla tape has 100,000 miles on it. Or, my house; I don’t think visitors getting this view will be impressed with my wealth. But, nevertheless, I am filthy rich. You see, I went to globalrichlist.com and plugged in my annual income and found out I was in the top 0.05% of the world. For those of you who maybe aren’t as good at math, you know, for Jonathan when he listens to the sermon later, picture grabbing 10,000 people at random from around the world, I would be the 5th wealthiest person in that group. I am pretty sure that is the only thing I am in the top 0.05% in the world. You can use that website from an asset point of view as well, which for me didn’t make me as wealthy, but if you are retired, have a house that is paid for and a big 401K, even with no real income, you could be considered one of the wealthiest people in the world.
This website didn’t take into account how many people are in my family, but I went back in and plugged in the Massachusetts poverty line income for my family and found out I would still be in the top less than 1% of the world’s wealthiest people. You know what? That leads me to believe that I have some really good news for you this morning. It is highly likely that you are also rich! I mean really rich.
If I haven’t made my point, let’s look at a couple photos.
Since we just finished a sermon series, Jonathan told me I could preach on whatever I wanted. We will have to see if that ever happens again!
You might be starting to wonder what this has to do with our Scripture passage. You see, 2 Timothy 6:17-19 follows a section starting in verse 3 that warns against having a love for money. Verse 10 is very famous (and often misquoted), it says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” This is the context under which Paul writes the text we are focusing on this evening. It is important to look at a short passage like this in context, and it is important to me that you feel the passage is written for you. In your Bible, you may have a heading over this text that says something like, “Instructions for the Rich”. It is really easy for me, and probably all of us, to think this passage is not for me, I am not rich. But, hopefully, everyone here now is thinking that maybe Paul is speaking to them and not just other people. Please turn to 1 Timothy 6:17-19 as I would like to read it again. “17Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
God wants us to place our hope in Him, rather than money. (V 17)
“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” Here Paul provides us with a very practical reason not to put our hope in riches. They are uncertain. In the Financial Crash of 2008 the average person lost 1/4 of their retirement savings (talk about a problem only rich people have), house values plummeted, people lost their jobs, houses were foreclosed on. How would you feel if that happened to you? Maybe it did. Imagine if your hope was in being wealthy, having a home, having a job? What would you do if you lost one of those things? What if you lost all of those things? Some people like to tell us what we need to be prepared. Maybe they recommend 6 months of salary stored up for an emergency. Maybe they tell you that you need $1M dollars to retire, or more likely $2M. I am not saying you cannot do those things, or that they aren’t smart in many cases, what I am saying is that you can’t count on them, and you must not put your trust in them. This is not a sermon about finances, this is a sermon about where you place your hope how that makes all the difference. Let’s look again at the second half of verse 17. “…but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” We cannot trust in riches, or in our ability to provide them. We are to put our hope in God who provides everything that we have. This is key; God provides everything that we have; it was never ours to begin with. We just finished a sermon series on Philippians, and in the final section Paul shares his secret to being content in every circumstance, whether living in plenty or living in want. He says he can do that through God’s strength and because his hope and trust are in God knowing he will provide all of his needs.
George Müller: One morning, all the plates and cups and bowls on the table were empty. There was no food in the larder and no money to buy food. The children were standing, waiting for their morning meal, when Müller said, “Children, you know we must be in time for school.” Then lifting up his hands he prayed, “Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat.” There was a knock at the door. The baker stood there, and said, “Mr. Müller, I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow I felt you didn’t have bread for breakfast, and the Lord wanted me to send you some. So I got up at 2 a.m. and baked some fresh bread, and have brought it.” Mr. Müller thanked the baker, and no sooner had he left, when there was a second knock at the door. It was the milkman. He announced that his milk cart had broken down right in front of the orphanage, and he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so he could empty his wagon and repair it.
Transition: How is it that the Christian can build that hope and trust in God? How can we know and show that we have our hope in God rather than money?
In sharing what God provides, we are building a foundation for the future. (V 18 & 19a)
“Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age…” Paul rightly points out that one way to prove that we do not have our hope in riches is by choosing to be rich in good deeds rather than money, to be generous, and to share. The great thing about this is that in living in this way, we are able to be a blessing to other people, be a witness for God, and store up treasure as a firm foundation for the coming age… heaven. Paul’s teaching probably seems familiar to some of us, and it should. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus said this “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus says that our treasures here on earth are uncertain, but we should store up treasure in heaven, where it will be certain. Paul says that this is exactly what we are doing, storing up treasure in heaven, when we do good and share generously. Jesus also adds that our heart will follow our treasure. I want to store my treasures in heaven, and more importantly, that is where I want my heart to be. How about you?
Our Daily Bread 11/13/17: Cheryl was in for a surprise as she pulled up to deliver her next pizza. Expecting to arrive at a home, she instead found herself outside a church. Cheryl confusedly carried the pepperoni pizza inside, where she was met by the pastor. “Is it fair to say life hasn’t been easy for you?” the pastor asked her. Cheryl agreed it hadn’t. With that, he brought out two offering plates that church members had filled with money. The pastor then poured over $750 into Cheryl’s delivery bag as a tip! Unbeknownst to Cheryl, the pastor had asked the pizza shop to send their most financially strapped driver over. Cheryl was stunned. She could now pay some bills.
One of the cool things about when the church helps people, or even if we help people anonymously, they don’t have someone in particular to thank or to pay back. They have to thank God.
The best way to reinforce that our hope is in God rather than money is to generously share with others what God has given us. 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 The Collection for the Lord’s People
And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” Yezelalem Minch http://www.yezelalemminch.org/history/ (We watched the video in the sermon) [The vision for Yezelalem Minch began with a young woman named Birtukan Sinshaw. Birtukan was once a child from poor family, raised by her dedicated and disciplined single mother. She became a sponsored child in World Vision Ethiopia’s local support program. As a child, Birtukan always assumed that all child sponsors were wealthy. After completing school, Birtukan got a job in the local World Vision office under the custody of her local church. One day, she read a letter from an American sponsor to a little boy, which changed her perspective completely. This sponsor was an elderly man, in a wheelchair, and was poor himself. The man wrote, “I am a crippled man and I do not have much money. However, I have a strong love for you and that is why I wish to help you.” In Ethiopia, a disabled person is considered one of the poorest of the poor – someone who cannot be expected to help anyone else. Birtukan was amazed at the man, and prayed, “Here I am, Lord! I have hands, I have feet, and a full body. What can I do to help these children in need?” Years later, Birtukan took notice of many street children near her home. She started by helping two orphans, taking them into her home as a single woman. Fortunately when she was married, her husband, Nesibu, was in agreement with her vision, and as a family they continued to care for children orphaned by AIDS and other tragedies. Before long, they began hiring staff and assisting a growing number of children – now more than 1,500 in multiple communities. Yezelalem Minch was founded as a legal entity in 2001. Nesibu serves as the managing director of Yezelalem Minch, and Birtukan serves extensively as a volunteer and local donor for the program.]
Transition: If we hold tightly to the money God has given us, we have one more problem. Our hands are full.
We can’t take hold of eternal life while holding on to money.
“17Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” Let me read that last line again. “so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” Why do we do all of this? So that we may “take hold of the life that is truly life”, or as it says in the King James, so that we may take hold of eternal life. We can’t take hold of eternal life while holding on to money. There was a rich man who approached Jesus. He asked him what he needed to do to take hold of eternal life. After concluding that the man had done a good job of keeping the commandments (which I know I can’t say) Jesus told him he lacked one thing. Jesus told him he needed to sell everything he had, give it to the poor, and follow him. Well, this man went away very sad because he was very wealthy, and he loved that wealth. His hope was in that wealth. What prevented this man from taking hold of eternal life that day was that his hands were full and at least for that moment, he refused to let go. We can’t take hold of eternal life while holding on to money. I know there are people who want to say that you can have God and money. That’s true. God may decide to bless you over and over. You can have God and money. There are, and will continue to be rich Christians. I am one of them, and likely you are too. But you cannot love both God and money. You cannot put your hope in both God and money. As Jesus went on in the Sermon on the Mount that we touched on earlier (Matthew 6:24b), he said “you cannot serve both God and money”. We can’t take hold of eternal life while holding on to money. I know which one I choose to take hold of, I know which one is more important. I pray that you do too. We can’t take hold of eternal life while holding on to money. Let’s pray.
Andy Bradshaw wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
Have you ever finished reading a book and wondered, what did I just read? I have lots of books on my bookshelf that I know I’ve read, but I have trouble remembering what they are about. To try to solve this, I’ve become a lot more interactive with my books. Now when I read, I underline and try to paraphrase points in the margins, writing down a word or two that will remind me what it’s about. *Please click “Save”
Have you ever finished reading a book and wondered, what did I just read? I have lots of books on my bookshelf that I know I’ve read, but I have trouble remembering what they are about. To try to solve this, I’ve become a lot more interactive with my books. Now when I read, I underline and try to paraphrase points in the margins, writing down a word or two that will remind me what it’s about.
*Please click “Save” then “PDF” to download a copy of the manuscript with extras. Sermon slides available at the bottom of this page.
Today we’re wrapping up our sermon series in the book of Philippians, Discipleship 101, and maybe you’re wondering, what was this series about? Today I want to give us the opportunity to review and take some notes to help us remember the book of Philippians and what we learned.
Our last verses, Philippians 4:10-23, serve as the conclusion of our letter. In them, like you would expect in books we read today, Paul wraps up his message by re-emphasizing some of the main themes of his letter. One of the themes we find throughout Philippians, and hinted at here, is suffering in service to Christ.
We are suffering servants. (Phil 4:11-13) How did Paul open his letter to the church at Philippi?
Philippians 1:1a Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus… (NIV®)
And then just a few verses Paul mentions he is in “chains” (1:7, 13, 17). He’s under house arrest in Rome because of his service to Christ. Suffering in service to Christ runs throughout this whole letter.
Philippians 1:29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, (NIV®)
Philippians 2:17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. (NIV®)
This extends not only to Paul, but to two examples of suffering servants, Timothy and Epaphroditus. Paul says Timothy has served with him and Epaphroditus got sick and almost died to serve Paul (Phil 2:22, 30). You would think that Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus would all be alienated, and not want to be disciples anymore. But in our passage today, Paul says God has taught him to be content no matter what.
Philippians 4:11b-13 …for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.(NIV®)
Paul has learned the secret whether he has nothing or more than he needs, whether in happy service or suffering service. He can do it as Jesus Christ gives him power. The word for strength is “endynamoō”—which one commentator said is where we get our word for “dynamite.” The town I grew up in once had to replace the sewage line in our yard, and to do so, they used explosives to literally blow up half of our yard. The blast was so powerful they had to cover the dynamite with blankets of tires.
Do you realize what kind of power lives in you? If you know Jesus, the power of God, who created dynamite, lives in you. God gives us his power to persevere and keep on doing good in the face of adversity, persecution, and suffering. We will suffer as servant-disciples of Christ.
There is no more clear and recent example of servants of Christ suffering for him than First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. I hate it that a man broken by sin let it become master over him and he murdered 26 innocent people (Gen 4:7). But I am so in awe of Farida Brown, 73 years old, who was a member of the church for a decade, and was shot four times in her legs. And as she lay hiding in the back of the sanctuary, she held another woman’s hand, “assuring her that it would be over soon, that she was headed for heaven.” Do you believe that God granted to Farida to not only believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him?
On Wednesday night we had a last-minute prayer time for the shooting in Texas. I’m so grateful for those who prayed against fear and for strength to keep reaching out to our community. If the Lord wills it, are you willing to suffer for him? Do you believe his strength is enough for you? If you trust Christ, you don’t need to live in fear, and if he calls you to suffer, he will be right there with you (Isa 53).
Philippians 3:10-11 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (NIV®)
Christ suffered first, he died, and rose again. And any who trust in him, no matter what they suffer, will one day rise again too. This means the martyrs of Sutherland Springs are with Christ, and we will get to enjoy eternal life with them. We are suffering servants. But this is hard. How can we have enough courage?
We are suffering servants who pray. (Phil 4:14, 17-20) Paul begins and ends Philippians in prayer. Prayer is bookends or sandwich bread for the rest of the book.
Philippians 1:3-11 — Paul prays gratefully, joyfully, confidently, and affectionately for love, discernment, purity, and fruit for the Philippians. Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (NIV®)
Paul emphasizes prayer by saying words for prayer four times (prayer, petition, thanksgiving, present your requests), and promising that God’s peace will come to any who pray. We receive courage to be disciples who suffer and serve through prayer, by calling out to God for his strength. Prayer is calmly opening your hand and asking God to put a stick of dynamite in it, his power. When we pray together as a church, it’s like playing pass-the-baton with a stick of dynamite.
When we suffer, or we see others suffer, God calls us to pray. We have a way for you to pray at the end of this service for FBC Sutherland Springs. In the back of the room we’ve set up a table where you can write a note to the church. After the service, sometime during fellowship time, please sign the card and say a prayer for the families and friends of those who died. I printed out a list of all the victims so you can learn more about them as you pray for their families, friends, and the church.
Now Paul doesn’t pray once more in Philippians 4:14-19. Instead, I think he gives us an example of answered prayer. Back in Philippians 1, Paul prays this.
Philippians 1:9, 11 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight… 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (NIV®)
Paul prayed this for the Philippians, and already he seems to say he is seeing God answer his prayers. Notice some of the similar vocabulary Paul uses in his thank you, which here is in the ESV.
Philippians 1:14, 17, 20 Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble… 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit… 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)
Paul prayed that their whole lives would bear the fruit of righteousness, and their compassionate gift to Paul shows that they are bearing this fruit. Their whole lives are bringing glory to God. We are suffering servants who pray, and you know what, God answers our prayers.
But if Paul were to write a letter to the church at Westford, would he say we are a church full of prayer? Would he look at us and say, “One of their core values is prayer, so they must be doing it.” We made prayer one of our core values not because we are doing it, but because we know we must do it.
In the book, Old Paths, New Power John Dickerson asks a question about the American church…
Question: Why is the wealthiest church in world history declining in both size and cultural influence?
…Somewhere along the way, unintentionally and gradually, we moved our feet of faith away from desperate dependence on the resurrection of Christ, away from the Holy Spirit as our only source of power, away from desperate times of prayer.
The only one who can sustain us in serving each other and serving this community and the only one who can empower us to persevere in suffering is the Holy Spirit. And the way we access his power is through prayer. Disciples are suffering servants who pray. Paul’s next theme has to do with how we live our lives.
We are suffering servants who pray and who live unified, humble, and joyful lives. (Phil 4:10, 15-16) So if prayer is the bread of the sandwich, or the bookends, what is the spread? What’s in this sandwich? At the end of chapter one, Paul calls believers to live differently, for disciples to live a certain way.
Philippians 1:27a Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. (NIV®)
The word “conduct yourselves” means “to be a citizen.” Where are disciples citizens of? Philippians 3:20 says, “our citizenship is in heaven.” So Philippians 1:27 is saying, “Live like you’re citizens of God’s kingdom.” So how can we do that? There are three ways:
Unity (Phil 1:26-30): Do you remember some of the issues in the early church? The Judaizers, who claim to be Jewish Christians, are saying everyone who wants to be a Christian also has to be circumcised (Phil 3:2). And two women, Euodia and Syntyche, are pulling in opposite directions (Phil 4:2). So I think these issues are some of the reasons why Paul calls for unity in chapter one.
Philippians 1:27b …whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel (NIV®)
Humility (Phil 2:1-11): Then Paul calls for humility in the church people, calling them to have the same mindset of Christ Jesus (v. 5).
Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, (NIV®)
And then who does he give as the supreme example of humility? Jesus Christ, who left the glories and praise of heaven, became a man, and then died. Do you see how low he goes? If Jesus, the king of kings, can humble himself that much, so can I. What’s the third ingredient?
Joy (Phil 2:12-18): Instead of complaining and bickering and arguing, Paul calls for joy.
Philippians 2:14, 17b-18 Do everything without grumbling or arguing… 17b …I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me. (NIV®)
And how does Paul tie chapter four’s closing back to all of that? He calls them to rejoice in verse 10 and gives thanks for them giving him a financial donation in verses 15-16. The Philippians are demonstrating their unity with Paul, their humility to count him as more important than themselves, and their joy in giving.
Today we recited our membership covenant and welcomed in our very first round of church members. Our covenant is a promise we make to God, each other, and ourselves to live worthy of the gospel. There’s a line about “protecting the unity of the church” and other lines expressing humility, being quick to ask for and receive forgiveness. In some ways, our covenant is putting into a modern language what it means to live as citizens of the kingdom of God in our local church in Westford MA. When immigrants are approved for citizenship, one of their final steps is to take the Oath of Allegiance, in which they renounce ties to all other countries and promise to serve and protect the United States. They’re promising to live as citizens of our country. In our covenant, we’re promising to live as citizens of God’s kingdom the outpost of Westford. We are suffering servants who pray and who live unified, humble, and joyful lives. Now let’s look to the last few verses to see who it’s all about.
We are suffering servants who pray, who live unified, humble, and joyful lives, and who find our all in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:21-23) Finding our all in Christ is really the big theme of Philippians. It’s the meat of the sandwich, the core ingredient. Paul mentions Christ Jesus twice in the last three verses. Did you know in four short chapters, Paul uses the name Jesus 22 times, and the title Christ 37 times? In the Greek, Paul says “in Christ” 10 times and “in the Lord” 9 times. And he uses the word “gospel” another 9 times. Paul is obsessed with Jesus. He is obsessed with finding his all in Christ.
Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (NIV®)
Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (NIV®)
Philippians 3:8-9a What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ… (NIV®)
Paul isn’t content in his hardship and suffering because he has enough food. He’s not content because the Philippians gave him money to help out. Paul is content because he has found his all in Christ Jesus. That means Jesus Christ has changed everything about him, his outlook on life, his fears and hopes, his joys and sorrows. He finds his meaning, his purpose, and his identity in Christ. He has found a relationship with Christ Jesus, and that is enough.
If you’re not a Christian, today’s sermon was probably a little bit weird for you. Maybe you came here thinking Christianity is just about getting out of hell. That if you just say a prayer, you’re good to go. Prayer is certainly part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, but Jesus also says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matt 16:24) Being a Christian, a disciple, is about laying down every part of your life before Jesus.
We are suffering servants who pray, who live unified, humble, and joyful lives, and who find our all in Christ Jesus. Maybe some of you watched the news conference this week when Pastor Frank and his wife Sherri addressed reporters. They had just lost their 14-year old daughter, Annabelle. After Sherri read their statement, Pastor Frank said this, “…lift this thing in Christ. Everything is in Christ.”
A reporter then asked him, “What do you tell the other grieving families?”
He said, “I’m still working on that, but thank you” before adding, “Christ is the one who is going to be lifted up… You lean into what you don’t understand. You lean into the Lord. … Whatever life brings to you, lean on the Lord rather than your own understanding. I don’t understand, but I know my God does.” We are suffering servants who pray, who live unified, humble, and joyful lives, and who find our all in Christ Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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I worked on a ranch for a summer. While I was there I helped brand cows, run cattle through chutes, and even tagged one cow’s ear. I’m not much of an animal person, but I do know that in a cattle herd the health of one cow can affect the health of the whole herd. Sickness and disease can spread quickly, so you want to make sure each cow is healthy. If one cow becomes stressed, it can get sick,
I worked on a ranch for a summer. While I was there I helped brand cows, run cattle through chutes, and even tagged one cow’s ear. I’m not much of an animal person, but I do know that in a cattle herd the health of one cow can affect the health of the whole herd. Sickness and disease can spread quickly, so you want to make sure each cow is healthy. If one cow becomes stressed, it can get sick, and that sickness can spread.
*Please click “Save” and then “PDF” to download a copy of the sermon manuscript with footnotes, hyperlinks, and extras. Thank you!
We see this same principle in lots of places. When one animal or fish becomes stressed, it can become sick, and that sickness can spread. When one child at school gets exhausted, she gets sick, then teachers, parents, and classmates get sick too. This is true of our church as well. When one of us gets anxious or fearful or upset, we can spread our anxiety, fear, and emotions to the whole church.
In Philippians, Paul writes to a church that is only about a decade old. It’s a young church and it’s susceptible to anxiety and worry. And so, Paul writes them a letter explaining the connection between individual anxiety and corporate peace. None of us want to be anxious, and hopefully we don’t want to spread that anxiety to others, so let’s hear what Paul has to say. In Philippians 4:2-9, Paul gives us…
Seven connections between my peace and our peace: Paul doesn’t say, here are seven connections, but as we read the passage, we see the principles.
1. Two people in conflict can drag a whole church into conflict. (v. 2) As we’ve gone throughout this letter, we’ve seen Paul implying conflict within the church:
conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel (1:27a) stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one (1:27b) in humility value others above yourselves (2:3) do everything without grumbling or arguing (2:14) everyone looks out for their own interests (2:21)
He’s been writing to them as a church body, and now he writes to two individuals within that church body. He personally admonishes them in verse 2, “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.” Paul has worked backward, first addressing the big-picture conflict before addressing what could be one of its causes—two women who can’t get along.
The lesson for us is simple. When I’m upset with someone, if I don’t deal with that with the Lord and (if needed) with them, it’s like an undressed wound that can become infected. Pretty sound that infection spreads, either killing the whole church body or leading to an amputation, when a church splits or believers leave. #1 Two people in conflict can drag a whole church into conflict. So what’s the cure?
2. One peace-making disciple can create a culture of peace. (v. 3) The next verse says, “Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women…” We don’t know who Paul is addressing, but he calls on him to act as a mediator (a peace-maker) to help Euodia and Syntyche get along. Some other versions of the Bible translate “companion” as “yokefellow.” He is someone who can help these two women who are pulling in opposite directions pull in the same direction.
Thierry preached here in August. He told me that when they were starting their church plant in France, their team was split. One side wanted to focus on evangelism, and the other side on discipleship. So he rented a crew-length rowboat and had his whole team get in. He told them to just go. And so they all started rowing and they couldn’t get anywhere because they were each pulling in their own direction. So he stopped them, told them to listen to his voice, and this time, row together. When they all worked together, they went somewhere. Thierry said this outing transformed their team from pulling in opposite directions to working together. Thierry is a yokefellow, a peace-maker.
One peace-maker can help a whole church have peace. How can you tell if you’re a yokefellow? Have you experienced conflict firsthand and not run away from it, but stuck it through to work it out? For example, let’s say you get an argument with someone here at this church, and you keep attending faithfully and trying to work it out, then you could be a yokefellow. We shouldn’t ignore the problem but address it. Are you someone who is willing to address conflict and prayerfully work it out? If you can do it in your life, then maybe you can help others too. #2 One peace-making disciple can create a culture of peace.
3. Anxiety in me produces anxiety in us. (v. 4-6a) Paul switches once again from addressing the two individual women and their peacemaker, to addressing the church as a whole. Verses 4-5, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” Both of the commands are to you plural, “You all rejoice!” In verse 6 we see the same, “(you all) Do not be anxious about anything…” This command is to the whole church.
How can a whole church be anxious? If it’s made up of a bunch of anxious individuals. How can whole church rejoice? If we all choose to rejoice together. To help the church address their anxiety problem, Paul gives himself as an example.
Philippians 4:11b-13 I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (NIV®)
Paul had plenty to worry about, but instead he rejoices because God is there for him. If he can be content while under house arrest facing trial and potentially death, so can we. Like we read in Philippians 1:14, his confidence and hope in trial emboldened the early church. Anxiety in me produces anxiety in us. But likewise, peace in me produces peace in us, and joy in me produces joy in us.
When each of us cultivates peace, it benefits the whole church. If you’re constantly anxious and you don’t want to get counseling, if you won’t do it for yourself, do it for the church, do it for the flock. As your pastor, when I feel anxiety in my heart, I want to deal with it so I don’t transmit it to you. I think that’s true of every one of your Elders and Deacons as well, but it doesn’t stop with us. All of us, especially as a small church, shape our culture. #3 Peace in me produces peace in us. So you want it, but how do you get it?
4. No matter your situation, pray, and you will know peace. (v. 6b-7) What’s Paul’s solution to anxiety? Prayer. Prayer is talking to God. He continues in verse 6, “but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Paul calls us to prayer. In fact, he commands prayer; “present your requests” is an imperative. And if that’s not enough, he says the word prayer and synonyms (substitutes) for the word prayer four times total. Steven Lawson, in Philippians For You, breaks down each of these words like this:
Prayer – General term for intercession to God (intercession means asking God to intervene, asking him to be your peace-maker, your mediator, your helper). Petition – Asking for something we lack (not enough food, money, or time causes anxiety). Thanksgiving – We approach God gratefully (there’s always something to be thankful for). Requests – Ask God for specific needs (so he can give you specific answer; pray for four new tires, for your exact mortgage payment, for a new job, for healing for your lime disease).
If we pray, Paul promises that we will receive the peace of God. He adds in verse 7, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” In other words, if you pray to God through Christ Jesus, Jesus will provide you with supernatural peace that doesn’t make sense, that’s not dependent on circumstances, that’s entirely dependent on Jesus who is with you.
I saw this kind of peace that surpasses all understanding in the face of trouble and anxiety with my childhood friend Rachel. She died a year ago this past summer from cancer. Her death was a battle. It was slow and ugly and her family said that she would get overwhelmed with fear and pain. But when she prayed to Jesus, when she remembered him and his promises, her anxiety would fade, and her face would relax. Maybe you’re facing sickness, or family or financial hardship. You can experience peace through prayer. #4 No matter your situation, pray, and you will know peace.
5. Our mindset determines our peace, so think on good things. (v. 8) Paul gives us another command in verse 8. He tells us to think on good things. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” I thought about defining each of these words, but I don’t want to be here all night. Essentially, this is a list of good things that honor God.
But in a world of options, how can we tell what is good and honors God? Should we only watch Christian movies and listen to Christian music? Sometimes we focus so much on the adjectives here (true, noble, right, pure, etc.) that we miss the pronouns Paul repeats six times, “whatever.” Whatever is true, whatever is noble, etc., whether it is “Christian” or not, is worth focusing on. Gordon Fee writes:
… it is decidedly not Paul’s view that only what is explicitly Christian (be it literature, art, music, movies or whatever) is worth seeing or hearing. Truth and beauty are where you find them. But at all times the gospel is the ultimate paradigm for what is true, noble or admirable.1
This means that we can enjoy a good book, television show, or movie, we can appreciate an art museum, we can go for nature walks, and we can enjoy an amusement park. If we’re not addicted, we can enjoy a nice wine or beer. Now I wrestle with this principle. Just the other day I was working out at the gym when a song came on that I thought was really catchy. I asked my coach who it was, he went over and looked it up, and I said, “I like how this song sounds.” At that same time I realized what the singer was saying, and I thought, “I don’t like what this musician is saying.” I didn’t say that out-loud, but I wrestled with whether I should have or not. It’s not easy to navigate focusing on what is pure in a world of sin.
Paul is calling all of us to intentionally focus on what is right in this world instead of what is wrong in this world, to be optimistic and hopeful. That’s difficult because the evening news and online news always leads with the worst headlines because they’re the most catchy, “Newest healthcare proposal in Washington will kill you,” or “Tax-cuts for the rich only” or “Loss of power in New England freezes Pastor.” So as we apply verse 8 to our lives, it very well may mean turning off the news or not watching that TV show.
But ultimately, like Gordon Fee says, the gospel is the best example of what is true, noble, and admirable. At the end of the day, these verses describe the life and ministry of Jesus. Somehow he kept his mind on what is pure and good even as he entered into our sin-filled worldand ate and drank with sinners (Luke 7:34). Somehow Jesus enjoyed the good in what God had provided without falling into temptation. #5 Our mindset determines our peace, so think on good things (think on Christ and the gospel).
6. Receive peace through obedience and imitation. (v. 9) It matters not only what we think, but also what we do. Paul finishes his thought in verse 9, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Paul is saying two things:
Obey God’s Word – Paul calls for them to do whatever he has taught them. That means everything in this letter, everything in the Scriptures, everything in God’s Word. God lays out his plan for us and every human in the Bible. When we trust and obey him, we will naturally experience more peace as God answers our prayers and we’re spared the natural consequences of disobedience. For example, if I gossip about others, the natural consequence is conflict. But if I love others, like Jesus calls for in the Bible, I am setting myself up to experience peace with them. Obey God’s Word. Imitate mature believers – Paul says, “Do what you’ve seen me do.” I feel like for a sermon series on discipleship, we haven’t talked much about older more mature believers pouring into younger believers. That’s a huge part of discipleship, and Paul is encouraging it right here. If you need help discerning what is good and pure, look for someone who is older and wiser than you, and has known Christ for a longer period of time, and imitate them. Watch their lives as you wrestle with these issues, and ask for their opinions. Imitate mature believers.
Verse 9 ends, “And the God of peace will be with you.” We obey and we imitate because we want to experience God’s presence unhindered by our own sin or disobedience. At the end of the day, God’s presence is what brings peace into our lives. #6 Receive peace through obedience and imitation.
7. We can only receive real peace in Christ Jesus. (v. 3, 7) I want to go back and highlight the disagreement between Euodia and Syntyche. Paul ends verse 3 by affirming both are saved in Christ Jesus, “help these women… whose names are in the book of life.” In order to have your name written in the book of life, you have to be in Christ (Luke 10:20; Rev 3:5, 20:12). If you want to trade your conflict for peace, you need to know Jesus.
Then again in verse 7 Paul says, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” If you want to trade your anxiety for peace, you need to know Jesus.
The problem is that we’re all born in sin and start this life at war with God. How can I ever hope to have peace in this life if I’m an enemy of the one who created this life? I can’t! This is why before you try to put any of these principles into practice, you need to become a friend of God. You do this by confessing your sins, which means confessing all the ways you disobey God and don’t act like Jesus, and then you place your faith in Jesus to save you. When you do, Jesus grants you friendship with God. Confession and faith isn’t a one time deal, but a lifelong commitment as day-by-day you get to know Jesus more and more through the Scriptures, prayer, and a church community that loves you. If you don’t know Christ yet, it can begin with a prayer. #7 We can only receive real peace in Christ Jesus.
If I were to sum up today’s passage, and all seven connections between my peace and our peace, I would do so this way. This is my big idea.
Real peace in me and in us is found in Christ. Peace is never just a me issue. Nor is it just a them issue. It’s always an us issue. And it’s an us issue that includes someone who is bigger than all of us, Christ Jesus. I can have peace as an individual and we can have peace as a church as Christ Jesus lives in us. True peace in me and in us is found in Christ.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Fee, Gordon D. Philippians (The Ivp New Testament Commentary Series) (p. 178). Intervarsity Press – A. Kindle Edition. ↩
Have you ever gotten sucked into one of those cheap magazine or buzzfeed quizzes that tries to tell you something about yourself? You answer a dozen questions and it categorizes you as a certain type of person (introvert, extrovert, shy, outgoing, etc.) or as a character from one of your favorite movies or books.
I took a “Which Harry Potter Character Are You” quiz and got Severus Snape. Severus Snape is pretty much the bad guy for most of Harry Potter. The quiz said I’m cold, calculating, sarcastic, and am an emotional wreck on the inside. To balance it out, I took a Lord of the Rings quiz and got Legolas. I am calm, collected, a warrior, and love my friends. Be grateful if you’ve never taken one of these quizzes.
In our sermon series, we’re talking about disciples. Disciple means “learner” or “student” and in general we define a disciple at Cornerstone as someone who follows Jesus. That means someone who is seeking to love Jesus, learn his teachings, and put them into practice. But are there different types of disciples? If so, what type of disciple are you?
Paul, after he tells the church of Philippi how to live—humbly, unified, joyful—gives three examples of disciples, Timothy, Epaphroditus, and himself who are trying to put the teachings of Christ into practice. So as we look at them, we can ask, “Am I this type of disciple?” Let’s look at Timothy first.
Timothy: A disciple who serves (Phil 2:19-24) Here are a few things we know about Timothy.
We first meet Timothy on Paul’s second missionary journey in Acts 16 at Lystra, which is southern Asia Minor in Bible times and Turkey in modern times. Timothy’s grandmother and mother were both Christians who raised him to love the Lord (2 Tim 1:5), but his father is a Greek and likely not a believer, so initially he wasn’t circumcised. Circumcision is a medical procedure the Jews performed on every male as a sign they (as a people) belonged to God. Timothy has a great reputation in the church, so Paul chooses him to join him on his journey. Because Paul wants to reach the Jews in the region, he circumcises Timothy. Timothy became a church-planting Pastor, helping assist Paul with much of his ministry. Paul wrote 1-2 Timothy to him to explain how to organize and oversee local churches (Cornerstone is a local church).
Timothy is a disciple who has served Paul and the church for many years. Paul says this in v20-22, “I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”
He serves others humbly. Remember how Paul opened the letter? By calling Timothy a servant. “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:1). Timothy has a servant’s heart. He genuinely cares about the other people in the church. Remember what Paul called for in chapter 2 verse 3?
Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
As disciples, we’re also called to serve others humbly. Humble service can take the form of making a meal for a friend, volunteering at an outreach event, or using your gifting to serve the church, like in worship, finances, preaching, or elsewhere. We don’t serve to win “likes” but because we genuinely care.
He serves the gospel faithfully. Timothy is humble because he’s serving Christ. Verses 21-22 says he puts the interests of Jesus Christ first and he serves with Paul in the work of the gospel. Timothy serves because he’s been touched by Christ and the gospel message. The gospel is the good news that all who repent and believe in Jesus receive eternal life and a real relationship with God through Jesus. Timothy is a disciple who serves Christ and the gospel humbly. Are you this kind of disciple? Do you want to be like Timothy?
Quiz – Are you a Timothy?
Do you show genuine concern for the welfare of others? Do you serve others humbly, not looking for praise or reward? Do you put Christ and the gospel message first in your life? Do you love the local church and put the church’s needs before your own?
If you can answer yes to these questions, then you’re a servant-disciple. Chances are you can’t fully answer yes to any of these questions. But maybe you can see the beginning of a yes in some of them. That’s great! You’re a disciple who serves, you’re becoming a Timothy. But Paul doesn’t stop with Timothy.
Epaphroditus: A disciple who sacrifices (Phil 2:25-30) The church at Philippi sent one of their own, Epaphroditus, to Paul to give him money to help pay for his rent under house arrest and to keep him company in what must been a lonely time (Phil 4:18). This sacrifice came at steep personal cost to Epaphroditus.
He sacrifices his life (time, money, energy). In Romans 12:1, Paul says, “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Epaphroditus is doing just that. Can you imagine all the things he must have sacrificed (given to God) to help Paul?
Think of how much time it would have taken for him to travel from Philippi to Rome, which was a journey of between 700 to 1200 miles depending on the route you took, lasting between 6 weeks to 3 months. Think of the financial cost. I doubt his boss gave him leave. He may have lost his job. It also cost the church financially as they paid to get him there, and send the money with him. Think of the cost to his health and energy. His journey could have been the thing that made him so sick he nearly died, perhaps from typhoid fever or malaria.
When Paul says, “He risked his life to make up for the help yourselves could not give me” he’s not criticizing the Philippians. He’s simply pointing out that loving someone long-distance is different than loving someone up close. The whole church couldn’t come see Paul, but one man could, so they sent him.
Quiz – Are you an Epaphroditus?
Do you give up your time to care for others? Do you give your money to help those in need, missions, and the ministry of the church? Do you expend your energy to energize others?
If you can answer yes to these questions, then you’re an Epaphroditus. If so, that’s wonderful, you’re a disciple who sacrifices.
As I wrote my sermon, I wanted to illustrate someone who serves or sacrifices for the sake of another. Looking for a meaningful illustration lead me to PreachingToday.com. Out ofall its rich resources it pointed me to… Batman, specifically Batman’s butler Alfred.
Alfred is Bruce Wayne’s (Batman’s) most loyal servant. When Bruce Wayne’s parents died, Alfred raised him, living in his home to take care of him 24/7. When Batman gets in fights, Alfred helps get him fixed. When Batman is out running around Gotham, Alfred is holding down the mansion. When Batman needs someone to talk to, Alfred is there. He does this without complaint because he loves Bruce and believes in the mission. Alfred is the perfect self-sacrificing servant.1
The problem with Alfred is that he’s not real. None of us can ever be Alfred. None of us can be perfect and do it all. And as you look at Timothy and Epaphroditus, you may be thinking you could never be like them. The good news is that these are real people with real faults. Paul doesn’t highlight those faults but I think Paul recognizes his audience could be a bit discouraged by everything he’s telling them to do, so in Philippians chapter 3 Paul talks about falling short of what we know we should all be.
Paul: A disciple who is not good enough (Phil 3:1-9) Paul transitions from highlighting and praising two disciples, to warning against a group of believers called the Judaizers who have a very simple message—the Philippians believers aren’t good enough. They’re not keeping the Jewish law in addition to believing in Jesus. Remember how Paul circumcised Timothy to not offend the local Jewish people? These people would have said, “You have to circumcise Timothy for him to become a Christian.” They could even point to the Old Testament to prove their point.
Deuteronomy 6:25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’
This passage seems to say, “If I obey God’s laws, like being circumcised, then I’ll be righteous—that means I’ll be acceptable to God.” What’s this message today? If you’re a good person, God will accept you. If your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, God will accept you. If you donate to charity, drive a hybrid, have straight-A kids, don’t cheat on your spouse, and are a spiritual person, God will accept you. In other words, you can achieve your own righteousness before God. Did you know those are lies?
Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
This means you and I, apart from the Holy Spirit, can’t obey God. Our hearts and minds won’t let us. We can’t make ourselves acceptable to him. This is why Paul has this to say about those who teach what we call works-righteousness (aka. I can achieve acceptance with God through my own good deeds).
”Warning! Beware of Dogs!”
In Philippians 3:2, Paul warns, “Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.” Paul is calling them dogs! Not cute cuddly puppies, but vicious dogs. Trusting in your own good works to earn God’s love will one day bite you. One day you’ll face God, and it won’t be enough.
It’s not works that make us acceptable before God but God himself through the Holy Spirit. Verse 3 says “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—” What does Paul mean “we are the circumcision?” Does he mean non-circumcised believers in Philippi are somehow circumcised before God? Yes.
Romans 2:29a No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code…
Anyone who repents of their sins and puts their faith in Christ has been circumcised spiritually. In other words, when you believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit does surgery on your heart. God gives you a new heart (through faith in Jesus) that makes you acceptable to God.
Paul was great, but he wasn’t good enough. Paul had the right background, went to the right school, studied the Scriptures oh so carefully as a Pharisee, and did the right things for his synagogue, but it wasn’t enough.
Philippians 3:5-6 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
This is Paul’s spiritual resumé. It’s pretty impressive. Do you have a resumé, a list of good deeds you’re counting on to please God? Do you think of moments you’ve done good things that nobody else knows about, and are you relying on them? Paul was great, but even he wasn’t good enough.
Philippians 3:7-9 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
What does Paul do with all his good works? He throws them away. He doesn’t rely on them. They’re all garbage in comparison to knowing Jesus and receiving his acceptance by God as a gift.
Quiz – Are you a Paul?
Do you realize that no matter how hard you try, it’s not enough? Do you want to give up trying to earn God’s acceptance and receive it as a gift through Christ Jesus? Do you believe that in Christ, you’re good enough?
That’s right! In Christ, you’re good enough. We can spend all our years trying to be good enough or we can receive Christ’s righteousness as a gift, and become good enough through him. It’s as we realize that we are good enough in Christ that we can begin to look more like Timothy, Epaphroditus, and Paul, more humble, more unified, more joyful, more like self-sacrificing servant disciples.
In Christ, you’re good enough. I want to invite our musician up to begin playing as we reflect on this. Have you been depending on your own good works to earn God’s love and acceptance? Paul has a word for that, “garbage.” What do you do with the garbage in your house? You throw it away.
I want to ask my helper to bring in the trash can now and place it front and center. Like Paul, we all have things that we’re trusting in for our righteousness that we need to throw out. Things we think make us good people but actually help us trust in ourselves instead of God.
Like Paul was the perfect Israelite, I grew up in a Christian family. I’ve brought a picture of my family today. If part of my believes that I earn God’s love because I’m either a part of a good Christian family or am creating a good Christian family, what should I do with this picture? Throw it away. Like Paul was a Pharisee who knew how to study Scripture, I went to seminary to get a Master of Divinity. You can tell my M.Div is important because it’s in such a large frame. If part of me believes this degree, or my ordination, or being your pastor, or reading my Bible, or praying, or coming to church earns God’s acceptance, what should I do? Throw it away. Like Paul was zealous for his mission as he persecuted the church, I am zealous for our mission to reach Westford with the gospel. Here’s a copy of this week’s Westford Eagle. If part of me believes reaching my frontline or growing our church earns God’s love, what should I do? Throw it away.
What are you depending on to earn God’s love? What are you counting on for your acceptance before God? When you feel bad, what do you remember to make yourself feel better? Christ? Or something else? I want you to write whatever that something else is on the index card my helpers are passing out.
Take the next 2-3 minutes as the music plays to identify in your heart what you’re counting on to be good enough before God. Write it down, and when you’re ready, come up front and throw it away. The gospel is the good news Christ not only takes away our sins, he gives us his acceptance before God. So when you come up and have thrown away your self-righteousness in the garbage, I will give you a printed copy of Philippians 3:7-9 to remind you that in Christ, you’re good enough.
Let me pray to prepare our hearts, and then come* as the Holy Spirit leads you.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Batman’s Loyal Friend and Servant, Alfred (http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2014/september/7091514.html). Copyright Christianity Today (2014), accessed 10/26/17. ↩
Have you ever gotten sucked into one of those cheap magazine or buzzfeed quizzes that tries to tell you something about yourself? You answer a dozen questions and it categorizes you as a certain type of person (introvert, extrovert, shy, outgoing, etc.) or as a character from one of your favorite movies or books. I took a “Which Harry Potter Character Are You” quiz and got Severus Snape. Severus Snape is pretty much the bad guy for most of Harry
For the last month or so we have been looking at what it means to be a disciple. We discovered that being a disciple means to be a student. And in our scripture text for today Paul says that He wants to know Christ. Paul was not satisfied just to know about Jesus. He wanted to know and to experience everything about Him.
Please click “Save” and then “PDF” to download a copy of Bernie’s sermon manuscript. Thank you!
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For the last month or so we have been looking at what it means to be a disciple. We discovered that being a disciple means to be a student. And in our scripture text for today Paul says that He wants to know Christ. Paul was not satisfied just to know about Jesus. He wanted to know and to experience everything about Him. Please click “Save” and then “PDF” to download a copy of Bernie’s sermon manuscript. Thank you!
Jesus and the 12 disciples walk into a restaurant and Jesus says to the hostess, “Table for 26 please.” So she says to him, “But there’s only 13 of you?” Jesus says, “Yes, but we all want to sit on one side.” Is it okay to tell jokes in church? Is it okay to laugh? I think so. But what if I were to tell you that the Bible actually encourages us to be joyful and happy as a church.
Jesus and the 12 disciples walk into a restaurant and Jesus says to the hostess, “Table for 26 please.” So she says to him, “But there’s only 13 of you?” Jesus says, “Yes, but we all want to sit on one side.” Is it okay to tell jokes in church? Is it okay to laugh? I think so. But what if I were to tell you that the Bible actually encourages us to be joyful and happy as a church.
In his letter to the Philippians Paul not only says in 2:14, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing” he says the opposite, positive command in verse 18, “So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.” Paul doesn’t just not want churches full of complainers. He wants churches full of happy, joyful, laughing people.
In fact, I believe one of the ways we obey God is by being joyful. In Philippians 1:27 Paul says, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” The last two weeks we’ve learned two ways we, the church, can live worthy of the life-transforming world changing good news of Jesus Christ.
Live worthy of the gospel through unity. (1:27-30) Live worthy of the gospel through humility. (2:1-11)
This week we’re finishing Paul’s explanation of how to live worthy of the gospel, and how do we?
Live worthy of the gospel through joy. (2:12-18)
Today we are returning to this big theme of what it means to live lives worthy of the gospel.
Live worthy of the gospel. (2:12-13) How do we know when Paul is speaking of not grumbling and being joyful that it ties all the way back into chapter one verse 27? Philippians 1:27-2:18 is full of connecting words like “therefore” that string together his message, it’s full of imperatives (or commands) telling the church to act a certain way, and it shares a common theme, Christ—living in light of Christ, with the mindset of Christ, and the day of Christ.
In today’s verses we also notice a pattern similar to the text from last week. Before Paul told the Philippians to be humble (2:3-11), he reminded them of what they already have in Jesus (2:1-2). He offered grace before obedience. Now before Paul tells us to stop grumbling, he reminds us of God’s grace in our lives. In verses 12-13 Paul calls us to obey, but he also gives us a confidence that we will obey.
“12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” So first we hear a…
Call — Work out our salvation. (v. 12) Paul begins his final urge to live worthy of the gospel by calling them to work out their salvation. By “salvation” Paul doesn’t mean their individual salvation. He means corporate salvation (ya’ll’s salvation—you plural—our salvation). In other words, the church together, is supposed to figure out day by day what it means to be saved by Jesus and to be his followers. How does the message of Jesus impact our personal lives, but also us as a church? And when Paul says, “not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence”—he’s saying, “I’m not always going to be there. Keep striving at your faith.
Since my parents are here tonight I thought I’d tell about how my brothers and I would act differently when my parents weren’t at home. Sometimes we would sneak television when my mom ran errands. We would sit on the top corner of our couch so we could see through the window for when our green van pulled into our driveway. And as soon as it did, it was like a code red lockdown with sirens. Everyone ran for their books and tried to look like we weren’t just watching Judge Judy. Paul is saying to the Philippians, “Don’t be like the Romig boys! Act like you’re saved whether I’m home or not.”
Paul knows there is someone more important than him who is always present, so he adds, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Does he want the Philippians to be afraid of him? No! He wants them to fear God. The Greek word for fear is “phobos” like our word for “phobia.” Does Paul want them to have an irrational fear? No. The fear Paul is talking about is “the fear of the Lord” or the “fear of God” (Acts 9:31; Rom 3:18). It’s a healthy, respectful fear, that knows how powerful and holy God is.
I bought outlet covers this week since my family is visiting with some little nieces and nephews. I have a healthy fear of what might happen if my nephew or one of my nieces puts their fingers in a socket. They will get zapped and my brother will kill me. I don’t want either of those things to happen. I have a healthy fear of electricity and of my brother.
We also should have a healthy fear of God as we grow in our understanding of what it means for him to save us. We should always act like God is present anytime we’re behind closed doors in team meetings or out in public getting coffee, tea, or a meal. Whether we’re alone serving the church or representing the church as a believer on our frontline, we’re called to continue working out what it means to be saved by Jesus, and to be one of his followers. But is our only motivation fear? No. We also have…
Confidence — Because God is working in us. (v. 13) Here’s the grace part—“for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” We’re supposed to work our salvation “out,” but the good news is God is working our salvation “in.” So what’s God’s purpose? Most modern English translations translate “purpose” as “pleasure.” In other words, God is doing whatever he desires. God always desires what’s best for us (James 1:17).
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (NIV®)
This tells us that God is using everything for our good—births and deaths, new jobs and job losses, health and sickness, ministry successes, and ministry failures. But what exactly is the good God is doing? What’s his plan? God is using everything to make us more like Christ.
Romans 8:29-30 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (NIV®)
So the good thing God is doing in this life is making us more like Christ. And when we die, he’ll glorify us, which means we’ll become perfectly like Christ. So we obey Jesus, living humbly, united, and joyfully, because God is working in us to make us like more Christ and one day he’ll finish the job in glory.
Think of an activity you like but have never been good at. For some of us it’s sports. You really like baseball or track or CrossFit but you’re not that good at it. For some of us it’s academics. You want to be smarter and have a better memory, but it’s hard. For some of us it’s cooking, arts, or music. You can barely draw a stick figure. For some of us like me, you’re bad at all three. What if I were to tell you that you are guaranteed to be the best in the world at your chosen activity? God will make you flawless and perfect. But to receive this, you have to try. So God will make you great, but you have to practice. That’s what Paul is saying. God will make us glorious, but we need to work it out what it means to be obedient disciples.
We’re called to work out our salvation but we’re confident because God is working in us. This is why we can be joyful. This is why we can live worthy of the gospel. Paul is saying…
Live worthy of the gospel through joy. (2:14-18) Paul already said to “obey” in verse 12. Now he’s explaining how we obey— “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.” We all inherently know what grumbling is. It’s complaining. It’s whispering under your breath how you disagree or are upset (Acts 6:1; 1 Peter 4:9). It’s sighing and dragging your feet. It’s telling others when you don’t get your way. It’s having a bad attitude.
Paul is addressing our heart attitudes, because outwardly we can be the most obedient go-getter church people, but if on the inside we’re constantly complaining and resentful that doesn’t honor God. When Monica and I were over at the Iles for dinner one evening they were teaching Emma to “obey with a happy heart.” This call isn’t just for children. We’re called to obey Jesus with happy hearts too.
We live worthy of the gospel through joy. But joy can be hard to find. Here are three steps to developing joy.
1. Remember the result of grumbling. (v. 14-15) “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.”
At Philippi we know two women are arguing, Euodia and Syntyche (Phil 4:2). We also know that either in Rome or in Philippi believers are preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry (Phil 1:15). Clearly, some in the church are grumbling and arguing. So Paul reminds them of another people who also grumbled and complained, and what happened to them. The line “warped and crooked generation” points us to the OT.
Deuteronomy 32:5 They are corrupt and not his children; to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation. (NIV®)
This is a line from a song Moses wrote about Israel. They were a people who loved to grumble. When Moses first led Israel out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt to the promised land, he sent spies into the land (Canaan), but all but two of the spies reported that the local inhabitants were too strong and powerful to overcome. Then it says the people grumbled.
Numbers 14:2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! (NIV®)
When the Israelites grumbled, they were saying, “We don’t trust you God.” When we grumble, especially as a church, we’re showing we don’t have faith in God. We’re showing we don’t trust him. The consequence for Israel was God sentencing them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years and everyone dying above the age of 20, except the two faithful spies (Num 14:29, 34). Grumbling leads to death.
As a new church, we’re forming our culture. What do we want our culture to be like? If we’re joyful, people are going to be drawn to our joy, just like the Philippians, we will shine like stars in this world. Building this culture begins behind closed doors when we have the opportunity to foster joy instead of grumbling. One TED talk I listened to called complaining “viral misery.” One person gives their grumbles to another, and then it spreads to another and another, and pretty soon we’re all grumbling and complaining. In those moments when we’re tempted to complain about each other, our leadership, or even other ministries, let’s tell jokes, laugh, and rejoice that we can serve Christ even when it’s hard.
Some of you have not met him, but one of the reasons I miss serving with Anthony on our leadership team is because when he would get tired, he wouldn’t complain, but he would start telling jokes. He controlled what was projected on the screen during our meetings, and the later it got the weirder things he started writing. When being a church is tough, or when your life is hard, remember that grumbling never leads any place good. 1) Remember the result of grumbling (or not grumbling). Second…
2. Hold fast the word of life. (v. 16) “as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.” In our verse, Paul emphasizes holding fast the word of life, the Bible. Is the Bible an emphasis in your life? Do you read God’s word? Do you study it? Do you memorize the foundation verse in our sermon series? We do these things as a church because we want God’s words to give us life.
Kathy Keller, Timothy Keller’s wife, once asked him, “If you had to take a pill every single day or you would die, would you ever miss a day taking that pill?” I know that if I had a pill I had to take every single day to live, taking that pill would be the first thing on my mind every morning. God’s word is the pill we need every single day to truly live. Let’s spend time with God through his word and prayer.
Paul says that if the Philippians hold onto God’s word, he will not have run the race in vain. We learned that word for “vain” last week. It’s the Greek word Kenos, which means “empty handed.” Just remember the Massachusetts lottery keno. If you play it, you’ll walk away empty-handed. Paul doesn’t want to end this life empty-handed when it comes to the Philippians. They will endure is if they hold onto God’s word.
This word for “hold-firmly” also means to “hold-out.” Part of keeping God’s word is not keeping it to ourselves. We’re supposed to hold the word of life “in,” but we’re also supposed to hold it “out.” As we focus on hiding God’s word in our hearts and sharing God’s word with the world, we’ll be too busy to grumble. It’s when we take our eyes off of Jesus and his mission that we begin to argue and complain.
When a child is crying or whining, what’s one of the tools their parents use. Redirection! You redirect your child’s attention from his or her problem onto a choice, or new activity, or new idea with the hope that your child will forget what made them upset and move onto this new thing. God does that with us. When we’re tempted to despair, and grumble, he gives us his word to redirect our thoughts and actions. When we see how great Christ is, it takes our minds of our circumstances and places them on Christ.
So what are the three steps to developing joy? 1) Remember the result of grumbling (and not grumbling). 2) Hold fast the word of life (the Bible). And 3)…
3. Find your joy in Jesus. (v. 17-18) Somehow Paul manages to find joy despite his circumstances. “17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.”
What does it mean Paul is being poured out like a drink offering? The Israelite priests sacrificed a lamb in both the morning and evening as a burnt offering. When they did this, they also offered a drink offering, which was a mixture of flour, olive oil, and wine (Ex 29:38-41). They also offered drink offerings at other special times, like festivals, or with other offerings (Lev 23:37; Num 15:4).
Paul is being poured out by suffering under house arrest for the gospel. Just like the Old Testament offerings, his offering is a pleasing aroma to the Lord (Lev 23:18). But the amazing thing is Paul says, “This sacrifice makes me happy and it should make you happy too.” What could possibly make Paul willing to pour himself out as a drink offering? He’s willing to do it for their faith. What faith are we talking about? The faith that ultimately centers on Jesus. Did you know Jesus was poured out as a drink offering first?
Luke 22:20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. (NIV®)
Jesus’s body and blood became the bread (flour) and wine of our drink offering. He poured himself out so that we can have life, and laughter, and joy. Why would Jesus do this? Because saving his people is his joy.
Hebrews 12:1b-2 And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (NIV®)
Who is Jesus’ joy? Anyone who puts their faith in him. At the cross, Jesus loaded up all the sin and grumbling and complaining of any who trust him upon himself, and then he died. But that means our sin and grumbling and complaining are put to death too. And when he rose from the grave, he left it behind, banishing it forever. Now Jesus offers us joy where we once only knew grumbling. If you confess your sins and put your faith in Jesus, your grumbles go on Jesus and his joy falls on you. Although we still complain, if you know Christ, you don’t have to pay for that sin and one day in glory you’ll never complain again.
Find your joy in Jesus. When we understand Jesus offers us his eternal joy, we realize Jesus is worth our joy.
Jesus is worth your joy. In Christ, we can have a joyful life right here and now, even if we’re being poured out through hardship. Why? Because Jesus was poured out for us. Jesus is worth your joy.
A little boy was standing in the lobby of his church. He was starting up at a big plaque on the wall that had the names of men and women on it. The Pastor came over and said that these were the men and women in the church who died in the service. The little boy’s eyes got big and he said, “Well how long did the pastor preach for?” So with that, remember this—Jesus is worth your joy.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Have you ever heard of a humble brag? A humble brag is a display of false modesty. People do this on Twitter all the time, and thankfully, one user has compiled some of the most humble humble brags.
“Can we start a media campaign to question how I got into Columbia, too? Still scratching my head about how I got accepted & demand answers!” – Annie
“I just did something very selfless. But more importantly, it was genuine & I know it means a lot to the person in the long run. #soworthit” – Cheryl
“@jimmykimmel Hi, I’m 16 and I’m publishing 3 books and an album this year. Do you have advice on how to handle it best?” – Josh
“It’s an evening with the Hoff! Britain’s got talent followed by my life story on Piers Morgan. Hopefully you won’t get sick of me!” – David
“I’m truly humbled you follow my tweets. I pray they enrich your life & strengthen your ministry. God bless all 200,000 of you!” – Rick
To be fair, I’d never heard of a humble brag until this summer when my older brother told me that was what I was doing every time I posted pictures of myself doing CrossFit to Facebook. Here’s one more…
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” – Paul
The Apostle Paul understood humility and why it matters (Gal 6:14). In our text today, he calls all disciples, all followers of Jesus, to be humble. Last week we learned the first way to live worthy of the gospel, through unity, and this week we’re going to learn the second way, through humility. So although we’re starting in Philippians 2:1, we’re continuing to discover the answer to Paul’s command in Philippians 1:27 to “Conduct yourselves in a manner worth of the gospel of Christ.” So what’s the second way to live worthy?
Live worthy of the gospel through humility. (Phil 2:1-11) “Therefore if you have any encouragement…” When we run into a “therefore,” we need to ask, “What’s it there for?” Our “therefore” acts as a connecting word between Paul’s call to unity (chapter 1) and his call to humility (chapter 2). But there’s an interruption. Our passage doesn’t begin by talking about humility. That starts in verse 3. Instead, Paul begins by telling us why we should unify and be humble. So why should we?
Why? Because we have God’s grace. (v. 1-2) “1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”
Every time verse one says “if” we can translate it as “since.” Paul is saying, “Since you’re united with Christ, since he loves you, since you have the Holy Spirit…” Since you have grace… Be unified and humble. When we realize how much we don’t deserve God’s love, and yet he gives it to us anyways, it humbles us.
Each of us is more sinful than we know. We constantly disobey God. And yet, we’re loved more than we can ever imagine. Because we know God loves us despite our sins, we can unify as Christians and humble ourselves no matter what. If I do wrong things, but God still loves me, why can’t I love that person despite their sin? We humble ourselves because we have God’s grace. But what exactly is humility?
What? Humility is valuing others above ourselves. (v. 3-4) “3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Paul is writing to the church in Philippi, and right here he is laying the groundwork for something he is going to say in chapter four. The church at Philippi just sent Epaphroditus to Rome to encourage Paul in prison. When he came he must have given Paul a verbal report of everything going on. One of the things he told Paul was about the two women in the church who are fighting. So in chapter 4 Paul says this:
Philippians 4:2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. (NIV®)
Wow! Paul calls Euodia and Syntyche to unity and humility in front of the whole church. This letter would have been read publicly at the church gathering. Can you imagine if I addressed two of you this way? Paul is an Apostle, so we’ll let him do that. But before he says something, he lays the groundwork in chapter two.
Paul says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.” This Greek word for “vain conceit” is the word “kenodoxia” and it’s a compound word. A compound word is when two distinct words like “dog” and “house” are combined together to mean something different, “doghouse.” Kenodoxia is the compound of doxa, which means “glory” and “kenos” which means “empty-handed.” Have you ever played Keno, the Massachusetts lottery? In Greek, Kenos means “empty handed” so don’t expect to win! Kenodoxia means “empty glory.” In other words, Paul is saying, “Do nothing for your own glory, because it won’t last.”
Sometimes the reason we prioritize ourselves and our agendas above that of others is because we think we’re more valuable than them. We care more for our glory than theirs. This week Henry and I went for a walk around the garden down the street and we were talking about the Imago Dei. Imago Dei is latin for “image of God.” We’re all made in God’s image, in God’s likeness, and that gives everyone value.
Genesis 1:27So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (NIV®)
If we realize everyone is made in God’s image, then everyone is valuable, and I can honestly say they’re valuable. In fact, Paul says to even count each other as more important than ourselves. But that doesn’t sound easy. I naturally think I am the most important person in the room. So how can we do this?
How? By having the same mindset as Christ Jesus. (v. 5-8) Have you ever noticed that when little kids decide they like you, you’re golden. They just want to be around you, and talk to you, and if they really like you they start to mimic your mannerisms. They’ll do the things you do and say the things you say. Like, even if you don’t want them to repeat you, they will. They’re developing the same mindset and mannerisms as you.
Adults do this too. Do you have someone you really respect and admire who you want to be like? Maybe it’s a favorite author, or speaker, celebrity, or TV show host. Maybe it’s David Hasselhoff or Rick Warren? What do you do? You read their books, go to their conferences, watch their shows, you even dress like them and do your hair like them.
Paul says, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” In other words, think like Christ. Walk like him. Talk like him. Relate to others like him. Grow a beard like him. Get into his mind. Let Christ’s thoughts change our thoughts. So what did Jesus think about?
Jesus thought of the Father before himself. (v. 6)
In verses 6-11 we find what some consider an early church hymn written by Paul or someone else that the church may have sung. This poem starts in verse 6, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.” We see two things here:
Jesus is the most important being in the universe. Jesus is the divine being. That’s what “being in very nature God” means. Jesus is equal with God the Father. He is God. And yet… Jesus still found a way to put his Father first. He “did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.” In other words, he didn’t use his God powers to get his own way.
Jesus could have called ten thousand angels down to deliver him from the cross (Matt 26:53), but instead he did his Father’s will so every word of Scripture would come true. Jesus thought of the Father’s will before his own. I see two ways to apply this to our own lives:
Value your peers before yourself. It’s easy for us to think, “I’m just as good as that person. I’m as smart as them, as cool as them, as strong as them.” Even if those things are true, Jesus doesn’t think that way, so neither should we. Instead, let’s think, “We’re both valuable to God, made in his image. How can I show this person they are valuable?” That doesn’t just mean do whatever they want, but it does mean showing them respect in your attitude and actions. Value the Father’s will before your own. Just like Jesus honored God the Father, so we should develop a mindset of thinking about God the Father first. The Bible is called God’s Word. So we develop a God-centered mindset by reading and studying God’s Word and letting it shape how we think about life and interact with others. Jesus thought of the Father before himself and so should we.
I wanted to share a story with you of someone modeling humility to me, of someone valuing me as more important than himself. I actually thought of a local pastor. About a year ago Pastor Peter Wu, who is the Senior Pastor of the Chinese Bible Church of Greater Lowell (CBCGL), which is the church on route 110 between Westford and Chelmsford, set up an appointment to come meet with me. He is a Pastor of a church that I think has about 600 people, and worships in three different languages, Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. He oversees all of this plus five pastors, and yet he wanted to come see me here at Cornerstone. And when he came to meet me, he very humbly asked for my opinion on a decision.
About a month later I got lunch with him and his staff and his youth pastor told me Pastor Peter Wu is the Haddon Robinson of China. That doesn’t mean much to you, but to me that means a lot. Haddon Robinson invented “big idea” preaching (I have his book on my shelf) and taught at the seminary I attended, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Pastor Peter Wu has a PhD, has written several books, and taught at a Bible College, but you would never know his accomplishments because of his humility. Pastor Peter Wu thought of me before himself like Jesus thought of the Father before himself. He also…
Jesus thought of us before himself. (v. 7-8)
Jesus had all the rights and privileges of God himself in heaven, but verse 7 says, “rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” I preached an overview of Philippians 2:6-11 this summer in our What We Believe sermon series when we talked about who Jesus is, The Son. I pointed out that in verse 7 there’s a hotly debated line, “he made himself nothing.” The Greek word kenoō for “nothing” means “empty.” So it’s saying, “Jesus emptied himself.” Theologians have argued over what Jesus emptied himself of time and time again. This summer I explained Jesus didn’t stop being omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent because those are attributes of God, and he can’t stop being God.
To find what this “emptying” means we just look to the second half of the verse; “he made himself nothing by (how did he do it? By…) taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” It’s not that Jesus lost his divinity, but that he gained humanity. He left the perfection of heaven for the imperfection of this world. By coming into this world, Jesus experienced what it’s like to get sick and dirty and stub your toe. He could feel pain and cry. We know God understands how awful the Vegas Shooting is because he entered into this world through Christ and experienced our sorrow and suffering as a human being.
Why did Jesus do this? Because he was thinking of his Father’s will, but also of sinful men and women, boys and girls, who need a savior. Verse 8 says, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Gordon Fee says “the cross was reserved for slaves and insurrectionists.” It was the worst way to die; but even worse, the cross was a curse.
Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— (NIV®)
When the first people sinned, Adam and Eve, they came under God’s curse. But what does Jesus do? He humbles himself and enters into our curse. He lowers himself from heaven to this world, and if that’s not low enough, he comes under the very wrath of God and dies. He does this so that you and me, anyone who repents and puts their faith in Jesus, can be set free from the curse. Do you see how low Jesus goes for us?
Who do you need to think of before yourself? Who do you consider to be less than you, who is not a peer, that you can elevate above yourself? Think of someone you have a hard time putting before yourself. Maybe it’s your spouse, or your child, a parent, a coworker, or even a friend. Maybe you ignore this person because you don’t like them, or you don’t pay attention to them because you have more important things to do. I’m not suggesting you let this person monopolize you; but what would it look like for you to demonstrate to them their value? Maybe it means listening to them talk, or asking good questions about their lives, or if it’s your spouse, deferring to some of their desires, or your child, slowing down for them. We can’t take on the curse for each other. Jesus already did that. But we can pray, “Lord, help me love this person as Jesus. Help me think of them before myself. Fill me with your Holy Spirit to help me. Amen.”
Jesus thought of us before himself. Do you know why it’s hard to live this way? Because if all we ever do is humble ourselves, will it ever pay off? What if I keep going lower and lower until I die? That’s what happened to Jesus, but the story doesn’t end there.
Result? The Father exalted him to the highest degree. (v. 9-11) “Therefore!” What’s it there for? To show that because of Christ’s humility, even to the point of death, “God exalted him to the highest place.” What does that mean? It means that when Jesus rose from the grave, and ascended into heaven, God the Father poured out the glories and praises of heaven in a way they had never known for all eternity past. The Father gave Jesus the highest praise possible.
God “gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.” In the Old Testament, people over and over again call on “the name of the LORD—people like Abraham (Gen 12:8), Isaac (Gen 26:25), and Jacob (Gen 31:53). But as early as 300 BC, the Jewish people stopped calling God “Yahweh” out of reverence for God, so they would call him by other titles like “the name” or “adonai” (which is Hebrew for “Lord”).
When the Jews translated the Old Testament into Greek, they translated God’s name, “Yahweh,” as “Kurios,” which means “Lord.” Remember last week I said the Romans called their emperor “Lord and Savior.” In verse 11 Paul is taking this title head on. Only Jesus deserves the title Lord! Why? Because Jesus shares “the name” with his Heavenly Father. He is God! He is Yahweh (Isaiah 45:23)! And every heavenly or hellish tongue, every living or dead tongue, every willing or unwilling tongue, will one day confess Jesus is the Lord God and worship him.
On that final day, will you confess Jesus is God willingly or unwillingly? Will you confess him as Lord but not as your Savior? We can change that. Today can be the day that you can willingly confess Jesus is both your Lord and your Savior. Jesus isn’t a demanding far off God. He is one that humbled himself and entered into our human experience to know and love us.
For those of you who struggle with humility I have a second application. The Elders are memorizing 1 Peter 5:1-11 together. One of the verses says this.
1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (NIV®)
Jesus promises that any who humbles themselves, he will exalt. That’s not empty-glory. Jesus doesn’t make us play the Keno lottery. He is a a sure bet. He promises to lift up any who humble themselves, look to Christ, and seek to lift others up above themselves.
Think like Christ and humble yourself. Twitter limits its user’s posts to 140 characters. If someone summed up your life in 140 words or less, would it sound like a humble brag or like you’re seeking to lift others up and humble yourself before Jesus? The good news is that if you trust in Christ, you are not defined by 140 characters. You are defined by Christ. Knowing what Christ did for us, leaving perfection to enter into our world, it humbles us. As his disciples, let’s live that same way. Let’s have the mindset of Christ. Think like Christ and humble yourself.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Have you ever heard of a humble brag? A humble brag is a display of false modesty. People do this on Twitter all the time, and thankfully, one user has compiled some of the most humble humble brags. “Can we start a media campaign to question how I got into Columbia, too? Still scratching my head about how I got accepted & demand answers!” – Annie “I just did something very selfless. But more importantly, it was genuine & I
What word would you use to describe our world right now? Chaotic? Angry? A mess? It seems like every week there’s a new story covering the strife in Washington and filling our globe. North Korea. Russia. Healthcare. The President. NFL. It seems like no matter the topic, our world is bitterly divided. But the great news is that Christians are in agreement! We are unified. We are at peace. We offer a safe-haven to those who want to get away
What word would you use to describe our world right now? Chaotic? Angry? A mess? It seems like every week there’s a new story covering the strife in Washington and filling our globe. North Korea. Russia. Healthcare. The President. NFL. It seems like no matter the topic, our world is bitterly divided.
But the great news is that Christians are in agreement! We are unified. We are at peace. We offer a safe-haven to those who want to get away from the chaos… Unfortunately, that’s not true. As Christians, we get caught up in the same chaos. As the church, I believe we can be a counter-cultural safe-haven, offering peace and unity where the world offers unrest. In our passage today, the Apostle Paul tells disciples how we can live differently, and it starts with the gospel.
Live worthy of the gospel. (Phil 1:27a) “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worth of the gospel of Christ.” The words “conduct yourselves” is the Greek word politeuomai. Does anyone know the Greek word for “city”? It’s polis. Like our english word for “large city” is metropolis. So the Greek word politeuomai has to do with cities, specifically citizens. Politeuomai (“conduct”) actually means “to be a citizen.” Paul is saying, “Live like you’re a citizen of a different country.” Have you ever met someone from a different country, like France, or Germany or Louisiana? They just act differently. What country are we citizens of? The kingdom of God.
The gospel is the good news that God’s heavenly kingdom is breaking into this world (Dan 2:34-35; Mark 1:14-15). Jesus in his ministry preached the arrival of God’s kingdom.
Matthew 4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. (NIV®)
Jesus preached all about the kingdom of God breaking into our world (Luke 4:43). Now Paul encourages us to act differently because we know we’re citizens this kingdom that is going to change everything about our world for the better, beginning with our hearts and moving outward into society, even healing disease and sickness. So when we speak of the gospel, we should talk of both its message and its impact.
First, the gospel message—the gospel message begins on the inside. I recognize that I am born in sin and choose to sin. I choose to disobey and not trust God. I have a sinful heart, and I personally am in need of forgiveness and healing, which God offers us through Jesus Christ. If we repent of our sin and put our faith in Christ, we are given the righteousness of Christ. Thegospel message saves me personally.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (NIV®)
Second, the gospel impact—the gospel impact recognizes that sin doesn’t just hurt me. I have a leaky heart. Sin seeps out into our world negatively impacting our friendships, marriages, culture, social systems, and government, producing oppressive systems and institutions warped by greed, racism, and bitterness. But the good news is that Jesus came to redeem (to fix) this too. The gospel message produces gospel impact, which is about saving all of creation.
Romans 8:20-21 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (NIV®)
The gospel message and gospel impact is going to change everything, both people and creation. When we realize how life-changing and world-changing this whole gospel is, it changes how we live.
I recently purchased a new gas grill. It has three burners, a drip tray, and that new grill smell. It’s like I’m living in a whole new world full of new possibilities. Because it’s so great, I’m working really hard to keep it that way by cleaning the grill inside and out. I’m living differently because I know how valuable it is. Have you ever purchased a new car and you’re really careful to vacuum it and take it to the carwash and spray it down with that new car smell because you want to make it last? Or maybe you purchased some new clothes and you’re careful not to shrink them in the dryer for at least the first month? We live differently when we understand something’s value.
How much more valuable is the life-transforming world-changing gospel of Jesus Christ? So how, according to Paul, can we conduct ourselves in a way that shows the value of the gospel and its impact?
Live worthy of the gospel through unity. (Phil 1:27b-30) The rest of verse 27 says, “Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.” The Philippians are supposed to live as “one” and today as Christians and as the church, we’re to live as “one.” We’re supposed to act like we’re all citizens of the same kingdom preaching the same life-transforming world-changing gospel, but we have a hard time doing this.
There has been a tendency over the last 150 years for personal spirituality to be the concern of evangelicals and social justice to be the domain of liberals. You go to an evangelical church to hear sermons on faith, repentance, prayer, love, joy, service, giving, evangelism, healthy relationships, personal integrity, God’s grace, God’s power, and God’s providence. You go to a liberal church to hear sermons on family violence, the victims of AIDS, oppression of the poor, environmental issues, and the concerns of the marginalized. – The Heart is the Target by Murray Capill (page 181)
As Christians we’re called to preach both the gospel message and the gospel impact. We’re not supposed to live in a gospel bubble, but a gospel fire hydrant that drenches the world. We can only do this together. Paul calls us to “stand firm” and “strive together” for this gospel. The commentaries say Paul is using the image of athletic games. Lawson writes, “The main root of the word translated ‘striving’ (sunathleo) gives the English language words such as ‘athlete’ and ‘athletic.’ The idea pictures someone competing with maximum effort in an athletic contest such as running or wrestling [or Crossfit].” I added that last one.
One of the girls at my Crossfit gym plays Rugby. When I think of Paul’s call for us to strive together as a team, I think of a Rugby huddle, which is actually called a Rugby scrum. In a Rugby scrum, a team interlocks their heads together with the heads of the other team, and they push and press each other forward and backward till one of their teammates throws the rugby ball into the tunnel between them and one team recovers it. Being in that scrum is hard, and it really hurts. Paul is calling us to strive together as a team, locking our arms and straining forward for “the faith of the gospel”—first for the gospelmessage, but as we realize we’re citizens of God’s kingdom, for the gospel impact too.
As a church, we can be a place that strives together to live lives worthy of the gospel? We can only do this if we work hard to be unified in our love for and understanding of the full gospel. I believe this is our vision as a church: “A gospel-centered church that changes lives through sharing the message of Jesus Christ in word and deed”. Our vision tells me we want to both hear the gospel, and see it make a real difference in lives. We unify as a church when every person and ministry takes personal responsibility for believing the gospel and see it lived out in our lives, ministries, and world.
This is intimidating, isn’t it? That’s why Paul gives us two encouragements. First, he says…
- We don’t need to be afraid. (v. 28) Verse 28, “without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God.” Who is opposing the Philippians? We don’t know for sure. It could be the Judaizers, who claimed to be Christians but then said that in order to follow Christ, the Jewish Messiah, you had to obey the Jewish law. For non-Jews this was very difficult, especially since if you were male, that meant you had to get circumcised. You can see how this would be a giant hurdle to become a Christian. Paul writes this later in Philippians.
Philippians 3:2-3 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— (NIV®)
It could be the Judaizers or the city of Philippi itself. Philippi was very nationalistic. It was loyal to the emperor who held the title “Lord and Savior.” You know how we begin our sports games by singing the national anthem? In ancient cities like Philippi, they would have started all their public events by declaring the emperor is “Lord and Savior.” What if you were required to call the President “Lord and Savior” at every baseball game? We couldn’t do that and neither could the Philippians. So when Paul came preaching Jesus is Lord and Savior, the culture attacked him. He was harassed, beaten, thrown in prison (Acts 16:16-24). When he founded a church in Philippi, they were persecuted too.
1 Thessalonians 2:1-2 You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. (NIV®)
But Paul is saying, “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be frightened by the Judaizers or by the citizens of Philippi. When you are unafraid, you tell their hearts what they already know—their truth is no truth at all, and one day they will be condemned by God because of it.”
When we preach the gospel, especially a gospel that impacts both the heart and the world, the world doesn’t like it. See they either want the gospel message without the gospel impact or the gospel impact without the gospel message. Why? Because when people hear the words of truth and see it lived out in a way that’s changing the world, it’s awfully hard to resist.
On his podcast this week, Phil Visher read a Washington Post article that talks about Tim Tebow. He seems to be preaching the gospel message that saves from personal sin without fear.
Tebow was home-schooled by his Christian parents, and spent his summers in the Philippines, helping with his father’s orphanage and missionary work.
During his college football career, the Heisman Trophy winner frequently wore references to Bible verses on his eye black, including the ubiquitous John 3:16 during the 2009 BCS Championship Game.
He has been outspoken about his pro-life stance, and his commitment to abstinence from sex before marriage. […]
He has preached in churches, prisons, schools, youth groups and a welter of evangelical conferences.
And he is well known for his signature move — dropping to one knee on the field, his head bowed in prayer, his arm resting on his bent knee — known throughout the world as Tebowing.
Tim Tebow is famous for his faith and football. Although I don’t know a lot about his career, I think it’s fair to say he has faced a lot of criticism and ridicule for his faith in Christ. As believers, I want a little bit of Tebow’s fearlessness, being willing to take a knee before Christ anywhere. We don’t need to be afraid. Live worthy of the gospel through unity. Paul’s second encouragement is…
- Suffering is a sign we’re doing it right. (v. 29-30) Verse 29 says, “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.” The word for suffer is the same kind of suffering used to describe what Jesus went through at his crucifixion and what the early church experienced because of persecution. In fact, Peter, when he wrote to the church potentially under Nero, said suffering is to be expected.
1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. (NIV®)
This is the same church whose members will be wrongly accused by Nero and martyred by him in the most horrible ways imaginable—burned alive to light his gardens and fed to animals for entertainment. Part of living worthy of the gospel is experiencing suffering together for the sake of the gospel in this world. Suffering is a sign we’re doing it right.
The Washington Post article goes on to describe another famous football player who is suffering for the gospel. But the gospel he is suffering for is not just the one that addresses personal sin, but social sin. Colin Kaepernick started protesting the national anthem at NFL games by sitting then kneeling because he has experienced the effects of sin in this world’s systems, resulting in racism and death.
[Colin Kaepernick] was baptized Methodist, confirmed Lutheran, and attended a Baptist church during college.
His body is festooned with religious tattoos, including depictions of scrolls, a cross, praying hands, angels defeating demons, terms like “To God be the Glory,” “Heaven Sent,” “God will guide me,” Psalm 18:39 and Psalm 27:3.
He has said, “My faith is the basis from where my game comes from. I’ve been very blessed to have the talent to play the game that I do and be successful at it. I think God guides me through every day and helps me take the right steps and has helped me to get to where I’m at. When I step on the field, I always say a prayer, say I am thankful to be able to wake up that morning and go out there and try to glorify the Lord with what I do on the field. I think if you go out and try to do that, no matter what you do on the field, you can be happy about what you did.”
And Kaepernick’s faith isn’t just about making him feel happy. It’s turned him into an activist and philanthropist. During the offseason Kaepernick launched a GoFundMe page to fly food and water into suffering Somalia. It surpassed its $2 million goal in just four days. In March, the plane loaded with essential supplies landed in Mogadishu.
He had already pledged to donate $1 million, along with the proceeds of his jersey sales from the 2016 season, to charitable work. […]
He joined with the charitable organization 100 Suits, to pass out free suits in front of the New York State Parole office for people who have been released from prison and are looking for jobs.
Kaepernick protests because black people are dying from systemic racism and police brutality. As a result of Kaepernick’s desire to see the whole world, even the unjust and sin-filled systems, fixed, he’s being attacked. Kaepernick is currently not playing football, and some think it’s because of his protests.
I’m not here to pass judgment on whether or not Kaepernick should be protesting during the national anthem. But it’s interesting that both Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick are Christian believers who are facing gospel-centered suffering, and doing so fearlessly, but so far it seems like the Christian culture I’m most familiar with is far more supportive of Tim Tebow than Colin Kaepernick. We’re not very united, are we?
I can’t preach an honest message on church unity if I don’t address at least one area where we as a church and believers might not be unified. I know we as a church love and value the gospel that changes my heart, but do we love and value the gospel that changes our world?
The gospel came to transform both the individual and culture. I’m not suggesting we become a church known for political activism, but we should be a church that’s known for the gospel, both for personal redemption and social redemption, for the gospel of Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick.
Live worthy of the gospel through gospel unity. I was supposed to preach all the way through Philippians 2:11 today, but I felt like the Holy Spirit gave me this message. But I do want to give you a preview of next week. The only way we can live in unity is through humility. Humility is the second way to live worthy of the gospel. Next week’s text shows how Christ humbled himself for us.
Jesus left the glories and praise of heaven so that he could step down into our chaos, our anger, our mess. Philippians 2:8 says, “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Jesus was perfectly unified with his heavenly Father. He obeyed him, loved him, trusted him, and his reward was receiving the punishment for our sin. Jesus was forsaken by the Father. Somehow the unity Jesus had known for all eternity was disrupted at the cross so that you and I can experience unity with God forever. Jesus took our dis-unity and gave us his perfect unity.
If your life is in chaos right now, and you need a little bit of this unity I’m talking about, you can have it because of Jesus. Repent of your sins and put your faith in him, and your whole world will change.
At the end of our passage next week, it says “every knee should bow.” One day, just like Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick, every knee will bow to King Jesus. The king and his kingdom will arrive in its fullness and bring perfect unity into our world through healing us personally and socially. Until that day… Live worthy of the gospel through gospel unity.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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As I was preparing this sermon on the difficulties of following Jesus this, I began to think about places we face hardship, and I thought of boot camp. I have not gone through boot camp, but my brother went to the Marine Corps boot camp. Boot camp is known for being really hard. You constantly drill, study, workout (sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, running), and this all culminates at the end in the crucible. The crucible is a 54-hour test where you’re
As I was preparing this sermon on the difficulties of following Jesus this, I began to think about places we face hardship, and I thought of boot camp. I have not gone through boot camp, but my brother went to the Marine Corps boot camp. Boot camp is known for being really hard. You constantly drill, study, workout (sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, running), and this all culminates at the end in the crucible. The crucible is a 54-hour test where you’re hungry, sleep deprived, march 45 miles, and have to problem solve as a team through different courses and obstacles. If you can make it through the crucible, you’re a Marine.
I read a book that followed a Platoon through boot camp. The author described seeing a big strong recruit get so mentally worn down he punched a shower wall and got sent home. From what I can tell it’s not brute strength that get’s you through, but mental toughness, pride in the Corps, and relying on other Marines.
“Some believe that Marines are forged in a furnace of shared hardship and tough training. Shared, intense experience creates a bond so strong between Marines that nothing can stop them from accomplishing their mission.” – Military.com
What would get you through something as hard as boot camp? Pushups? Pride? A clear mission? Not wanting to let others down? As followers of Jesus we go through a type of boot camp too. In this life we face hardships, and like boot camp separates recruits from Marines, hardships separate recruits from disciples.
So here’s our question. Do I want to be a a recruit who doesn’t make it through? Who drops out? Or do I want to be a real disciple of Jesus who makes it all the way? Do I want to be a real Christian?
Disciples embrace hardship for Christ. Near the end of Paul’s life he faced incredible hardship. He was arrested in Jerusalem and imprisoned for the next two years from 57 to 59 AD at Caesarea (Acts 24:1, 27). Then he was transported to Rome where he spent another two years in prison from 60 to 62 AD. In Rome, Paul lived by himself under “house arrest” but was constantly guarded (Acts 28:16, 30). Today’s passage describes three types of hardships Paul faced during this time, which we may face as disciples today.
- Suffering (v. 12-14)
Paul may be in a low-level prison situation under house arrest, but he’s still physically chained to his guard (1:7, 13, 14, 17). Pastor and author Steven Lawson writes that his chains were about 18 inches long and were attached to his wrists like “extended handcuffs,” which were attached to his guard 24/7.
Can you imagine how uncomfortable this is? Your wrists would be constantly tender and sore. You’d develop a constant ache and stiffness in your forearms like carpal tunnel syndrome. Monica and I visited Colonial Williamsburg where you can put your head and arms in prison stocks at their town square. I did that when I was a kid because it was fun but I didn’t want to be in them for even a moment this time around because they looked so uncomfortable. Paul endured this type of pain for two years but it was worth it.
Philippians 1:14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
As a result of Paul’s suffering, the other believers are becoming bolder and more courageous to proclaim the gospel. Would you be willing to suffer if it somehow furthered the cause of Christ?
In Burma (Myanmar) right now there’s a humanitarian crisis because of a conflict between the Burmese government and an indigenous Muslim people group called the Rohingya. The Burmese don’t recognize the Rohingyans right to live in Burma and are pushing them out. Last month Rohingyan insurgents attacked Burmese police and now that government is cracking down on all forms of religion that aren’t Buddhist, including Christianity. The government passed a law that said you can only practice Christianity in historically Christian zones, the places the missionary Adoniram Judson reached in the 1800s.
I knew a man in seminary who is running a Bible school in one of the regions that is not in the historically Christian zones. I sent a prayer request to the prayer network explaining how the government authorities recently called this man into their office and said he had to sign a letter indicating that he would never lead worship of Jesus or teach the Bible in Burma again. He told them “no” and that made them really mad. They said they’d already banned his Bible school and threatened to throw him in jail unless he complied.
This happened two weeks ago. How does that make you feel? Does that encourage you? We’re probably not going to be thrown in jail for sharing what we believe here. We could lose a few friends, a neighbor could look at us weird, or maybe we could lose our job, but that’s not going to prison. The first hardship disciples face is suffering. ButI think what’s really hard here is more relational. The second hardship is…
- Alienation (v. 15-18a)
Paul not only faces difficult circumstances. He faces difficult people. At the church in Philippi he hears that there is a contingent who dislikes him. “Some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry” and “selfish ambition..” There are some at Philippi who are jealous, selfish, insecure people who are bad-mouthing him. They’re saying, “You’re in prison because you’re guilty!” And you know who is talking about Paul this way? Christians. Other believers. It’s not his non-believing guards that are attacking Paul, but other disciples.
If you’ve been a Christian long enough, you know what hurts the most is not the ways non-Christians wound us, but the ways Christians wound us. We can all count the many ways pastors, churches, ministries, ministry leaders, committee members, staff, and Christians who are supposed to love us, have hurt us. It’s the reason a lot of Christians walk away from the church. In my mind it’s easier to face alienation from outside the church than it is from within. What if God calls you, and me, to put up with hurt from each other so that the message of Jesus can go out? Would it be just a little easier to put up with it then?
Disciples should expect to encounter alienation not just from the outside culture, but from the inside culture too. That doesn’t make it right, but it does make it more bearable. Two things encourage Paul:
First, most believers aren’t like this. The envious ones are a minority. Most are preaching Christ “out of goodwill” and “love” because they know Paul is put in prison to defend the gospel. Second, although they may have false motives they’re actually not false teachers. They’re preaching the true gospel, and because of this Paul rejoices!
When we encounter alienation from other believers, we can pray, “Father, you know I don’t like this, it’s unnecessary and it hurts, but at least they’re preaching Jesus and that’s what really matters. Please give us joy in our suffering. Amen.” Alienation may be a hardship we face as disciples of Christ, even from other believers. But wait, there’s more! If you call right now, you may also receive…
- Death (v. 18b-26)
Paul, as he is sitting under house arrest, is chained to a Roman soldier, writing this letter. He realizes that he may be found guilty and executed. Paul gives us a glimpse of his greatest fear in this moment. In verse 20 he says, “I hope I won’t be ashamed and that I’ll be courageous for Christ.” Whether he lives or dies, he wants to do so in a way that honors Jesus. Above all else, he wants to bring Christ fame.
Then he says one of the most beautiful lines in the Bible in verse 21, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” If Paul lives, he gets to live for Christ, and if he dies, he gets to be with Christ. He faces death courageously because he knows the options are only good.
Why do you think Paul feels this way? I know when I’m afraid or stressed, it consumes my mind. Verse 19 gives us two things that helps Paul get through: prayer and the Holy Spirit.
Maybe some of you have heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A couple years ago Eric Metaxas wrote a New York Times Bestseller called Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. Bonhoeffer was a German pastor who tried to assassinate Hitler and worked against the third Reich from within Germany. It’s an amazing story, but he doesn’t succeed, and is arrested by the Nazis and sentenced to death. What got him through his imprisonment and death was prayer and the Holy Spirit. The camp doctor witnessed Bonhoeffer’s death.
“Through the half-open door in one room of the huts I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, before taking off his prison garb, kneeling on the floor praying fervently to his God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution he said a short prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed. … In the almost fifty years that I have worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”
Prayer and the Holy Spirit got Paul through suffering, alienation, and death, got Dietrich Bonhoeffer through as well, and will get us through today. Thank you for praying for the Burmese man and his Bible school. A lot of people were praying and the Holy Spirit moved. When he went back to talk to the government, instead of throwing him in prison, they explained how to get around the issue with a loophole. All he had to do was re-file the Bible school as a philanthropic organization and they wouldn’t bother him anymore. The Holy Spirit works through prayer, conquering suffering, alienation, and death.
As Paul thinks about his own life, he says, “You know, I would rather die and be with Jesus because that would be great for me. But… I need to stay here so I can help you.” Disciples embrace hardship for Christ.
Disciples embrace life for each other. Hands down, it would be easier for Paul to die and go to heaven. But what does he say in v23-25, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” Sometimes it’s tempting to think, “Why doesn’t Jesus just take me home? That would be so much easier than this.” If you’re martyred for the Lord or die in an accident, that’s the better thing for you because you’ll be with Christ. But every day that God gives you life is an opportunity to love God and serve others. Paul was willing to postpone his own gratification for the sake of the Philippians. Let’s look again at our passage to see why Paul is embracing life and why we should too. First, disciples embrace life…
- For the lost (v. 12-14)
God called Paul into the trial of prison so that the gospel would spread to “the whole palace guard”—the Praetorian Guard. The Praetorians were the Emperor’s elite bodyguards who had better pay and “shorter terms of service.” They were loyal, they were warriors, and they needed Jesus.
Who do you know who is loyal to this world? Maybe you would even describe them as combative, aggressively anti-Christian. Maybe they’re a coworker or a family member, and sometimes you wish you could just be done with them. Have you ever thought that Jesus has chained you to them so that they can hear the gospel? I can think of at least a couple people who Christ has chained me too who I’d rather not spend that much time with, but they need Jesus. Who has Jesus chained you to?
“You are not where you are by accident. You are where you are by divine appointment, for the purposes of sharing the gospel.” – Philippians for You by Steven Lawson
Do you know what happened to some of the guards Paul was chained to as they heard the gospel?
Philippians 4:22 All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.
Did you catch that? Caesar’s household! The guards are coming to Christ. The combative are becoming Christian. We embrace life, even in suffering, because God can use it to save. Second, we embrace life…
- For our Savior (v. 15-18a)
In verse 16 Paul says, “I am put here for the defense of the gospel.” In the book of Philippians Paul uses the Greek word for “gospel—euangelion” nine times. That’s a lot of gospel for only four chapters. So what does Paul mean by gospel? Gospel means good news, but what’s the good news? The good news is Jesus Christ himself. When Paul speaks of the gospel, he means preaching Christ. In verses 15-18 alone we read “some preach Christ out of envy… the former preach Christ out of selfish ambition… whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.” Preaching the gospel is preaching Christ! Who he is, what he came to do, how he changes our lives. Christ himself is the gospel.
Jesus himself faced suffering, alienation, and death. He was bound and scourged (John 18:12; Mark 15:1) He was falsely accused by those who claimed to believe. Instead of welcoming him, they were jealous and envious and killed him. Jesus didn’t just face the possibility of death, he faced death itself. Jesus has faced every hardship we can imagine and has overcome. He overcame all these hardships so that he can reach back through them to you and me and pull us through suffering, alienation, and one day death.
Do you know this Jesus? Can you say, like Paul, “for me to die is gain.” If not yet, you can today. Although as disciples we may face suffering, alienation, and even death, one day we will face Jesus and he will reward us. Jesus gives not just joy in this life but eternal life to any who confess their sins (sin is living in alienation from God), and put their faith in him. We embrace Christ, because at the cross, he first embraced us. We embrace life for the lost, and for our Savior, and finally…
- For the church (v. 18b-26)
Paul knew it was better to live because he hoped to see the local church at Philippi again. He’s willing to lay down his life for Christ and he’s willing to continue living for the local church. I liked this contribution from our preaching breakfast, “Life in Christ is not just about dying and going to heaven, it’s about living a life of service and of love for Christ by loving and serving the Body of Christ.”
Do you realize that one of the main reasons Christ gives us breath is so that we can love his bride, the church? Christianity is not about doing what’s best for me, but about doing what’s best for her. Paul is torn between death and life but ultimately he embraces life because it gives him the opportunity to embrace a little church in the town of Philippi. If you’re here and you’ve been wounded by a church, thank you for being here. Would you dare to open your arms again and begin loving a local church full of God’s broken people? Come to tonight’s membership class so you can learn what that might look like.
We embrace life for the lost, for our Savior, and for the church. My big idea is this…
We embrace hardship for Christ and life for each other. Maybe some of you have heard of Jim Elliot. He was a Christian missionary martyred in 1956 by Ecuadorean natives who speared him and four other men to death. His story has been told over and over again of a life lived completely for Jesus. But did you know Jim Elliot had a brother named Bert? Bert died in 2012 at 87 years old. He was a missionary to Peru for 62 years where he helped plant 150 churches.
Bert once described his brother Jim as “a great meteor, streaking through the sky.” The author Randy Alcorn described Bert in a similar way, “Bert was a faint star that rose night after night, faithfully crossing the same path in the sky, to God’s glory.” Jim died heroically for Christ and Bert lived heroically for the lost, for his Savior, and for the church. As disciples of Jesus, let’s embrace every hardship God sends us with courage and embrace life fully for each other. We embrace hardship for Christ and life for each other.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Have you ever thought about how you might act if you were to meet someone really important? What you would say? How you would talk to them? If I were to meet Prince William and Kate (formerly Middleton), the Duchess of Cambridge, I’m not sure how I would act. Should I bow or shake their hands? Should I do both at the same time? What should I say to them? How long should I talk to them? This is William
Have you ever thought about how you might act if you were to meet someone really important? What you would say? How you would talk to them? If I were to meet Prince William and Kate (formerly Middleton), the Duchess of Cambridge, I’m not sure how I would act. Should I bow or shake their hands? Should I do both at the same time? What should I say to them? How long should I talk to them? This is William and Kate’s one big chance to meet me. I want it to go well for them.
A couple years ago Prince William and Kate visited the States and attended a Cavaliers game. Afterwards LeBron James took this picture with them, which made the British media have a British meltdown. They were horrified that LeBron James, who hadn’t showered after the basketball game, would dare to touch royalty, especially put his arm around Kate. Piers Morgan, who is British, and a TV host, said this to LeBron James.
“You do not put your arm around the future queen of England, LeBron James, you may call yourself King James — you are not a real king. Prince William is going to be my king, that was his wife — hands off the duchess.”
The British media was floored that LeBron James would break royal protocol this way. What they didn’t know was that LeBron James was just giving the Duchess an awkward Christian side-hug. So chances are, if you get the opportunity to meet the royals, you probably shouldn’t hug them. If you’re someone who doesn’t like hugs, next time I try to give you one (because I’m a hugger), just say, “I’m royal.”
How should we approach God? Prayer is simply talking to God, right? So we should just talk to him? In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray to “our Father in heaven” (Matt 6:9-13). But if God the Father created everything, and is the true sovereign (Isa 33:22; 64:8)—shouldn’t we be thoughtful about how we pray?
Today we’re studying how Paul prays and what Paul prays for in Philippians 1:3-11. Now Paul doesn’t say, “You need to pray like me” but I think he gives four ways disciples, followers of Jesus, should pray, and four things they can pray for. In his letter he gives us a pattern we can follow. So first…
How should we pray? Sometimes Paul has some pretty harsh words to say when he opens his letters. When he opens his letter to the Galatians, he calls them deserters because they’re abandoning the gospel. But when Paul writes to the Philippians, although he encourages humility and unity, he has lots of things to be grateful for because of them, and that’s reflected in his opening prayer. How should we pray?
1. Gratefully (v3) Paul says in v3, “I thank my God every time I remember you.” What is he thankful for?
There was no church or believers when he arrived in Philippi and now there is—Lydia, the jailer, a demon-possessed girl, a man named Epaphroditus, two women, Euodia and Syntyche, and many more (Acts 16). The Philippians gave money to support Paul, one of the few churches to do so. (2 Cor 11:9; Phil 4:15) They sent Epaphroditus to keep Paul company and care for him while he sits in prison.
So as you can see, Paul has plenty of reasons to be grateful. If Paul truly is writing from prison, it would be easy to sit around and feel sorry for himself, but he doesn’t. Instead he thanks God for the Philippians.
When I pray, it’s so easy for me to immediately launch into a list of ways God can make my life easier. Heavenly Father, would you help me get my sermon done? Would you grow Cornerstone? Would you fix a difficult relationship by changing them (and not me)? What if we started with gratitude first? Heavenly Father, thank you for the 143 sermons you gave me before this one. Thank you for the 101 members and attenders coming to Cornerstone. Thank you for the people you have placed in my life to make me more like Christ.
I want you to recall one request you’ve prayed for recently that was just you telling God you needed something. Praying our need is a good thing, but can you now silently pray the same request in the form of a thank you? “Thank you Father that I have just the right amount of money so I need to trust you. Thank you Father for my health problems so that I get to look forward to my resurrected body. Thank you Father for the difficult relationship I have because it’s making my pastor more like Christ.” We pray gratefully and…
2. Joyfully (v4-5) In v4 Paul says, “I always pray with joy in my every prayer for all of you” and then in v5 he explains why, “because of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.” Joy is a major theme in Philippians. Paul is happy because the Philippians have participated with him in believing and preaching the gospel. The word for “participation” is the same word for the “fellowship” the early church had as they sold property and possessions to care for each other’s needs (Acts 2:42-47). The Philippians are willing to give up everything to help Paul preach Christ to the world, and it makes Paul so happy.
Have you ever had someone tell you to “be happy” or “be joyful”? How well does that work? I can’t tell you to feel joy when you pray and expect it to happen. But, I can help you feel joy. Like Paul, let’s put ourselves in his shoes for a moment. As we look around at each other, let’s let ourselves feel joy because of each other’s dedication to the gospel.
Our row of students makes me so happy every time I see you here listening and taking notes. Last week at the farmer’s market, I was so happy people showed up to help out. And everyone who came last week to our big day, joy! Today, our kids at the Spicket River Cleanup in Lawrencefound a homeless man’s shelter as they were picking up trash. Because the children’s ministry put together those packets with Bibles, granola bars, and toothpaste for the homeless last week, they were able to leave one there for the homeless person. Doesn’t that get you excited? And how about those of us sharing the gospel with coworkers, family members, and friends on our frontlines? Take a moment and think of your partners in ministry at Cornerstone, the other people on your ministry teams, your volunteers, people reaching their frontlines, and allow yourself to be filled with joy. We pray gratefully and joyfully and…
3. Confidently (v6) Next Paul writes our foundation verse. Would you all say it with me?
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
We’re supposed to pray like God is at work. God is at work in the church at Philippi. If he saved them ten years earlier in 50 AD, he’s going to keep at it in 60-62 AD. In fact, Macedonia back then is Greece today. According to the Joshua Project, 88.3% of Greece is now Christian (95% of that is Orthodox, 0.4% evangelical). God is still at work there. If God brought us as a church into being, he’s going to keep working in us. There’s nothing that life or circumstances can throw at us that will destroy God’s work in Westford. This building literally collapsed in 2001, and God is still at work here with a brand new church! Pray like God is at work in us, and like God is at work in you.
The Transcontinental Railroadtook six years to build. Some of those days, when the going was good, the track flew down mile after mile across the plains. But other days, the construction crews ran into Sierra Nevada Mountains and they literally had to take a hammer and chisel, pound a ¾ inch hole four-feet deep in the rock face, pack it with explosives, and blow a few feet further into the tunnel. Now in our illustration, you’re not the miner. You’re the caboose. Day by day God is laying your track and leading your forward. Some days you’ll rush ahead and life will be easy; but other days you’ll have to patiently wait on God as he moves your life forward in him inch by inch. God made the mountains. He can take you through them. Because God is at work, we pray gratefully, joyfully, and confidently; and finally…
4. Affectionately (v7-8) Paul says it’s right for him “To feel this way about all of you” because he has them in his “heart”; and so it doesn’t matter if he’s imprisoned in chains because they’re sharing in God’s grace with him. Then he says in v8, “God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.” This word for “affection” is likely my favorite word in the book of Philippians. It’s the Greek word “splanchnon” and technically, it means “intestines.” In Acts 1:18 it says “Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.” That’s the same word as “affection” in our verse!
Can you imagine receiving a Hallmark card from your special someone on Valentine’s Day. Instead of being covered in red and pink hearts, it’s covered in red and pink intestines. You open it up and it says, “Baby, I love you so much my intestines hurt.” It’s time to have a serious talk with your spouse! Paul is literally saying “I long for you with the intestines of Christ Jesus!” And that makes sense in their culture. At that time they thought the bowels were the seat of emotion and intensity. Their bowels were their core like our heart is our core today. So really, he’s saying, “I long for you with the heart of Christ Jesus!”
When we begin to pray for people, what does it do? Prayer engages our hearts. It helps us care about each other. As we pray, let’s ask God to grow our affection, our feelings, our love, our hearts for those people we’re praying for. So when we pray for each other in church, small group, or through the prayer network, those are moments we can cultivate the love in our hearts for each other (don’t rush through them).
How should we pray? Gratefully. Joyfully. Confidently. Affectionately. Pray like God is at work. But I haven’t even begun to explain what we are called to pray for. If you met Prince William, and he said, “I’ll grant whatever you ask for?” What would you ask for? More importantly, what should we ask God for?
What should we pray for? Paul says how he’s been praying, and then he prays for them, modeling what we can pray for.
1. Love (v9) Paul writes in v9, “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.” Paul prays with love that they would grow in their love for God and each other. In Ephesians 4:13, Paul encourages the church to grow in “the knowledge of the Son of God” (cf. Col 1:19). And if we look at the themes in Philippians, humility, unity, joy, I think Paul is also praying for them to love each other more. Paul is praying something like this, “Heavenly Father, would the Philippians fall more in love with you because they know you. Father, may their love for you extend to those around them. May they love you, their church family, and may they love the lost by boldly sharing the gospel.”
When we pray, let’s pray, “Heavenly Father, would our church, our families, ourselves, fall more and more in love with you because we’re coming to know you better. Would this love for you extend around us to our church family and each other, pressing outward beyond our doors and parking-lot into Westford and our frontlines. Father help us love you and others through Jesus. Amen.” Pray for love and…
2. Discernment (v10) In v10, Paul prays, “so that you may be able to discern what is best…” If God is at work, and we can pray like God is at work, we can be confident that God is going to produce the very best results. But we need help discerning how to follow God’s best, don’t we? This is why we pray for wisdom or discernment. It’s not just so we would know the right things, but that we would do them.
The word “discern” in the Greek means “to test.” When you sit down and take a test or quiz, you try to figure out which is the right answer. Or when you’re driving someplace, and you decide not to use your phone’s GPS, you’re testing your knowledge of the way. Or when you see if you can run a 5K, you’re testing your body to see if you have the endurance. Let’s pray for each other to past the test God gives us. Paul wants the Philippians to test themselves and turn to Jesus. I want us to test ourselves to root out our own selfishness, pride, and disunity and turn to Jesus. Pray for love and discernment and…
3. Purity (v10) And then Paul adds, “so that you may be… pure and and blameless for the day of Christ”(v10). The word for pure (eilikrinēs) here is a compound of the Greek words for sun (hēlios) and judge (krinō). Paul is saying, would you be judged in light of the shining sun and be “found clear and pure.” According to Steven Lawson in Philippians for You:
[This word for pure] was originally used to describe a piece of fine pottery that was judged in the light of the sun and found to be without any cracks. In ancient times, devious merchants would conceal flaws in their expensive pottery with wax. The authenticity of valuable pottery was revealed when held up to the light of the sun.
A day is coming when Christ will return and judge us, bringing to light every dark thing we’ve hidden in our hearts. He will expose our motives and our flaws and all our sins (1 Cor 4:5). So we need to pray for each other that on that day, we will each be found to be without cracks, without flaws, pure and smooth. In other words, you need to pray, “Father, would Jonathan be less damaged! Would I be less damaged! Would you work out the cracks in our lives where sin seeps in?” But we can’t fix ourselves. We’re like the devious merchants who can wax over our cracks and pretend they’re not there, but that doesn’t fix them. Only God can do that. This brings us to our final prayer request.
4. Fruit (v11) Paul’s final prayer request in v11 is that the Philippians would be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ — to the glory and praise of God.” The fruit of righteousness is a life that has been changed by Jesus and is bearing fruit. Every aspect of who you are, from the identity issues, how you treat your family and fellow church people, how you live when nobody is watching, everything is being transformed by Jesus.
We can only bear the fruit of whole-life righteousness if our lives have been first touched by the fruit of Christ’s righteousness. Christ’s righteousness is the seed planted in my stony heart that slowly pushes and breaks my rocky heart apart, bursting forth with a beautiful yellow Son-flower, a Christ-flower. And as we reflect more and more the qualities and attitudes of Jesus Christ, becoming more like him, what do we do? We accomplish the very last line of Paul’s prayer. We bring glory and praise to God.
How should we pray? Gratefully, joyfully, confidently, affectionately. What should we pray for? Love, discernment, purity, fruit. Why we can pray all these things? Because God is at work!
Pray like God is at work. The Royal Palace in London issued a statement that said when LeBron James threw his arm around Duchess Kate he didn’t break royal protocol. The senior communications officer for Buckingham Palace said, “When members of the Royal Family meet people they want them to feel as comfortable as possible. There is no such thing as royal protocol.” So it was okay for LeBron James to put his arm over Kate.
If praying gratefully, and joyfully, and confidently, and affectionately for more love, more discernment, more purity, and more fruit, sounds a bit familiar with God the Father to you, it’s because it is! God is not just a King, he’s our Father; and his Son, the King of kings, is our brother. You will be able to throw your arm around Christ, and he’ll throw his arm around you; and then he’ll show you all the things he, and his Father, and the Spirit have been doing in our lives and world. Imagine that day and pray like God is at work.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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What is a disciple? That’s not a word we hear very often. When you think of a disciple, you may think of a religious person who adheres to the teachings of Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Plato, or some other religious teacher or philosopher. Disciple means “learner” or “student,” but the idea of being a disciple seems to be less and less popular, at least among my generation, the millennials.
According to a Pew Research Center study, more than one-third of Millennials are not affiliated with a religion, which is double the amount of Baby Boomers who identify as unaffiliated. Additionally, another Pew study … indicated that about one-quarter of American Millennials say they attend religious services on a weekly basis, and about half say they believe in God with absolute certainty, compared with seven-in-ten Americans in the Silent and Baby Boomer generations.
So in other words, millennials are less religious, and less interested in God (or being a disciple of Jesus) than ever before. Why is this? Two Harvard Divinity School students published a study entitled How We Gather that says instead of finding community and personal transformation at church, we find it in gatherings like Alcoholics Anonymous, community running clubs, yoga, and even CrossFit. Instead of going to church to hear a sermon, we go to TED talks or listen to a Podcasts to challenge ourselves intellectually and spiritually. We find our purpose in organizations like Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and Race for America.
Now I agree that my generation is looking for spiritual fulfillment elsewhere, and finding it, but I still think there’s something missing that those things can’t replicate. In this sermon series, Discipleship 101, I’m going to explain what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and why he is worth following in a world of options. Let’s begin with a story of one of the first disciples, a man named Saul.
Saul, the unlikely disciple. Saul is a character from the New Testament. But he doesn’t enter the story until after Jesus’ ministry on earth comes to an end. Jesus has died, risen again, and ascended into heaven, and now a new community is taking shape called the church. The church is made up of people who love and trust Jesus so much they are willing to die for him. In fact, we’re introduced to Saul at the death of the very first Christian martyr, Stephen. When the religious leaders stone Stephen to death it says they “laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul” (Acts 7:58b). Saul was a Pharisee, one or the religious elite of the day, who hated Christians.
Saul hated Christianity so much he went house by house through Jerusalem and drags away men and women who believe in Jesus and throws them in prison (Acts 8:3). He wants to go even further than this.
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. Acts 9:1-2
The first believers were not called Christians, but “the Way”—and Saul wants to kill the Way. But then…
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Acts 9:3-4
Imagine yourself walking from Jerusalem to Damascus, which is about 150 miles. It will take you 4-6 days, but you’re on a mission, so you’re Olympic speed-walking. It’s dusty and hot and you feel the sweat on your forehead, but as you come around a rocky outcrop lightning flashes all around you, and you fall on your hands and knees in the dirt trembling. You bite your lip so hard you taste blood, but what scares you the most is not the blinding light, but the voice, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Only God speaks that way. So what do you do? You ask for clarification…
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. Acts 9:5
It’s at this moment that Saul’s whole life changes. He realizes that up till this point, he’s had everything wrong. He thought he had life figured out. He was a Pharisee, well educated, probably had some money, his career was taking off (he’s head of the inquisition), and he certainly has respect from his community and friends. But in this moment, he realizes he’s got something very important wrong.
Maybe you’re here today and you’re the most unlikely disciple of them all. You’ve lived far away from God your whole life. In fact, it’s a miracle you’re even at church today. I hope that today, like Paul, you’ll consider the idea that maybe you’ve missed something worth re-examining. I believe if you honestly seek God through prayer, the Bible, and church community, asking “Who are you, Lord?” he will answer, “Jesus.”
Several years ago I readThe Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose. It’s the story of aBrown University student who spends a semester at Liberty University. Brown is an Ivy League school located in Providence Rhode Island made up of an “ultra-liberal student body” (that’s the way the book describes it); while Liberty is a Conservative Christian Baptist school in Lynchburg, Virginia. What I respect about Kevin is that when he went to Liberty, he tries to understand Christianity. He took Old Testament, New Testament, and even started praying. At the end of the book, he doesn’t commit his life to Jesus, but he gives it a pretty good effort. If you’re not a follower of Jesus yet, I hope you’ll give it your best effort. I hope you’ll consider, like Saul, that you may have missed something. When Saul realizes his mistake, it changes everything.
Saul becomes Paul, a disciple of Jesus. Saul not only stops persecuting Christians, he becomes an outspoke witness for Jesus.Paul isn’t one of the original twelve disciples, but he does become an Apostle, which are people in the New Testament Jesus has given special authority to lead and teach the church. He dedicates his life to telling others, specifically non-Jewish people (the Gentiles), about Jesus. In the process, he loses everything, career, community standing, and even his health as he’s beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked (2 Cor 11:25). He even begins to be called by the non-Jewish translation of his name, Paul, instead of Saul.
God sends Paul to ancient Macedonia (modern-day Greece) to the city of Philippi. Philippi is a Roman city famous for trade (the Egnatian Way) and for its patriotism and nationalism. Roman soldiers retire here, so there was a great loyalty to the emperor. So much so that when Paul visits there for the first time in Acts 16, there’s not enough believing Jewish men to form a Jewish synagogue(need at least 10). So he goes to a river on the Sabbath outside of town where he finds women praying. He begins to teach them about Jesus and Lydia, a businesswoman, becomes the first recorded believer there.
Not long after that, Paul casts a demon out of possessed girl, which throws the city into an uproar. Paul is beaten and thrown into prison. But God uses this to actually save their jailer. God sends an earthquake, but instead of running for it, they stay and share the good news of Jesus with him (who otherwise would have been executed for letting them escape). Through this the jailer comes to the Lord.
Now, as Paul is writing them this letter, he has known and loved the people of Philippi for ten years. He first met them in 50 AD, and it’s now 60-62 AD. So in verse one, when they read, “Paul”, they know exactly who he is. He is the founder of their church who was publicly beaten and thrown in prison so that they could know Jesus. The church at Philippi loves Paul and Paul loves them. As he writes them this letter, although he never uses the word “disciple” he is modeling and explaining what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
A disciple is a willing-servant of Jesus. What is the first thing Paul says about himself in his letter to the Philippians? He says they are “servants of Christ Jesus…” This word for “servant” actually means “slave.” In ancient Israel, slaves belonged to their mastersbut this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you had an important master, you carried some of that status. Moses, Joshua, and the prophets were all called servants of God (2 Kings 18:12; Josh 24:29, Dan 9:6).
The type of servant, or slave, Paul is describing is really a bond-servant. People could sell themselves into servitude for a maximum of six-years to pay off a debt. A bond-servant is a servant who had fulfilled the terms of his service, but instead of choosing to go free at the end, decides to stay with the family for life. Exodus 21 says that if someone wants to become a bond-servant, his master takes him to the door or doorpost of his house, and pierces his ear with an awl. An awl is a tool meant for piercing holes in leather. Then Exodus says, “Then he will be his servant for life.” (Exod 21:6).
Now I have a question for you. What pierced Paul’s heart? What made him become a lifetime servant of Jesus? Why would he give up everything to become a wandering preacher? It’s the same thing that needs to pierce your heart if you’re going to become a disciple of Jesus. It’s not just the blinding light that brought Paul to Christ (if you’re waiting for one, it won’t happen); it’s who Christ is.
[Jesus], he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Philippians 2:7-8
Paul gave up everything to be a servant disciple because he met the servant savior. Christianity is not about throwing your life away, it’s about giving your life to someone who gave his life away for you. Jesus willing served us by taking the penalty for our sins upon himself, suffering, and dying on a cross (Isa 53:11). Jesus is our bond-servant, he’s our servant. That’s why Paul is willing to sacrifice so much.
I enjoyed hearing Terry’s faith story today. Did you notice how he grew in his desire to serve God? When he first came to know the Lord, he was six years old, and wasn’t exactly ready to go to work for Jesus. But God took him and built him into a willing servant. Now. I actually have you beat Terry, because I was four years old when I became a Christian. I know it’s not a contest, but if it were, I would win.
One day I decided I wanted to become a Christian (probably because my brothers were), so I walked into our living room and told my mom. We knelt down beside our old blue couch and she lead me in a prayer in which I told Jesus I would “trust” and “serve” Him forever. As I prayed it occurred to me I had just signed up to “serve” God for a very very long time, which sounded a lot like slavery to me. Mom said to go tell my brothers I had become a Christian, I ran into the next room and told my oldest brother I did not want to be a Christian anymore. I think because I’d read a children’s storybook Bible, I assumed every slave must be like the bald Egyptians in the pictures, and I did not want to be bald. So I did not want to be a Christian anymore. Simple four-year old logic. My oldest brother told me Christians are not slaves, so I kept the faith. But was my brother right? I actually don’t think so. Christians are willing slaves to the most humble master who ever lived, who laid his life down for us. A disciple is a willing-servant of Jesus.
If you’re interested in becoming a disciple of Christ, ask yourself if you’re willing to become his servant. Ask yourself, “Am I willing to no longer belong to myself, but to a master who gave himself up for me?” It’s not just Paul, or Terry, or myself who become servants. It’s all believers.
All saints are servant disciples. Remember how Paul was persecuting the church before he became a disciple? The second half of verse one defines the church for us. The NIV says, “To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus…” Another translation says, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus…” (ESV). Some of you may come from a Catholic background. When I say “saints” I don’t mean a limited number of people who the Pope has canonized. The “saints” or “holy people” is anyone who belongs to Jesus. A saint is anyone whose master is Christ. A saint is anyone who says, “I am not my own because I belong to Jesus.”
Notice Paul also signals out “overseers and deacons”; or what we today call Elders and Deacons. If you’re an Elder, would you please stand? Our Elders are responsible with leading and shepherding the church. We lead the church by not just setting vision, and managing the organization, but by spending time praying and studying God’s word. Our philosophy of ministry says we’re supposed to follow Jesus’ model of servant leadership. I think Paul signals out the Elders and Deacons because servant discipleship has to start with our leadership.
We don’t have Deacons yet. We’re actually in the process of assessing and approving them. But Deacons are tasked with taking care of the material and logistical needs of the church, especially caring for people. The Greek word for Deacon actually means “servant.”
In the book Finding Faithful Elders and Deaconsby Thabiti Anyabwile says finding a good Deacon is like finding a good waiter or waitress. In a restaurant, we love a great server, and we can’t stand a bad server. When I was in Virginia in this summer, Monica, my friend Michael and and his wife went to a restaurant known for their creative burgers. Michael ordered a burger topped with a fried, breaded, tomato; but when they brought it out, there was no tomato. There was a slice of paper-thin breading, but nothing else. He waited and waited for the waiter to come, but he never did. Finally the bus boy came by and Michael tried to explain to him, “Where’s my tomato?” The bus boy ran into the kitchen and brought out a single, sliced, non-breaded tomato. At which time Michael sent the bus boy to get his manager. The manager brought the correctly breaded tomato, and her apologies. All was well with the world, until, two minutes later the waiter dropped in to check on us, then the cook another two minutes later, then the bus boy, followed by the manager after that, and then back through the lineup again. Suddenly they had transformed from the least-attentive wait-staff to an overly attentive wait staff. We don’t want servant disciples like that!
At the preaching breakfast each Wednesday morning, we have a great waitress named Heidi. She knows all of us by name, remembers what we order, if we like coffee or not, and always greats us with a friendly smile. She has shown us pictures of her dog and told us about her family, and asks how we are doing. I love going to Paul’s Diner because I love seeing Heidi. That kind of server is the kind of Deacon you want in a church. But in reality, we want everyone in church to be like that, don’t we? We’re all called to love and serve each other, some as Elders, some as Deacons, but all as saints.
What does a church full of servant-disciples look like?
We recognize our true master is Jesus. We each swear our allegiance to him. We willingly sacrifice for each other. Paul sacrificed his body and time for the Philippians and they sacrificed their money for him, even sending one of their own to encourage him. (Phil 2:25-30; 2 Cor 8:1-5). Are you willing to sacrifice your time, energy, and money for each other? We form friendships and love each other. Paul calls the Philippians “dear friends” (2:12). Are you friends sitting with you? That’s part of being a servant. If you’re new, we want to be your friend.
All saints are servant disciples. But it’s not because we’re great people. It’s only possible by God’s grace.
We’re servant disciples by God’s grace. Paul opens and closes his letter to the Philippians with the same word, “Grace” (4:23). At the end of the day, the only way you and I can be servant disciples is if God gives us the grace to do so. God has to help us through the Holy Spirit. This is one of the things that separates Christianity from all the other options we can choose to be a part of. At the end of the day, we realize we can’t make it. We’re not strong enough to truly follow Jesus, to sacrifice, to love, to be servant disciples. Instead, we find our strength in Jesus.
Jesus is the perfect servant. He knows what it is like to deserve it all. He lived in heaven before he came to earth, but he came anyways, humbling himself to save us. As he walked through this life, he healed the lame and the lepers, and opened the eyes of the blind so they could see. Then he died and rose again to give us the gift of his perfect life. So if you are repenting of your sins and putting your faith in Jesus, you get credit for that life. Now when God looks on you, he doesn’t see your junk, he sees Jesus’ perfect service record.
Paul opens with “grace and peace.” We can have peace because we have grace. When I realize that in Jesus, I’ve made it, my heart calms. I don’t need to pursue a life of success or prestige; because those things have come to me in the person of Christ Jesus. I can experience true peace, because I’ve known true grace.
So let me ask you, “What is holding you back from becoming a disciple of Jesus?” Do you feel that if you accept him as your master, you’ll lose your freedom? Live free, or die! Right? But what if you have to die to live free? Will you go through this life like Saul? Master of his own destiny, but really master of nothing? Or like Paul, mastered by Christ, and truly free?
Come follow the Servant Savior. This is my big idea. Jesus is calling you to come, to follow him, to become his servant disciple. But he’s not asking you to do anything he hasn’t already done for you. Come follow the Servant Savior.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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What is a disciple? That’s not a word we hear very often. When you think of a disciple, you may think of a religious person who adheres to the teachings of Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Plato, or some other religious teacher or philosopher. Disciple means “learner” or “student,” but the idea of being a disciple seems to be less and less popular, at least among my generation, the millennials. According to a Pew Research Center study, more than one-third of Millennials
When you think of heaven, what do you think about? Our popular conceptions of heaven are usually a bit weird, and a bit boring, and are more influenced by film, television, and culture than the Bible.
Did you ever watch the 1969 movie The Littlest Angel? An eight-year old shepherd boy from Biblical times dies and goes to heaven, only to discover, heaven is really boring and serious. Everyone wears robes, which are a light shade of pink, and spend their time flying around in pink clouds and singing. In the movie, the angels are really men dressed in short robes, wearing wings, jumping around on trampolines. It’s creepy.
I saw a newscast a couple years ago where one host asked someone whose child had died recently if they felt better knowing their child was now an angel in heaven with wings. That’s not how it works.
More recently, there’s a show on television called The Good Place, staring Kristen Bell (famous for Veronica Mars and Frozen). She dies and goes to heaven only to discover there’s been a mistake and she’s not supposed to be there. Heaven is a tiny neighborhood reserved for only the best of people who aren’t just good, but great. Lot’s of people believe you just have to do more good than bad to get into heaven.
Last week we started our final Article of Faith, which explains what happens when we die.
The Last Things (15): We believe in the personal and undeniable return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the fulfillment of His kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal punishment of the wicked, and the eternal peace and joy of the righteous.
Last week we learned hell is a real place, where we don’t want anyone to go, and that anyone who repents of their sins and puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ goes to be with Jesus in heaven. This week I want to explain where believers end up after the final judgment. Let’s pick up where we left off.
Christians will inhabit the new heaven and new earth with God. This week I re-read a book called Eternity Changes Everything by Stephen Witmer, as well as listened to a new one, Heaven: Biblical Answers to Common Questions by Randy Alcorn. I like how Stephen, a pastor in Pepperell MA and a friend, explains the new heaven and new earth in Revelation 21, so I’ve adapted his material here. Our current earth (not some different planet) will transform into the new heaven and new earth through a removal, a renovation, and a return (3Rs).
1. Removal Today’s passage, Revelation 21:1-4, comes right after the great white throne judgment. At that judgment, it says, “the earth and heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.” (Rev 20:11b). So the final judgment takes place outside of this universe in a kind of limbo, elsewhere, or no-space. Once the judgment is complete, and God banishes Hades, death, and those who reject Jesus to hell, we leave that limbo and return to something even better than what we had before.
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. … ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:1, 4 (cf. Isaiah 65:17, 19)
So what is happening? God is finally joining heaven and earth together, and the first thing he does is completely remove death, hades, hell, and the wicked from this brand new universe. In heaven, we won’t watch the wicked burn forever because they’ll be gone. Death is gone too. You’ll never have to be separated from Jesus or your family in Christ again.
That’s what “there was no longer any sea” means. Throughout the Bible, and in the ancient world, the sea is a place of judgment, of chaos, of death, of separation (Rev 13:1). There will be beaches, and oceans, and snorkeling in heaven, but none of it will keep us from each other. More personally it says, there won’t be any tears in heaven. Does this mean we won’t be able to cry tears of happiness, or express ourselves? No, it means no more mourning, sadness, weeping, heartache, depression, anxiety, fear.
Monica and I live in Chelmsford. Everyday for about two years I’ve driven past an abandoned piece of property. I don’t know why the owner left, but he left behind a trailer, a garage, and a shed on 2-3 acres of property. Over the last two years it has become more and more rundown, weeds growing up, the door to the garage left open. Finally, a couple weeks ago, a backhoe magically appeared, and tore down the buildings. And I wanted to cheer every-time I drove by, partly because I’m a privileged suburbanite, but mostly because the whole neighborhood looks so much better. Our street feels brand new.
Jesus will take a backhoe to this world—to every cemetery, every meth lab, every greedy corporation, every manmade wall, every abortion clinic, every monument of racism, every abusive relationship, every mental illness, every funeral, every terrorist group, every injustice, to every [……….]—you fill in the blank. What do you need Jesus to remove from your life? An unchangeable sin you committed in the past? A mistake you made and can’t take back? In the new heavens and new earth there’s going to be a removal, as well as a…
2. Renovation The idea that God is going to destroy this world, planet earth, and create a brand new one, is wrong. He’s going to create a new one, but it’s a renovation of the old one. Paul writes this in Romans.
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Romans 8:20-21
Did you hear the most important word? Liberation! God is going to liberate this world from sin. The trees, the mountains, the rivers, the animals, God is going to restore them to their original design, and somehow, they’ll be even better because of what they’ve been through.
There’s a Mountain Pine Beetle infestation in Colorado right now. “One of 14 trees are dead in Colorado forests” and beetles have “killed trees across 3.4 million acres.” There’s a lot of downsides to all that beetle-kill (increased wildfires, more pollution), but there’s also beauty. Beetle-kill makes beautiful furniture (rocking chairs, tables, cabinets, etc.). God is going to take all this death we see around us, all this pain and hurt, even from our own lives, and he’s going to renovate it into eternal beauty.
And this applies to you! You’re going to be renovated. That’s the resurrection!
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Philippians 3:20-21
Jesus will transform our current bodies into the best version of ourselves. That’s right! You will all be able to do as much CrossFit as you want and never get sore! You won’t have to worry about over-eating, or under-eating, because you’ll always eat the right amount of the best food. You’ll be able to hold the hand of that Christian grandparent or parent whose hand once shook and it won’t shake anymore. Why? Because our current bodies will be like Jesus’ resurrected body. He had a glorified resurrected body that “could walk through walls” and ascended into heaven (John 20:26, Acts 1:9). We’ll have glorified bodies like his.
In seminary, I took a class on Revelation, and one of the students asked, “What will happen in heaven to people who have lost limbs or are disfigured?” Maybe you’re asking, “What will happen to my special needs child?” My professor shared how he used to volunteer with kids with deformities and disabilities. One little boy who was born with no legs. He had a “flipper” for legs. My professor volunteered with another man the kids called uncle (I’ve changed his name to Jerry). Uncle Jerry told the kids heaven streets are made of gold. The little boy asked, “Will I have new legs there?” Uncle Jerry said, “Yes. You’ll have new legs.” The little boy said, “Uncle Jerry, when we get to heaven, will you run down them with me?” This is what heaven is like. This little boy will run down heaven’s golden streets with Uncle Jerry and Jesus too. Do you want to run with him? Do you want to run with Jesus? The new heavens and new earth are a removal and a renovation.
3. Return Remember back to the garden of Eden before the fall? It was a perfect place full of life and vitality.
The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; Genesis 2:9-10a
When Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed them, and banished them from the garden (Gen 3). Outside they no longer had access to the tree of life or the water flowing from the garden. They lost access to eternal life. Now let’s jump forward to the return the new heaven and new earth and the garden.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. Revelation 22:1-3a
The garden is back and the curse is banished! Paradise was lost, but now paradise is found. Imagine walking through a garden full of new plants you’ve never seen before. There are golden daffodils and violet irises and a brand new flower a brand new shade of blue. Did you know OSU scientists accidentally discovered a new shade of blue?It’s called “YInMn blue.” They found it by mixing chemicals that somehow completely absorb red and green wavelengths, and only reflects back true blue. Imagine a living garden full YInMn blue flowers, and this is just the first day of eternity here. The new heavens and new earth will be a removal, a renovation, and a return.
How does this apply to us now? Because God is refurbishing and renewing this planet and universe, it means the things we do in this world now have eternal significance. So we should not trash the planet because God will make a new one. Instead, we should care for creation because when we do, in some mysterious way, we help usher in God’s future redemptive work. When the youth go to the Spicket River Cleanup, pulling tires and garbage out of the river, they’re doing something of eternal value. When we recycle, pick-up trash, or limit pollution, that’s valuable and good. We’re a part of the removal, renovation, and return.
Eternity sounds pretty good so far, but just having a brand new creation to live in forever isn’t good enough. What ruined the McCallister family’s Christmas trip to Paris? Think of the movie Home Alone? They left Kevin McCallister behind! They have to spend the rest of the movie trying to figure out how to get back to Kevin. Whose presence makes heaven heaven?… God’s!
The best part of eternity is God’s presence. I bet some of you thought I was going to say Jesus. I am saying Jesus, and the Father, and the Holy Spirit too. The triune God in his fullness will be with us in the new heavens and new earth.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Revelation 21:2-3
The word “dwelling place” is the same Greek word used for the “tabernacle.” In the Old Testament, the tabernacle was the place where God dwelt with his people. He dwelt specifically in the most holy place, which was at the back of the tent separated by a curtain, and was 15 feet high, wide, and deep—the shape of a cube. When Solomon builds the temple, we see the most holy place built as another cube.
The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. 1 Kings 6:20
One more time we find this golden cube, but this time in the new heavens and new earth. Remember the New Jerusalem city that came down from heaven? Here’s its measurements.
The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long … The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. Revelation 21:16, 18
The most holy place within the tabernacle and temple, the cube where God resides, has come down to earth in the form of a golden city that’s also in the shape of a cube. Revelation is using rich symbolic imagery to convey truth. Heaven is more beautiful than you can imagine because God will dwell there with us.
Stephen Witmer in his book talks about how he loved to go see his grandparents, not just for all the fun things they got to do at their house, but most of all to see them. We all have stories like that, don’t we? I loved playing on Pole Hill in Estes Park (the town I grew up in). On this mountain outside of town there was a Bible school, so there was a rope swing, and a chalet to run around, and a gym. But what made Pole Hill really great was hanging out with my friend Joseph and his family. It was because I was with Joseph that I loved being there. We’re going to love eternity so much because we’ll be with Jesus, with the Father, and with the Holy Spirit. It’s all about that word, with. But it’s not just God that we’ll love being with.
You’ll share eternity with your whole church family. Remember when I preached on the difference between the local church and the universal church a couple weeks back? For now Jesus calls us to pour our love into a local church, a specific congregation in a time and location. But in eternity we’re called to pour our love into the universal church, all people from all times and places who know and trust Jesus. The new Jerusalem, the cubed city that represents God’s holy presence, is also called a bride. This is a mixed metaphor because the bride of Christ is also a name for the church (Eph 5:25; Rev 19:7). In eternity, the church will be perfect, spotless, and ready for spending forever with Jesus. If you’re a Christian, you’re the bride, and you will get to spend eternity with every other believer from all times and places who are also the bride of Christ.
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Revelation 7:9a
Do you ever feel like you never get enough time with your loved ones, your husband or wife, your kids, your friends? Do you ever feel there’s not enough fellowship time during church or small group? You will have all eternity to get to know and love a countless multitude of your spiritual family members. Randy Alcorn says we’ll start in heaven with all the relationships in Christ we formed in this life. Then…
From there we will work outward, developing new friendships without ever losing the old ones. Heaven is where our ultimate family and best friends will be — including many we don’t know yet. … In fact, you may not yet have met the best friend you’ll ever have!
You will have a billion-trillion years to become best friends with every single person there, starting with Jesus himself. A million years from now, you will have formed deep friendships with Christians from other centuries and countries, from Mongolia, Africa, the Middle East. Together we’ll tell each other stories of the life we lived and how Jesus was so good to us. Maybe some of you are sad that you won’t be married to your husband or wife anymore. You’ll be married to a better spouse, Jesus. Have hope. If your spouse is a believer, this life is like getting a head start on a friendship that will last for all eternity.
Come share eternity with God and with your whole church family. Last week I closed by asking, “Does hell break your heart?” This week I’m asking, “Does heaven fill your heart?” Does it fill your heart with joy, and hope, and love, and happiness (Heb 11:16)? God wants to fill you with such longing for that place that it helps you endure in difficult times here, care for his creation here (because he’s going to renovate it), and share this future homeland with others here.
Do you want your friends, family, and neighbors to share in this eternity? I do. Think back to those people’s names you might have thought of last week as I talked about hell, the ones who need Jesus. We don’t just want them to escape hell. We want them to find heaven. Next Saturday is bring-a-friend day at Cornerstone. Let’s invite those around us with the end goal in mind, sharing the new heaven and new earth with them. Come share eternity with God and with your whole church family.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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When you think of heaven, what do you think about? Our popular conceptions of heaven are usually a bit weird, and a bit boring, and are more influenced by film, television, and culture than the Bible. Did you ever watch the 1969 movie The Littlest Angel? An eight-year old shepherd boy from Biblical times dies and goes to heaven, only to discover, heaven is really boring and serious. Everyone wears robes, which are a light shade of pink, and spend
What happens when you die? In 2005, a group of theologians tried to answer this question. This group, self-titled Modest Mouse, wrote down what they believed in an album called Good News for People Who Love Bad News. In their hit single “Float On” they sang this…
And we’ll all float on OK (x3) And we’ll all float on alright Already we’ll all float on Now don’t you worry we’ll all float on alright Already we’ll all float on alright Don’t worry we’ll all float on
I understand their message to be this. No matter what we go through, good or bad, we’ll all float on to a better place in the end. That’s a very attractive message, and maybe it’s one you believe, but is it true? In 1999, a different group of theologians named Cake sang a song with these lyrics:
Sheep go to Heaven, Goats go to Hell, Sheep go to Heaven, Goats go to Hell,
So in this battle of the bands, who is right? Do we all float on alright in the end, or do the sheep go to heaven and the goats go to hell? This is the most important question you can ever ask. If hell is fake, you’re wasting your time here. But if it’s real, do you know for sure that you won’t end up there? Today I’m going to give you a simple explanation of what happens when you die according to the Bible. The best place to start is at the moment of death for a Christian and a non-Christian. The Bible teaches…
1. When Christians die, they go to be with Jesus in heaven. What do I mean by Christians? Do I mean any one who says, “I’m a Christian?” No. Many people call themselves Christians but really aren’t, so I’ve created this definition from our articles of faith and the Bible.
A Christian is anyone who repents of their sin, puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone, and bears fruit as they follow after him—all through the work of the Holy Spirit.
This definition of a Christian is basic. To be a Christian, you have to recognize your own sin, ask Jesus to forgive you, and put your faith and trust in him. You give evidence of that salvation through bearing fruit, like caring for the poor as our passage describes; and this whole process is overseen by the Holy Spirit. This looks different for a child than for an adult. One is more basic than the other; and we’re all saved by grace.
But what happens when a Christian dies? For those of you who are visual, I’ve tried to illustrate a Christian dying and going to be with Jesus in heaven in our slides (see the end of this sermon for the slides). Paul writes…
We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8
We are taken by God to be with Jesus in a place called “paradise” or “heaven.” Later Paul speaks of a man who was actually taken to heaven. Notice Paul calls this place both “paradise” and heaven.”
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven… And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 2 Corinthians 12:2a, 3-4
If you are driving home from church today, and you drive your car into a really large pothole and die, if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you’ll be okay. Yes. Your spirit will be apart from your body, but your spirit will be with Jesus in a place that’s more beautiful and wonderful than you can ever imagine. The next time you start to feel afraid of death, just imagine being with Jesus, because that’s what will happen. But that’s only half the story. What happens to people who don’t believe in Jesus when they die?
2. When non-Christians die, they are locked away in Hades. Were you were expecting me to say non-Christians go to hell? The Greek word for “hell” is “geenna” or “gehenna” and it’s the place non-Christians go after the final judgement (more on that later). Gehenna was a place in “the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem” where people worshipped Molech. They sacrificed animals and people, both enemies and babies (2 Kings 16:3). Because of flies and disease, they kept constant fires burning there. Over the course of time, Gehenna became a metaphor for hell (Jer 7:29-34).
The Greek word “hades” is used in the New Testament to describe where the wicked go when they die, before the final judgment. In Luke 16, Jesus tells the parable of a beggar named Lazarus who dies and is carried to “Abraham’s side (or bosom).” A rich man also dies, and he is sent to Hades.
In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ Luke 16:23-24
Notice that Hades is a place of punishment, or torment. It’s described as a place of agony and fire. Hades is also a waiting cell—“It is conceived as an underground prison with locked gates to which Christ holds the key.” Jesus says in two places…
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16:18
I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Revelation 1:18
There’s a reason prisons are called “hellish places.” They’re modeled on the one true prison, hades. When you think of Jesus, you may think of a really lovable hippie who has dreadlocks and wears an overabundance of knitwear. If you’ve ever saw Godspell, that’s pretty much who Jesus is. But the Jesus of the Bible is not just a Savior, or a friend; he’s also a Prison Warden. Jesus is the one in charge of Hades, and everyone there. He has final authority. If you don’t ask him to set you free from sin and death in this life, he won’t do it in the next. If you’re not a Christian, a true follower of Jesus, you should be afraid. I don’t want you to walk out of this church, die, and go to a prison with no escape. So when Christians die, they go to heaven to be with Jesus, and when non-Christians die, they’re locked away in Hades.
3. In the intermediate state, we await the resurrection. The intermediate state is happening right now for everyone who has ever died. But one day it will end. See, heaven, or paradise, right now, is not the most perfect place. And hades is not as bad as it could be. This is because humans are created not only with spirits (or souls), but also with bodies. All of us are awaiting the resurrection to be returned to our bodies. This will happen when the trumpet sounds and Christ returns.
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:52
This isn’t like a fog horn, or a public-announcement siren. Everyone everywhere, whether they are alive or dead, will hear it. In that moment, Christians and non-Christians will rise from the grave (John 5:28-29).
4. When Christ returns, you will face the final judgment. When Christ returns, he will no longer be a prison warden, but the supreme court judge. This final judgment is called the “judgment of Christ” or the “great white throne” judgment (2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:11). Different Christians understand how exactly this will take place differently, so I encourage you to investigate this for yourself in the Bible. But I see one great judgment, which we read about in Matthew. HereJesus separates the sheep (Christians) from the goats (non-Christians).
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Matthew 25:31-32
In our Matthew text, Jesus distinguishes between the sheep and goats based on how they have taken care of poor and needy Christians. In one of Timothy Keller’s sermons on this passage, he points out that in this story both the sheep and the goats are surprised. Some are surprised they obeyed and others they disobeyed. This passage is both a strong reminder for us to obey Jesus’ commands, and a sweet reminder that in the end, we will be surprised by grace. Even as we strive to obey, in the end salvation, even our good works, are a gift from God through the work of the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:10). So what happens at this judgment?
First, Jesus will reward true Christians (his sheep) with eternal life.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. Matthew 25:34
Second, Jesus will condemn those who do not know him (the goats) to eternal punishment.
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels… “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:41, 46
Now if you’re a Christian, and you die tonight, I don’t think you’ll be standing before Christ at the final judgment wondering whether or not you will be condemned. I believe you’ll know where you stand. At some point, we will even join Jesus in judging the angels (1 Cor 6:3). But what if you’re not a true Christian?
5. If you don’t know Christ, you will be condemned to hell. Revelation 20 depicts the final judgment from a different angle than caring for the poor. Christians are judged by their named being written in “the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev 13:8; 21:27). This is all of us who have put our faith and trust in Christ and his good deeds instead of our own. He has paid the penalty for our sins, and we have received his perfect good deeds on our behalf (2 Cor 5:21). We are counted as righteous.
But non-Christians are judged by their own good deeds, and because none of them are perfect in thought, word, deed, or lack of deed (Matt 5:48), they (along with death and Hades) are sentenced to hell (gehenna), which is also called “the lake of fire.”
The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:13-15
For the rest of this message, we’re going to focus on hell. Some of my research comes from Francis Chan’s book, Erasing Hell, which I read as I prepared. My sermon is not going to answer all of your questions on hell, so please pick up a copy and read it. So what are the main take-aways on hell?
a. Hell is more horrible than you can imagine.
Maybe some of you think that hell is not a real place at all, but the consequences of bad decisions we make in this life. Like, “I smoked, now I have lung-cancer, man this is hell.” That view is wrong. Although the Bible uses symbols to describe hell, hell is not just a symbol. It’s a real place. Francis Chan writes that people like “John Calvin, Martin Luther, C. S. Lewis, Billy Graham, D. A. Carson, J. I. Packer” and more do not think these images are a literal description of hell. Rather, hell is so bad our very vocabulary is inadequate to fully describe what it means to be sentenced, body and soul, to hell.
Jesus himself calls hell a “fiery furnace” and “outer darkness” where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 8:11-12; 13:49-50). Do you know what fire expresses? Immense pain. Blackest darkness? Complete isolation. Weeping and gnashing of teeth? A place you don’t want to be. The New Testament speaks of the final judgment and hell in another horrible way, God’s wrath or condemnation.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. John 3:36
Hell is God’s unchecked wrath poured out on anyone who has rejected the Son, Christ Jesus. Some of you probably had to read Jonathan Edwards’ most famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God in high-school or college. In it he describes God’s wrath, his anger towards our sin
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment.
Hell is more horrible than you can imagine, but God extends his grace for now. What are you going to do?
b. Hell is final (punitive), not corrective.
Hell is intended as a punishment. That’s what “punitive” means. Hell deals out a punishment intended to punish, not a punishment intended to correct or restore. In other words, there’s no second chances in hell.
Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, Hebrews 9:27
Hell is not purgatory, meant to refine those who go there to get their hearts ready for heaven. For those of you who come from a Catholic background, purgatory comes from church tradition, not the Bible. For those of you who come from a universalist background, we do not believe everyone goes to heaven in the end, or that Christ saves everyone so that none go to hell. Hell is the final destination of all who reject Jesus.
c. “Hell is a place of annihilation or never-ending punishment.”
This last point about is quoted from Francis Chan, who came to believe this he studied hell. There are three views of hell: 1) universalism, no one ends up there; 2) annihilationism, the people who go there are destroyed once God’s justice is satisfied; and 3) eternal-conscious torment, which is just like it sounds. The torment goes on forever and ever. The last position is what the majority of the church has held for all of church history, but the second position is held by the likes of John Stott, Clark Pinnock, and Edward Fudge.
So here’s the deal. I don’t know everything. There are many things I’m still wrestling with and figuring out. What I can tell you is that universalism is wrong; but I’ve recently been challenged that annihilationism has more Biblical grounds than I first thought. The Bible talks a lot about destruction that seems absolute (Matt 10:28, James 4:12). Our Articles of Faith allow for either option, but don’t choose based on emotion. What’s key when wrestling with difficult topics like this is to keep going back to the Bible to see what God says.
The point of this section is not “how long will hell last” but—at the final judgement, you will be condemned to hell if you do not know Christ. The good news is that hell doesn’t end the story for Christians.
6. Christians will inhabit the new heaven and new earth with God. I’m super excited to tell you more about spending eternity with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the new heavens and new earth next week, so please come back.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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What happens when you die? In 2005, a group of theologians tried to answer this question. This group, self-titled Modest Mouse, wrote down what they believed in an album called Good News for People Who Love Bad News. In their hit single “Float On” they sang this… And we’ll all float on OK (x3) And we’ll all float on alright Already we’ll all float on Now don’t you worry we’ll all float on alright Already we’ll all float on alright
Thierry Mirone is a French Missionary and Church-Planter from France to France. He has served in many different capacities, including Director of Champfleuri where we sent our youth team this summer, Director of Youth for France Mission, and most recently he, his wife Valarie, and his three sons, Jonathan, Lucas, and Silas, are part of a church-plant team in Aix Les Bains. He is now entering a new stage of ministry to do as the Regional Director of France Missions, through which he will train the next generation of leaders and coach the regional church-planting efforts.
Pastor Jonathan’s family has known him for many years, and many people from Cornerstone and our parent church, Immanuel, know him as well. Although we don’t have a missions program yet, today is a great opportunity to learn about missions in line with our current sermon series, What We Believe, since this week is The Mission of the Church. Please listen or watch his sermon on John 20:19-23 above, or you can access his slides below. You can learn more about Thierry by watching this 10 minute video of him introducing the project in France and interviewing some of the participants.
You can download the slides and the manuscript (in French) below.
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Thierry Mirone is a French Missionary and Church-Planter from France to France. He has served in many different capacities, including Director of Champfleuri where we sent our youth team this summer, Director of Youth for France Mission, and most recently he, his wife Valarie, and his three sons, Jonathan, Lucas, and Silas, are part of a church-plant team in Aix Les Bains. He is now entering a new stage of ministry to do as the Regional Director of France Missions,
What is the church? Have you ever asked that question. I want you to imagine two college friends getting lunch together, Matt and Ben. In college, they both volunteered in Intervaristy, a Christian ministry to students, so they’ve always known each other as strong Christian friends. Now, five years later, they’re sitting outside on the deck of a small café, Matt prays for their meal, and they begin to chat about their lives. As they dig in, Matt tells Ben
What is the church? Have you ever asked that question. I want you to imagine two college friends getting lunch together, Matt and Ben. In college, they both volunteered in Intervaristy, a Christian ministry to students, so they’ve always known each other as strong Christian friends. Now, five years later, they’re sitting outside on the deck of a small café, Matt prays for their meal, and they begin to chat about their lives.
As they dig in, Matt tells Ben about his church, how he loves the worship, and teaching, and being a part of a community of believers who challenge him to grow in faith. Then Ben says, “I have all those, I just don’t go to church.” Ben tells Matt he joined a ministry that provides solid Bible teaching, worship, and community, so he feels he doesn’t need to be a part of the “institutional church.” The church is the people, not the building, right? So why go to church?
Who is right? Is Matt and his love for the institutional church a good thing or has Ben found a better way? Today, I’m explaining what the church is and why it matters. If I were a part of this conversation with Matt and Ben, I think it would be helpful to define the difference between the universal church and the local church, because what Ben is really saying is that participation in the universal church is enough.
The universal Church is the people of God from all times and places. This is what we call the big “C” Church, the worldwide or invisible church. It’s “invisible” because it doesn’t have a mailbox or sanctuary, and even if you fit every Christian you know or have heard of in one room, this would only be a tiny speck of the universal church. Our articles of faith define it this way:
The Church: (10) We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head, and of which all people (past, present, and future) who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior are members.
The first time the Greek word for church (ekklesia) is used in the NT, it refers to the universal church.
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church (ekklesia), and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16:18
The church Jesus is talking about is all the people who are going to become Christians as a result of the ministry and message of Peter and the other early Christian leaders, the Apostles. The universal church includes not just converts in the New Testament, but you and me today. We’re part of this church.
What is required for entrance into this universal church? Our article says anyone “who put[s] their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior are members.” This includes anyone in the Old Testament who put their trust in the coming Messiah. They looked forward in faith yesterday while we look backward in faith today.
The Matt of my imagination, and the Matthew of the New Testament, the one who was a tax collector and became a disciple of Jesus, though separated by 2,000 years, are both a part of the same universal church because they have each confessed their sins and put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. To become a Christian means to join the universal church. If you’ve never done that, I want to encourage you to join the universal church today. Confess your sins. Put your faith in Christ, and join.
Our article of faith also uses the analogy of a body and head to explain Christ and the church. Ephesians tells us Christ is the head of the church body (Eph 1:22-23). As the head, Christ has authority over all Christians, and leads and guides all believers from all times and places—the universal invisible body.
It’s a bit weird to call a body invisible, isn’t it? Paul actually talks about the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12, and when he does, he speaks of the local church at Corinth. The local church is the visible manifestation of the invisible church. The little “c” church, with its mailboxes, sanctuary, and people from a particular city make visible the invisible. The Bible encourages individual believers to join the visible local church.
And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. (NLT) Hebrews 10:25
Ben, in our illustration, is only a part of the invisible church. That actually makes him an invisible Christian. Now I have not watched the movie or read the book, but I know the general plot line of the The Invisible Man. In the story, a scientist discovers the formula for invisibility, and tries it on himself. At first, it feels like a superpower, but it actually leads to alienation, anger, and eventually death. At first, separation from the local church feels good, “I’m finally free!” But over time, we begin to feel more justified and the church begins to look worse and worse. Eventually we stand in judgment over the local church. Another analogy the Bible uses for the church is the bride of Christ (Eph 5:25). Do you think Matt would maintain his friendship with Ben if Ben kept telling Matt how ugly, dumb, and untrustworthy his bride is? Alienation from the bride leads to alienation from the groom.
If Ben were here, he would say his critique of the local church is valid because there are many institutional churches that aren’t functioning as they should. That’s true. Many struggle with what it means to be a local church, so let’s define it. In review, the universal Church is the people of God from all times and places.
The local church is the regular gathering of the people of God in a specific time and location, who covenant together under Biblical teaching, leadership, and the ordinances, with a mission to share Jesus with others. I wrote this definition based on several other definitions I read, my understanding of the local church in the Bible, and (I pray) the leading of the Holy Spirit. This local church definition is similar to our Article’s.
The Church: (11) We believe in the local church, believers in Jesus Christ who assemble locally under biblical leadership for the purpose of worship, teaching and equipping Christians for the work of God, and fellowship all to the glory of God.
Before I jump into the heart of this definition, I want to highlight the “regular gathering” of the people in the church. This is a continuation of the theme of the invisible church becoming visible. Paul assumes the regular gathering of church people.
In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 1 Corinthians 11:18
Notice it doesn’t say, “If you come together” but “when you come together.” Paul also says there is power when Christians gather together to be the local church.
So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 1 Corinthians 5:4
Paul expects regular, consistent, church attendance, and when Christians gather, he expects the power of Jesus Christ be there. This is why I, I hope Ben, and I definitely hope you, will make being a part of the local church a top priority. If it’s not, it makes it difficult to actually be the church.
Let’s go back to our definition. As I read the Bible, I see five primary markers (or signs) that define and distinguish the local church from the universal church, but also para-church ministries or just getting together with Christian friends. The five marks of the local church begin with a commitment.
1. Covenanting together In order to become a local church, the people of God need to make a commitment to each other and God. We call this making a covenant. A covenant is “A promise where God is involved.” Written church covenants didn’t come into use until the 16th and 17th centuries by Congregationalists and Baptists. You’re not going to find a Bible verse that says, “You must have a church covenant.” But if we look at the broad story of Scripture, we see covenants everywhere.
In Genesis 15, God made a covenant to Abraham and his spiritual descendants to be their God. God made a covenant with Israel at Sinai, and in Jeremiah 31 he promised to make a new covenant. In Luke 22, Jesus instituted that new covenant at the Last Supper before he went to the cross.
When we covenant together, and with God, we’re reflecting a little bit of the good promises God makes to us. At Cornerstone, we have a written covenant the members of our church promise to keep, and even sign their names to. We sign this covenant as part of our membership process.
The Elders are reading Church Membership: How The World Knows Who Represents Jesus by Jonathan Leeman. As we discussed this book, John shared how the idea of a marriage ceremony helps him understand covenanting together in membership. Why do we go through the ceremony? Because we recognize how big and important this moment is, and want to make this commitment to our loved one before God and others for them to help hold us accountable. Now I don’t believe signing your church covenant is the same as signing your marriage license. Marriage should never be broken while God may sometimes call us to new ministries or towns, taking us away from our church. However, the idea of solemnizing the relationship is the same. We commit to each other and God through a covenant, which is the first mark.
2. Biblical teaching The next mark is Biblical teaching, or orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is the passing along of the true Christian faith from Jesus and the Apostles through the ages. We see this in the early church.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42
The Apostles were those who sat under the direct teaching of Jesus. They had a special authority to teach the church what to believe. Notice how the church devotes itself to true teaching within the “fellowship” (a covenant community relationship).
As a church, we want to know God’s word. We do this by teaching our kids the Bible in Cornerstone Kids, by helping our teenagers learn and apply the Bible in a youth Bible study, and by listening to a sermon every week that explains and applies the Scriptures to our lives. As individuals, we strengthen the Biblical teaching of the church when we read and study the Bible for ourselves. If you’ve never read the whole Bible, or it’s been years since you’ve done so, I challenge you to read the whole Bible in the next 12-24 months.
3. Biblical leadership During our first Elders meeting, we discussed Acts 6:1-7, which is the story of needs arising in the early church. Some widows were being neglected in the church’s daily food distribution, and the Apostles realized that although it was very important for them to be taken care of, they shouldn’t be the ones to do it.
So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” (2-4)
In this passage, we see the pattern laid down for Elders and Deacons. 1 Timothy 3 lists Overseers (who we believe to be Elders) and Deacons as the two church offices the local church should have. At Cornerstone, we sum-up the calling of both offices this way.
Elders lead and shepherd the church and devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Deacons serve by meeting the physical and material needs of the church.
As the Pastor of this church, I’m also an Elder, but I’m considered the primary preaching and teaching Elder of the church. We don’t believe in one Elder, but a plurality of Elders. Biblical leadership is the third mark.
4. Ordinances The fourth mark of a church brings us to the next line in our Articles of Faith:
The Church: (12) We believe in observing the ordinances of the Lord’s Supper (communion) and baptism. Our church practices baptism after confession of faith.
An ordinance is a command. You know how some towns have ordinances that distinguish them from other towns (aka. dry town), the church has ordinances that distinguish it.
A. Baptism Cornerstone practices baptism after confession of faith. In Acts 2:38, the Apostle Peter told the some of the first converts to Christianity, “Repent and be baptized.” When we’re baptized, we go under the water and come back up again. This symbolizes our death and resurrection with Jesus (Rom 6:1-4).
If you have not been baptized after confession of faith, I’d like to challenge you to come talk to me about getting baptized. I’d love to walk you through our baptism class after church sometime soon. Did you know we have a baptism coming up on September 30th? If you’re interested, it’s not too late to obey Jesus’ command to be baptized. It’s a visible sign that you’re a part of the visible and invisible church.
B. Communion The other command Jesus gave his disciples is the regular taking of the Lord’s Supper, the bread and cup as a reminder of his body and blood broken for us. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” At Cornerstone, we open communion up to any Christian. So you only have to be a part of the universal church in order to take communion at our local church, but we believe communion is a ultimately sign of the local church. When Paul wrote the words of institution in 1 Corinthians 11, which we read almost every time we take communion, he wrote them to a local church, the church at Corinth. If you are a Christian who doesn’t take communion, you’re missing out on what it means to be a part of the local church. If that’s you, for any reason, please come talk to me. Both baptism and communion are ordinances and marks of the local church.
5. Mission The last mark of the local church we see in the last line of my definition. A local church has a “mission to share the message of Jesus.” After his resurrection, Jesus gave his disciples the Great Commission. The heart of the Great Commission is these words, “Go and make disciples.” Part of being a local church is having a mission to reach the lost with the gospel. Without a mission, we become stagnant, self-focused, and closed off. But with a mission, we’re not just an organization or an institution, but a living-active-breathing body that is seeking to follow Jesus together through the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to give you two ways we can apply this last part of our definition of the local church:
First, we have a Big Day coming up on Saturday, September 9th. A Big Day is when we all get out of our comfort zone to invite a neighbor, friend, or coworker to church. I preach an easy-to-understand sermon, the worship and welcome teams be extra mindful of newcomers, and we all see what God does. On September 9th, we’re kicking off a new series called “Discipleship 101”—which is a great opportunity to learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus. When I was at the CCCC’s conference in July, I spoke to the Pastor of a church in Vermont. He shared that one week he challenged everyone to “Bring one friend,” and everyone actually did, and those friends kept coming back after that. In the space of one week, they grew from a church of 40 to 75, and now they’re 100-115. Let’s give it a try! Second, our next two statements in our Articles of Faith clearly talk about the mission of the church. Our leadership has invited a real-life missionary, Thierry Mirone, to come and preach on The Mission of the Church next Saturday. He’s one of Immanuel Church’s missionaries, and is someone we’ve given two one-time donations to as we continue to figure out our missions program. I hope you’ll make it a priority to be here. He’s even going to speak in French with a translator. You’re not going to want to miss this!
In review: The local church is the regular gathering of the people of God in a specific time and location, who covenant together under Biblical teaching, leadership, and the ordinances, with a mission to share Jesus with others. My closing challenge to you is to love the local church.
Love the local church. In some ways, Ben is right. The church isn’t a building, it’s the people. If I were at that café with Matt and Ben, I would encourage Ben to not give up on the local church because we shouldn’t give up on the people. It’s easier to love the invisible church just like it’s easier to love the people we create in our minds to compare with our flesh and blood family and friends. But God isn’t interested in imaginary people, he’s interested in the flesh and blood people that make up his local churches. Local churches are full of messed up broken people (the Pastor is the worst one of all), but it’s full of people Jesus died to turn into a beautiful bride who he will love and cherish for all eternity. Love the local church.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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IV Salvation We believe that Jesus Christ secured forgiveness for sin and the gift of perfect righteousness through his obedient life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead.[1] We believe that those who repent[2] and put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ[3] alone[4] as Lord and Savior receive eternal life.[5] Through the work of the Holy Spirit (regeneration) they are delivered from condemnation[6] and become a new creation.[7]
Sermon Ephesians 2:1-10
Made Alive in Christ
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
The unit of thought is maybe as large as all of Ephesians, but 2:1-10 is acceptable.
Subject: We were dead and made alive again by God in Christ.
Compliment: If we were truly dead and made alive again, how would we behave?
Homiletical Idea:
You were dead; you are now alive; tell others about your Salvation and Savior Introduction:
Having a lovely, fun meal with my 14-year-old son. We’re laughing, having a good time, enjoying pizza, talking about the what’s on tap for the evening. I love the pizza which I’ve noticed, a little disappointed, is burned on the crusts. Two Amy’s makes such good crust, that I think to myself, “what a shame.”
I start to take bite into a burned section of the crust. As I bite, I inhale. I have actually not even taken a bite of the crust, not one piece of food is in my mouth. But as I inhale, I can feel IT (and I can even remember seeing IT — a tiny, size of a clipped pinky finger nail, piece of paper thin charcoal. It’s not even dough. It’s whatever is left over from burning a piece of dough. It’s literally a piece of charcoal crust.
I inhale, this sliver of black crust and immediately I realize it’s lodged in the back of my throat. I cannot imagine that it’s blocking my passageway. I know my throat isn’t that small, but I can’t breath through my mouth. I go for water, but the water does nothing to help me and I am confused. I don’t understand how this tiny piece of charcoal is causing this problem. Seconds later I grow terrified when I realize I cannot breath my nose either. In my mind, I am well past that point we’ve all been when a piece of food goes down the wrong way and we’re left with a cough and watery eyes and the inability to speak a coherent sentence. I cannot cough. I am more than worried about regaining my composure and speaking again; I am immediately worried only about being able to breathe. I realize I need help. Now.
I look at my son and make hand gestures that I can’t breathe. And for a second I am so happy I am with the child who doesn’t ever get embarrassed and has never been shy a day in his life, because I know he’ll help me. I know that he will be the heroic catalyst who has the force of character to lead me to safety.
I hear him say, “Are you okay, Mom?” And I shake my head, “No.” More hand gestures.
I think I hear him say, “My mother is choking, my mother needs help,” but, in response to his call for help, I don’t remember seeing anyone do anything. And I wonder how is it possible that I can’t breathe and no one is heeding my son’s call. He stands up, pushing his chair back and yells it this time. I look around. I cannot, I can not breathe. I don’t know how long I can last without an intake of oxygen.
I make more hand gestures. I look at the two ladies and a young boy next to me. I make hand gestures. The women don’t move, but I hear one say, “I think this woman needs help, I think she cannot breathe.” She does not make this statement with declarative force. She doesn’t stand and take command of the room. She merely makes an observation that appears only to spark interest from the woman with whom she is dining.
The women know, but they do nothing. I look back at the women. I wonder questioningly, “Are these women who notice my situation not going to help me?” I look around to see if anyone has heard the woman’s comment. The room echoes and I wonder if her words were loud enough to be heard over the chatter of the other diners. I look around again and I know definitively that if I don’t get someone’s attention immediately, it will be too late. So, I walk away from my table and directly into the middle of the room. And, I hear some one behind me. It’s you. You have jumped up to help me.
“Some one has noticed me,” I think. “Someone has heard me, heard my son, seen me, understood the enormity of this, this confusing moment that shouldn’t be happening.”
You grab me with great authority and I turn myself over to you completely, without question. I have no doubt this is it, that this will work, that you will get me breathing again, that you will save me. I feel as if I’m a rag doll in your arms. You pump your arms into my stomach and I see my feet flail under me. Nothing happens. You do it again, and I watch my feet dangle again and think, “I’m a Raggedy Ann in this man’s arms.” You sink your arms into me once again and I cough. And I breathe and I cough and I realize… I know… I’m going to be okay, that you have made me okay.
I feel a second person next to me; he brings me a chair. It’s your father I believe.
I grab your arm and quite honestly, I don’t want to let go. This arm (and the other one) has wholly and completely saved my life. When no one else was willing, you saved me. I sit there coughing and not letting go of your arm and I don’t know what to do or say. It’s not that I’m embarrassed (I really don’t get embarrassed that easily) and it’s not that it’s awkward, it’s the enormity of the fact that you, a man I do not know, has just saved my life. “Thank you,” is just too mundane for the situation.
Someone hands me a glass of water; your father I believe. Perhaps it’s your brother. I’m told to keep coughing, that it’s a good sign. And then it’s over. Half the diners seem to think the “dinner show” is over, though they’ve hardly noticed there was a show at all.
I hug you, say my mundane thank you with a very horse voice and try not to cry. I’ve already made enough of a scene.
She went on to describe some email exchanges she had with the man who saved her life, and she ends with this.
Thank you. You saved a life. My life. You saved my children from being motherless. I just don’t know what else to say, other than shouting what I now consider “our story,” from the proverbial rooftops.
The introduction, which I previously skipped, went like this.
How does one “thank” the person who saved his/her life?
Since January 25th, 2013 I’ve been faced with that question – the dilemma, really. Other than buying he and his family dinner, how can I how can I thank the man who saved my life?
My conclusion… there really just is no way.
But, what I can do is make his rescue efforts newsworthy; and, in so doing, perhaps I can open up, as well, a forum in which others — you — can lay their thank-you wreaths.
What is salvation?
Preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss; this is the non-religious definition I find.
As we go through our “What We Believe” series at Cornerstone, what do we say we believe about Salvation? Let’s read it together.
IV Salvation We believe that Jesus Christ secured forgiveness for sin and the gift of perfect righteousness through his obedient life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead. We believe that those who repent and put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Savior receive eternal life. Through the work of the Holy Spirit (regeneration) they are delivered from condemnation and become a new creation.
Now, let’s take the article in three pieces.
Jesus Christ did the work
We have not lived a perfect life, an obedient life. We did not suffer the punishment for our sins. We cannot raise ourselves
In acknowledgment and thankfulness for what Jesus has done, through God’s grace and power, we are to:
Repent – turn away Believe – Faith, trust, confidence Receive
Remember, it is Christ and Christ alone. No other way, nothing else in addition.
No superstitions No traditions No works
There is no condemnation
God no longer holds our sins against us, but we have the righteousness of Christ
We are a new creation
No longer are we bound by our flesh
Let’s now turn to a passage of Scripture that I think really boils all of this down for us. Ephesians 2:1-10. Ephesians is a letter written by Paul to the church at Ephesus, and Paul understands what he was saved from. He wants the church to understand what Christ has done for them and what salvation means.
Ephesians 2:1-3
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
Before Christ saved you, you were dead.
You weren’t drowning and reached out for his hand, you didn’t grab onto him, you were dead.
One of the things I liked about the opening illustration was that the woman admitted there was nothing she could have done to save herself Think about the story of Lazarus. Jesus hears he is sick, so he waits two more days and goes when he is dead. Why? Jesus says it is so they (the disciples and others) may believe and for the glory of God. It is a real life, tangible symbol or the salvation Jesus brings to all you believe in him.
If he healed Lazarus as he did many others, it can be dismissed. People get better all the time. People, however, do not get up from the dead. No one can give Lazarus the credit.
We were following the ways of the world, the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit of disobedience, the desires of our flesh See how it describes the pre-Christ state:
Dead in our transgressions and sins Bound by our flesh/sin nature and following the evil one with no real choice Deserving of wrath
Ephesians 2:4-7
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
But, God – don’t miss the fact again, that we did not do any of it.
Made us alive Raised us up with Christ Seated us with him in the heavenly realms
Ephesians 2:8-10
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
In case you missed it before, this is a gift from God by his grace. We didn’t do it. We cannot take credit. Why?
His great love for us His mercy and grace That he might show the incomparable riches expressed in his kindness For his glory For us to do good works
Bless the world around us Spread his love
Recap of the pre-Christ state and the in Christ state:
Pre-Christ:
Dead in our transgressions and sins
In Christ:
Made alive
Pre-Christ:
Bound by our flesh/sin nature and following the evil one with no real choice
In Christ:
Created to do good works, which God prepared in advance
Pre-Christ:
Deserving of wrath
In Christ
Seated with him in the heavenly realms
There are many things we can discuss and debate when it comes to salvation theology. Limited versus unlimited atonement, predestination and freewill and how that all works, and many other things can be debated within the bounds of orthodox, biblical theology. But, Biblical salvation is marked by a few things that we believe cannot be compromised; it is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Application
Tell others about your savior and your salvation
Tell others about your savior and your salvation. Compare the past to the present. Think about the worst person you can. Have compassion & understanding for the pre-Christ. Tell others about your savior and your salvation. Personal stories are powerful
What have you been saved from? How did it happen?
Romans Road:
Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:8, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If there’s one thing I can be remembered for, I want it to be constantly talking about Jesus. Today, there’s an animosity that comes with talking about your faith and Jesus and anything you believe in for that matter because everyone is supposed to be right, and you’re supposed to do your very best to not offend anyone, which really just means not saying anything at all.
And I have to say, I simply won’t be able to go along with that. I can’t go along with that.
You see, we all like to talk. We like to talk about the things we’re proud of and the things that bring us the most joy. Something good happened to you yesterday? You’ll be talking about it for days to come until it grows old, and then you’ll wait for something new to happen that you can share.
I used to not understand how people could talk about Jesus so often. If you simply knew who He was, wouldn’t you eventually run out of things to say? Doesn’t He eventually become like any other person, any new friend that you come to be familiar with?
That’s typically the case, but it’s the complete opposite with Jesus. You see, ever since I came to know Him, really know Him, I cannot remember a day that went by without me speaking His name or realizing His presence or calling out to Him. And though others may find it repetitive or incessant, there’s a simple explanation for why I will never stop talking about Jesus.
I won’t stop talking about Him because Jesus gave me life. Jesus saved me from my flesh. Jesus came down and died for me and for you, even when we naturally reject and deny Him daily. Jesus invites me into His blessings, into His divine nature, into His joy and peace and grace and mercy to be able to live every day with a purpose and a hope that is bigger and greater and more satisfying than anything that this earth can come up with. We talk about things that bring us joy, right? Jesus brings me joy. We talk about things that are a huge help in our lives, right? Jesus is my biggest help. We talk about things that have transformed our lives, right? Jesus has matured and grown and sanctified me. We talk about things that are constant, right? Right. Jesus.
There’s a lot of negativity towards people who talk about their Christian faith, but if they only knew. If they only knew how I would be dead to my sin without Him. If they only knew how I would be entirely unsatisfied without Him, searching in complete darkness for answers that can’t be found where I’m looking. If they only knew how I would be living with no purpose without Him, under a severe truth that when over, my life will be nothing and mean nothing. If they only knew how I would have such little joy, hope, or goodness within me. If they only knew how different I would be without Him and how different I am because of Him. But they don’t know.
And maybe that’s a whole reason we need to keep talking, too.
[1] Romans 5:19: For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. [2] 1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [3] John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [4] Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” [5] Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [6] Romans 8:1: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, [7] 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Andy Bradshaw wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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IV Salvation We believe that Jesus Christ secured forgiveness for sin and the gift of perfect righteousness through his obedient life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead.[1] We believe that those who repent[2] and put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ[3] alone[4] as Lord and Savior receive eternal life.[5] Through the work of the Holy Spirit (regeneration) they are delivered from condemnation[6] and become a new creation.[7] Sermon Ephesians 2:1-10 Made Alive in Christ As for you,
Bernie shared a little story with me this week about a farmer who never wanted to go to church, in spite of being asked by his wife over and over again. One day, when his wife was just too tired to go, he decided to make her happy by going to the service. When he got back, his wife asked, “How was it?” The man replied, “Good.” So she asked, “What did the pastor preach on?” He answered, “Sin.” She asked, “Well, what did he have to say about it?” The farmer replied, “He was against it.”
At Cornerstone, we’re going through a sermon series entitled, What We Believe. Today, I’m preaching on the topics of sin and mankind. I am against sin, but not mankind.
Our Articles of Faith explain both our humanity and our sin, linking the two in the same statement. Why does it do that? Because wherever humans are, there is sin. Wherever humans are, there is pollution, poverty, corruption, injustice. Humankind is broken. But at the same time, we know this shouldn’t be. It’s like we know humans weren’t this way originally. Article III, number 7, says,“We believe that God created all people in His own image…” It references Genesis 1:26, so I want to read it and the next verse.
Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (NIV®)
God created human beings in the image of God. The Hebrew word for “image” is ṣelem, and it means “idol.” An idol is a physical representation of a diety. Idols in the Bible and in some religions today are made of wood, stone, or maybe silver or gold if they’re expensive. The idols (or images) God makes of himself are different. They’re living, breathing, acting, human-beings that join him in ruling over creation. When God creates humans, he creates them like him, with the capacity to know God and participate in what he is doing.
To be human is to be made for relationship with God and others. The God of Christianity is a relational being. One of our newest Elders, Terry, pointed out to me the unity and diversity we see in God in Genesis 1:26-27, but to see it we have to look at the ESV translation.
v.26a Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…
v. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (ESV)
Is God plural or singular? God is unity and diversity. He is one God in three persons, Trinity. Male and female, men and women, somehow reflect this unity and diversity together. This means three things:
Both men and women are made in the image of God. One gender is not better than the other. It takes both genders equally, working together, to truly reflect God. Humanity needs both men and women.
Today we installed our Cornerstone Elders. As I read our philosophy of ministry, you may have noticed that Cornerstone believes only men can be Elders. Honestly, I was a bit nervous to publish our list of Elders online as outsiders might question this. Before the team from Immanuel planted this church, we surveyed the community to get to know them and one woman told us she “has issues with patriarchal churches.” There’s something I want to make perfectly clear. The Elders believe men and women are just as valuable and talented as each other, but the team who founded this church and our Board of Elders believes God calls men and women to different roles in the family and church (1 Tim 2-3). Now this doesn’t mean we can’t politely disagree on this issue, holding to different points of view even among the Elders, but as a church, we believe God values both men and women equally, but calls them to different tasks. Thus we reflect God’s unity and diversity. Both men and women are made in the image of God.
Men and women are made for relationship with God. God made us like him so we can be in relationship with him in a special way that surpasses that of animals or nature. We can share in some of God’s attributes, his love, goodness, kindness, wisdom, and even holiness. We have both a body and a soul (or spirit). God is a spirit too, and through Christ has taken on a human body. Do you see how men and women are made for relationship with God? Men and women are made for relationship with each other. As we love and care for each other, we reflect the unity and diversity in the Trinity. We need each other, men, women, unborn, young, old.
With our autonomy announcement, we also sent out a copy of our Constitution & By-Laws. For those of you who read it to the very last page, you’ll notice we included a statement on what we believe about “Marriage and Human Sexuality.” It says:
All Pastors, Elders, and Deacons shall affirm and uphold a biblical definition of marriage and human sexuality, meaning, God created marriage to be between one naturally-born man and one naturally-born woman; therefore, this is the only good and acceptable relationship to express and experience sexual intimacy (Genesis 2:18, 21-25, Matthew 19:4-9, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Ephesians 5:21-33, 1 Timothy 1:9-10).
We believe and teach that God created men and women to know and love each other in marriage. This is not a popular position. But this is what the Bible teaches when it says God made them “male and female” and in all the Bible passages listed above. But I want to make something really clear. Just because we can’t affirm the LGBT view of marriage, it doesn’t mean we think any less of LGBT people. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are just as valuable and precious to God as heterosexual men and women. I hope that one day we have people from the LGBT community come to Cornerstone, and they feel welcomed and loved, but also challenged and stretched as they encounter Jesus.
To be human is to made for relationship with God and others. If God created us all to get along, why are we hurting each other, and failing so miserably? It’s all because of sin.
Sin breaks our humanity. When you think of sin, what do you think of? Maybe you think of the seven deadly sins, “pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth.” If you grew up Catholic, maybe you think of mortal and venial sins. In the Bible, the Hebrew word for “sin” is ḥāṭāʾ and it means “to miss (the mark).” During a civil war in the Old Testament, we actually see this word used for slings not missing their mark in battle.
Judges 20:16 Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. (NIV®)
“Not miss” literally means “not sin.” So what do we miss when we sin? We miss God’s perfect standard. As we learned earlier in this sermon series, God is perfectly holy. His character is loving but also good, and anytime we’re not loving or good like him, we miss the mark, we sin. Not only do we miss the mark with our actions, but on the inside too. Sin starts in our hearts, and leads to several consequences:
1. Sin breaks our relationship with God.
When God created Adam and Eve in the garden, they were perfect. They didn’t have sin. But then the serpent, who we learned last week is Satan, tempted them to eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:9), which God told them not to eat from. When Adam and Eve disobeyed by eating this fruit, they hid themselves from God in shame.
Genesis 3:8-9 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” (NIV®)
Sin creates a break in relationship between God and humanity. We see this in our Article of Faith.
- We believe that God created all people in His own image; that mankind was tempted by Satan, sinned, and thereby incurred eternal physical and spiritual death, which is separation from God.
I want to let you in on a little secret. The last line of this article used to read “which is separation from God’s blessing.” We didn’t want to imply that there is any space where our sins can completely separate us from God’s presence. Remember, God is omnipresent (he is in all places). So the separation this article is talking about is relational. Because of sin, you and I are separated from a life-giving relationship with God (Isa 59:2). Sin leads to death, which leads to a separation from the loving-kindness of God for all eternity. Sin is a prison warden who locks us away from the love of our friends and family forever.
Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, we are all born with a sin nature. We call this original sin. It means we are always bent towards missing the mark. In our own power, we’ll always sin. This original sin destroyed our free will. We’re no longer free to choose good. Although we don’t necessarily choose evil all the time, the arch of our lives will curve away from God instead of towards him. We see this in our second article.
- We believe that as a consequence of the Fall, all human beings are born with a sin nature, rebellious toward God, choose willingly to sin, and are therefore under God’s condemnation.
We’re born in sin, and we choose willingly to sin because of it. No longer are we apart of God’s perfect family. Instead, we deserve God’s judgment, hell. We become God’s enemies, but there’s more casualties than just our relationship with God. Sin breaks our humanity, including how we treat our neighbors.
2. Sin breaks our relationship with others.
When God confronted Adam with his sin, instead of confessing his sin, he blames Eve.
Genesis 3:12-13 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (NIV®)
Sin leads to an immediate breakdown in their relationship. Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent. The break in relationship with God leads to a break in relationship with each other.
Have you ever experienced this? You have a close friend, who you love, but sin begins to tempt you with a new thought, “Hey, they just got a new car, and you didn’t. Why should they have it and not you? They can’t afford it.” You begin to feel jealous and you find yourself criticizing them to others. And then you spread rumors, and they find out, and your relationship is shattered. Sin breaks our relationship with others.
The week I read the book, A Breviary of Sin: Not the Way It’s Supposed to Beby Cornelius Plantinga Jr. He tells the story of a Yale University test in the 1960s called the Milgram experiment. In this test, there were a pool of unwitting subjects, a “youngish man in a gray laboratory coat”, and also a chubby “middle-aged man [the subjects] supposed to be another subject like themselves but who was actually an actor…” They were told this experiment would “test the effect of punishment on learning…”
The man in the gray lab coat told the subjects it was their job to administer penalty shocks to the middle-aged man every time he got a wrong answer. The subject was then placed before a fake shock generator with labels ranging from “15 volts” to “450 volts,” which also were labeled “slight shock, moderate shock, strong shock, intense shock, danger — severe shock, XXX.” People have died from as little as 42 volts if the current is right, so this is pretty dangerous.
The actor would then take the test hooked to fake shockers, and every time he got a wrong answer, the man in the gray coat told the test subjects to shock him. The actor wasn’t very good at taking tests, so the real test subjects were instructed to shock him lot’s of time, growing in intensity each time. He’d protest at first, and then complain, then start to cry out in pain, and scream, before collapsing.
If the test subjects started to protest, the man in the gray lab coat would give them increasingly stern commands, and most complied. When the test subjects could only hear the actor yelling through a wall, and not see him, 62% shocked him up to 450 volts, XXX. When they sat in the same room, 40% still obeyed. Milgram was testing to see if people would obey orders that were clearly wrong, and we do.
Our sin tempts us to not only turn on God, but others, and we obey. Yes we have to deal with the temptations of Satan too, whose lab coat is made of snake skin, but the first temptation is inside of us, it’s in our hearts. The sin in us leads us to shock and wound others, and turn on God (Matt 22:34-38). This is what it means to be born with a sin nature. Because of sin, we’re born less than human, less than the image of God. We’re born broken and bent. But, there’s hope. Sin breaks our humanity.
Christ restores our humanity. Next week I’m going home for my mom’s birthday party, she’s turning 30, so Andy is preaching. I don’t want to give away his sermon, on salvation, but I have to give you a glimpse of hope. I can’t leave you under condemnation without any hope of deliverance, but you should come back because we need to be reminded of what Andy is going to preach every single day.
Just like Adam broke our humanity by sinning, Jesus Christ restores it. Jesus is Adam 2.0. He’s the second Adam who is here to restore what we lost. He does this by being the perfect human. Jesus never sinned, not once. He wasn’t born in sin because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He never broke his relationship with God the Father, and never sinned against people. The gospel is the good news that Jesus offers us his own perfect humanity. If you confess your sins, and put your faith in him, Jesus takes away your inhumanity and give you his humanity. He gives you a new heart, and unbends you. My two take-aways are:
1. Confess your sins
If you don’t know Jesus, and he hasn’t yet give you his perfect humanity, confess your inhumanity. Confess the ways you sin against God and against others. Confess that every day you miss the mark of God’s perfect standard and this sin starts in your heart. Confess you need a new humanity that only Jesus offers.
If you are a Christian, are you confessing your sins and discovering Jesus’ perfect humanity in you? Jesus calls us to a lifelong journey of becoming more human. Day by day we confess when we miss the mark, and as we do this, we turn our hearts to Jesus and become more like him. We become more unbent and more human. To be human, isn’t to be messed up, but to be like Jesus. Confess your sins.
2. Enter into relationship with God and others.
As we enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and enter into relationships with those around us, we become more human. We become a clearer-image of God. We become more like Jesus.
How do you enter into relationship with God? It’s not a one time prayer. It’s a lifelong friendship full of love, trust, and obedience. We follow Jesus day by day through through his Word, the Bible. We build an eternal relationship with the Father through prayer. We experience the filling of the Holy Spirit as we seek his presence throughout our days. Do you want to know God? Then seek the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
How do you enter into relationship with others? I see this two ways: 1) Get to know your church family. Enter into this community. Love it, sacrifice for it, be a part of what God is doing here. 2) Reach out to your neighbor who doesn’t know Jesus yet. We want to see humanity restored, not only in us, but in them as well.
Confess your sins and enter into relationship with God and others.
Christ can restore your humanity. Jan Rensaller was one of the test subjects at Yale University. He was “a 32-year-old engineer and ‘a member of the Dutch Reformed Church.” When the man in the gray coat pushed him by saying, “You have no choice” he replied, “I do have a choice . . . I can’t continue . . . I’ve gone too far already, probably.” Fighting sin isn’t easy. Apparently there was also an Old Testament professor who stopped “at 150 volts, claiming that God’s authority superseded” that of the man in the gray coat.
Sin makes us feel and act less than human. But Christ came to fix that by forgiving us of our sins and inviting us into relationship with God and others. In sin, we will always miss the mark. But in Christ, we get new hearts, and become unbent and more human day by day. Christ can restore your humanity.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Bernie shared a little story with me this week about a farmer who never wanted to go to church, in spite of being asked by his wife over and over again. One day, when his wife was just too tired to go, he decided to make her happy by going to the service. When he got back, his wife asked, “How was it?” The man replied, “Good.” So she asked, “What did the pastor preach on?” He answered, “Sin.” She
Bernie Michaud preached this sermon on who Satan is and what he does. You can listen to this sermon on audio, watch it on video, or download and read his sermon notes and slides below.
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Bernie Michaud preached this sermon on who Satan is and what he does. You can listen to this sermon on audio, watch it on video, or download and read his sermon notes and slides below. Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube. Sermon Manuscript Sermon Slides Picture by No machine-readable author provided. Thermos assumed (based on copyright claims). – No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC
Next week I’m going to our denomination’s (4Cs) annual conference in Pittsburgh, so I asked Bernie to preach. I gave him two options. Option A. The Holy Spirit. Option B. Satan. Bernie chose Satan. I was hoping he would choose the Holy Spirit because I’m more afraid to preach on the Spirit than on Satan.
Because of this I’ve done more reading than I usually do. I read a whole book, Forgotten Godby Francis Chan, I read a chapter of Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves, I read several articles from Preaching Today about preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit, and I listened to a chapter on the Holy Spirit in Know What You Believe by Paul Little, not once, but twice. I studied all these resources because I wanted to sit at the feet of others who seem to understand the Holy Spirit better than me. So I’ll be drawing on them as I preach, and I encourage you to check them out if you’re a little afraid of the Spirit too.
Francis Chan’s second chapter in Forgotten God is, “What are you afraid of?” As I thought about that, I realized I’m afraid to get the Holy Spirit wrong. I want to know the Holy Spirit, but I don’t want to make up what he’s telling me to do. I didn’t grow up in a church that emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit. We talked a lot about Jesus and the Bible, and the Holy Spirit was important, but we seemed wary of the gifts of the Spirit, the charismatic movement, speaking in tongues, miracles, etc. That’s a different church. Who are we going to be? Are we going to be a place that is wary of the Holy Spirit, or will we embrace him?
We don’t want to get the Holy Spirit wrong, but we also desperately need him. Without him, we won’t succeed as a new church or as Christians. Because the Holy Spirit can be difficult, I want to make it real simple. Let’s talk about his person (who he is), his work (what he does), and our response (what we do).
Person: Who is the Holy Spirit? According to Paul Little, “Both the Hebrew and Greek words translated ‘spirit’ mean basically ‘breath’ or wind’…”, which signifies his life-giving power to all living creatures. Elsewhere he’s compared to “oil, fire and water” and in Genesis 1:2 and Matthew 3:16 he’s likened to a bird. So what is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is God. Our Article of Faith on the Holy Spirit begins, “We believe in the Holy Spirit who comes forth from the Father and the Son…” The Holy Spirit is just as much God as the Father and the Son. The clearest example we see of this teaching appears in the story of Ananias and Sapphira at the beginning of the New Testament church. Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of land, kept some of the money, and gave the rest to the early church, but lied that it was all of the money. Notice two parallel sentences where they are accused of lying to the Holy Spirit, who is then called God.
Acts 5:3-4 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” (NIV®)
When Ananias and Sapphira sinned against the Holy Spirit, they sinned against God. The Holy Spirit is God.
Just by being called “the Holy Spirit,” I think it’s easy to confuse who the Holy Spirit is. LifeWay just published a recent survey that asked if the respondents agreed with this statement, “The Holy Spirit is a force, not a personal being.” Let’s take a little survey. Let’s all close our eyes. If you think the Holy Spirit is a force, not a personal being, raise your hand. Okay, if you think the Holy Spirit is a personal being, raise your hand. Great! Everyone but Bernie got the right answer. 51% of those that answered the study, said they thought the Holy Spirit is a force, not a personal being. 7% weren’t sure, maybe that’s you if you raised your hand. And only 42% affirmed that the Spirit is a person, which is the correct answer. If you got this wrong, no need to feel embarrassed, today you can learn the Holy Spirit is a real true person.
The Holy Spirit is a person (not a force). The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the Holy Spirit is a force, but the Holy Spirit is not an “it” but a “he” (John 14:17). He is not something, but someone. The Holy Spirit has mind, feelings, and a will.
(Mind) 1 Corinthians 2:10b-11 …The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (NIV®)
(Feelings) Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (NIV®)
(Will) 1 Corinthians 12:11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. (NIV®)
Elsewhere, we find the Holy Spirit helps, speaks, teaches, witnesses, searches, intercedes, comforts, and more (John 14:16, Acts 1:16, John 14:26, 15:26, 1 Cor 2:10, Rom 8:26). These are all things a person does.
If you came here imagining the Holy Spirit to be like the force in Star Wars, I don’t blame you. In the Star Wars, the holy men, the Jedi, have the amazing ability to move things, control minds, and fight battles, all with an invisible force (or what George Lucas calls midi-chlorians). The Holy Spirit is not an invisible force we can control through prayer or living a holy life. He is the God of the universe and master of all. I want to confess I often try to use the Holy Spirit to my own ends. Almost every week, when I pray for my sermon, I struggle between wanting the Holy Spirit to show up so I can look good, and wanting him to come to impact us with God’s word. How do you try to use him for your ends? The Holy Spirit has his own agenda and purposes and won’t be controlled by us, which brings me to his works.
Work: What does the Holy Spirit do? Most of our Article of Faith is not about who the Holy Spirit is, but what he does. Because of this, I want to read the whole article all at once. Notice all the different things he does.
The Holy Spirit: We believe in the Holy Spirit who comes forth from the Father and the Son to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit regenerates, dwells within, sanctifies, teaches, empowers for service, intercedes, and comforts all who believe in Jesus Christ.
It speaks about him convicting of sin and righteousness, and also regenerating. What does that mean?
He gives spiritual life and sanctifies. You and I are born in sin. Sin isn’t just something we do. It starts in our hearts and minds, so the decisions we make and the things we do are all bent by sin. The Bible says we are all spiritually dead in our sins.
Ephesians 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, (NIV®)
When we’re born in this life, we’re all still-born. We’re born spiritually dead, and we can’t save ourselves. We need the Holy Spirit to come and give us spiritual life. That’s called regeneration. Regeneration is an act of spiritual resurrection by the Holy Spirit in which he gives us new life, a second birth, a spiritual birth.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. (NIV®)
When you’re not a Christian, and begin to feel convicted of your sin, and a desire to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, that’s the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is giving you a new spiritual birth, a spiritual resurrection from the dead. Our articles of faith do not state whether you have to believe regeneration takes place before faith, or afterwards, but I think saving-faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. When he regenerates us, he comes and dwells within us. That’s right, God lives in you!
1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; (NIV®)
Have you ever lived with someone who is cleaner than you? I’ve experienced both being the dirty one and the clean one. Growing up in my house, sometimes cleanliness seemed next to godliness, so I learned to be really clean. But the first roommate I ever had in seminary, I think he was determined to teach me godliness is a work of grace. When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, he goes to work, cleaning and scrubbing our sins and the ways we dishonor God without even knowing it.
Sanctification is the process of us becoming holier and more like Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (NIV®)
We know we are being sanctified as we see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (ESV)
The idea with sanctification is that over the course of our lives the Spirit makes us more and more like Jesus Christ. I’ve used a graph of the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the last 100 years to show this. You can see that over time the trend heads upwards, not always up, or down, but generally up. Now I think we’ve all met Christians nearing the end of their lives who don’t seem Christ-like, so another good picture of sanctification is a ball-of-yarn. The ball starts small, but as the Holy Spirit leads us through life, the sum cumulation of sanctification grows bigger and bigger until we have a big beautiful ball of sanctification, a whole life of being made more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit saves and sanctifies.
He gives gifts to the church. As Jesus was wrapping up his ministry and heading to the cross, he promised to send the Holy Spirit to the church, and that the Holy Spirit would be better than if Jesus had stayed.
John 16:7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (NIV®)
The Holy Spirit is called the advocate, which means counselor or helper. At Pentecost, 10 days after he ascended into heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help the church.”
Acts 2:2-4 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (NIV®)
This is the inaugural visit of the Holy Spirit to the church. The Holy Spirit came so that he could empower everyday people with talents and gifts to serve the local church. There are four different lists of the gifts of the Spirit in the New Testament, each different, which tells us these lists aren’t comprehensive, but representative. In other words, the Holy Spirit could still be giving new and different gifts for the benefit of the church today, so not only preaching, but artists and accountants. Instead of reading each passage, I am going to share the lists of gifts, which I’ve taken from Millard Erickson’s Christian Theology (pg 891).
Romans 12:6-8 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 Ephesians 4:11 1 Peter 4:11
prophecy service
teaching
exhortation
liberality
giving aid
acts of mercy wisdom
knowledge
faith
healing
working of miracles
prophecy
ability to distinguish spirits
various tongues
interpretation of tongues apostles
prophets
evangelists
pastors and teachers speaking
service
Some of the gifts of the Spirit are controversial, like performing miracles, prophecy, and especially speaking and interpreting tongues. There’s good reason for this as many believers and churches have abused these gifts and hurt many lives. But I want to take a moment and encourage us as a church to define our position with these gifts as “open and seeking to honor God in all things.”
1 Corinthians 14:27-28 say that the speaking of tongues should be used in a careful and orderly manner, and there must always be an interpreter present. I don’t think we’ll ever become a charismatic church known for using these gifts, but I hope that if the Holy Spirit wants to give us these gifts, we would test them to see if they’re real, and then accept them thoughtfully and humbly. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to the church.
Response: How should we respond to the Holy Spirit? The second half of 1 Corinthians 12 compares the church to a body with many parts. In other words, the Holy Spirit gives different gifts, like teaching and preaching, to some parts of the church body, and other gifts, like service and hospitality, to other parts of the body. This means that when we each use our gifting, the church is functioning as the Holy Spirit intends, and when we’re not, the body is broken.
Seek his gifting. Each one of us is supernaturally gifted by the Holy Spirit to serve the local church in some capacity, often in surprising ways. One of the gifts the Spirit has given me is speaking. I never thought he’d give that to me. I mean, my family always told me I mumbled and I still do. I feel like Moses who felt “slow of speech and tongue” and asked God to send another (Ex 4:10-12). But somehow, in my weakness, the Holy Spirit provides his gifting so that I can serve the church and so that we can all say, “Wow, God really is great!”
Don’t you want to have the Holy Spirit work in your weakness? When God calls us to something, he promises to equip us for it. The Holy Spirit will help us out. He’ll gift us to do it. I want to take a moment and challenge you to start figuring out what your gifting is so you can serve the church. After church, talk to a volunteer who is doing something you think would be interesting, and give it a try. Go through a discernment process with them to see if this really is your gifting, and if it’s not, try something else.
In his book, Francis Chan shares a question his youth pastor once asked him, “What would your church (and the worldwide church) look like if everyone was committed as you are?” If you’re holding back, that means a part of the body isn’t working as it should. Maybe you’re an ear. Help us hear. Maybe you’re a toe. Help us walk. Maybe you’re the tiniest cell, help us multiply.
At small group, Joe and Jennie like to open with an ice-breaker question. A recent one was, “If you could do any job for a month, and be fully equipped to do it, what would you do?” Joe wanted to be President and Andrew wanted to play professional golf. I wanted to be a movie director. Why would we ever do any of those things when the God of the universe has empowered us with a supernatural gift to serve and love the bride of Christ, the church? Are you seeking and using the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Seek his gifting.
Seek his filling. Ephesians 5:18b says, “…be filled with the Spirit.” This is different than that initial indwelling. It’s a special pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit on us to serve him and do what he’s calling us to do. It’s an anointing. See the Holy Spirit not only gifts us, he promises to be with us as we obey him.
Paul Little challenged me to think differently about filling. When I think of it, I think of pouring water from a pitcher into a glass. But the Holy Spirit isn’t a thing, he’s a person. Being filled with the Holy Spirit means getting to know him. It means being in relationship with him. It means accepting his invitation to dance, and letting him lead us through life. It means letting him take over every nook and cranny of our hearts, our motives, our minds, our actions. Don’t you want to be filled by a relationship with the Holy Spirit?
The way we enter into relationship with the Holy Spirit is through inviting him to come and fill us, and lead us through life. We invite him to use us, to help us, to lead us. We pray and fast because we hunger for more and more of God’s Spirit. We sense he is filling us as he directs our minds and hearts to Jesus Christ. When we grow more and more in love with him it’s because of the Spirit. Seek his filling.
Seek the gifting and filling of the Holy Spirit. I was pretty nervous when I started studying the Holy Spirit, but I’m so grateful I did. It’s so refreshing to focus on him. Thinking about him has made me more sensitive to his leading, and it makes me want him to be active and moving in my life and in this church. I hope this sermon will spark a desire in you to know and experience the Holy Spirit too. Seek the gifting and filling of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Next week I’m going to our denomination’s (4Cs) annual conference in Pittsburgh, so I asked Bernie to preach. I gave him two options. Option A. The Holy Spirit. Option B. Satan. Bernie chose Satan. I was hoping he would choose the Holy Spirit because I’m more afraid to preach on the Spirit than on Satan. Because of this I’ve done more reading than I usually do. I read a whole book, Forgotten God by Francis Chan, I read a chapter
Paul Little, in Know What You Believe, starts his chapter on Jesus Christ by pointing out how important Christ is to Christianity. You can lose Buddha, and still have Buddhism. You can lose Muhammad and still have Islam. You can lose Confucius and still have Confucianism. You can lose millions of Hinduism’s 330 million gods, and still have Hinduism. But you can’t lose Christ, and still have Christianity. Jesus is: the hero of the Bible’s story (John 3:16) the founder
Paul Little, in Know What You Believe, starts his chapter on Jesus Christ by pointing out how important Christ is to Christianity. You can lose Buddha, and still have Buddhism. You can lose Muhammad and still have Islam. You can lose Confucius and still have Confucianism. You can lose millions of Hinduism’s 330 million gods, and still have Hinduism. But you can’t lose Christ, and still have Christianity. Jesus is:
the hero of the Bible’s story (John 3:16) the founder of our faith and belief (Heb 12:2) the bridegroom of the church (Rev 22:17) the fulfillment of God the Father’s promises (2 Cor 1:20) essential to who the Triune God is, one God in three persons (Matt 3:16-17)
So only those who believe in Christ can truly call themselves Christians. Just like Jesus is the central focus of the Bible, the thread that holds everything together, I was reminded this week that Jesus is the central focus of our Articles of Faith. Without him, everything falls apart. Without Jesus, we’re lost and confused.
But I want to take how important Jesus is one step further. Jesus isn’t just essential to the Bible or our religion, he is essential to you. Without Jesus, I believe that your life isn’t as it should be. Without Jesus, you’re lost and confused. Without Jesus, you aren’t who you were created to be.
Did you know that too little salt can kill you? Hyponatremia is a condition of low sodium in the blood, and it can lead to all sorts of problems, even death. The message we usually hear is “eat less salt” or “salt is bad for you,” but sometimes that’s not true. In seminary I lived with an elderly woman whose husband eventually died because one of his medicines stripped him of sodium. Our culture tells us Jesus is bad, to cut him from our diets, from our religion, from our life. But what if the very ingredient we need is him?
I believe you need to understand who Jesus is, and how to follow him, to flourish as God intends. We’re going to look at three aspects of who Jesus is. Jesus is God, Savior, and King. I want to give you my big idea upfront so you can follow along with me as we look at who Jesus is. My idea is… Jesus is God, Savior, King, so worship, trust, and obey him. I didn’t come up with the outline God, Savior, King. It comes to me from Dr. Charles Quarles, who was one of Terry’s NT Professors. He attributes it even further back to the early church.
Are any of you familiar with the fish symbol? We usually see it as a bumper sticker but it originated in the early years of the church after the New Testament. The Greek word for “fish” is “icthys.” The Icthys (ΙΧΘΥΣ) forms an acrostic, “Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter, i.e. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.” In other words Jesus is the Christ, which is the Messianic title for King, the Son of God, and the Savior. The early Church declared Jesus to be God, Savior, and King because this is what it meant to be a Christian.
Today, we’re going to trace this theme back even further to the Bible. Paul, an Apostle and author of much of the New Testament, writes a hymn in Philippians chapter two. It’s a song full of poetry. We don’t know if this hymn comes from Paul, or some other Christian tradition, but we do know he uses it to inspire the early believers to live lives of humility like Jesus. Today we’re actually not going to focus on Paul’s main point in the text, the call to humility, but the theology in the text—what it tells us about Jesus. First, it tells us…
Jesus is God Before we look at our passage, I want to read our Article of Faith on Jesus because it reflects what we find in Scripture.It says, “We believe in Jesus Christ, the eternal and only Son of God…” At Cornerstone, we believe Jesus is divine, that he is God, not partly, or on some days, but all the way.
Jesus is fully God. (Phil 2:6, 11) We find this same truth in Paul’s hymn. He writes in Philippians 2:6, Jesus “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;”. The Greek word for nature is the word “morphe,” which means “form.” Jesus shares the same nature or form as God. This means Jesus shares all the attributes (characteristics or traits) of God the Father and the Holy Spirit. As the Son of God, who is fully God, Jesus is eternal, holy, sovereign, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, and he’s also loving, faithful, and merciful, and all the other attributes we left unsaid.
This first line in verse 6, which declares the deity of Jesus, matches the last line of the poem in verse 11, which also declares his deity. Philippians 2:11 says, “and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” In our Exodus series, we learned Lord in all capitals in the Old Testament means Yahweh. We call God “Lord” instead of “Yahweh” because the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, translates Yahweh and Adonai as kurios (“Lord”). So when Jesus is called kurios (“Lord”) in the New Testament, the authors are saying he is Yahweh (cf. 1 Peter 3:15, Isaiah 8:13).
Jesus himself, recognized himself to be God. We know this because throughout the Bible God is the only person you should worship. On several occasions, people worshiped Jesus, and instead of turning away their worship, he accepted it. After Jesus healed a man born blind, the man worshipped him.
John 9:38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. (NIV®)
After Jesus rose from the grave, he met several women at the tomb, including Mary Magdalene, who worshipped him when they realized who he was. Notice Jesus’ response. He doesn’t turn them away.
Matthew 28:9-10 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” (NIV®)
Jesus wouldn’t accept their worship, unless he was indeed God, and deserved their worship.
Have you ever been mistaken for a celebrity? I assume Meaghan, that you’ve been mistaken for Emma Stone, the red-headed star of La La Land, on multiple occasions. And I assume that when you were mistaken for Emma Stone, you smiled and signed your name on pictures and posters featuring the real Emma Stone and sent your fans on their way. And of course, who is that celebrity quarterback sitting next to you? Is that Tom Brady, the greatest and most handsome quarterback of all time? Oh, it’s just you Andrew… It’s a good thing you shook your head or I would have thought I had encountered a true legend. If any of us were mistaken for a celebrity, we would admit we’re not famous, even if it were embarrassing. But Jesus never turns away worship. He always receives it because Jesus is God.
Do you worship him? The last line of our poem tells us how to worship. We’re called to “acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.” That word for “acknowledge” means “confess, admit, or give thanks.” If you’ve never confessed that Jesus is the Lord God, or admitted it, you’re not a Christian yet.
Romans 10:9-10 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (NIV®)
I am so excited because in the next couple months we are going to have a baptism. A baptism is a beautiful way to confess Jesus is Lord, to admit he is God in a public way. If you’ve never been baptized, a simple way you can worship Jesus is by acknowledging Jesus as Lord at your baptism.
But what about for mature Christians who have already confessed? “Acknowledge” can also mean “give thanks.” Worship Jesus by giving thanks for him. I bet the blind man Jesus healed worshipped Jesus out of gratitude. Thank Jesus for opening your eyes to who he is. First, Jesus is God, so worship him. Second…
Jesus is Savior Our Articles of Faith continue, telling us Jesus was “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, sinless in His life, making atonement for sin by His death, and providing access to the Father. We believe in His bodily resurrection…” Each one of these elements in our article point to Jesus as Savior. Jesus became our Savior through the incarnation, which is when the Son of God took on human flesh.
When Adam and Eve sinned for the first time, they broke all of humanity’s relationship with God. How do you mend a relationship with God if you’re a human? You get someone who is both God and human, and we find that person in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ mother is Mary and his father is the Holy Spirit. When he was born, the Son of God also became the Son of Man.
Jesus is fully man. (Phil 2:7-8) Remember how in verse 6 it says Jesus was in “the very nature of God” and how this means Jesus is God? Look at verse 7. It says Jesus took “the very nature of a servant.” Jesus takes both the nature of God and the nature of man. It’s not that he is part God, part man, like Hercules. Instead, he brings his deity and humanity together without division or confusion. Jesus is both 100% God and 100% man. We believe Jesus has a divine nature and a human nature in one person.
In verse 7, there’s a very famous hotly debated line, which says, “…he made himself nothing.” The Greek word kenoō for “nothing” means “empty,” which is why this line is called the kenosis debate. What exactly did Jesus empty himself of? Did he lose those divine attributes he shares with the Father and Spirit? Did he stop being omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent? No, because if he did, he would also stop being God.
To find the answer, we just read the next line of verse 7, “by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” It’s not that the Son lost something, but that he gained something—humanity. When he put on flesh, it was like putting on a veil that hid his glory. When Jesus became human, he received a body that became weak, tired, and hungry. He could feel pain and cry. He could still do things we can’t, like walk on water, raise the dead, and know what people are thinking, but in a body that hid his divinity.
Our Article of Faith go on to tell us Jesus lived a sinless life so that he could atone for our sins. Atonement means to make restitution, to pay for a crime committed. Jesus made atonement for a crime he didn’t commit, our sins, by paying for them with his own life. He became the perfect sacrifice so that we can have a relationship with God the Father. The heart of this poetic hymn emphasizes this. If you look in verse 8, which is the geographic center of the poem, it repeats one word twice, the word “death.” It says Jesus became “obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
Paul highlights the death of Jesus Christ. The one who is both fully God and fully man paid the penalty for our sins with his own life. He goes from the highest-height of glory to the lowest-low of humiliation so that he could rise again, defeating sin and death. We believe in Jesus’ resurrection because it’s a sign of what we too will one day receive. When Jesus rose from the dead, he didn’t just perform a miracle, he defeated your sin and your death if you trust in him.
Do you trust him? It’s not enough to simply believe Jesus is God. Even the demons do that (James 2:19). We have to trust Jesus.
Our youth are on a missions trip in France right now. I went on this trip in 2014, and right before camp started one of the leaders got us doing trust falls. A trust fall is where people line up behind you on either side, lock their hands together, and tell you to fall backwards. It’s tempting to put your foot out to try and catch yourself, but if you do, you might kick one of those behind you.
Do you trust Jesus? He is offering to catch you if you’ll fall on him. In a normal trust fall, a lot of people catch you. But in Christianity, only one person catches you, Jesus. Jesus says he will catch you, but only him. You can’t trust in other religions to catch you, like Buddhism or Islam. And you can’t trust in your good works to catch you, like how good a person you are, or who you voted for, or how much you give to charity. If you trust fall in those things instead of Jesus, you’ll find their strength is a mirage. But Jesus promises us his arms are strong. If he can lift a cross, he can catch you. If he can hold the weight of sin upon his back, he can catch your sin, no matter how heavy it feels upon you.
There’s some of us here who took that initial fall, but need to fall again. You’ve forgotten that you’re resting in your Savior’s arms, and are once again looking for someone or something else to catch you. You’ve put your trust in your obedience to God and not in Jesus’ arms, or maybe you’re putting all your trust in your husband or wife or ability to parent. Trusting those things never works. When you feel overwhelmed with fear or anxiety, fall on Jesus. He will catch you. You can trust him.
First, Jesus is God, so worship him. Second, Jesus is Savior, so trust him. Third…
Jesus is King Our Article of Faith on the Son finishes, “We believe in His bodily resurrection, ascension to heaven, and promise to return to this world.” The story didn’t end when Jesus rose from the grave. Forty days later, he rose into heaven, and our passage talks about what happened next. Jesus was recognized as king.
Jesus is the final king. (Phil 2:9-11) Philippians 2:9-11 says, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (NIV®)
I want to point out two signs of Jesus’ royalty in our closing verses:
First, when Jesus rose into heaven, it says God the father exalted him. Elsewhere in the Bible we read that when Jesus rose into heaven, he took his place at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 7:55-56, Romans 8:34, Ephesians 1:20, Colossians 3:1, Hebrews 1:3, etc.). This is a place of immense authority, power, and glory. It’s also a place of royalty, signifying Jesus is the king of kings. Jesus says in Revelation.
Revelation 3:21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. (NIV®)
Second, just like the title “Lord” points to Jesus’ divinity, the title “Christ” (v. 11) points to Jesus’ royalty. Christ means “Messiah,” or “anointed one.” At almost a 1,000 years before the birth of Jesus, God promised the most famous king of Israel, King David, that one of his descendants would sit on the throne forever.
2 Samuel 7:16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
This future king was known as the Messiah, God’s anointed king. So whenever you refer to “Jesus” as “Jesus Christ,” you’re actually saying “Jesus is King.” How should we respond to a king who is also our savior and God? Philippians says “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.” One day every knee will bow whether it wants to or not, but today each of us has an opportunity to bend the knee willingly. We bend the knee by giving our worship and trust to Jesus, but also by submitting ourselves to him in obedience.
Do you obey him? Why is it so hard to bend the knee to before Jesus? Why do I struggle to obey him. I have an illustration that I think helps explain why. I’m involved in a highly athletic sport that is superior to all other forms of fitness, but sometimes people get hurt. A friend of mine tore his ACL in his knee while doing this sport, and has had to wear a knee brace for several months. The knee brace makes it really hard for him to bend his knee.
I think one of the reasons it’s so hard to obey Jesus is that we’re all wearing spiritual knee braces. As we go through life we get wounded by people and circumstances so we try and brace ourselves from getting wounded again. We get hurt by unexpected circumstances, so we say we won’t let God into our life. We get hurt by not being in control, so we commit to being king over our own destinies. We get hurt in our marriages and relationships, so we practice self-destructive habits like look at pornography or drinking too much. We get hurt by our parents, so we wound our children. What do you do with a hurt, you cover it up, you hide it. What’s your knee brace? What makes it hard for you to obey? You can trust him with it.
I went and saw my friend when he was recovering at home. He had this weird contraption that he would put his leg in as he laid on the couch. This device slowly rotated his knee cap so it wouldn’t seize up. God is dealing with your inability to obey, your inability to bend the knee. He’s slowly moving that knee through unexpected circumstances that force you to deal with your sins. Or maybe he’ll bring Christians or brothers and sisters in Christ into your life who tell you about your sin. He promises to always deal with your sin through the Holy Spirit who convicts you to obey and empowers you to do so, and through the Scriptures as you encounter God week after week in his words. Will you work with the great healer or fight him?
As you recognize those places in your life that you have a hard time bending, bring them before king Jesus and pray, “I want to obey, help me obey.” Our articles of faith close by reminding us Jesus is coming back. One day he’ll return, and he’ll make it worth it. Today, we have the opportunity to bend the knee willingly.
Big Idea: Jesus is God, Savior, King, so worship, trust, and obey him. As I close, I want to return to my initial challenge—that if you don’t know him, Jesus is essential to your life. If you don’t worship, trust, and obey Jesus, can I encourage you to make today the day you begin to do so? You can begin by acknowledging Jesus is God, Savior, and King, by closing your eyes, bowing your head, and committing your life to him through prayer. Please pray this prayer silently with me.
Heavenly father, thank you for sending Jesus Christ, your one and only Son, to rescue me. I believe that Jesus is God, that he shares your very nature, and so I worship him. I also believe Jesus became a man through the Holy Spirit conceiving him in Mary. I believe he lived a sinless life, which made him qualified to be a perfect sacrifice for my sins. I confess my sins. Please forgive me. Thank you for taking all of my sins and placing them on Jesus. He’s strong enough to handle them. I believe Jesus rose again three days after his death, and that if I trust him, he becomes my Savior and I will one day rise again too. Finally, I believe Jesus rose into heaven and is seated on the throne, and will one day return. Help me Father to worship, trust and obey my God, Savior, and King, Jesus. Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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I lead a small group study this last winter called Life Explored. The second session opens with a quote by the pastor and author A. W. Tozer. He said, “What comes to mind when you think of God is the most important thing about you.” Barry Cooper, the teacher leading this session, says this:
What we think about God, positive or negative, determines if we want to know him. So when someone says, “I don’t believe in God” I say, “Which God don’t you believe in?” What if the God we don’t believe in or don’t trust isn’t actually the real God, the God of the Bible. And if you knew the real God could make you happier than anyone or anything else, wouldn’t you want to meet him?
When you think of God, who do you think of? Do you think of a wrinkly old man sitting on a throne with a big white beard and balding head? When you think of his eyes, are the angry eyes of a cantankerous old neighbor, or the eyes of a doting grandpa whose just here to please.
If you believe in Jesus, maybe when I say “God” you think of him. But what if I were to say, “God the Father.” Who would you think of then? Would your mind go back to the old man on the throne? Or maybe you think of an invisible spirit that no one can see and live.
As part of our What We Believe sermon series, I want to introduce you to God the Father. I believe that what comes to mind when you think of the Father, is one of the most important things about you. For me, the initial picture of God the Father I get in the Bible is a distant, far away God we can’t know very well.
God the Father is the distant God. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the Bible describes who God is. God the Father is a good place to begin when explaining God because what is true of the Father is also true of the Son and the Holy Spirit. So when I talk about the attributes of God the Father (an attribute is a characteristic or trait), these attributes also apply to the Son and Holy Spirit. Let me read the first half of Article #3, which lists these attributes.
The Father (3a): We believe in God the Father, almighty Creator of heaven and earth, eternal in His being, perfect in holiness, sovereign over all creation, all-knowing (omniscient), all-present (omnipresent), and all-powerful (omnipotent)…
Last week we learned there is one God (one finger), but three distinct persons (three fingers), who are each fully God. But just like members of a family are responsible for various tasks, dad mows the lawn, mom does the laundry, and kids vacuum, so when we think about creation, we think of the Father, and when we think of redemption, we think of Jesus, and of sanctification we think of the Holy Spirit.
When we think about God the Father this way, it pushes the Father back into the distant past. He becomes not like a father, or even a grandfather, but a great-great grandfather you’ve never met. He was here at creation, but now he’s gone. What really matters is Jesus and the Holy Spirit, because I think about Jesus and experience the Holy Spirit today, but not the Father. In reality, every person of the Trinity is active in each role, just like mom sometimes mows the lawn and kids sometime fold the laundry, maybe not very well, but they try. Dad of course does laundry and cleans the floor perfectly. If we look at the rest of the attributes in this article of faith, they can push the Father’s relate-ability further and further away. He is…
Eternal – We believe the Father is “eternal in his being.” Isaiah 40:28a says, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.” God has been here since before the beginning and will be here long after the end. I can hardly imagine tomorrow, how can I begin to fathom someone who has existed for longer than time itself? Holy – We believe the Father is “perfect in holiness.” One of God’s character qualities is his absolute goodness and perfection. Leviticus 19:2b says, “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” There’s no blemish in him, no impurity. He’s cleaner than an operating room and brighter than the son. He’s absolutely separate from evil, but it’s that very goodness that pushes me and my sin away. Sovereign – We believe the Father is “sovereign over all creation.” This means he rules everyone and everything. Proverbs 16:9 says, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” God orchestrates everything. When we imagine him on a throne, that’s right. He reports to no one. He’s the boss. You may like your boss, but may also have a hard time relating to him or her. The father seems like a distant king. It’s because of God’s next three attributes we can say he is sovereign. Omniscient – We believe the Father is “all-knowing (omniscient).” 1 John 3:20 says, “If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” God knew E = mc2 long before Einstein was born. God knows what has happened, what will happen, and what could happen, like if Einstein was never born. You can’t teach God something because he knows everything, and he has the greatest memory in the universe, never forgetting. I know a little about theology, and CrossFit, and being married, and I just learned how to change my lawnmower’s carburetor, but that’s it. Omnipresent – We believe the Father is “all-present (omnipresent).” Jeremiah 23:24 says, “Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?’ declares the Lord. ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth?’ declares the Lord.” God isn’t a thin layer of plastic saran-wrap covering everything, but he does fill the whole universe. He is everywhere, but he’s not everything. He is especially present in some places, like this church service, communion, prayer, and when we share the gospel, or wherever he chooses. Omnipotent – We believe the Father is “all-powerful (omnipotent).” Matthew 19:26 says, “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” God’s power is unlimited. He can do whatever he desires, but thankfully only does things in accordance with his nature, which is good. As weak, finite, creatures, we don’t fully understand what this means.
God the Father is the distant God. As we look at God’s attributes, we realize it’s hard to relate to this kind of God. The father I’ve described for you is a bit like the businessman who is never home. He checks in on his kids through his Nest video cameras, watching them, but not interacting with them. His nanny and housekeeper take care of his kids, not him. His presence is always known, but never felt. He’s the type of father that everyone respects, but nobody loves. This type of father doesn’t sound good, does he?
The good news is that our Articles of faith at Cornerstone don’t end here. The next two words say “we rejoice.” Why can we rejoice? Because the Father may feel far away, but he doesn’t stay far away.
God the Father is the distant God who draws near to us. God has more attributes than the ones I listed above. God has attributes that don’t just make him feel far away, but draw him close to us. Let’s look some implied attributes in the second part of our article.
The Father (3b): …We rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, hearing and answering prayer, and that He saves from sin and death…
Love – We believe the Father “concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men.” God the Father loves and cares about you. 1 John 4:8 says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” What did we learn last week is so important about the Trinity? If God is three in one, he is a relational being. He loves himself, but not selfishly. I read a chapter from the book Delighting in the Trinity this week. It said that of there is no Son and no Holy Spirit, and if God just loved himself, it would be like God was sitting around looking in a mirror all day. Strict monotheism is a selfish kind of love. But our God’s love isn’t selfish. The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father. The Holy Spirit communicates the love. And guess what, the father extends that same love to you and me.
When I think of God the Father, I think either knowingly or unknowingly I imagine him to be a little bit like my earthy father. In a very real sense, our fathers are our first analogies of God. That means that as a child, before you ever crack open your Bible, you may come to perceive God as a kind and loving dad who spends time with you when he get’s home from work, who goes to all your baseball games, and who will pick you up when you fall down.
Or for some of us, we had bad earthly fathers. Our fathers were like the father in Cat’s in the Cradle, a poem sung by Johnny Cash and others that tells the story of dad too busy to spend time with his son. Or maybe you had the kind of father who you wished was absent more often, because when he was around, he wasn’t very pleasant. Most of the friends I have who don’t have good fathers, still wish they had a good relationship with their fathers. The good news of the Bible is that is possible to have a good relationship with your Heavenly Father, a father who loves you and cares about you. God the Father can be the perfect type of father for you. God the Father is the distant God who draws near to us. The Father is loving.
Faithful – We believe the Father is “hearing and answering prayer” right now. 1 John 5:14-15 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” God uses his attributes, his sovereignty, his omniscience, his omnipresence, his omnipotence, to help us. He uses his power to work in this world to answer our prayers. Our God isn’t a static God who has decided everything past and present so there’s no use praying.
He calls on us to pray because somehow he wraps up our earthly human prayers into his divine will. In Christ, my will somehow becomes God’s will and God’s will becomes my will. The Bible says that if we ask anything in his will, he will give it to us. If he knows something is good for us, he will give it to us. But if we ask for something we think is good for us, and it’s not, he won’t.
Whenever I’m around parents, they seem to have this gift to tell apart fake screams from real screams. When something is really wrong, moms and dads know. We have a heavenly father who knows what’s really going on, who is attentive, who hears our hearts. One of my favorite memories of my dad growing up is him tucking my brothers and me into bed. He would go around to each of our beds, sit on the edge pray with us, listen to our prayers, and kiss us goodnight. We have a father who listens to our real tears and our goodnight prayers for mom and dad and for a new pony or bike.
Monica and I have a good friend named Joe who is a global missions partner for a church in South Carolina, which means he acts as a liaison between them and foreign missions opportunities, like Myanmar, India, and Europe. One of the places he is researching is Camp Ted in France where our youth are going. He’ll be there the first couple days to potentially lead a team from South Carolina next summer. As he was praying about this trip, he was a little concerned about expenses and where to stay, so he began to look at hotels online. He thought about staying at two places, Grenoble, and Chamberi, but didn’t know which one. So he prayed, “Well Father, I like this place here, but what about that place? You’ve been there, you know what it’s like, you’re there now also, which one do you suggest?” Joe skipped the earthly Yelp for the heavenly Yelp. Before he decided, literally three minutes later, he received a text from Monica telling him the Camp Director was inviting him to stay in a tiny room they have in the attic, and to let him know how many meals he would need, and it would all be inexpensive. If you ever get to know Joe, you’ll learn he didn’t have a great biological father, or an adopted father, but has a great great heavenly father who takes care of all his needs. We have a faithful God who answers all of our needs.
Merciful – We believe the Father is merciful to us, and “that He saves from sin and death…” Luke 6:36 says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Because of sin, because of that barrier that separates me from God’s presence, I deserve judgment. I deserve sin and death, but God the Father grants me a pardon. Mercy is different than grace. Grace is receiving a gift you don’t deserve. Mercy is not receiving a punishment you deserve. Because of sin, we each deserve hell, but the Father grants us eternal life.
Why can God the Father relate to us this way. How can the one who is holy, and distant from our sin because of that holiness, draw near to us in love?
God the Father is the distant God who draws near to us through Jesus. I want to highlight the very last line of this article of faith. We can relate to God the Father not as “a father,” but “my father,” because of God the Father’s first Son, Jesus Christ.
The Father (3c): …He saves from sin and death those who believe in Jesus Christ.
It’s through Jesus Christ, the Father’s eternal Son, that you and I can experience the nearness of the Father. One of Jesus disciples named Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father, and Jesus said this.
John 14:9-10 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
When we encounter Jesus, we encounter the Father. In Jesus, we encounter the Father’s attributes, his eternality, holiness, sovereignty, omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence, but also his love, faithfulness, and mercy. On the cross, Jesus pay for our unholiness, but also draws the holiness of the Father to us. On the cross, Jesus is forsaken so we can experience the Father’s love. On the cross, our prayers are answered for a Father who is good and true to come into our lives and love us. Through the cross…
The Father adopts us. After Jesus rises from the grave, he encounters Mary Magdalene in the garden outside the tomb. At first she doesn’t recognize him, but when she does, she cries out and clings to him, and Jesus says this.
John 20:17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Through Jesus Christ, you and I aren’t just pardoned, we’re welcomed into the family. You and I become children of God. You and I share in all the rights and privileges that Jesus has. You and I begin to share some of the attributes that the Father and the Son share. We don’t become omnipresent or omniscient, but we do become holy. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we become more loving, faithful, and merciful. Did you know we even become a little sovereign? To be sovereign is to reign like kings and queen (2 Tim 2:12). In eternity, we’ll reign as kings and queens with king Jesus (1 Cor 6:3). We even get eternality going forward through the gift of eternal life. Eternal life is comes to us through the Triune God’s eternal life.
We wrote our Article of Faith as a team. We did a great job, but there’s one word we’re missing, adoption. At the end of the day, the most important thing about you is being a child of the Father. If you believe in Jesus, you’re a child of God. When we join the family, we become like the family. My call for us is to…
Draw near to the Father. Take time to draw near to the Father in your daily walk. Father’s Day was two weeks ago, but like any good dad, he accepts late gifts. Take some time tomorrow or in this coming week and write your Heavenly Father a Father’s Day card. Tell him how much you love and appreciate him, how grateful you are for him, and that you want to draw close to him. You can can type it, or hand write it, or if you can even go CVS or Walgreens and pick out a greeting card for him. Maybe you’ve never picked out a Father’s Day card before because your earthly father isn’t worth it. Your Heavenly Father would love to receive the first Father’s Day card you purchase. Just know, no matter which card you pick out, it won’t surprise him, but he will love it.
God the Father is the distant God who draws near to us through Jesus. A little over a year ago a viral video racked up some 36 million views. The video recorded a teenager girl giving her step-father a gift. In the video, the man reads her letter, which is full of all sorts of sappy stuff about how great a dad he is, and the great times they share, and then he opens the gift. He immediately chokes up because in the box is a petition for adoption. She asks him to go from being her step-father to her legally true real father.
If you don’t know God the Father as your Father, would today be the day your petition him for adoption by putting your faith in Jesus. Would today be the day that comes to mind when you think of God is longer an angry or absent father, but a father who loves and cares for you so much he has drawn near to you through Jesus. God the Father is the distant God who draws near to us through Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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I lead a small group study this last winter called Life Explored. The second session opens with a quote by the pastor and author A. W. Tozer. He said, “What comes to mind when you think of God is the most important thing about you.” Barry Cooper, the teacher leading this session, says this: What we think about God, positive or negative, determines if we want to know him. So when someone says, “I don’t believe in God” I say,
May we strive to understand and experience the Triune God as a church. Terry Iles wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story. Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube. Sermon Manuscript Sermon Slides
Big Idea: May we strive to understand and experience the Triune God as a church.
Terry Ileswrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Everyone has a view on Scripture. This sermon attempts to explain the view of Cornerstone Congregation Church as expressed in our Articles of Faith. In addition to explaining and encouraging a right view of Scripture, the sermon seeks to explain why Scripture is important and implore the listener to read, study, and memorize Scripture.
Andy Bradshaw wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Everyone has a view on Scripture. This sermon attempts to explain the view of Cornerstone Congregation Church as expressed in our Articles of Faith. In addition to explaining and encouraging a right view of Scripture, the sermon seeks to explain why Scripture is important and implore the listener to read, study, and memorize Scripture. Andy Bradshaw wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read
“What matters is not what you believe, but that you believe. It’s great that you believe. We should all believe in something. Belief is what is really important.” Have you ever heard those words? I’ve had strangers and friends tell me words just like that several times. I’ve heard them when I’ve shared that I go to church or that I’m a pastor. And honestly, I struggle because I do not believe them. Today we’re starting a new sermon series
“What matters is not what you believe, but that you believe. It’s great that you believe. We should all believe in something. Belief is what is really important.” Have you ever heard those words? I’ve had strangers and friends tell me words just like that several times. I’ve heard them when I’ve shared that I go to church or that I’m a pastor. And honestly, I struggle because I do not believe them.
Today we’re starting a new sermon series that will take us through the summer, entitled What We Believe. In this series there’s a starting presupposition that it’s not just that we believe that matters, but what we believe matters too. So if you’re someone who thinks what really matters is just belief, then I want to challenge you to lower your defenses, and for the duration of this sermon series, open yourself to the idea that what you believe might be just as important as belief itself.
Week by week we’re going to work through what we believe as a church. The beliefs we hold to are contained in our Articles of Faith (aka. Statement of Faith). Section by section it defines what we want every person in this church to believe. As we go through topics like God, the Bible, Sin, Salvation, and Mankind, I think you’ll find that these beliefs matter. What counts is not just that I have faith, but that I believe the faith.
What’s the difference between my faith and the faith? (Jude 3) Jesus had several brothers, a man named James and a man named Judas, or Jude (Mark 6:3). Jude wrote one of the shortest books in the New Testament. It’s only 25 verses long, the book of Jude. In it he writes to a group of Christians, but not all is well. People have come into the church who want to tear them and their beliefs apart. So Jude writes them a letter instructing them to guard their beliefs, to keep the faith.
Jude 3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. (NIV®)
Do you notice what Jude says? He says content for “the faith.” The faith is different than “my faith.”
My Faith – Your act of belief. We find a personal faith in Ephesians 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—” (NIV®). The first type of faith is what you and I think of when we say, “Do you have faith?” Yes. I believe in Jesus, I trust him. I believe and trust the Bible too. This type of faith is good. God uses “our faith, my faith” in Jesus to save us. But this isn’t the type of faith Jude means.
The Faith – Our body of belief. This is the system of beliefs (doctrine) we hold as Christians that Jesus entrusted to his disciples. The NIV Zondervan Study Bible defines “the faith” as “The content of Christian belief as handed down from Christ and his apostles.” Those things Jesus and the authors of the New Testament taught us. For example:
We believe the Bible is true and it’s God’s word. We believe in one God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinity. We believe Jesus died for our sins but rose again in victory over sin and death. (1 Cor 15:3-8) We believe in the Holy Spirit’s work in us to convict us of sin and comfort us. We believe Satan is real, that sin is real, and that humans are in trouble because of it. We believe salvation is available to any who repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ. We believe Christians should gather together to worship and serve God as the church. We believe there are certain things, like baptism and the Lord’s supper, that distinguish the church. And we believe that one day Jesus will come again to vanquish sin and restore all of creation.
That’s nine statements, and I didn’t cover everything. Notice how these beliefs make Christianity what it is. If you take any of them away, Christianity starts to look like other faiths. If you lose Satan, then there’s no reason to turn to Jesus. If you lose the church, then what are we doing here? If you take away heaven, what’s the point? We place “my faith” or “a faith” in “the faith.” We believe in a body of belief.
Would you say the pledge of allegiance to the U.S. flag if we didn’t have a U.S. constitution? No, because you would be pledging yourself to nothing. I can believe a pool is full of water and jump off a diving board blindfolded, but what matters in the air is whether or not there’s water in the pool. What you believe about God is the most important things you can ever decide. When we jump out of this life, we want a God who catches us with open arms. We need to place our faith in the right things. But how can we identify what to believe and what not to believe? What is right and what is wrong?
How to identify the true faith (Jude 4) Let’s see how to identify what’s true (and what’s false) as we continue in Jude.
Jude 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (NIV®)
Jude is telling us, “Yes, there are false teachers who are trying to convince you of their false beliefs, who want their personal faith to change the faith of the church, but there’s good news. Although they’ve slipped in and are hard to identify, you can identify them and their false beliefs.”
Have you ever seen a police lineup in a movie or tv show? A group of people line up against a wall holding numbers, and someone behind a one-way mirror identifies which one is the suspect. Apparently in the UK this is called an “identity parade.” So what is Jude telling his audience to look for among the false-teachers? He gives them three identifications of the true faith:
Identification #1 – Godly living (vs. Ungodly living) The first way to identify if what someone believes is true or not is how they live and speak (Jude 15). A false faith produces “ungodly living.” That means living as if there is no God, God-less living. This word is used elsewhere in the New Testament to refer to the time of Noah (2 Peter 2:5). In Genesis 6:5 it says, “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Ungodly living is driven by a heart that does not know God or want to know him.
So then, what’s the identification of true faith? The opposite of God-less living is God-filled living. Godly living is a life lived trusting Jesus and seeking to obey him. This kind of life seeks to love and honor God every day knowing that none of us are perfect. When we see a Godly-life, it helps us identify the true faith.
At the preaching breakfast this week, Bernie said the point of this passage is this. “Right theology creates right living.” The opposite is also true. “Bad theology creates bad living.” Theology can be an intimidating word, but all it means is “the study of God.” We do theology whether we believe there is a God or there isn’t one. What we believe, the theology we hold, actually shapes our daily lives, for good or bad.
I learned this week that the South African apartheid was actually a result of bad theology. In the 1930-40s, Stellenbosch University in South Africa, combined white nationalism with Christian beliefs to promote the idea that white Africans were God’s special race. Dark skin was bad and evil. White skin was ideal, so the God-honoring solution was to divide the two races. The lead to homelessness for over 3.5 million non-white people, the loss of “political representation,” denials of citizenship and being forced to live in squalor, segregated healthcare and medical care and beaches, and more. Bad theology creates bad living while good theology creates good living. The first identification of the true faith is “godly living.”
Identification #2 – Love of grace (vs. Abuse of grace) Next Jude says these false believers “pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality…” This word means “debauchery, lewdness, sensuality.” Fake-Christians take God’s generous grace, which is undeserved forgiveness and goodness poured out on us, and say, “Because God has forgiven me, I can do whatever I want. I can sleep around. I can look lustfully at that guy or that girl. I can look at those pictures late at night because God has forgiven me. I can read that dirty novel at the beach because Jesus covers my sins.”
But those that hold to the true faith have encountered the life-changing grace of God. When we encounter mercy we don’t deserve, it transforms us. We no longer desire to add wounds to the one who was wounded for us. We no longer want to sin against the one who saved us from our sins. When you can’t earn grace but God gives it to you as a gift, it changes your heart to want to do good.
The Bible tells the story of a civilian contractor who likely cheated both the government and his neighbors out of money. But when he met Jesus, Jesus told him he was going to come to his house for dinner, showing him kindness, love, and grace he’d never known before. This grace so changed him that he promised to give half of everything he owned to the poor and if he’d ever cheated anyone out of something, he’d pay it back four times. That’s the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector. He loved God’s grace and it changed him. The second identification of the true faith is a love of grace.
Identification #3 – Holding to Christ (vs. Denying Jesus) Jude’s last way to identify a true versus counterfeit faith, is by looking at how their teachers treat Jesus. Do they “deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord”? According to one dictionary, the Greek word “Sovereign” actually “emphasizes the right and power to command.” Our word “despot” sounds just like the Greek, but has a negative meaning while the original did not. The Old Testament words “Adoni” and “Yahweh” were translated into our word “Lord.” Yahweh is God’s name and Adoni is often used as a substitute for Yahweh. What is Jude doing here? He is affirming that Jesus is master of everything and God himself, Yahweh. But the false teachers deny Jesus completely.
Denying Jesus’s lordship is at the heart of ungodly living and abusing God’s grace while holding to Christ leads to godly living and loving God’s grace. We can confuse a lot of things about the faith, but the one each of us must get right is Jesus. Is he your Lord? Your master? Your Sovereign? Do you let him rule your life? It takes humility to let Jesus rule every part of your life, your finances, your living situation, your relationships, your job, your free time, your family. When we do, we hold to Christ.
The message of Christianity is that we are all born “ungodly.” We’re all sinners who need God’s grace to change us through Jesus. This is the gospel and it’s the core of good theology. Romans 5:6 says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” Jesus died so ungodly people can become Godly people, so God-less people can become God-filled people, so bad theologians can become good theologians, so fake-Christians who abuse God’s grace become changed-Christians who cherish God’s grace. The third identification of the true faith is holding to Christ.
Three identifications of the true faith are 1) Godly living, 2) love of grace, and 3) holding to Christ. We want to keep the true faith, but in the face of false beliefs and even false teachers, how can we do this?
How to keep the faith (Jude 20-21) How can we hold to what we’re supposed to hold to? In the middle of the book of Jude, he continues to condemn the false teachers who hold false beliefs, but at the end, he explains how to keep the faith.
Jude 20-21 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. (NIV®)
Here Jude gives Christians four ways to keep the faith:
Way #1 – Know what you believe Jude encourages us to build “yourselves up in the your most holy faith.” We’re called to grow in our understanding, knowledge, and love of the faith—the Christian body of belief. This is what I hope we do in this sermon series as we go week by week through each section of our statement of faith. We need to learn the faith, and this is a great way to do it. I hope you’ll come back next week and commit to coming for the duration of this series. And if you don’t believe yet, come learn what followers of Jesus really believe.
If you want to get more out of this sermon series, I encourage you to pick up and read the book Know What You Believe by Paul E. Little. This book comes highly recommended to me and I’m really appreciating the way Paul is unpacking “the faith” in easy to understand words. I’m in the midst of reading it for the first time and hope you’ll join me. Talk to me after the service and I may be able to get you a free copy. The first way you keep the faith is to know what you believe.
Way #2 – Pray in the Holy Spirit Jude’s second way to keep the faith is “praying in the Holy Spirit.” If Jesus and the apostles gave us “the faith,” when we pray that God would keep it true in our hearts and in the church, we’re praying in the Holy Spirit. When we pray that the message of Jesus and all the pieces of Christianity would impact our church and town, we’re praying in the Holy Spirit. When we pray, recognizing that we’re entirely dependent on God’s grace to persevere in “the faith,” we’re praying in the Holy Spirit.
To pray in the Holy Spirit does not mean you feel light-headed, emotional, or a rush of adrenaline. It can mean those things, but often praying in the Holy Spirit just means to pray for the will of God. This means when we pray about things God cares about, like his mission to the lost, or preserving and teaching Biblical truths, we are praying in the Holy Spirit. When we pray that we would deny ourselves and fight sin, we’re praying in the Holy Spirit. When we invite Christ to have Lordship over some untouched area of our life, we’re praying in the Holy Spirit. The second way we keep the faith is to pray in the Holy Spirit.
Way #3 – Cultivate love for God Jude’s third ways is to “keep yourselves in God’s love.” The word “keep” can also mean “guard.” Jude is commanding the Christians like he would soldiers. “Love God! That’s an order!” We’re to always cultivate our heart for God. We’re to work at loving God and receiving God’s love. When we have tasted the love of God, and seen just how good he is, we won’t want false teachings. As you savor the depths of God’s love for you in Jesus, how he gave his one and only son to pay the penalty for your sin, it gives you a heart that desires God and the true faith (1 John 4:9-10). The third way we keep the faith is to cultivate love for God.
Way #4 – Hope in Jesus Look how Jude begins the letter by emphasizing Jesus and circles back around to him again. He writes, “wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” At the end of the day, “my faith” needs to rest on “the faith,” which all points to a “faith in” Christ Jesus. Jude recognizes there are real difficulties in this life, but that we should never lose hope because of Jesus. Jesus is bringing us to eternal life. He’s using our trust in him and what we believe to make us more like himself.
We should never give up on those people who say things like, “What matters is not what you believe, but that you believe.” God can work a miracle in their heart. Nor should we give up on ourselves. If you get frustrated that you don’t know enough or theology is confusing, be patient with yourself. Jesus isn’t giving up on you. Why should you? The fourth way we keep the faith is by hoping in Jesus.
We keep the faith by 1) knowing what we believe, by 2) praying in the Holy Spirit, by 3) cultivating love for God, and 4) hoping in Jesus. My big idea is this.
Keep the faith. Last fall our church studied a book together, Fruitfulness on the Frontline. The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC) helped produce this book. John Stott founded the LICC. He was the Pastor of a All Souls Church in central London for 25 years, a church of about 2,500 people. PreachingToday describes him as “a peerless preacher, Bible teacher, evangelist, author, global leader and friend to many.” He wrote over 50 books, one of which I read on preaching in seminary.
One of his close friends, Os Guiness, also a famous author and speaker, describes his last visit to John Stott when he was sick and dying, just three weeks before his death. He writes, “After an unforgettable hour and more of sharing many memories over many years, I asked him how he would like me to pray for him. Lying weakly on his back and barely able to speak, he answered in a hoarse whisper, ‘Pray that I will be faithful to Jesus until my last breath.’”
“Pray that I will be faithful to Jesus until my last breath.” Let this be our prayer too. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7 NIV®). May we believe in Christ and guard the faith till the very end. Keep the faith.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Last week we talked about “The Gift of God’s Presence.” I spoke on why God’s presence matters for our lives and church, and how we can have God’s presence because of Jesus and grace. This week we’re looking at “The Way of God’s Presence”—the way God’s presence has come from Old to New Testament to today, and the way we long to know God’s presence now. Looking at the story of God’s presence from Genesis to Revelation helps us realize how valuable God’s presence is, and why we long for him.
Have you ever been on a road trip? How does that compare to a business trip? On a road trip, you want to get to your destination, but you also want to enjoy the journey, the highway, its sights, foods, and sounds. On a business trip, it’s all about getting to your project, getting the job done, and going home. Today, I want us to take a road trip through the Bible to taste the sights, foods, and sounds of God’s presence with his people. We will get to the destination, but a little more slowly, and with a greater appreciation for it.
The story of God’s presence starts in Genesis. God creates a world where he lives with people. He speaks and walks with the first two people, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. But Adam and Eve choose to not trust God, and because of this, they and everyone after them are put out of God’s presence.
But just a few chapters later, God introduces us to his rescue plan through the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God promises to bless Abraham and his descendants (Gen 12:2-3). Through them he is going to bring a rescuer who will make it possible for God to dwell with people once more. In the second book of the Bible, Exodus, something really special happens. God begins to dwell with his people once more.
The presence of God comes. God introduces himself to the descendants of Jacob, the Israelites, by delivering them from captivity in Egypt. When he leads them out of the land towards the Red Sea, he guides them as a pillar of cloud by day and as a pillar of fire by night (Ex 13:21). For the first time since Eden, people can once more hear and see God’s presence near them. But God is only a travel guide here. He hasn’t set up home yet, which is why he tells Moses to make a tabernacle, which literally means “dwelling-place.” In the tabernacle tent, God will be with his people. It’s at the tabernacle that we see the pillar of cloud, the presence, descend.
Tabernacle | 1444 B.C. In 1444 B.C., between 1-2 years after they leave Egypt, the Israelites finish building the tabernacle. Moses inspects it, consecrates Aaron and his sons as priests, places the ten commandments—the covenant law the people have sworn to obey—in the most holy place in the tabernacle and finishes his work. As soon Moses finishes (v. 33), the pillar of cloud that led them out of Egypt and spoke with Moses on Sinai descends.
Exodus 40:34-35 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. (NIV®)
Notice how it says “the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” two times (2x). This is really significant. God’s presence in the cloud is descending on this tent. Glory means a visible manifestation of God’s presence. God is showing himself to his people because he is their new neighbor. The Triune God, Yahweh, is somehow, mysteriously, calling this tent belonging to the poorest of peoples, ex-slaves, home.
God continues to call the tabernacle his home as the story continues. God goes with Israel to the promised lands, stays with them through 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and continues to do so as they take over the promised land. After Moses dies, Joshua leads the Israelites, but after him the people begin to forget God and disobey again. So God sends foreign nations to punish the Israelites, who then cry out to God for mercy, and God sends Judges to rescue them. Eventually they ask for a king, and God says yes. They don’t need a king, because God is with them, but they ask for one anyways.
Almost 500 years after the tabernacle is made, the second King of Israel, David, seeks to build Yahweh a more permanent home so God doesn’t live in a tent when the king lives in a palace. God is honored, but tells him that his son must build it (2 Sam 7:12-13). David’s son Solomon builds this new temple.
Temple | 953 B.C. It took Solomon seven years to build the temple, which he finished in 953 B.C. (1 Kings 6:38). When he finishes it, he brings the ark of the covenant into the temple, sets it down in the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, and when the priests leave this happens.
1 Kings 8:10-11 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple. (NIV®)
Does this remind you of anything? It’s almost exactly like what happened with the tabernacle. God’s glory, his manifest presence, enters the temple to reside there. The temple wasn’t an empty structure for housing empty religion. It was filled with the same life-giving presence of God that walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This is why both the tabernacle and the temple are filled with garden imagery (Ex 37:17-24, 1 Kings 6:29), with flowers, and blossoms, and cherubim, like the angel that cast Adam and Eve from Eden. At last, the presence of God seems to have a lasting home among his people. The presence of God comes.
Illustration: Although we don’t do it anymore, for the first year of our ministry, Cornerstone sent out a postcard to anyone who moved into town, a new-mover’s mailing list. We advertised to a five-mile radius around Westford, sending out approximately 139 postcards each month. That’s a lot of people to move in and out of the area per month. Of those people, how many do you hear about? If they visit our church, sure, but otherwise we won’t meet them unless they move into our neighborhood or our children become friends with them at school. Do you think you would hear about it if a retired governor, senator, or president moved into the area? What about a famous movie star? In the town I grew up in I heard a rumor that Sandra Bullock owned a house outside town in the mountains, but nobody ever saw her. Now what if God moved into our neighborhood, if he came in a cloud and and everybody saw him move into a house on Graniteville Rd? That’s a bit like what has happened for Israel with the tabernacle and temple. God has a new address in town. God is their new neighbor. The presence of God comes, and he stays… but not for long.
The presence of God goes. At the end of the Pentateuch in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the Israelite nation of the law once more. Moses says that if they obey, they’ll receive blessings. But if they disobey, they’ll receive curses. The worst curse of all is that God’s presence will leave them (Deut 31:17-18). As Israel goes forward, they continually forget God, worship false idols, sin and do evil. God sends judges and prophets to tell them to repent and obey, but few do, so in the book of Ezekiel, a prophet get’s a vision of God leaving.
Departure | 592 B.C. In Ezekiel’s vision in 592 B.C., he sees the temple, and the glory of God. He watches as the cloud of glory (or presence) of God rises off the ark of the covenant and out into the courtyard of the temple. God’s departure takes place in stages. He longs to be with his people. He doesn’t want to leave them.
Ezekiel 10:4, 19 Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord… While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. (NIV®)
After the presence of God leaves the temple building and courtyard, he leaves the city and travels to the east.
Ezekiel 11:22-23 Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. (NIV®)
This is massively devastating for the Israelites. God is gone. God has abandoned them, and it leads to destruction. Four years later, on August 14th, 586 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon destroys the temple. God’s presence and God’s home are gone. All is lost. The Israelites go into exile without their God and without God’s presence. God is missing. The presence of God departs and doesn’t return.
Absence | 516 B.C. In 539 B.C., God sends the exiles home. They return from captivity, and begin to rebuild the temple. They finish rebuilding the second temple in 516 B.C., 70 years after it was initially destroyed. But notice what is missing when they finish rebuilding the temple.
Ezra 6:15-16 The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. (NIV®)
If you were to read the following couple verses, you would see the dedication of the temple, the priests, and Levites with lots of sacrifices (Ezra 6:17-18). But something is wrong. The presence of God doesn’t return. The cloud doesn’t come back. He stays away.
Illustration: When I was in seminary, I heard a chapel talk by a doctor. To illustrate one of his points he put up a slide of a chest x-ray, and asked us what was wrong. Now, we were seminary students not medical doctors, so we weren’t very good at this game. But students studying to become doctors also struggled to find what was wrong. There was no mass, no cloudy region, no clear break. But there was something wrong. A bone was missing, gone. Absence, not presence, was the problem. What’s wrong with the picture in Ezra? The temple is rebuilt but God doesn’t come back. God is absent, he doesn’t come home. But there’s a reason for this. His absence is meant to make us long for his return.
Long for the presence of God. When we read Ezra, we’re supposed to miss what Israel had with the tabernacle and first temple. Like little kids can’t wait for Christmas or their birthdays, or an engaged couple longs for their wedding day, we’re supposed to long for the presence of God in our story. Do you want him back? Do you want him in your life too? There’s good news. Four years before Ezra finished the temple, God made a promise in 520 B.C. that he is going to build a final temple that is greater than the second one.
Promise | 520 B.C. In the book of Haggai, which is named after a prophet who told the people to get back to work building this second temple when they began focusing on other things, we read this prophecy.
Haggai 2:6-7 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. (NIV®)
The prophet is telling us that God is going to fill his temple in a new and greater way. Do you want him to come? Remember the cold, long, New England winter we just had? Remember when it was February and people were asking how much longer till summer? Maybe you feel right now like it’s winter, you can’t sense God’s presence, you wonder where he is. What if you had to wait over 500 years for this promise to be fulfilled? That’s one long winter. That’s how long the world had to wait. But the wait was worth it, because this promise is fulfilled, not one, but three (3) ways:
Fulfillment 1: Christ | 6-4~ B.C. Somewhere between 6-4 B.C., we don’t know the exact date for sure, Jesus was born. Jesus is the manifest presence of God. He is God’s presence making a home with us. We actually see this in the gospel of John.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV®)
The word for dwelling means “to pitch a tent.” The tabernacle is back and this time it’s full of God’s presence. In Jesus, God has tabernacled with us. In Jesus, God has sent up his tent on earth.
Application: It’s at this point in the story that we all have to ask ourselves this question. Do I want God to set up camp in my life? The only way to know God’s presence is by knowing Jesus. Putting your faith in Jesus isn’t just a simple prayer of conversion, it’s a lifelong camping trip with God. How about those of you who have been camping with Jesus for quite sometime, but you feel the embers beginning to die out? You feel nothing for him any more, no spark of God’s presence. Last week we discussed cultivating a yearning for Christ through worship, prayer, fasting, and reading the Scriptures. This week I want to give you one more way, remember the gospel. In Jesus, God’s presence died for our sins on the cross. In Jesus, God’s presence took our punishment. In Jesus, God’s presence rose again to new life so that we can live. Through faith in Jesus, I receive God’s presence in my life. Through Jesus, my life is filled with God’s presence. Long for the presence of God by longing for Jesus.
Fulfillment 2: Church | A.D. 30~ The second fulfillment of God’s presence coming to dwell among us is fulfilled at Pentecost. During his ministry, Jesus promised to send another helper, the Holy Spirit to all believers. In Acts chapter 2, right after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, his disciples are worshiping together in an upper-room in Jerusalem when the presence of God comes just like he did in the tabernacle and temple.
Acts 2:2-4a Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit… (NIV®)
The same pillar of fire from Exodus comes to rest not on a building, but on each of the believers in the upper room. They are filled with the Holy Spirit, the very presence of God. This is a special event marking the arrival of God’s glory, God’s manifest presence now in the people of God. God’s presence fills his church, his people. Jesus is the big tabernacle of God, but as we follow Jesus as the church, we too become little mini-tabernacles, mini-temples. This is why the Bible says we are God’s temple (1 Cor 3:16, 6:19).
Application: Do we believe that the church is the temple of God? This also means that we on are own, without the church, are missing something. We still have God’s presence through Christ, but we aren’t a part of God’s presence in the local church. There’s something special that as we gather to worship God, as we’re filled with the Holy Spirit, with God’s special presence. Do you treat the church like it’s full of God’s presence? When you come here among these people, do you sense him? Do you long to be here among believers because we’re encountering God? Is there nothing you wouldn’t give or sacrifice to care for the church because we the church house God’s presence? We long for God’s special presence to fill our church.
Fulfillment 3: Eternity | Unknown Hour We’ve gone from Jesus to the church yesterday, and the church today, but where does this all end? One day at an hour none of us know, Christ will return, and God will fill the whole world with his special presence. The book of Revelation is a vision of this final day. In the second to the last chapter of Revelations, we see a vision of a New Heaven and New Earth and heaven and God coming down to dwell among us forever.
Revelation 21:3 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” (NIV®)
The word for dwelling, you guessed it, is “tent” or “tabernacle.” One day, the fullness of the triune God will tabernacle in this whole world unrestrained by sin. A couple verses later it says there’s no temple in this city because the “God almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev 21:22). And in the next chapter, the final chapter, it says the tree of life grows there. At the end of days, what awaits us all is a return to Eden where we will dwell once more live in God’s presence (Rev 22:2).
Application: Do you want this day? Do you long for God’s presence to fill this world? One day he will, he’ll make everything new again. No matter what you’re going through or where you’re at, God promises that he will make it all right again. But until that day, you and I carry the presence of God with us into this world. We’re little tabernacles setting up shop in our homes, neighborhood, offices, parks, and churches. As you go through your week, be encouraged that one day God’s presence will make everything right, and ask God how you can bring his presence with you wherever you’re at. Long for the presence of God for all of eternity.
Long for the presence of Christ. Maybe you still feel like it’s winter in New England. You doubt. Will God ever come? Will I ever feel his presence? Why does he seem so far away? In the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, a talking faun (half goat, half man) describes the land of Narnia as “Always winter and never Christmas.” It’s this way because a white witch has taken over the land, and Aslan, the king is gone.
But later in the story, another character talks about the coming of Aslan, and that one day he will return to the land of Narnia. The character, a talking beaver, shares this promise:
Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.
Christ has come and defeated the wicked white witch, but sometimes it still feels like winter. Remember, that in Christ, winter will end and Christmas will comes. On that day Jesus will come on the clouds of heaven and we will finally be with God face-to-face forevermore.
Long for the presence of Christ.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Last week we talked about “The Gift of God’s Presence.” I spoke on why God’s presence matters for our lives and church, and how we can have God’s presence because of Jesus and grace. This week we’re looking at “The Way of God’s Presence”—the way God’s presence has come from Old to New Testament to today, and the way we long to know God’s presence now. Looking at the story of God’s presence from Genesis to Revelation helps us realize
If you could have anything you wanted, would you take it? Imagine for a moment that God is offering to give you whatever you want. You can have the husband or wife or kids you always wanted, and you can have the house, business, and career too. This blessing doesn’t stop with you, but everyone else in here get’s it too. We as a church can all have whatever we want. We are guaranteed a successful children’s ministry, a beautiful
If you could have anything you wanted, would you take it? Imagine for a moment that God is offering to give you whatever you want. You can have the husband or wife or kids you always wanted, and you can have the house, business, and career too. This blessing doesn’t stop with you, but everyone else in here get’s it too. We as a church can all have whatever we want. We are guaranteed a successful children’s ministry, a beautiful worship band, booming attendance (we’ll be well over a thousand in no time), and everyone around us will love us. Wouldn’t you want God to give you this?
But there’s a catch. Each and every one of us and this church, can have exactly what we want, but without God. In this scenario, God is offering us two options—everything (but him), or him alone. Which one would you take? Would you take everything from God or nothing but God?
Today and next week we’re going back to the book of Exodus to finish up our sermon series, God’s Exodus People. Last time we were in the book of Exodus, the Israelites had just cheated on their brand new covenant relationship with God by creating and worshipping a golden calf. Now God is angry with them, and is about to deliver the worst news in the world. They can have whatever they want, but without God himself, without God’s special presence with them as a people.
Without God’s presence, we’re lost. (33:1-6) Do you remember what the opening chapters of Exodus are about? God introduced himself to Moses at the burning bush as “I am who I am” or “I will be what I will be” (Ex 4:14). Then God introduced himself to the Israelites and all the nations, starting with Egypt, through the plagues and the crossing at the Red Sea (Ex 9:16). At Sinai, God explains how God can be with the Israelites through a covenant relationship. If they obey God’s law (i.e., the Ten Commandments), he will be with them, but if they disobey, he won’t.
The whole purpose of Exodus is a rescue story. God is rescuing his people so God can be with and among them. This is what God’s presence is. God plans to dwell among his people through a tabernacle, a special tent where he will be among the nation of Israel. He will be their God and they will be his people (Ex 6:7). This is why Exodus 33-34, today’s chapters, are placed right between two very important sections. In Exodus 25-31, God gives instructions for the tabernacle, and in Exodus 35-40, the people build the tabernacle. The units are very similar, and our text is sandwiched between them. It’s arranged this way to tell us that everything hinges on God’s presence dwelling with his people at the tabernacle, but now that’s at risk.
God is still willing to give the Israelites the promised land, and even send “an angel” with them (33:2, c.f., 23:23), but he isn’t willing to go with them. Why not? They’re a sinful “stiff-necked people” and he may destroy them if he goes with them (v. 3). But without God’s presence, the Israelites are lost. This is why they mourn and take off all their jewelry. God gave silver and gold to the Israelites as the left Egypt (3:22), and they in turn used that wedding gift to make a golden calf (32:2-4). When a couple breaks up, the girl takes the ring off. Israel is taking her wedding ring off. They broke their relationship with God through disobedience, and the consequence is not experiencing God’s presence.
Apply: Like Israel, our church is at the start of a great journey. We’re, Lord willing, going autonomous soon. That means we’ll be our own independent church, not under the authority of our parent Immanuel any more. I want to ask us one question. Which is more important to us, working for God or God himself? Are we more excited about the wedding or the marriage? Do we want a successful ministry with the best children’s program, worship ministry, preaching and teaching and small groups? Or do we want Jesus? My prayer is that each of us would want Jesus first. Without God’s presence, we’re lost.
God’s presence separates religion from relationship. (33:7-11) The next little section, verses 7-11, tell us the story of Moses going outside the camp to a little tent called “the tent of meeting” (v. 7) to talk with God. But after the harsh consequence of the previous section, this vignette seems out of place, like an awkward insertion or interjection in the story. However, these verses are placed here on purpose to show us what it looks like for God’s presence to not be among his people.
Originally, with the tabernacle, God promised that his presence would not be outside the camp, but inside the camp in the midst of the people. Exodus 25:8 says, “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. (NIV®) Now God is saying he can’t dwell with them because of their sin. As we look closer, we see God’s presence is what separates religion from relationship.
Religion happens from afar. (v. 10) Moses goes out to meet with God but the people stay behind. They don’t leave the entrances of their tents (v. 8). They are experiencing the consequences of sinning against God, separation from God’s presence. Because of their sin with the golden calf, the people are afraid to draw near to God. Worshipping the idea of God without the presence of God is empty religion.
Contrast the people’s actions with the actions of Joshua, Moses’s assistant. The end of verse 11 says that even after Moses left the tent, “his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.” See, he wanted to be close to God’s presence, not far away. He knew that to truly know God, we have to be close to him.
Apply: This is why we begin our church services with a prayer of invocation. We want God’s presence here or we’re just going through the motions. This is why as I prepare my sermon, I pray over and over again asking for the Holy Spirit to speak to me and through me. This is why Immanuel’s Elders and our Cornerstone leadership team begin every meeting with prayer. Honestly, I just want to jump right into business, but what’s business without God’s presence? Emptiness. Religion happens from afar.
Relationship get’s up-close and personal. (v. 11) Compare Israel’s experience of God with Moses’, which says, “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face.” Tim Chester, in Exodus for You, believes what we have here is Moses speaking to the pre-incarnate Son of God in the tent (pg. 239). So when God says later in this same chapter “no one may see me and live” and then passes by Moses in the rock cleft, perhaps that’s the Father. Either way, what matters is Moses get’s up-close and personal with God.
Verse 11 adds that God spoke to Moses “as one speaks to a friend.” This word for friend is often translated as “neighbor” which is someone who lives close by. They’re like two neighbors who are also friends chatting on the deck sipping iced-tea in the summer, maybe they’re going to have a BBQ and just went for a swim in the backyard pool.
Apply: Do you want to know God like that or to be the neighbor that watches through their window curtains across the street in jealousy? To know God’s presence, you need to get up-close and personal with him. He needs to be able to see your blemishes, the food caught between your teeth, your sins. When you come to church, are you going through the motions and your heart is far off, or are you getting up-close and personal with God? Are you bringing your heart to love God and your mind to think on him? Religion stays away from God, but relationship get’s up close and personal with God’s presence. The Israelites yesterday and we today can experience God’s presence for a reason.
We can experience God’s presence because of a selfless mediator (33:12-22) A mediator is “Someone who brings two enemies together and makes it possible for them to be friends again.” I want to talk about two mediators, the first of which stands between God and Israel.
1. Moses Moses stands up to God by reminding him that the Israelites are God’s people. He says, “Remember that this nation is your people.” The word remember actually means “look” or “see.” Moses is saying, “Look at your people God. Look at them!” It’s always easier to be angry at someone when you can’t see them. When we see those we’re upset with, it helps us remember our love for them.
Moses seems to win the day with this argument. God says, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (v. 14) But actually, God is using “you” singular here, not “ya’ll” plural. He’s saying, “I’ll go with you, but only you Moses.” Moses has the wonderful opportunity to get everything and God, to receive all of God’s presents, and his presence too, but at the cost of millions of souls. If you could have a guarantee from God that you and all your family members would go to heaven, but two million people had to go to hell, would you take that deal? I mean, they’ll probably go anyways, right? Moses wouldn’t take that deal.
Moses, at great personal costs, risks it all for his people. Notice the plural “us” in verse 15. “If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” Then he adds, “What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (v. 16) Tony Merida pointed out to me that what makes the Israelites special is not their money, they’re poor exiled slaves, or their army, they don’t have one, or even their goodness, they’re idol worshipers—only God’s presence with them makes them special.
Illustration: I want to show you a picture of a man in the snow with an umbrella. He’s well dressed, but there doesn’t seem to be much to him. But you can tell that he’s with someone. If you saw this picture alone, you wouldn’t think much of him, would you. But how about this picture? This man is holding the umbrella for Jackie Kennedy the night before the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. You can see him in the background. The man holding the umbrella is Jackie’s Secret Service bodyguard, and he happens to be my uncle. His name was Jeff. Now maybe you’re thinking, “Jeff was a special guy.” He seems a little bit more significant than just a man in the snow. The only reason Israel is special is because God is with them. The only reason we are special today is because Jesus is with us.
When Moses stands up to God, selflessly asking for God’s special presence at the cost of his own blessing, he becomes a model for a future figure.
2. Jesus Moses was Israel’s mediator back then, but Jesus Christ is our mediator today. He is the go-between us and God. 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,” (NIV®) Without God’s presence, we’re lost. But because we’re sinners, we’re also lost with his presence. God can’t go up with Israel because he’ll destroy them because he is holy and they are not. We have the same problem. We’re all born in our own sins, which makes us enemies of God (Rom 3:10). Moses, even in all his goodness, needed a rock to shield him from God’s presence when God walks by at the end of chapter 33. We need a rock to shield us. We have that rock in Christ (1 Cor 10:4).
Like Moses, Jesus is a selfless mediator. He laid down his life on the cross to save us. He took on the brunt of God’s glory so we can live. He was destroyed so that we don’t have to be. He took on our destruction, and was removed from his Father’s special presence, abandoned and alone, so that you and I can know the Father’s forgiveness forever and ever. Do you know Christ as your mediator? Is he the one who shields you from God? Is he the one who not only saves you, but invites you into a special relationship with God?
Apply: Just like God’s presence with Israel made them special, Jesus’s presence with us makes us special. Without Jesus, we’re not really a church, but a social club. Without Jesus, I’m no better than a motivational speaker, and not a very good one at that. Without Jesus, we’re just singing to ourselves. As a church, and as believers, we must always stick with Christ because without him, we have nothing but empty religion. We can experience God’s presence because of a selfless mediator, Jesus Christ. There’s a another reason…
We can experience God’s presence because of His grace. (34:1-28) In response to all of Israel’s sins, to their committing idolatry with a golden calf statue, to their breaking their marriage covenant with God, God does the unthinkable. He offers them grace. Grace means “undeserved, overflowing generosity.”
When God initially made the covenant with Israel, he wrote the Ten Commandments down on two stone tablets. When Israel worshipped the golden calf, they broke the first two commandments, no other gods and no idols. This is why Moses throws down the tablets, and they smash, because Israel has broken the covenant (Ex 32:19). But at the beginning of chapter 34, God asks Moses to bring two new stone tablets up the mountain so he can make them again. Even though Israel is unfaithful God is going to be faithful.
Illustration: Israel gave God divorce papers, but God is tearing them up. Israel broke all her wedding vows, but God is whispering his once more. Israel threw her wedding ring into the ocean, but God is molding her a new one. God is the faithful husband who gives his bride underserved, overflowing generosity. Grace.
Israel and God are starting afresh. What do you do when you hurt someone but try to start again? You say, “Can we start again? Hi, my name is Jonathan.” This is what God does. He introduces himself to his people. I recently heard one Pastor describe Exodus 34:6-7 as the most quoted verses in the Bible by the Bible.
Exodus 34:6-7 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The lord, the lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (NIV®)
These verses tell us the character of the God of Israel, and our God today.
Our God, Yahweh, is immeasurably gracious. (34:1-7) Notice how “the lord, the lord” is in capital letters. This is the English Bible’s way of telling us the Old Testament is using God’s special covenant name, “Yahweh, Yahweh.” This is a name that’s so special to the Israelite nation that people wouldn’t utter his name. We don’t even know if we’re pronouncing it correctly today, and many modern Jews still don’t say “Yahweh” out of reverence. But God tells his name to his people as a promise of his commitment to them. Then he goes further, saying who he is:
I am compassionate and gracious. Remember how Moses asked God to look on his people? When Yahweh looks on our needs, he has compassion on us. (Matt 9:36). I am slow to anger. He’s patient when he has every right to get mad. I am abounding in love and faithfulness. The word for love here is ḥeseḏ (חֶסֶד), which means “loyal love.” It’s a special covenant love. Yahweh gives undeserved loyalty to his people despite our sins. I love thousands and forgives wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yahweh flows over with love for his people and is quick to forgive forgive our sinful hearts and wrongdoing. I do not leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh brings true justice. He promises to right every wrong.
But then there’s this odd statement, “he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” That makes me really uncomfortable, but it shouldn’t, because God is intentionally contrasting grace with punishment here. Back in Exodus 20:4-6, when Yahweh gave Israel the Ten Commandments, he says he will punish children for the sin of their parents to the third and fourth generations “of those who hate me” but adds, “but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
If Moses had excel, and could graph God’s love versus God’s punishment, the graph would look a little like this (Punishment = 4 Generations vs. Grace = 1000 Generations). God will show his loyal love to a thousand generations of those who love him. Our God, Yahweh, is immeasurably gracious.
Don’t you want to know this God? Don’t you want this God’s presence in your life. Not only does Moses model the mediator Christ Jesus, but he shows us how to invite God’s presence into our lives.
We seek God’s presence through worship, prayer, fasting, and Scripture. (34:8-35) Worship. Following God’s self introduction, in 34:8 we see Moses immediately fall on the ground in worship. If you want to experience God’s presence, try worshipping him. We seek God together, in community, as we worship him. The first way way can be both alone or with others. Prayer. After worship, Moses cries out to God in prayer in verse 9. If you want to know God, if you want to experience his presence, pray. Pray to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit to come into your life and into our church and transform us. Fasting. We don’t talk about fasting much, but in verse 28. Moses is with Yahweh “forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water.” He is so nourished by God’s presence he doesn’t need food or drink. I want to encourage you to try prayer and fasting this week. I’ll even do it with you. After dinner Wednesday night, skip breakfast and lunch Thursday. When you get hungry, drive that hunger to Jesus and pray. We abstain from food so we’ll learn to hunger God. Scripture. When Moses is on the mountain, he encounters God through God’s words. God speaks his name, his character, and then gives Moses a portion of the law again. We spend time reading the Bible because we believe the Bible is also God’s words, and through them we can know God.
We seek Yahweh’s presence through worship, prayer, fasting, and Scripture. And guess what happens when we encounter God for real? He changes us. Moses came down the mountain and his face was glowing, radiating. He looked like God, and it scared the Israelites. When we truly encounter God’s presence, it’s going to be scary. People won’t know what to do with us because we’ll be so different, so counter-cultural, so Christ-exalting, so humble, so loving. I want to close with a question.
Do you want God’s presence? I was recently invited to a birthday party and the invitation said something like, “Please, no gifts. Your presence is a present enough.” Have you ever read that line on a wedding or party invitation? “Your presence is the only present desired.” If you were to send God an invite card to your life, what would it say? If we as a church were to send a party invite to God, what would it say? “Please, just gifts, no presence” or “Bring both yourself and your gifts” or… “Your presence is enough.”
Church. Do we believe God’s presence is enough? Do we long for the presence of Christ Jesus among us? Do we want him here? Is he the purpose of our ministry? I hope and believe it can be so!
Believers. Do you want Christ’s presence in your life? Then cultivate a hunger for Christ. We seek God’s presence through worship, prayer, fasting, and Scripture. But watch out, when you encounter Jesus, he will change you.
Not-Yet Believers. If you haven’t tasted the presence of Yahweh, you’re missing out. You’re trying to fill that ache and hunger with creation instead of creator. Like a pool on a hot summer day or a warm fire in the middle of winter, our heavenly father is exactly what you need.
Do you want God’s presence?
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Money is a serious topic. ABBA is serious about Money, Money, Money. After all, money can buy a white toga covered in rhinestones, or if you have money, you’ve got lots of shiny coins, or even better, if you meet a rich man, you can ride in his red convertible and throw back your head and just laugh and laugh. With money, life is better, or as the singer puts it, “Always sunny in the rich man’s world.”
At some level, we all believe in the power of money to make our lives better. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t go to work. Jesus taught a lot on money, so today we’re talking about it too. We’re learning not how much to have, but how much God calls us to give away. When you hear we’re talking about money, I imagine two questions pop into your mind: 1) Why are we doing a sermon on giving? aka. What’s the real reason? 2) What does the Bible have to say about giving? Let me answer the first question. Why? I’m preaching this sermon for several reasons:
First, I haven’t fully taught what the Bible calls us to give, and you should know. Second, the book Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by New Church Starts lists #7 as, “Fear of Talking about Money until It Is Too Late.” Now it’s not too late, but I apologize, we’re a year and half in and I should have talked about this sooner. Third, Lord willing, in the next couple months we’re going to become an autonomous church. Although we’ve been paying for most of our bills up to this point, our parent church has been helping us out. That means the responsibility falls to us. We need to know what God expects of us because we can trust that his expectations for giving will meet our needs for ministry.
Now the second question. What does the Bible have to say about giving, specifically what does it have to say about giving tithes and offerings? There are generally two positions:
Position 1. Offerings: God says to give generously, but sets no specific amount. The first position says the Bible just teaches us to give a “grace offering” or “free-will offering”—but doesn’t say how much. Position 2. Tithes: God says to start by giving 10%, but grow from there. The second position says God gives us the tithe (10%) as a starting point for greater giving.
Before we begin, let’s pray.
Position 1. Offerings: God says to give generously, but sets no specific amount. I want to begin by noting that both positions agree that God loves a cheerful and generous giver. In 2nd Corinthians, we see Paul encouraging people to give joyfully.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (NIV®)
God cares about the state of our hearts as we give. He doesn’t want a sad giver, but a joyful one excited to join in his work. However, this verse is not about regular church offerings, but a special offering (v. 5). So should we tithe? One reporter who investigated tithing concluded, “If a pastor or church leader has ever told you that the Bible commands Christians to tithe or give 10% of their income… asked you to donate to a mysterious ‘building fund’ or give a ‘first-fruit’ offering… You are getting played.” His message is clear—the tithe is a myth.
Irenaeus, an early church father who lived in the second century, (130-202 AD) and is thought to be a disciple of the Apostle John, writes, “The Jews were constrained to a regular payment of tithes; Christians, who have liberty, assign all of their possessions to the Lord, bestowing freely not the lesser portions of their property, since they have the hope of greater things.” In other words, the Jews of the Old Testament may be commanded to give 10%, but Christians are able to give more because they’ve been given everything in Christ Jesus. We see this in the early church.
The early church practiced needs-based giving. In the beginning of the book of Acts, which contains the history of the early church, we read this:
Acts 2:44-45 All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. (NIV®)
A few chapters later inn Acts 5, there’s the famous story of Ananias and Sapphira. They sold some property, kept some of the money for themselves (which they had the right to do), but then brought the rest of the money to the apostle Peter, pretending like it was all of it. Because they lied not just to Peter or the church, but to the Holy Spirit, God struck them both dead. Now this story get’s all the attention because it’s very interesting, but what instigated Ananias and Sapphira’s offering is the story right before it, and the generosity of man called Joseph.
Acts 4:32-37 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. (NIV®)
A man named Joseph sold his field because he wanted to meet the needs of those in the church and of the ministry. He brings it to the apostles and they are so encouraged they rename him “Barnabas,” which means “son of encouragement.” We encourage each other by giving generously and for each other’s needs, which we see in the early church. Position 1. Offerings: God says to give generously, but sets no specific amount.
Position 2. Tithes: God says to start by giving 10%, but grow from there. Another church father, Augustine of Hippo, who lived in the 4th-5th century (354-430 AD), writes, “Tithes are required as a matter of debt, and he who has been unwilling to give them has been guilty of robbery. Whosoever, therefore, desires to secure a reward for himself, let him render tithes, and out of the nine parts let him seek to give alms.” In other words, we all owe tithes to God, and to not give a tithe is robbing God.
Notice how Augustine talks about ten parts, one of which is the tithe. Tithe means “a tenth part (10%).” Anything less than 10% (5-7%) is not a tithe and anything over is an additional offering. But we should ask, is the tithe based on gross income or net income?
Gross Income = Pre-tax salary + retirement contributions + insurance payments, etc.
Leviticus 27:30 “‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD. (NIV®)
Net Income = Paycheck after benefits and taxes (aka. minus all deductions)
Deuteronomy 14:22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. (NIV®)
To answer whether the tithe should be based on gross income or net income, we need to look at the firstfruits principle. The Israelites were not supposed to give their last 10%, but their first 10%, the first yield of the harvest before they did anything else with it. The first 10% was the best 10%. It’s difficult to give the first 10% of the harvest because you’re not sure if the rest is going to come in, but that’s what God asks (Prov 3:9, Ex 23:15). When we think about giving, I personally think we should give based on everything God gives us, so gross income.
When we give our first and best, we show our complete trust in God. Somehow giving 10% of what we receive represents giving 100% of ourselves to God (Deut 14:23). When we give 10%, we’re saying, “All of me belongs to you, Jesus.” This is why teachings on tithes begins so early in the Bible, in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament prescribes tithing. You would think tithing began with Moses at Sinai, which is where it becomes most clear. But actually, the tithe predates the law of Moses. The first Hebrew, Abraham (Abram), the great-grandfather of the nation of Israel, offered a tithe after he rescued his nephew Lot and his family, who were taken captive by foreign kings. When Abraham returns with Lot, he meets “Melchizedek king of Salem who “was priest of God Most High.” This priest blesses Abraham and Abraham gives him “a tenth of everything” (Gen 14:20, Heb 7:4-9).
Abraham had a son Isaac who had a son Jacob. At one point in his life, Jacob has a vision of a stairway to heaven with angels going up and down it. In this vision God promises to bless him and be with him. In response, Jacob says that if God takes care of him, “of all that you give me, I will give you a tenth” (Gen 28:22). The tithe predates the law just like a God-ordained day of rest first appears in Genesis 2:1-4, predating the Ten Commandments given by Moses. The tithe is for all times and places.
When we do meet the tithe of the Israelites, it’s not a simple 10%, but three tithes.
Priests & Levites: They received a portion of some of the ongoing offerings the Israelite brought to the tabernacle. Numbers 18:21 says, “I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.” (NIV®) Sacred Festival: The people were to set aside a tenth for a special meal in the presence of the Lord each year. Exodus 14:23a says, “Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name…” (NIV®) Orphans, Widows, Poor: Every three years the people were called to give a special tithe to the most at-risk part of their society. Deuteronomy 26:12 says, “When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.” (NIV®)
When we look at all three tithes together, the first an ongoing tithe, the second an annual one, and the third every third year, we see that the Israelites “tithed” an average of 23% per year.
The Old Testament also prescribes freewill offerings. Anything beyond that 10% portion is a freewill offering. This served as an opportunity to give to God out of gratitude or thankfulness. Numbers 15:3 says, “and you present to the Lord food offerings from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the Lord—whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings—” (c.f., Lev 22:18-23, Deut 12:6,17). Moses built the tabernacle on freewill offerings (Ex 36:4-7) and Ezra rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem the same way (Ezra 1:5-6), which may be why we tend to build buildings and property using capital campaign offerings instead of normal tithing.
The New Testament doesn’t rescind the practice of tithing. The New Testament affirms giving generously and to meet needs, but it doesn’t directly rescind tithing like it does other things from the Old Testament. For example, we no longer sacrifice sheep and goats for our sins because Christ was sacrificed for all past, present, and future sins, and the Bible says we don’t need any more sacrifices (Heb 10:10). However, cannibalism was clearly wrong in the Old Testament (Deut 28:53-57, Lev 26:29, Jer 19:9, Lam 4:10). But cannibalism isn’t mentioned again in the NT, so is it okay? No! We don’t assume cannibalism is okay just because it’s not mentioned again. Therefore we’re still called to tithe.
I believe Jesus actually practiced perfect tithing. In Matthew 5:17-18, Jesus says he didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. This means he always gave the right tithes and offerings. If you trust Jesus, you get his giving record on your account. It’s like you’ve given perfectly. But we’re not called to ignore giving now, we’re called to give perfect tithes and offerings just like him.
Jesus mentions the practice of tithing in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:11-12) and he affirms the Pharisees practice of tithing even though he challenges their hearts.
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. (NIV®)
Jesus doesn’t say tithing is wrong. If anything, it’s a starting point for more giving (Mark 12:41-44).
Jesus teaches believers to give more than 10%. Pastor John Piper pointed out the following percentages in one of his sermons.
Luke 3:11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” = 50%
Luke 19:8a But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, = 50%
Luke 14:33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. = 100%
Matthew 19:21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” = 100%
Jesus treats the tithe as a minimum, a great starting point. Randy Alcorn calls tithing “the training wheels of giving.” I think part of Position 1 is right. We are to practice generous needs-based giving, but not stop at 10%, even further than 10%, up to 50% and 100%. Tithing is not about an amount, but a heart attitude. We are to give offerings generously, and when we give, we both cultivate and demonstrate a heart that trusts God the Father.
Our Heavenly Father calls us to trust him by giving our tithes faithfully and offerings generously. Our heavenly father invites us to trust him with our money. Monica just helped direct the play Annie. In this play the secretary for a wealthy businesswoman comes to Annie’s orphanage to host a little girl at the billionaire’s mansion over Christmas. When the secretary says who he represents, the orphan caretaker asks, “Olivia Warbucks, the millionaire?” And he says, “The billionaire!” Annie goes to live with her and is eventually adopted. Everything she ever needed is taken care of from that time forward. If you were Annie, would you ever be afraid of not having enough money?
Bernie asked us this question this week at preaching breakfast. If you father was a billionaire who gave you a million dollars, and promised to refill it every time you gave it away, would you give your money away? You have a billionaire father who has promised to take care of you. The tithe is a divine invitation for us to test God’s promise to provide.
Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. (NIV®)
Our heavenly father invites us to give our tithes faithfully and our offerings generously to make room for the other blessings he wants to give us. I don’t mean Ferraris and racing horses, but that he will provide for our physical needs and spiritual blessing. The greatest blessing is himself.
Randy Alcorn tells the story of a young Christian couple who were giving tithes regularly, but then they moved to a church that said “tithing is legalism… God has called us to grace giving.” So instead of giving more, they started giving less. Pretty soon they found they weren’t giving much at all, and were actually becoming more indebted, and spiritually lethargic. They eventually started attending a different church that taught tithing as a great place to begin, and once they began doing so again, they had a spiritual awakening they hadn’t known for years. They attributed their wandering to not giving tithes. If you want to grow in your walk with God the Father, and want to see him provide, start giving your tithe. If you’re not attending church faithfully, and I mean maybe missing one service a month, check if you’re giving. If you don’t feel like you’re growing in your walk with God, check your giving (Luke 6:38). Giving gauges our spiritual health.
When we give our money to God, starting with our tithe and extra offerings, we’re offering not just our money, but ourselves to God (Rom 6:13). Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If we treasure our father, giving won’t be a burden or a task, but a joy. As we treasure the father, we come to understand how much he treasures us.
What’s the most valuable thing in your life? It’s not your money, right? It’s your family and your friends. We have a father who gave up his family and his friend, his Son Jesus, for us. What if God the Father was only willing to give up just 7% of Jesus to save us? That wouldn’t have been enough. The Father gave up 100% of his son because he treasures us. As we grow in the knowledge of how much the Father treasures us, we want to give him our treasure.
Our Heavenly Father calls us to trust him by giving our tithes faithfully and offerings generously. In their song, ABBA doesn’t just sing “It’s a rich man’s world” they sing “It’s the rich man’s world.” This is one line ABBA got so true. This world and everything in it belong to God. Psalm 50 says the animals in the forrest are his, the cattle on a thousand hills are his, and every bird in the mountains and insects in the fields are his (v. 10-11). But we don’t know and relate to God as the rich man of our dreams we can never know or who isn’t interested in us, but as the rich man who loves us enough to rescue us from our sins, adopt us into his family, and grants us the right to call him “father.”
This is our rich man’s world. You are his sons and you are his daughters. Our heavenly father calls us to give our all to him because he treasures us most. The tithe is an expression of giving our all to him. Offerings are an expression of gratitude to God. Do you know the rich man as your father? Are you acting like the rich man is your father? Our Heavenly Father calls us to trust him by giving our tithes faithfully and offerings generously.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Money is a serious topic. ABBA is serious about Money, Money, Money. After all, money can buy a white toga covered in rhinestones, or if you have money, you’ve got lots of shiny coins, or even better, if you meet a rich man, you can ride in his red convertible and throw back your head and just laugh and laugh. With money, life is better, or as the singer puts it, “Always sunny in the rich man’s world.” At some
Today we’re finishing our sermon series on Conflict & Peacemaking. We’ve followed the Four Gs of Peacemaking from Ken Sande’s book The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, and are going to wrap up by looking at the last G.
G1: Glorify God
G2: Get the Log Out of Your Eye
G3: Gently Restore
G4: Go and Be Reconciled
Last week I asked you to recall to mind a name or relationship you are in conflict with and then apply what you’re learning to that relationship. So let’s assume you’ve done all those things. You’ve determined to glorify God in the midst of conflict with this person, you’ve done your best to examine your own sins and role in the conflict, and maybe even this last week you went out of your way to have a conversation with the other person. Let’s say that went well. What should you do now? How should you and this other person interact? That’s what our final G, “Go and Be Reconciled” is all about.
If you’ve ever gone through conflict with someone, you want the relationship to improve, right? You don’t want it to stay uncomfortable or awkward forever, especially if that someone is close to you or around you all the time, like a family member or coworker. I hope today will help you with life after conflict. Let’s Pray.
We can have a restored relationship with others, after conflict, not because of circumstances or how good we are, but because of how good God is. By experiencing reconciliation first with God, we can offer it to others.
What is reconciliation with God? (2 Cor. 5:18-19) 2nd Corinthians 5:17-21 uses the word “reconcile” five times. Ancient Greece used this word to describe the process of two people in conflict coming back into a relationship. It wasn’t a religious word, but the New Testament takes this word and uses it to describes our relationship with God. Last week I defined reconciliation as “to make peace.” The need for peace implies a state of un-peace, of war. When Adam and Eve sinned against God in the garden, we all became enemies of God. Reconciliation with God is:
Removal of God’s wrath (through Christ) Like it or not, because of Adam original sin, and because I choose to sin everyday, we’re enemies of God and deserve God’s wrath. In our culture, that seems unfair, but the Bible describes God as perfectly holy and us as unholy. I’m reading Isaiah in my personal devotionals, and in it the prophet Isaiah get’s a vision of God on his throne (Isa 6:1-4). Above the throne are angels called seraphim that have six wings, two to fly, two to cover their faces, and two to cover their feet. Isaiah 6:3 says:
And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (NIV®)
These angels are sinless, but God’s holiness is too much for them. God is so holy they have to shield their faces so they can’t see him (c.f., Ex 3:5). When Isaiah has this vision, and comes into God’s presence as a sinful human being, he cries out, “Woe to me! I am ruined!”
Humans can’t survive in God’s holy presence in our sin. In fact, we broke all of creation with sin and deserve to be punished by God forever and ever. But instead of condemning us, God provides us each with a way of salvation. God removes his wrath by pouring it out on himself through Jesus. Romans 5:8-10 says:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
We who are reconciled to God are no longer enemies with him. God poured out his wrath on Christ so he wouldn’t have to do so on us. When Jesus hung on the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46) so that you and I can cry out “My God, my God, you have not forsaken me.” This is why 2 Corinthians 5 v. 18 says God “reconciled us to himself through Christ” and v. 19 says “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ. Reconciliation is the removal of God’s wrath (through Christ), but it’s not just a removal, but a bestowal, a presentation of a gift. Reconciliation with God is:
Gift of God’s friendship (through forgiveness) God doesn’t just remove his wrath, and our guilt, and walk away. He welcomes us into a relationship with him through forgiveness, Verse 19 says, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.” To forgive is to not hold someone’s wrongdoings against them. If you’ve confessed your sins and put your faith in Jesus, he forgives you and through that he extends something even greater. Friendship. True reconciliation isn’t just the end of conflict, but the beginning of a relationship, of peace enjoyed together. In John 15:15, Jesus says:
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
I want to take a moment and ask a vital question every human being needs to ask, “Am I a friend of God or an enemy of God?” We can know we are a friend of God if we experienced God’s forgiveness through faith in Jesus. Has Jesus taken the punishment for you sin? Do you know and love him? If you can honestly say yes to both of these questions, then you are reconciled to God. But if you can’t, John 3:36 warns us:
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
This is why in verse 20 Paul says, “We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” You need to be reconciled to God through Christ! I need to be reconciled to God through Christ! Reconciliation with God is the removal of God’s wrath and the gift of his friendship.
It’s because of this reconciliation that we experience with God that we know how to be reconciled with those that hurt us. God’s reconciliation to us serves as a model for our reconciliation with others.In Resolving Everyday Conflict, Ken Sande tells the story a man struggling to forgive his wife after adultery.
“I just can’t get over Pam’s adultery,” Rick told me. “She says she’s sorry and she’s begged for forgiveness. I said I forgave her, but I can’t forget what she did or be close to her again. It’s a huge wall between us, and I can’t get through it.”
“I’m sure you’re both in terrible pain.” I said. “But I don’t think divorce is going to end it. You’ll just trade one kind of pain for another. There is a way to keep your marriage together and to truly put the past behind you. But you won’t find it with the empty kind of forgiveness you’ve offered Pam.”
“What do you mean, ‘empty kind of forgiveness?’”
“Rick, imagine that you had just confessed a serious sin to God, and for the first time in your life he spoke to you audibly: ‘I forgive you, Rick, but I can’t ever be close to you again.’ How would you feel?”
His eyes widened. “I guess I’d feel like God hadn’t really forgiven me.”
“But isn’t that exactly what you’re doing with Pam?” I asked.
Rick looked at the floor, wrestling for an answer.
I continued, “Imagine instead that God said, ‘Rick, I forgive you. I promise I will never think about your sin again. I promise to never bring it up and use it against you. I promise not to talk to others about it. And I promise not to let this sin stand between us or hinder our relationship.”
After a long silence, tears began to fill Rick’s eyes. “I would know I was completely forgiven.”
The reconciliation we experience with God serves as a model for our reconciliation with others.
What is reconciliation with others? (2 Cor. 5:17, 20-21) Verse 20 urges us to become “ambassadors for Christ.” In the ancient world, an ambassador is someone who travels around to foreign countries or states on behalf of the king, emperor, or ruling body. The Greek word is presbeuō (πρεσβεύὠ), which not only means “ambassador” but “elder.” This word shares the same root with word for “elder (son)” from the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:25), which I preached on several weeks ago. Pastor Timothy Keller, in The Prodigal God, showed me that in that culture, it’s the elder brother’s job to keep the family together. It’s his job to make sure the younger brother comes home. He’s an ambassador to the lost and so are we.
We’re to act as ambassadors, who go into a foreign world to tell lost sons and daughters how they can know God once more. Bernie preached a few weeks ago that one of the ways we help people come to faith in God is by extending forgiveness. We forgive others as a pathway for them knowing Christ. Conflict & Peacemaking isn’t really about us, but about bringing the peace of God into a lost world. So what does it mean to be reconciled with those around us? Reconciliation with others is:
Removal of our anger (through forgiveness) Reconciliation begins with letting go of anger and forgiving. Our foundation verse reminds us just how important this is. Would you say it with me?
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:12-13
The word grievance means complain. Instead of complaining about those who hurt us, God calls us to forgive them. In fact, Jesus tells us just how serious forgiveness is in Matthew 6:14-15. He says:
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Forgiveness for others is a fruit of those who have experienced forgiveness by God. Forgiveness is a decision to extend the same debt cancellation we have received from God to those that have hurt us. It’s a decision to let God pour out his wrath and for us to not pour out ours (Rom 12:19). So what exactly should our forgiveness look like? Ken Sande gives us the Four Promises of Forgiveness:
1. “I will not dwell on this incident.”
Just like God doesn’t forget our sins, but chooses not to remember them or hold them against us, we can choose not to hold the sins of others against them. Isaiah 43:25 shows us God’s forgiveness:
“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
We model the way we forgive after the way God forgives. When we decide to forgive someone, it means when their sin comes back to mind, instead of dwelling on it and rolling it over in our mind, we’ll pray and ask God to remove that anger from us. Is there someone you say you’ve forgiven, but you can’t help think about it? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you move on.
2. “I will not bring up this incident again and use it against you.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 describes love to us. Notice love doesn’t get mad easily or keep a ledger of sins.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
We can’t really say we’ve forgiven someone for their sins if we keep reminding them of their sins, can we? Know this doesn’t mean that if the sin keeps recurring, that we can’t talk about a recurring sin pattern and use examples, but that’s different than storing it in our back pocket for a rainy day. Are you holding onto someone’s sin against you for a rainy day? Are you ready to bring it out if needed? The first two promises work together. If I don’t dwell, I won’t bring it up unnecessarily, but if I do dwell, I’ll use it against you.
3. “I will not talk to others about this incident.”
Pastor and author Paul Tripp, in his book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, says, “When I gossip, I confess the sin of another person to someone who is not involved.” Gossip doesn’t stir up trust and a safe space to build a fresh relationship, it tears down and wounds. When we forgive, we need to make a commitment to not gossip about the conflict with others inside or outside the church. Who do you need to make a commitment with the Lord about to not talk behind their back? If you’ve dealt with the sin, this should be the end of it. But if you do struggle, you can always talk to God about it.
4. “I will not let this incident stand between us or hinder our personal relationship.”
This last promise is really the heart of the matter. When we forgive, we promise to not let sin rule our relationship, but the love of Christ instead. Have you made this commitment?
As I’ve looked at Ken Sande’s peacemaking process, there’s only one thing I’ve found I disagree with. He argues that our giving forgiveness is dependent on the other person asking for forgiveness. He bases this on Luke 17:3b, which says, “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.” There’s a tension here between Jesus’ other commands to forgive and only extending forgiveness after someone repents. I think the key is that we are to forgive someone in our hearts no matter what, but that we are not to cover up the sin or ignore it, and we shouldn’t act as if everything is fine without going through the proper steps. Reconciliation with others is removal of anger (through forgiveness), but there’s also a second half that I do think is dependent on their recognizing their own sin and repenting.
Gift of our friendship (through Christ) I honestly believe a friendship that has experienced conflict and hurt and has worked through it can be sweeter than one that hasn’t. The trust and love can be deeper, truer.
Maybe you’re thinking, that’s not possible. We’ll be friends in heaven, but not in this life. Verse 17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” That means what Jesus has done, how he has reconciled us to God, in some way, heaven is already here. There’s a mystery here. Jesus hasn’t returned yet, so we’re not in eternity yet, but Jesus is with us spiritually, so eternity is already here. Don’t you want to try a taste of heavenly reconciliation now (Rev 21:4)?
This is made possible through the work of Christ. Verse 21 is the sum total of our passage. It explains how we can be reconciled to God and to each other—through the gospel. V. 21 says:
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,” – The sinless one Christ Jesus, has taken my sins and your sins and the sins of any who trust in him upon himself. The innocent one pays for our guilt. “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – The sinless one gives us his own purity. We become righteous. We become holy. We become unforgivable because it’s all been forgiven.
Look at how much Jesus Christ has done for you and me. This is the gospel. When I realize my sin is gone and I bear the righteousness of Christ, it helps me extend grace to those around me. Instead of seeing them as sinners, if they’re forgiven by God, shouldn’t I see them as perfectly righteous just like me?
We reconcile with others through forgiveness and friendship (in Christ). Ken Sande includes this story towards the end of his book. I want us to close with it as well. It’s the story of Ernest Gordon from his book To End All Wars. Ken Sande writes:
Gordon was captured by the Japanese during World War II and forced, with other British prisoners, to endure years of horrible treatment while building the notorious “Railroad of Death” through Thailand. Faced with the starvation and disease of the prison camps and the brutality of his captors, who killed hundreds of his comrades, Gordon survived to become an inspiring example of the triumph of Christian love against human evil.
This love shone especially bright one day one day when Gordon and his fellow prisoners came upon a trainload of wounded Japanese soldiers who were being transported to Bangkok. Here is how Gordon describes God’s work of grace:
They were on their own and without medical care. . . . Their uniforms were encrusted with mud, blood, and excrement. Their wounds, sorely inflamed and full of pus, crawled with maggots. We could understand now why the Japanese were so cruel to their prisoners. If they didn’t care for their own, why should they care for us?
The wounded men looked at us forlornly as they sat with their heads resting against the carriages waiting fatalistically for death. They were the refuse of war; there was nowhere to go and no one to care for them. . . .
Without a word, most of the officers in my section unbuckled their packs, took out part of their ration and a rag or two, and, with water canteens in their hands went over to the Japanese train to help them. Our guards tried to prevent us . . . but we ignored them and knelt by the side of the enemy to give them food and water, to clean and bind up their wounds, to smile and say a kind word. Grateful cries of “Aragatto!” (“Thank you!”) followed us when we left. . . .
I regarded my comrades with wonder. Eighteen months ago they would have joined readily in the destruction of our captors had they fallen into their hands. Now these same men were dressing the enemy’s wounds. We had experienced a moment of grace, there in those blood-stained railway cars. God had broken through the barriers of our prejudice and had given us the will to obey his command, “Thou shalt love.”
We reconcile with others through forgiveness and friendship (in Christ).
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
Today we’re finishing our sermon series on Conflict & Peacemaking. We’ve followed the Four Gs of Peacemaking from Ken Sande’s book The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, and are going to wrap up by looking at the last G. G1: Glorify God G2: Get the Log Out of Your Eye G3: Gently Restore G4: Go and Be Reconciled Last week I asked you to recall to mind a name or relationship you are in conflict with and
Today I want us each to recall to mind a relationship we have trouble with. I want us to think of the name of an individual, a person, who we are currently in conflict with, or have been in conflict with before. Think of a family member you love but keep fighting with, a neighbor you keep arguing with, a coworker or supervisor you can’t work with, or a brother or sister in Christ who just rubs you the wrong way.
I know this is uncomfortable, but I want us to intentionally think of their name. Do you have a name in mind? You can even write it down, unless it’s a person sitting near you. Then I wouldn’t write it down. I hope today’s message will give you some clarity on what to do next with this relationship, if you should have a conversation with this person, and if yes, how to do so in a God-honoring way.
In our sermon series, Conflict & Peacemaking, we’re following the Four Gs of Peacemaking from Ken Sande’s book The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict. Today we’re going through (G3) Gently Restore. As we go through today’s sermon and next week too, ask God, “How does what I’m learning apply to this relationship?” For example:
G1: Glorify God — Make it your mission from here forward to bring God glory through this relationship. Even if it’s one of the most difficult relationships you have, decide that you want to honor God with your actions starting today. Even if you messed up yesterday, you can begin again on the right path.
G2: Get the Log Out of Your Eye — Two weeks ago we learned the importance of humble Christ-dependent self examination. In your own mind, review this relationship and ask yourself, “How have I contributed to the conflict? What am I responsible for?” There are two sides to every story. Try to see this conflict through their eyes, and then bring anything you need to repent of before the Lord.
G3: Gently Restore – This is our topic this week. We’re talking about going to the person directly to potentially confess and hopefully correct the conflict.
G4: Go and Be Reconciled – Next week we’ll finish with the final G, restoring the relationship.
Let’s pray then begin. Father, it’s difficult to recall to mind those names or relationships that have hurt us or are hurting us right now. We know this hurt doesn’t take you by surprise, and that you’ve told us how broken relationships can experience healing in the Bible. Help us understand your plan for healing here. Amen.
Today we’re looking at two texts, the first which explains what to do if someone feels we have sinned against them, and the second which explains what to do if we feel someone has sinned against us or God.
What to do if someone feels you’ve sinned against them (Mt. 5:23-24) In the Sermon on The Mount, Jesus preaches on murder. He quotes the law of God found in the Ten Commandments, “You shall not murder” and then says, “But I tell you…” (v. 21-22) Jesus here is not changing the law, or writing a new one, but revealing the heart of God’s law, the true standard. He says this:
Matthew 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (NIV®)
Jesus is warning us that hate in the heart is just as sinful as hate acted out. God doesn’t just judge us by our actions, he judges us by our thoughts. So this is the context that comes right before verses 23-24. If you know someone is angry with you, perhaps even willing to call you names behind your back like “Raca” or “fool”—raca is an Aramaic term meaning “empty” or “idiot”—then you should go talk with them. Where does Jesus teach us this? We find this in the very next verses.
Go and seek reconciliation with the one you’ve offended. Matthew 5:23-24 says, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. (NIV®)
Story: Jesus wants his Jewish audience to imagine a man and his family taking a sacrifice to the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus is in Galilee right now, which is about 70~ miles away, so this family doesn’t travel to Jerusalem very often, but this is a special occasion. Because the harvest has been good, or they’re feeling extra grateful, he takes his family to Jerusalem to give a freewill offering of a male calf, sheep or goat (Lev 22:17-25). This is a solemn and costly moment. The father takes their lamb, maybe one they purchased or one they brought from home, to the priests who takes it into the court of the priests to sacrifice it. But as the lamb is lead to the altar, the Holy Spirit convicts this man’s heart. He remembers the argument he had with his neighbor over the harvest, how angry they got with each other, and how they didn’t resolve the issue. Jesus is saying, “It’s more important to stop the sacrifice, go back to Galilee, and get right with your brother, than it is to offer this sacrifice knowing your brother has something against you.”
Lesson: When Jesus’ audience heard this, it would have stunned them. Jesus is saying reconciliation (which means “to make peace”) is more important than religion, even costly acts of worship. Jesus isn’t interested in empty religion, but a relationship with God that changes our lives. It doesn’t matter if it’s inconvenient, if the one offended is just next door or miles away. The verses also don’t tell us if this individual is guilty or innocent. It doesn’t matter. If his brother has something against him, rightfully or wrongfully, and whether it was intentional or unintentional, he should go and talk with the one offended.
Application: Think back to your name, the person you’re in conflict with. As a believer, Jesus wants us to take the first steps to make the relationship right again.
If the person we’ve hurt is a fellow Christian, Jesus sees reconciliation as our top priority. It’s more important than anything else you have on your calendar, more important than your personal devotional or quiet time, than your ministry meeting, than coming to church, than giving your tithes and offerings. (S7) John 13:35 says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” If we aren’t reconciled, that hurts our witness and it prevents us from worshipping. If we hurt our brother or sister in Christ, and now we’re worshipping in the same room as them, do you think they’re going to be thinking about Jesus during the service or about us? Don’t wait for them to make the first move. Jesus is calling each of us to act first. If you know someone in this church has something against you, I want to encourage you to get right with them before you go home today, before the service next week. If the person we’ve hurt is not a Christian, reconciliation is still a priority. You can still approach them with a humble attitude and ask for forgiveness. When they ask, “Why?” explain that this is what Christ has called you to do. Go and seek reconciliation with the one you’ve offended.
What to do if someone sins against you or God (Mt. 18:15-20) Later in Matthew, Jesus outlines what to do if you’re not the offender, but the one who has been offended, or if God himself has been offended by the sin. Before we talk to someone about the sin, we need to decide if we should go to them at all. The first of five steps begins with understanding if we should go at all.
Matthew 18:15-17 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (NIV®)
Step One: Overlook minor offenses Before you go to the person you have in mind, we need to determine if the sin is significant enough for that. Ken Sande gives us these five steps but also asks four questions (in the first step) to help us determine if if we should address the sin. If you can answer “no” to all four, then you probably don’t need to go.
Is it dishonoring God? Is this sin so significant that those who aren’t Christians are thinking poorly of Christ? Is his reputation under attack? Do others think poorly of God, or just of them? Is it damaging your relationship? Ken writes, “If you are unable to forgive an offense—that is, if your feelings, thoughts, words, or actions toward another person have been altered for more than a short period of time—the offense is probably too serious to overlook.” (pg. 151) If you can’t get over it, go! Is it hurting others? Is it damaging others physically or emotionally, such as family abuse or adultery? Is it damaging others spiritually? Others are being lead astray from faith in Jesus by their actions. Is it hurting the offender? If the sin is so serious it is harming the one committing it, such as alcohol or drug abuse, or harming them spiritually, such as trying out other belief systems or living and sleeping together before marriage, we should go and have a talk.
Now I want you to notice that we’re not just discussing sin against us personally (conflict with me) but also sin against God (conflict with God). The Bible calls us to address both sin against God and sin against us. However, it’s not our role to play God, which is why really need to wrestle with these four questions, and whether or not we should overlook the offense.
Several years ago I worked with a fellow believer at a church, let’s call him Tom. I found that what had initially seemed like a good relationship very quickly deteriorated. Early on, I did something worth rebuking and Tom rebuked me. I apologized for what I did wrong, but he continued to treat me harshly. I noticed pretty soon that it wasn’t just me, but others too. Now I didn’t have these questions to ask, so my first solution to wait and see if it would get better, but it didn’t. Time didn’t heal our relationship. It had been going on for a couple months, and I was at the point of almost quitting when I finally decided to talk to him. When we met, I explained how I felt he didn’t like me, and he very quickly told me that wasn’t true. We discussed our relationship, he apologized, and after that it got better. It never became a good relationship. There isn’t much of a happy ending to this story. I share it not because I did it right, but because I tried to do it right. God calls us to that. We’re to pray, make our best effort to follow the guidelines he gives us, and step out in faith. Step One: Overlook minor offenses.
Step Two: Correct gently and privately Correct: I don’t really like the NIV’s translation, “Go and point out their fault…” The NASB more clearly says, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault…” We’re not just to stand back and point, we’re to help open their eyes to their own sin. The problem with sin is that we often can’t see our own sin, we’re blind to it. It’s like we hold up a mirror before them, helping them see their own sins, which leads to true change. Did you know modern mirrors were invented in the 1800s by a man who applied “a thin layer of metallic silver to one side of a pane of clear glass”? There is silver, there is value, in seeing ourselves clearly. Mirrors show us our blemishes, and it hurts, but they also allow us to deal with the blemishes.
The word “show him” comes from the Greek word for “rebuke” but if we look at the context, Jesus is not telling us to condemn or criticize the one in the wrong, but to try and restore him or her to obedience to God. Our passage is sandwiched between two parables about restoration. The first parable tells the story of a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep to find one lost sheep. The second parable of the unmerciful servant tells us to forgive others for their minor sins because God has forgiven us of our great sins. Our passage comes between them, telling us the goal of step two is not judgment, but restoration, correction.
Gently: Galatians 6:1a says, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently…” (NIV®) G3 is “Gently Restore.” Now I can think of situations where you correct harshly, such as when your child runs towards the street, or if someone operates dangerous machinery in a foolish way, but when dealing with sin, we need to be especially thoughtful. We shouldn’t think, “What will make me the most satisfied?” But, “How can I speak in a way that the other person will hear what I am trying to say?” If restoration and correction is our goal, not feeling justified, the way we approach the conversation will be entirely different. This one aspect of the faith that should separate the church from the world. When the world rebukes, it tears down and pushes out. We see this with the failure of celebrities and politicians all the time. When the church rebukes, it does so gently to heal and mend.
Privately: The Bible says clearly this conversation is to take place “just between the two of you.” That means it shouldn’t take place on Facebook, or in a committee meeting, but face-to-face if possible, or on the phone if necessary. Ken Sande talks about keeping the circle of those in the know as small as possible for as long as possible. Maybe talk to one or two trusted advisors, but as step of preparation. In other words, I speak to another to get their advice for if I should approach the other person, and if so, they help coach me through how to do it in a God-honoring way. Step Two: Correct gently and privately.
Step Three: Take one or two others along Now Lord-willing, step two will resolve the situation. You’ll go humbly to talk, and the other person will humbly receive what you have to say. In your mind, are you thinking about the name of the person you need to go to? Do you think they will receive it well or push back? Jesus explains what to do if they won’t listen to correction. He says, “But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’” (v. 16) Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 19:15, which is in a passage on “Laws Concerning Witnesses” (ESV). If someone doesn’t repent, the solution is to not cover the problem up, not to ignore it, but to address it fairly and justly. Jesus uses a courtroom illustration for what happens next because we’re to incorporate courtroom fairness and courtroom justice.
The plaintiff, the one who initiated the conversion, is to bring two or three witnesses to still try to correct gently and privately. In the Bible, a witness can be someone who sees something happen (Lk. 24:48) or someone who knows what’s is true of God, what is right and wrong (Rev 1:5, 3:14, 11:3). We don’t bring others along to gang-up on the defendant, but rather to help both parties see their blind spots, their sins, their role in the conflict. Witnesses act as mediators, as unbiased arbitrators who can help us work through our conflict honestly. Before God, the supreme court, we’re all guilty; but we’re also declared righteous through Christ. When we approach others about their sin, we don’t approach in condemnation or as judge, but as a fellow-pilgrims working out what it means to be both broken and forgiven at the same time.
Lord willing, they’ll listen, you’ll listen, and the conflict will be resolved. But what if they don’t listen? What if they reject what you have to say and continue in the sin? This is why Jesus gives us the church, to help us deal with our sins in a higher courtroom. Step Three: Take one or two others along.
Step Four: Tell it to the church (Elders) Jesus says, “If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church” (v. 17). This word for church, ekklēsia (ἐκκλησίἀ), means a local gathering of believers, an assembly, a congregation. Now if we read other parts of the Bible, God gives us leaders of the church called Elders (1 Tim 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, 1 Pet 5:1-11). It’s their job to oversee and manage the household of God. So I don’t believe this passage is telling us to go and start telling everyone in the church about the sins of the individual. Rather, if this is a courtroom, God has given the role of judges, the lower court, to the Elders. It’s their responsibility to represent heaven’s interests in this conflict. This is why v. 18 says, “…whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” A more accurate translation is “shall have been bound” and “shall have been loosed.” Their job is to represent God’s will, the highest court, with fear, trembling, and prayer.
If this doesn’t work, I do think Scriptures allow for the Elders to tell the issue to the entire church, because together, everyone needs to treat the one who won’t repent, as a “pagan or a tax collector.” (v. 17)
Step Five: Treat him/her as a nonbeliever Pagans and tax collectors are just the kind of people Jesus loves to spend time with. Jesus ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners (Matt 9:10). His disciple Matthew, the one who wrote this book, the gospel of Matthew, is a former tax collector who ate and drank with Jesus (Matt 10:3). Eugene Peterson wrote The Message, which is a modern interpretation of the New Testament. He translates 17, “If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.” (MSG) That’s what we do with non-Christians. We tell them of their sin, invite them to repent, and offer God’s forgiving love.
In other parts of the New Testament, there are examples of Scripture saying to expel unrepentant sinners or divisive people from the church (1 Cor 5:13, Titus 3:10). But we leave that decision to the Board of Elders. Until we’re instructed otherwise, we love them like nonbelievers. Step five, treat him/her as a nonbeliever.
Do you feel a bit overwhelmed by this process? You just didn’t want to be conflict anymore, and now we’re talking about church discipline? Part of being a family of Christ, is holding each other accountable and following the proper steps. Step two, correct gently and privately, should come before step four, tell it to the church. But usually we tell it to the church, through gossip, before it ever reaches the individual. Jesus is in his grace, gave us a loving, mutually-beneficial way to deal with conflict and sin in a healthy way. Let’s take advantage of it. I want to close by sharing my big idea and one final thought. My big idea is this.
When we sin against each other, restore each other as Christ restores us. To follow the way of Christ, takes patience, perseverance, wisdom, discernment, and a lot of prayer. It’s worth it, because that is what Christ has done for us. He has approached us in our sin, and instead of condemning us, he died in our places, taking the punishment we deserve upon himself. Jesus corrects us patiently, he forgives us lovingly, he deals with our sins firmly. Then he clothes us in his righteousness. He gives us his holiness, the holiness we’ve done nothing to deserve. Let’s approach each other like that. When we sin against each other, restore each other as Christ restores us.
Think once more of that name, that person. How can you treat them like Christ has treated you? How can you love, forgive, and even approach them in their sin gently and patiently? I want us each to pray silently for about 30 seconds for the one on our hearts. Pray that you’ll glorify God with what you do next, ask Jesus to reveal your own sins and role in the conflict to you, and ask him if you should go and speak to the other person. Would you do that? When we sin against each other, restore each other as Christ restores us. Let’s have a time of silence, then I’ll pray.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Today I want us each to recall to mind a relationship we have trouble with. I want us to think of the name of an individual, a person, who we are currently in conflict with, or have been in conflict with before. Think of a family member you love but keep fighting with, a neighbor you keep arguing with, a coworker or supervisor you can’t work with, or a brother or sister in Christ who just rubs you the wrong
In this sermon Rev. Bernie Michaud tells the story of a sinful woman anointing the feet of Jesus and Jesus forgiving her of her sins. Please listen to the sermon audio, watch the video, or read the manuscript.
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In this sermon Rev. Bernie Michaud tells the story of a sinful woman anointing the feet of Jesus and Jesus forgiving her of her sins. Please listen to the sermon audio, watch the video, or read the manuscript.
Why are we as a church going through a sermon series on Conflict & Peacemaking? I brought this series to our leadership team and am bringing it to you for two reasons:
Autonomy: For those of you who don’t know, Cornerstone is the daughter church of Immanuel in Chelmsford. This summer, we’re hoping to become our own legally autonomous non-profit church. We’ll have more ownership and more responsibility, which are both good, but can produce conflict because we’re just that much more invested in this ministry. This transition is like giving birth. Pain in childbirth is natural. Jennie, who worked as a nurse, told me that those moms who go to birthing class manage the pain of childbirth better. I want this series to help us deal with change in a healthy way. Foundation: I want us to be a church that builds on a foundation of peace. We’re a church of about 70 people. We’re the size of a big family with lots of brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, moms, dads, and grandparents. What I know about family, is that families love each other, but family members sometimes hurt each other. As conflict arises, I want us to be a place where it’s safe to work through our problems, and where we can take what we learn in here and apply it to our lives and relationships.
Ken Sande’s book The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict inspired this series. Ken is a lawyer who works to reconcile people and businesses who are in conflict. He took what he learned from the Bible and put it into practice. He gives four Biblical stages of the peacemaking process (4Gs):
G1: Glorify God
G2: Get the Log Out of Your Eye
G3: Gently Restore
G4: Go and Be Reconciled
This week, I’m going to give you the first two Gs, glorify God and get the log out. Bernie Michaud is preaching next week, but then the following two weeks I’ll go through G3 and G4. Usually I try to focus on one Scripture passage each week. But this week, I really want to give you a broader overview of what the Scripture has to say about the first two Gs of peacemaking. In topical sermons, there’s always a greater risk of taking Bible verses out of context to prove a point. Although we’re not going to look at each passage as slowly as I’d like, I’m going to try and preach each passage true to its meaning. If you feel you’d like to slow down and look at the texts or peacemaking points further, you can review the sermon online or join our peacemaking small group starting in just a few weeks to go deeper. Let’s pray and get started.
G1: Glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1) The Apostle Paul wrote several letters to the church at Corinth. They are famous for all their problems. There was a lot of division and conflict within the church. One of the things they argued over is whether or not a Christian should eat food that may have been sacrificed to idols. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (NIV®) Paul is urging the Corinthians that no matter what they do, they should seek to glorify God in all of it. Our mission is to glorify God in conflict. That mission will take us down a much different path than glorifying self. It leads to an entirely different destination. So how do we glorify God?
a. We glorify God by honoring his reputation. (1 Cor. 10:31) The word for “glory” in 1 Corinthians 10:31 is the Greek word “doxa” (δόξἀ), which can mean glory, honor, reputation, or praise. A doxology is a song or formula of praise. We bring God glory by praising him, honoring him, and upholding his reputation in the midst of our conflict.
When we get into conflict, usually the first question we ask is, “How does this affect my reputation? How does this make me look? What will people say about me?” But Paul wants us to ask, “How does this affect God’s reputation? How does this make God look? How can I act so that others admire Jesus?”
For example, your co-worker sends you a harsh email and copies your whole team. If your team knows you are a Christian, you have an opportunity to honor Christ’s reputation. Will you fire back or will you find the truth in their email and humbly apologize? Or maybe they’re wrong but instead of getting defensive, you call them or go to them face-to-face and explain yourself. Or what if the cashier rings you up wrong at the grocery store or the opposing team at your children’s soccer match is playing dirty. Conflict gives us the opportunity to honor Christ with how we handle ourselves. We glorify God by honoring his reputation.
b. We glorify God by seeking what’s best for others. (1 Cor. 10:32-33) Paul, as he writes to the Corinthians, says they should eat meat sold in the market or offered to them at the house of a nonbeliever without asking if it was used as an offering to idols (v. 25-27). But if they do find out the meat was offered to an idol, they shouldn’t eat it (v. 28). There’s nothing actually wrong with the meat, but the act of knowingly eating food offered to an idol was an act of accepting the idol itself. So if another Christian or even non-Christian sees them eating it, it could cause confusion. So Paul says they can eat the meat as long as it doesn’t offend the other person’s conscience (v. 29-30). It’s in this context that Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:32-33, “Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God—even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.” The principle here is to put others’ needs before our own.
When I was in college, some local churches hosted a Halo video game tournament at the local movie theater. It was designed as an outreach event to the local teenagers. Halo is a shooting game. It’s not very graphic, but you do shoot aliens and you can shoot each other. A family came to the leadership and said, “We don’t want our kids playing this game and we don’t think it’s good for outreach.” Now I wasn’t behind the closed doors that debated this issue. If I’d been a part of the conversation, I probably would have given the family this principle and ignored them, thus not putting the principle into practice in my own life. But the leadership decided to put the needs of this family first and to do outreach other ways. The leadership was trying to glorify God by seeking what was best for others. Now I’ve been in similar situations where we made essentially the opposite decision. However, if we try to seek what’s best for others in the midst of conflict, I think that honors God. We glorify God by seeking what’s best for others.
c. We glorify God by imitating Jesus. (1 Cor. 11:1) Paul ends this section with a call to follow his example. 1 Corinthians 11:1 says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” The Greek word for “follow” is “mimetes” (μιμητή), which means “mimic.” We’re to copy the life of Jesus. Jesus responded to different people and situations in different ways. As we learned last week in the story of the Prodigal Son, he dealt with the sins of tax collectors and prostitutes by spending time with them and teaching them about God; while on the other hand he aggressively confronted the self-righteousness of the Pharisees and experts in the law.
Sometimes Jesus will want us to be silent. He was silent on the way to the cross, not putting up a fight because he knew this would further the kingdom of God in this world. If it will further God’s kingdom to stay silent, then that’s the right call. But at the same time, Jesus didn’t have a martyr complex. He’s didn’t feel noble because of his suffering, nor did he just want to avoid conflict. He went to the cross to save sinners. Other times Jesus will want us to speak up. He’ll call us to sacrifice what makes us comfortable and go and address a problem because that will further God’s kingdom. We glorify God by imitating Jesus.
The Gospel gives us the desire to glorify God. As the Holy Spirit applies the Gospel to our hearts, he gives us the desire to glorify God in conflict (1 Cor 6:20). The BBC show Sherlock features Watson and Sherlock. In one season, a female character jumps in front of a bullet to save Sherlock. When Watson tells Sherlock it’s not his fault, Sherlock says that’s not the issue. He’s struggling because, I quote, “In saving my life she conferred a value on it. It is a currency I do not know how to spend.” Her sacrifice helps change Sherlock from the inside out. Jesus conferred value on our lives when he died for us. As we come to understand that value, it changes us. As we appreciate the gospel, how Jesus paid the ultimate price not just to forgive us, but to make us holy, it changes our desires. “Christ put me first, now I want to put others first. Christ died for me, I want to put to death my selfishness. Christ gave away his rights, I can give away mine.” The Gospel gives us the desire to glorify God.
It’s the Gospel that links G1 to G2. We glorify God because he’s forgiven us. Because we’re forgiven, we can honestly examine our own lives. We glorify God through humble Christ-dependent self examination.
G2: Get the Log Out of Your Eye (Luke 6:41-42) In the sermon on the plain, which is very similar to Jesus’ sermon on the mount, but appears in Luke instead of Matthew, Jesus gives us this parable. Luke 6:41-42 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (NIV®) Jesus is using hyperbole, which is an exaggerated statement, to prove a point. Don’t try to fix someone else of a sin you’re also committing.
If you’ve ever had a parent or a friend talk to you about your sins, one of the first things you think is, “Well you’re just as bad. Look at all your sins. You’re a hypocrite.” The Greek for hypocrite is “hypokrites” (ὑποκριτή) and it means an “actor.” It’s someone who acts one way but in reality they’re someone else. In Jesus’ parable a hypocrite is someone who acts innocent but is a worse sinner.
A few verses before this parable, Jesus says, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.” (v. 37-38) Jesus is warning us not to examine the sins of others without first examining ourselves. This is the negative. But on the positive end, Jesus is encouraging us to forgive and give grace.
Jesus goes on to explain that the blind can’t lead the blind (v. 39). He is teaching us this: 1) We must examine our own sins before examining the sins of others; and 2) when we do correct others, it’s not to be vindictive or right, but to bring about forgiveness and grace. We want to help others see the light by getting the sin out of their eyes, which is much different than just pointing out the problem. We truly have to have their best at heart and have examined our own hearts first. So what are the types of logs we encounter? Ken lists two:
Log #1: Overly sensitive attitude (Proverbs 19:11) Before we confront the sins of others, we need to make sure they’ve actually sinned against us, and not just offended us. Sins are not the same as preferences or cultural norms. Someone may offend my sense of what is good, but not actually sin. We discern what is sin through studying the Scriptures, praying, and asking God for guidance. Even if we do discern some level of sin, it may be better to forgive and let it go. It’s not our job to make people feel ashamed, we don’t play the role of the Holy Spirit.
Proverbs 19:11 says, “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.” Overlooking sin is hard work. It’s different than not thinking about it or avoiding confrontation. It is intentionally forgiving someone and moving on. If we just don’t think about it, we haven’t really forgiven, but are storing it for later. If we forgive, we actively choose not to bring it up later.
The gospel helps us do this. As we realize how much Christ has overlooked, we overlook the sins of others. I’m forgiven so I want to forgive. Log #1 is an overly sensitive attitude.
Log #2: Sinful behavior (James 4:1) We’re sometimes the cause of our own problems. It’s much easier to say it’s someone else’s fault, but it may not be true. James 4:1 says, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” We experience conflict because our hearts want it. It’s easy to blame conflict on circumstances and other people, but really, conflict just reveals the sin already there, it doesn’t create it. Conflict reveals our idols, those things that matter more than us to God. Sin is not so much “out there” as it is “in here”—in our hearts. Conflict doesn’t create the sin in us, it just reveals the sin that’s already there. We glorify God through humble Christ-dependent self examination.
The Gospel gives us courage to confess sin. As we realize we’re already forgiven and already holy, the Holy Spirit gives us courage to confess our sins to our heavenly father and to others. If we’re already forgiven by God, why do we confess our sins to him? Sin creates a barrier in our relationship between us and God. It creates that elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. God loves us and our confession of our sin helps us receive and experience that love. This is also why we should address sin in relationships with others. In the bulletin you’ll find Ken Sande’s Seven A’s of Confession. These are seven simple but challenging principles for confessing sin:
Address everyone involved (All those whom you affected) / If minor/unknown, only confess to God Avoid if, but, and maybe (Do not try to excuse your wrongs) / “I’m sorry if I did something wrong.” Admit specifically (Both attitudes and actions) / Growing up my parents wouldn’t let my brothers and I just say, “I’m sorry.” We had to say, “I apologize for…” and then we had to name what we did wrong. Although I never liked it, it taught me to recognize my sin and take responsibility. Acknowledge the hurt (Express sorrow for hurting someone) / “I’m really sorry that I hurt you.” Accept the consequences (Such as making restitution) / “Let me make it up to you by…” Alter your behavior (Change your attitude and actions) / Show your repentance. Ask for forgiveness / We can’t control if someone does forgive us, but we can try.
As we experience forgiveness from Christ, and forgiveness from those we’ve hurt, the longterm fix is found not in behavior, but in a changed heart. The Gospel gives us courage to confess sin.
We glorify God through humble Christ-dependent self examination. In his book, Sande tells the true story of Ted. I told this story a year ago from memory and got a few of the details wrong (just trying to be specific in admitting sins), so I’m going to read some of it today as we close.
Ted worked for a government agency. As a new believer, he was excited about his salvation and wanted to have a positive witness for Christ among his coworkers. Ted and his supervisor, Joan, had never gotten along well, partly because Ted continually tried to tell her how to run her department. His enthusiasm for Christ provoked her further. As her frustration toward Ted increased, Joan gave him particularly difficult work assignments, even though she knew he had a back problem. Eventually he injured his back and had to leave work for several months. Although he received some disability benefits, Ted lost several thousand dollars due to missed wages and additional medical expenses. As a result, he filed a lawsuit against Joan and the agency.
By the time Ted came to see me, he had returned to work and the lawsuit was moving slowly through the court system. During our first conversation, Ted and I identified several ways he had contributed to the conflict with Joan. Seeing his own fault more clearly, Ted began to consider settling the lawsuit by accepting the five thousand dollars the agency had offered him a few days earlier. Although his damages exceeded that amount, his attorney advised him to accept the settlement. On the other hand, several of Ted’s friends were encouraging him to demand more money or continue the litigation.
A few days later Ted surprised me by saying that he was going to drop his lawsuit without accepting the settlement offer. The more he had reflected on his own fault in the matter, the less comfortable he felt about accepting money from the agency. At the same time, he had concluded that laying down his right to restitution would be an effective way to demonstrate the mercy and forgiveness that he himself had received from God.
The next morning, Ted went to talk with Joan. He admitted that he had been disrespectful, arrogant, and rude, and he asked for her forgiveness. Joan seemed suspicious of his motives and said little in response. Ted went on to explain that he had forgiven her for ordering him to move the heavy boxes and that he was dropping his lawsuit. Finally, he said he hoped they could start over in their relationship and learn to work together in the future.
More suspicious than ever, Joan asked why he was doing this. He replied, “I became a Christian a year ago, and God is slowly helping me to face up to a lot of my faults, including those that contributed to the problems between you and me. God has also shown me that his love and forgiveness for me is absolutely free and that I can do nothing to earn or deserve it. Since he has done that for me, I decided I want to act the same way toward you.”
Amazed by his answer, Joan mumbled something like, “Oh, I see. Well, let’s let bygones be bygones. Thanks for coming in.”
Although Joan’s response wasn’t quite what Ted had hoped for, he walked out of her office knowing that God had forgiven him and that he had at least given Joan a glimpse of that forgiveness. Ted soon discovered that Joan was telling others about their meeting. The next day a union representative who had heartily supported the lawsuit against Joan confronted Ted and asked whether he had really dropped the lawsuit. When Ted said yes, the man asked, “Is it true that you did it because you’re a Christian?” Ted again said yes, and the man’s scowl turned to a look of puzzlement. As the man walked away, Ted heard him say to a bystander, “Well, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a Christian’s faith cost him anything.”
Like ripples in a pond, word of Ted’s actions spread throughout the department. A few days later, two coworkers asked to meet with him over lunch once a week to discuss the Bible. Later, other coworkers asked him questions about his faith. For the first time since Ted’s conversion, he felt he was really helping people to learn about God’s love.
Although Joan continued to treat Ted rudely at times, he learned to submit to her authority and to use her provocations as further opportunities to show God’s work in his life. When she was replaced a few months later, there was no doubt in Ted’s mind who had arranged for him to have a more pleasant and supportive boss.
Three years later I asked Ted whether he regretted his decision to give up the settlement. “No,” he replied, “That was the best five thousand dollars I ever spent. God used those events to bring several people to Christ. He also helped me to overcome some major sins in my life. I only wish I had settled it more quickly.” (The Peacemaker by Ken Sande, pages 97-98)
The first two Gs of peacemaking teach us to glorify God and to get the log out of our own eyes. We glorify God through humble Christ-dependent self examination.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Why are we as a church going through a sermon series on Conflict & Peacemaking? I brought this series to our leadership team and am bringing it to you for two reasons: Autonomy: For those of you who don’t know, Cornerstone is the daughter church of Immanuel in Chelmsford. This summer, we’re hoping to become our own legally autonomous non-profit church. We’ll have more ownership and more responsibility, which are both good, but can produce conflict because we’re just that
Who here has experienced conflict? Who here has experienced conflict in your family? Who here has experienced conflict because of the youngest child in your family? I’m raising my hand because I’m the youngest child in my family. This week Facebook reminded me to celebrate national sibling day. To commemorate this special holiday I shared this picture of my family on Facebook. It’s a picture of my three older brothers, my parents, and me. Now I love each of my
Who here has experienced conflict? Who here has experienced conflict in your family? Who here has experienced conflict because of the youngest child in your family? I’m raising my hand because I’m the youngest child in my family.
This week Facebook reminded me to celebrate national sibling day. To commemorate this special holiday I shared this picture of my family on Facebook. It’s a picture of my three older brothers, my parents, and me. Now I love each of my brothers, but growing up my older brother Matthew and I loved each other with a special kind of love. We had a love that constantly told each other, “you can do better,” a love that took every opportunity to teach the other brother humility and patience, a love so deep nobody knew it was there.
A typical interaction between Matthew and me could go a little bit like this. Imagine we’re eating breakfast and I say, “I’m going to eat all of the cinnamon rolls.” My brother would say something like, “If you do that, you’ll get fat.” And so I would take not one but two cinnamon rolls. He would then try to remove the extra cinnamon roll and I would immediately appeal to a hire court, mom and dad, who would end our argument by offering to remove our cinnamon rolls. Matthew and I were truly committed to each other’s holiness.
There will always be conflict in families, whether between a husband and wife, between children and parents, or between siblings. In our new series starting this week, Conflict & Peacemaking, we are going to look at conflict, learn how the Bible teaches peacemaking, and apply what we learn to our lives.
What better way to start this series than with the story Jesus gave us called The Prodigal Son? It is the story of two brothers and a father in conflict. It’s a parable.A parable is “a simple story used to illustrate profound truth.” In this parable we’re called to contrast the younger brother and the older brother, and how each play a part in the conflict. Let’s begin by looking at the younger brother’s role.
The Younger Brother: The one in the wrong. (Luke 15:11-24) Jesus begins the story by telling us the youngest brother came to his father and said, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” (v. 1) Now in the ancient near eastern culture, such a request was outrageous. You don’t ask your dad to give you his property before his death. It’s like saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead!”
I don’t think I ever told my parents I wished they were dead. When I was sixteen, I told my dad something like, “My girlfriend knows me better than you.” We’d been dating two months and we broke up a few weeks later. This week I watched a message on this story by pastor and author Timothy Keller called The Prodigal God. One of the points he makes is that the word for “property” (v.12) is the Greek word bios (βίος), which means life. The father has to divide his very life and livelihood to pay for the demands of the youngest son.
Jesus’ original audience would have expected the father to slap his son or even disown him, but instead he does something surprising. He sells a third of his property, he tears his life apart, and he gives a portion to the youngest. The other two thirds, a double portion, belonged to the oldest brother (Deut 21:17). Right from the beginning of this parable Jesus wants his audience and us to recognize this son’s sin.
His sin is obvious. The younger brother’s role in the conflict is obvious. He is the instigator, the offender, the perpetrator, the sinner who breaks the family apart. He’s the careless brother who is always getting into trouble. He’s like that family member who has a problem with alcohol, or drugs, and just when you think you can trust him, he asks you for money. He’s like that family member who can’t control her tongue, and uses every family gathering as an opportunity to criticize, put down, and wound. He’s the problem child.
What does he do when he gets the money? He leaves town, travels far away, and wastes all of his money on parties and moochers. You would never see him on Shark Tank because he’s in Vegas. But two disasters strike. He runs out of money, and famine hits the land, and that’s when his friends disappear, and he’s left alone. He finds himself in such poverty that he has to work with pigs. He’s Jewish. They’re unclean. They’re smelly, dirty, and symbolize sin. If that’s not bad enough, his boss won’t even let him eat the pig’s food.
His sin is obvious. He’s literally covered in it. He’s wallowing it. He smells of sin and it smells bad. He has gotten what he deserves. He has reaped what he sowed. In most parables, this is where the story ends. “See kids, don’t hurt your family because you’ll lose them.” The parable should end like The Boy Who Cried Wolf, one of Aesop’s Fables. A boy tricks the local villagers into thinking a wolf is attacking his sheep, and when a wolf does actually attack, they won’t come to his rescue because they think he’s just joking. But the story Jesus is telling is different. It doesn’t end this way because something changes in the youngest.
He recognizes his sin and repents. When the youngest is at his lowest, God gets ahold of his heart. God convicts him of his sin and reminds him of home. Repentance is “turning away from sin and coming home to God.” Recognition of sin should lead to repentance, and that’s what happens. The youngest decides to go home and apologize by saying, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.” (v. 18) He admits he sinned vertically against God and horizontally against his family. We can only get right with others once we’ve gotten right with God.
He wants to show his repentant heart by offering to make restitution in the family he hurt. He’s going to say, “I’m not worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired hands.” The youngest wants his father to hire him so that he can pay his father back, so he can repay what he took. His repentance is true.
This is the moment some of us need to go through. We hurt our family and friends because we’re afraid to admit we’re broken people. The father loves you, he wants you to come home. You’re more sinful than you know, but you’re more loved than you could ever imagine. It’s safe to come home.
For others, you’ve already gone through this moment. You’ve been there. Praise God, tell your story. But for many of us, you’re praying this for someone else. We pray God would convict the heart of the one who hurt us, of the one who started it all. Have you ever done that? Someone really hurts you, and you pray, “God, would you open their eyes to what they’ve done?” It’s okay to pray that prayer. If God hasn’t answered yet, keep praying. God can do miracles. The younger son recognizes his sin and repents.
His father forgives him. When the son is still a long way off, perhaps just cresting the hill, the father sees him. He doesn’t sit there and say, “Well it’s about time.”He sees him because he is looking for him. He’s praying for him to come home. Jesus tells us that when the father saw him, he doesn’t just feel bad for his son, but the Greek describes a feeling like the pit of his stomach dropping to the floor. He gets the butterflies. His heart skips a beat. He gets lightheaded. And that’s why we see him lift up the folds of his robe and run. Like a foolish child, the old patriarch of the family shows his skinny pale legs and runs for his son. And when he gets to him, he falls on his neck and kisses him. Through the smell of pigs, the sweat of a long journey, the stink of poverty and homelessness, through the sin he embraces the son he loves. His father forgives him.
We have a father in heaven who is just waiting for us to repent of our sins and come home. If you’re the one in the wrong, the one who hurts others and starts problems, God would love to forgive you. We receive this forgiveness by repenting of our sins and asking him, “Father, would you please forgive me?” And you know what? Our heavenly father forgives us completely, just like the prodigal son’s father forgives him.
Before the son can finish his speech and offer to pay his father back, his father cuts him off. He gets halfway through his speech when his father yells for his servant, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.” (v. 22) The best robe belonged to the father himself. The ring carried it with it the family crest, the authority of the family. And the sandals said he wasn’t coming home as a slave—slaves didn’t wear shoes—but he’s coming home as a son. Then he kills the fattened calf, which was saved for special events, and invites the whole town to the party. The father forgives everything.
If you haven’t tasted the forgiveness of the father yet, today can be that day. Last week I told just a snippet of my faith story, how in my teen years I rebelled. My friends and partied, got drunk, acted out, I dated a girl I shouldn’t have, and I probably ate too many cinnamon rolls. The day I confessed to my dad was one of the hardest days of my life. I remember sitting with him and just crying, telling him all the things I’d done. But at the end of my confession, he forgave me and he hugged me. That’s the way our dad in heaven forgives us. He forgives our sin and embraces us. If you’re the one in the wrong, getting right with your earthly family begins by getting right with your heavenly father. The solution to conflict begins with God.
But what if you didn’t do anything wrong? What if you’re not the youngest, the problem child? What if you’re the good child, or sibling, or parent who hasn’t done anything wrong?
The Older Brother: The one in the right. (Luke 15:25-32) In every conflict, there’s the offender and the offended. At first glance this story seems to be entirely about the offender, and how he should repent and come home. But if we look at who Jesus is telling this story to we see he also is speaking to those in the right. At the start of Luke chapter 15, we read this.
Luke 15:1-2 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (NIV®)
During Jesus’ ministry, he was famous for spending time with those in the wrong. He hung out with tax collectors who wounded their communities and prostitutes who wrecked homes. He spent time with prodigal sons and daughters. And the ones in the right, the Pharisees and teachers of the law, didn’t like it. They’re the sibling who picks up the pieces, the spouse who tries to make it work, the parent who has sacrificed so much for their child’s best, the son or daughter who puts up with their parents manipulative behavior. So you can understand their frustration with Jesus when he extends olive branches to those who don’t deserve it.
Jesus doesn’t say to them, “It’s okay to look down on the ones in the wrong.” Instead, he tells them three parables, the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son—the prodigal son. In his final story, the sinners would have related to the younger brother, but the Pharisees would have related to the brother in the second half of the parable, the older brother. When the older brother comes home and hears the party going on for his younger son, and is outraged, the Pharisees would have felt his outrage. Jesus has a lesson for them too. Just because they didn’t start the conflict doesn’t mean they’re innocent.
His sin is hidden. The older’s brother’s role in the conflict isn’t obvious. But through the course of the story, we see him sin against both his younger brother and his father.
Sin #1: The older brother sins against the younger brother by not going after him. In the first parable Jesus tells, a sheep gets lost and the shepherd goes and rescues the lost sheep. In the second parable, a woman loses a silver coin and she searches carefully until she finds it. But in the parable of the lost son, no one searches for the younger brother. No one goes to find him. That job belonged to the oldest brother.
When the youngest left home, the oldest should have followed him. When the youngest was wasting his money, the oldest should have been there to tell him to stop. When he fell into poverty, the oldest should have been there to pick him up. He should have brought him home, thrown a party, and sacrificed a calf all at his own expense. He should have clothed his brother with his own robe, his own ring, and his own sandals, but just like the Pharisees refused to help the sinners, so the older brother refuses to help his younger brother.
The younger brother’s sin is a sin of commission, which means “doing something bad.” But the older brother’s sin is a sin of omission, which means “refusing to do something good” (James 4:17). How many of us are quick to point out what others have done wrong but ignore what we could have done right? Instead of throwing up our hands and watching the slow-motion collision of family members, we could have stepped in. Instead of confronting the one in the wrong through email, text message, or emojis, we could have called or visited. Instead of complaining, we could have prayed. The older brother’s first sin is that of omission, but it leads to the sin of commission.
Sin #2: The older brother sins against his father by publicly shaming him. When he got home from working in the fields, instead of going into the party to rejoice with his father, he throws a fit outside. The older brother turns into a scary green ogre like Shrek. He’s mad and wants everyone to know it. When his father comes outside to talk to him, the older brother doesn’t address him as his father, but says, “Look!” It’s like he’s saying, “Hey you!” He’s shaming the patriarch of the family, maybe even in front of the whole town if they followed him out.
Keller points out both the younger and the older son want the same thing. They want their father’s things, but not the father. What matters most to the older son is a goat and a party, not his family (v. 29). He wants his father’s livelihood just as much as the younger son, but instead of admitting it and getting what he wants, he harbors resentment and works every day to acquire his father’s things. He wants to party and live it up. He wants the good-life now, he’s just chosen a different way of getting it.
Just because we don’t start the conflict doesn’t mean we’re innocent. God examines not only our actions, but our hearts. If we closely at the older son’s heart, he’s also dishonest and selfish. When we look at our own hearts, what do we see there? Do we want our prodigal family member to come home, or are we jealous of their freedom? Do we need an apology, or do we just want to be right? Do we want peace, or do we actually crave the drama? Maybe we don’t like how they act, but it makes us feel better than them.
Jesus doesn’t just confront the sin of the one in the wrong, but also the sin of the one in the right. Both need the father’s forgiveness for their sins, one for open rebellion, the other for self-righteousness.
The father offers forgiveness and peace. Just like the father ran to the younger son, now the father comes out to the older son, and says, “My son.” The word here is really “child” (τέκνον), a term of love and endearment. He says, “My child, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” Now do you think he means, you’re always geographically close to me? No, he’s saying, “Just like I’ve been thinking about your brother every moment of every day until he came home, I’ve been thinking about you. All I have is yours, my livelihood, my very life, it’s yours.” (v. 31)
When the father invites him into the party, he’s extending forgiveness and peace. Peace is not the absence of conflict, but a relationship with God. We find peace with God through repentance—through turning away from sin and coming home. Jesus invites the ones in the right to come home too. It’s only by admitting our sins and accepting his invitation that we experience the healing we also need. We need to get right with God before we can get right with each other. The father offers forgiveness and peace.
We don’t know how his story ends. Jesus doesn’t tell us how the older son’s story ends because it’s a Choose Your Own Adventure. Did you ever read those children’s books? You the reader are the star of the story. You’re in the pages. For example, you encounter a mysterious castle. Do you cross the drawbridge or try to find another way in? One choice may lead to rescuing the damsel in distress and the other to being eaten by a dragon. The goal is to rescue the damsel, kill the dragon, and take the treasure through the choices you make. Yesterday Jesus asked the Pharisees how their stories were going to end, and today he’s asking you. How will your story end?
Path A: Leave here unchanged. Continue through life believing the conflicts you encounter are the fault of others—the ones in the wrong. If you choose this option, you’ll never have to grow up, or face any of your sins. But if you do choose this path, you’ll never find home.
Path B: Repent and come home. Recognize your sins, your role in the conflict, whether it’s outward and obvious or inward and hidden, and confess them to your heavenly father. The father is just waiting for us, to throw himself on our necks and clothe us with heavenly garments, to say, “My child, welcome home.”
How will your story end this Easter? Even as Jesus tells this parable, he whispers another story. It’s through this other story that we can have a relationship with our heavenly father. Twice the father exclaims, “My son who died has come back to life again! Your brother who died has come back to life again!” (v. 24, 32) When someone dies and rises again, we call that resurrection, and that’s what Easter is all about. It’s because of Jesus we can know the father.
In the right or in the wrong, we find our peace in Jesus. The Easter resurrection is what makes forgiveness for sins and a relationship with the father possible. Easter makes peace possible. Because of what Jesus did, we can know the father. Jesus left the glories and riches of his home to come rescue prodigal younger brothers and sisters and self-righteous older brothers and sisters. Whether you’re a sinner who knows it or a sinner who doesn’t, Jesus came to bring us home to God. He’s the older brother we all need. He’s the older brother who spared no expense to rescue us.
Jesus was stripped of his robes and so that you and I can be clothed in righteousness. Jesus was covered in our dirt, our smell, our sins so that we are made clean. He was nailed to a tree to deliver us from the land of sin and death. He loved us so much he was willing to die in our places. You can know Jesus as your savior brother, your resurrection brother, your true older brother if you repent and put your faith in him. If you do, he promises to walk with you through every conflict. Because of him, one day our heavenly father will wrap his arms around us and say, “Welcome home child.” In the right or in the wrong, we find our peace in Jesus.
My brother Matthew asked me to serve as the best man at his wedding. I got to toast the one I grew up arguing with because Jesus changed our hearts. In the right or in the wrong, we find our peace in Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church on Easter weekend 2017. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Jack works for a local telecommunications company. He tells his friends he loves his job, his company, and his boss. But if you were to follow Jack for a week, you would notice something is off. On average, he arrives 15 minutes late to work and leaves 15 minutes early. Sometimes he takes office supplies home, like when he needs a pen or highlighter. When he sits at his desk, he has one screen on his work, and one screen
Jack works for a local telecommunications company. He tells his friends he loves his job, his company, and his boss. But if you were to follow Jack for a week, you would notice something is off. On average, he arrives 15 minutes late to work and leaves 15 minutes early. Sometimes he takes office supplies home, like when he needs a pen or highlighter. When he sits at his desk, he has one screen on his work, and one screen open to Facebook and Sports Center. He takes an extra long lunch break, and never steps outside of his cubicle just to say hi to his coworkers. If you were to ask him if he likes his job, he would say, “Absolutely, wouldn’t trade it for the world,” but secretly, he’s following all of the job boards.
The story of Jack is a parable, it’s an analogy for our relationship with God. Let me tell you the story again. Jack is a Christian. If you were to talk to Jack after church, he would say he loves church, Jesus, and God. But if you were to follow Jack for a week, you would notice something is off. On average, he doesn’t pray and his Bible is collecting dust—someone has written “read me” on its cover. He calls the church he attends his church, but he only goes if something else doesn’t pop up. And when he does attend, he’s an audience member, not a participant. He doesn’t have any friends there, and doesn’t volunteer or join a small group. If you were to ask Jack if he loves God, he would say, “Absolutely!” But does he really?
Jack has a problem. His words tell one story, “I love God” but his actions tell a different story, “other things are more important to me than God.” The problem Jack has is called… idolatry. Idolatry is “anything we put above God.” It’s anytime we put God second. When you think of idolatry, your first response is to probably think, “That doesn’t apply to me.” I don’t burn incense to a figurine. I don’t give offerings in temples. Idolatry is expressed those ways in many cultures, but at its core, idolatry is putting me first.
Some of you may remember my sermon on The Ten Commandments from a few weeks ago. I taught you how to remember all ten commandments. Do you recall how to remember the first commandment, you shall have no other gods before me? You point your pointer finger into the sky and remember to put God first and that there are no other Gods but the one true God. Do you remember the second commandment? You remember it with the number 2 and how a two looks like a bowing person or a tiny idol. The second commandment is, you shall not make for yourself an image. An image is an idol.
The first two commandments God gave the Israelites in Exodus 20 are no God but me and no idols. By Exodus 32, the Israelites have already broken both commandments when they worship the golden calf. Today I want to address the problem of idolatry with three questions: 1) Why do we commit idolatry? 2) What are the consequences of idolatry? And 3) How can we overcome and have hope?
1) Why do we commit idolatry? (Ex 32:1-9) Why do the Israelites put God second? Think of everything God has done for them. He delivered all two million of them from slavery in Egypt through ten supernatural plagues. Then he lead them to the Red Sea where the people thought they would perish, and supernaturally delivers them by parting the waters and they walk across on dry land. Then God delivers them from dehydration and starvation in the wilderness by providing water and manna from heaven.
But if that isn’t enough, God says the Israelites will be his people and he will be their God (Ex 6:7). God and Israel will have a special relationship no other nation has. Throughout the Old Testament God compares their relationship to a marriage. God is their husband and they are his wife. God says, “Here’s a list of expectations you need to follow to be in relationship with me, the ten commandments and the law.” And in Exodus 24 the Israelites say, “We agree.” These are their wedding vows. In fact, in Exodus 24, the leaders of Israel and God have a type of wedding feast to celebrate this new relationship (Ex 24:9-11). It’s a special covenant relationship. A covenant is a promise where God is involved. God and Israel are married.
At the end of the feast, God calls Moses up mount Sinai to receive the law written on tablets. Moses is up there for 40 days, and it’s during this time, literally right after Israel’s wedding to God, that Israel cheats on God with a golden calf. Can you imagine that happening at a wedding you attend? A man and woman get married, celebrate the party, then one of them cheats on the Honeymoon. It’s terrible, but this is what Israel does. But it’s also what we do if we call ourselves Christian but don’t put God first in our lives.
We commit idolatry because of spiritual adultery. (v. 2,6) The Israelites come to Aaron, the chief priest, and say, “Moses seems to not be coming back, make us gods we can see and worship.” (v. 1) So what does Aaron do? He says, “Take off the wedding gifts God gave you and we’ll use them to pay for your spiritual adultery.” Do you remember where the Israelites got the gold rings? They were slaves in Egypt for 400 years. They didn’t buy them. God gave them to them as a gift as they left Egypt when they plundered the Egyptians (Ex 3:22). The Israelites are taking a sign of God’s love for them, their wedding gifts they’re supposed to use for the tabernacle, melting them down, and making them into an idol. This is like pawning your wedding ring to pay for your affair.
Then the Israelites consummate their new relationship with this foreign god. Verse 6 says, “the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” The word for “play” here implies sexual misconduct. They got drunk and they slept around. They demonstrated their spiritual adultery with physical adultery.
Christians can also commit idolatry through spiritual adultery, by not prioritizing God in our lives. How can we know if this is the case? I’ve brought a true or false quiz, a self assessment.
True or False. I always trust God, no matter what’s going on in my life. The Israelites stop trusting God because they can’t see what he’s doing. But we never make that mistake, right? True or False. I never try and make God do the things I want. The Israelites turned God into a golden calf so they could control him and tell him what to do. But we never do that, right? True or False. I worship the God revealed in the Bible, not the God I imagine him to be. Israel created their dream God, and that made it a lot easier to believe. But we never do that, right? True or False. I always put God first, even when it’s inconvenient. God brought Israel into the desert and abandoned them, so they try a more convenient way. But we wouldn’t do that, right?
To pass this quiz, you have to get all four answers true. I didn’t pass this quiz. I got a big fat “F.” I failed. There are days I pass the test, but I never always pass the test. When Israel fails, the results are disastrous.
2) What are the consequences of idolatry? (Ex 32:10, 15-20, 25-29, 35) Do you remember how Jesus summarizes the Old Testament law? The law can be summarized as “loving God” and “loving neighbor” (Matt 22:37-40). So if the Israelites have already broken the first two commandments, this sin will produce a result that is counter to loving God and loving neighbor.
Spiritual Ruin (v. 10, 15-20, 35) Idolatry leads to spiritual ruin. We see this theme appear several ways in the story.
First, when Israel makes this golden calf and worships it, God is so angry he threatens to destroy them (v. 10). They are at spiritual odds with God. Idolatry leads to separation from God’s love, which is what spiritual ruin is.
Second, when Moses comes down the mountain, he throws the tablets that have the law written on them on the ground, breaking them. He’s illustrating the Israelites have broken their wedding vows, their covenant relationship with God. They’re not acting like God’s wife, but his enemy.
Third, Moses takes the golden calf, grinds it up, pours it in water, and makes them drink it. Moses literally wants the golden calf to pass through their digestive system so that they can see what their religion looks like at the end of the day. That’s a bit gross, but it’s true.
Spiritual ruin only leads one place, destruction. God promises that he is one day going to judge everyone who commits idolatry. Colossians 3:5-6 says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.” (NIV®) God is warning us today that any who choose to live lives of idolatry, of cheating spiritually on God, of putting the things of this life before him, will one day face final and unchangeable destruction by God. That’s God’s wrath. Idolatry leads to spiritual ruin.
Relational Ruin (v. 25-29) Idolatry leads to relational ruin. We see the relational ruin that comes upon the Israelites because they don’t love God first. Moses calls out, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me” (v. 26) and the Levites gather around him. The levites are the priestly tribe, the ones who will serve God in the tabernacle. Moses tells them to take their swords and kill a brother, a friend, and a neighbor (v. 27). They kill these people they love, and three thousand men die (v. 28). Moses is demonstrating the ruin spiritual adultery has on not just an individual’s soul, but on a whole community.
We experience the affects of idolatry every day. Our culture’s dream is to acquire as much wealth, success, and power as possible, not a relationship with the God who can satisfy our souls. That’s greed, and it’s lead to both the oppression of the poor and the unhappiness of those who have it all. Our culture says to put self first. When we put our needs and wants first, those inevitably end up in conflict with someone else’s needs and wants. Next week we’re starting a new series called Conflict & Peacemaking. One author on this topic says, conflict is always caused by idolatry, by putting my desires before what God wants.
If we’re not loving God first, we’re putting someone or something in his place, and no matter how good that someone or something is, they’ll eventually let us down. When we choose to have a relationship with someone in a way that we know doesn’t please God, we’re now idolizing that person. We’re saying, “That person can make me happy more than the God who created me.” It won’t work. No matter how much Monica wants me to be perfect, I never will be. No matter how much I want Monica to be perfect, she always will be. What enables us to love others the way they need to be loved, is by loving God first.
Idolatry leads to spiritual and relational ruin. Are you feeling a little down or depressed? I’ve just said we all commit idolatry and the consequence of it is destruction. This means we’re all in trouble, but there’s hope.
3) How can we overcome and have hope? (Ex 32:11-14, 21-24, 30-34) Exodus 32 comes just a couple chapters after we learned about the priesthood. A priest is a mediator who intercedes. A mediator is defined as “Someone who brings two enemies together and makes it possible for them to be friends again.” In the documentary As We Forgive, which we watched last night as a church, a mediator brings together the Hutu perpetrator with the daughter of one of his Tutsi victims to find forgiveness and healing. A mediator may also intercede, which is “to speak on someone else’s behalf.” Right after the people sin, Moses intercedes as a mediator for them to God. They’ve cheated on God and the consequence is destruction, but Moses asks for mercy, and in so doing, shows us the solution to idolatry.
Remember God’s faithfulness. (v. 11-14) Remember who he is. Moses cries out to God, arguing that God brought the Israelites out of Egypt for a reason. He brought them out to to show his “great power” over the false gods of Egypt (Ex 12:12, 32:11). If he destroys the Israelites, all that means nothing. The foreign nations, who Israel is supposed to be a light to, will say not that the God of the Israelites is good, but that he is evil (Ex 19:6). And he will have forsaken his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to make their descendants a numerous people, and through them to bring salvation to the world (Gen 12:1-3). Moses reminds himself and God of God’s faithfulness.
When we’re tempted to put things, people, or experiences above God, remember God is good and he cares for us. Even if he seems to have abandoned us, he hasn’t. Chris has a great line he shared at the preaching breakfast this week, “When you can’t see God’s hand, trust his heart.” When he’s asking us to give up something that’s really precious, like a relationship that doesn’t honor him, or a sin habit that we know isn’t healthy, he promises to give us something far better in return, himself. Remember God’s faithfulness.
Worship God for who He is. (v. 21) The solution to idolatry is worshipping God. But we don’t worship the God of our imaginations, but the good but hard God of the Bible. Aaron actually says the golden calf is “Yahweh” (v. 5). He tries to turn the true God into a lifeless God who can’t harm anyone or do anything. That’s what we do when we ignore the tough teachings of the Bible, or say we don’t agree with them.
If you’re really wrestling with a hard truth found in Scripture, like God’s design for marriage to only be between a man or woman, or that Christianity claims to be the only way to God, then I want to challenge you to draw near to God by studying his words. God doesn’t mind us wrestling with him and wrestling with the hard truths of Scripture; but he does mind it when we try to change who he is into something he’s not. Monica was the featured speaker at her high-school’s fundraising gala on Thursday night. Her main point was that her school is a place where students can safely wrestle openly and honestly with the Scriptures and who God is. I want Cornerstone to be known for the exact same thing. Worship God for who he is.
Ownership of sin. (v. 22-24) We remember who we are. How does Aaron respond when Moses confronts him? He blames Moses, “Don’t get mad. This isn’t a big deal.” He blames the Israelites, “These people are evil.” And he blames the golden calf, “I threw gold into the fire, and out came this calf!” Aaron is the high priest who is supposed to be the first to ask God for forgiveness, but instead he blames others. He’s not interceding, he’s not mediating. He’s running away from the problem. If we want to overcome our idols, we have to admit we have idols.
Out of our repentance can come a deeper, truer, realer faith. When I was a teenager, I believed in God, but I didn’t put him first. I disobeyed God with alcohol and pornography, which is not so different from the partiers at Mount Sinai. It wasn’t until I confessed my sins to my parents that I was finally set free. But it was out of this moment, one of the darkest moments in my life, that faith sprang up. Acts 3:19-20a says, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…” (ESV) I don’t know what it is about repentance. When we hold onto our idols, it’s like we’re crouched over them tight. But when we let go, it’s like we burst forth, growing in leaps and bounds because we’ve been waiting to grow for so long.
To overcome our idols, we remember God’s faithfulness, worship God for who he is, take ownership of our sins, and finally, what we need the most, a savior.
A substitute Savior. (30-34) We need a substitute Savior. Moses, at the end of our story, does something beautiful. Exodus 32:30 says, “The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”” (NIV®)Atoning is defined as “providing a way of coming back into friendship with someone.” Moses not only mediates, and intercedes, he also wants to try to atone for their sins. He wants to pay God back for the wrong they’ve done.
How does Moses try to atone for their sins? Exodus 32:32 says, “But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”” (NIV®) In other words, “God, forgive them at the cost of my own soul. I’m willing to perish if you’ll save these people.” Moses offers to take their place as a substitute. Moses loves his people. He is a good mediator, but honestly, he’s not good enough. He’s a sinner. You can only pay for the sins of others if you don’t have any sin. So God turns Moses down.
Moses is showing the solution to all of our idolatry. Since none of us are perfect, all of us will commit spiritual adultery on God in our lives, we need a substitute savior. We need someone to have their name blotted out so that our names won’t be. That person has to be perfect. That person is Jesus.
When Jesus goes to the cross, he takes the spiritual and relational ruin we deserve. When Jesus is hanging on the cross he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46) Usually Jesus calls God his Father, but here we see the Father forsaking the Son, which is a turning away, an abandonment. Jesus was abandoned by the Father so we never are. The sword fell on Jesus so it doesn’t fall on us (Acts 2:41). Jesus consumes our idols so they don’t consume us. Jesus’ name is blotted out so that our names are written in permanent ink. Because God’s wrath fell on Christ, we live (1 Thess 1:9-10). We need a substitute savior.
Lay down your idols at the foot of the cross. I want to tell you the story of Jack one more time. Jack realizes he’s been living a lie. He says he loves God but he doesn’t live that way. And so he goes home, finds a place where he can pray by himself, he gets down on his knees, and he confesses. He confesses his complete failure to love God first, and how that shows up in him never praying, reading his Bible, and his spotty church attendance. He confesses that he hasn’t loved his neighbor well either, that all in all, he’s failed to put Jesus Christ above all else.
But his prayer doesn’t stop there. See, then Jack confesses the complete success of Christ to put the Father first, to pray, the complete success of Christ to read the Scriptures, the complete success of Christ to love his bride, the church, how he died for her sins on the cross and then rose in victory over the grave. Jack is remembering God’s faithfulness and he is worshipping God for who he has revealed himself to be through Jesus Christ. Then Jack thanks Christ for being his substitute, for saving him.
Jack is laying down his idols at the foot of the cross. Then Jack asks God to help him live like Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. He asks God to crucify his idols day by day and put God first in his life, even when it’s hard. Jack has confessed his idols, confessed the victory of Christ, and asked God to help him. And when Jack leaves that room, he leaves it refreshed. Lay down your idols at the foot of the cross.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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Something I’ve learned from living near Boston is that we love people from here. We take immense pride in claiming our native Bostonians. If you think this is a recent phenomenon, it’s not. Boston Magazine calls “John and Abigail Adams “Boston’s original power couple.” Closer by, the locals in Concord remind everyone Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of them. The Kennedys, John and Ted, they’re Beacon Hill royalty. Robert Frost grew up in Lawrence. Conan O’Brien, a tall red-headed comedian
Something I’ve learned from living near Boston is that we love people from here. We take immense pride in claiming our native Bostonians. If you think this is a recent phenomenon, it’s not. Boston Magazine calls “John and Abigail Adams “Boston’s original power couple.” Closer by, the locals in Concord remind everyone Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of them. The Kennedys, John and Ted, they’re Beacon Hill royalty. Robert Frost grew up in Lawrence. Conan O’Brien, a tall red-headed comedian on late night, is from Brookline. Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler is from here, but we try to forget that…
In a video about this phenomenon a guy from Revere jokingly lists his top 5 favorite actors; “Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Mark Wahlberg, Casey Affleck… Donny Wahlberg.” And if you ask anyone who the greatest quarterback of all time is they will all agree it’s Peyton Manning… Just kidding, Tom Brady. Goat!
Almost to a fault, we claim these people as our own. We ignore things like deflate-gate because, “They’re one of us.” Intentionally, or unintentionally, because of this, these people come to represent us. When people think of Boston, they think of Brady, Kennedy, Wahlberg, Affleck, and Damon. They wear our name with pride so we bear their name with pride.
It’s not so different for the people of Israel. They’re the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God renamed Jacob to Israel. That’s why they’re called the Israelites. Jacob had twelve sons and those twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel, which are now camped at Mount Sinai to hear from God. At Sinai, God gives them another type of representative, not a geopolitical representative, but a spiritual representative. He will represent the people before God. This is the high priest.
The High Priest bears the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. (Ex 28:1-21) In Exodus 28, God describes what the new Israelite priests should wear. What starts out as a seemingly boring chapter on fashion, tells us how people can have a relationship with God through the high priest. The high priest intercedes for the people to God. To intercede is “to speak on someone else’s behalf.” He does this by clothing himself in holy garments, offering sacrifice, and entering into God’s holy presence.
A Holy Outfit Verse 2 tells us the garments the high priest wears are “sacred” or “holy”. He wears these garments so he can enter into the tabernacle, which has a holy place and a most holy place inside. The most holy place is where God presence resides over the ark. In order to go inside, the high priest needs to be symbolically clothed with holiness. And so every piece of the garment is designed for this purpose:
Underneath it all the priests wear linen undergarments (underwear). Foreign cults worshipped their gods with nakedness, but God expects a different kind of worship (Ex 20:26, 28:42). Over this they wear a checkered linen tunic (think argyle-ish) and an embroidered sash made of blue, purple, and scarlet needlework yarn, which matches the tabernacle’s curtains (Ex 26:1, 28:39, 39:29). For the priest to work in the tabernacle, he needs to reflect the tabernacle’s design. Most priests wear the undergarments, tunic, sash, and a cap (Ex 29:3-9), but only the high priest wears a blue robe (Ex 29:31). Later blue is used to symbolize God’s commandments (Num 15:37-40). The blue connects obedience and holiness, they go together. Woven in the robe’s hem are yarn pomegranates and gold bells (Ex 28:33). King Solomon decorates the temple with 400 pomegranates (1 Kg 7:42), reminding us of original holiness in Eden. Just like you know fundraising is taking place when you hear the bellringers at Christmas, when they heard the high priest’s bells jingling, they knew worship of God was taking place, and to be reverent. The high priest wears an ephod, which is a gold, blue, purple, and scarlet apron (Ex 28:6). On his shoulders are two black onyx stones (Ex 28:9), inscribed with the names of the tribes to be a “memorial before the Lord” (Ex 28:12). He bears their names because he represents them to God. On the ephod, the high priest wears a square gold breastpiece. It holds four rows of three stones, 12 total. On each stone is engraved the name of one of the twelve tribes (Ex 28:21). Row #1 carnelian, chrysolite, beryl. Row #2 turquoise, lapis lazuli, emerald. Row #3 jacinth, agate amethyst. Row #4 topaz, onyx, jasper. These stones also demonstrate the role of the high priest to represent the people. Inside this breastpeace, he carries the Urim and Thummim,which we don’t know exactly what they are, perhaps parchment or white and black stone used for discerning God’s will for the tribes. Finally, the priest wears a linen turban with a gold plate, on which is engraved “HOLY TO THE LORD.” (Ex 28:36) The high priest’s garments literally call out God’s holiness. Notice there are no sandals, recalling Moses’s first encounter with God at the burning bush he took off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground (Ex 3:5).
Each part of the priest’s garments show God cares how we worship him and that we must approach him in holiness. Just like surgeons and nurses follow a certain procedure to sterilize themselves before entering the operating room, the priests have to prepare themselves before entering God’s room. But God isn’t interested in just what the priests look like on the outside, he cares about what they look like on the inside.
Personally The high priests is to represent the Israelites personally. He bears their names twice, on his shoulders and chest. We carry something on our shoulders in a backpack or shoulder bag because it’s heavy. There’s a weightiness to presenting the Israelites before God in the holy of holies. He’s coming before the throne.
You carry something on your chest, near your heart, if you care about it, right? This is where we store lockets with pictures of loved ones or necklaces that they’ve given us. Exodus 28:29 says, “Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord.” (NIV®) This job requires strength, but also heart.
Pastor and author Murray Capill writes, “In Hebraic thought, the heart is the core of our entire being. It is the center and soul of who we are, comprising the seat of all our thoughts, feelings, and actions. The heart is the real us.” God wants the High Priest to not just represent the Israelites with the right actions, but out of a real love and compassion for the people he serves. The heart needs to motivate the task. It’s personal.
As a teacher, Monica get’s to have parent teacher conferences with the parents of her students. When these parents come in, they don’t come in representing someone they don’t care about. They come in representing their children. They feel the burden of seeing them succeed, and they also want what’s best for their children because they love them. That’s the kind of representative the high priest is supposed to be. A personal one.
Sacrificially The high priests is to represent the Israelites sacrificially. Chapter 29 describes the sacrifices Moses has to make to consecrate the priests so they can serve God. He sacrifices a young bull and two rams, putting their blood on the right ear lobe, thumb, and big toe of Aaron and his son (Ex 29:20). For the next seven days the keep sacrificing bulls and then ever morning and evening going forward they’re to sacrifice a year-old lamb in the morning and the evening (Ex 29:35-43). It’s costly to represent the people to God.
But then the sacrifice get’s personal. The turban says, “HOLY TO THE LORD”, but this holiness comes at a cost. Exodus 28:38a says, “It will be on Aaron’s forehead, and he will bear the guilt involved in the sacred gifts the Israelites consecrate, whatever their gifts may be…” (NIV®) Being a priest isn’t a sinless job. Just by serving in the sanctuary, he’s going to incur guilt (Lev 22:16, Num 18:1).
To put out a fire, firefighters have to get near to the flames, and sometimes they get burned. It wasn’t a great job being the high priest, because you’re dealing with people’s sins all the time. Sin is like a burning flame that can spread. But just like firefighters take that risk everyday, so the high priest did too. The high priest personally and sacrificially bore the names of the twelve tribes of Israel before God.
But this isn’t a good long term solution, because as many fires as the high priests put out, they are going to start more. Sacrificing an animal just doesn’t put out the flame of human sin. The Israelites, and all people, you and me included, need a better high priest. This is why God sent us Jesus.
Jesus bears your name into God’s presence. When Jesus came into this world, he worked as a carpenter then taught as a Rabbi, but he also came to become our final high priest. Hebrews 8:1b-2 says, “We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.” (NIV®). After Jesus died and rose again, he ascended into heaven and sat down in heaven’s throne room, in God’s sanctuary, at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 1:9, 7:55-56). Just like the high priest interceded for the Israelites, Jesus intercedes for us (Heb 7:25-26).
Personally Jesus represents us personally. If you’ve confessed your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Jesus now represents you in heaven. This is why you’ll get to spend eternity in heaven. Christ has struck a deal with his Father for you. Jesus bears your name into God’s presence.
In Revelation there’s a vision of the very foundations of heaven. The foundations are made almost entirely of the same stones as those on the priest’s breastpiece: jasper, sapphire, agate, emerald, onyx, ruby, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, turquoise, jacinth, and amethyst (Rev 21:19-21. Cf. 2:16, 21:14). Heaven bears your name. At the very core of Jesus’ being, at his heart, in the very essence of God, is a love for his people. Your name is on Jesus’ heart. That means your name is on God’s heart. Jesus represents us personally in God’s very being.
I want you to imagine with me that you get tickets to the first game of the upcoming Patriot’s season. Tom Brady is playing for the first time with five Superbowl wins. Everyone is excited, they’re pumped, they’re just waiting for Brady to come running out with the team. The stands are roaring, people are on their feat, and out runs Tom Brady. The jumbotron zooms in on the greatest quarterback of all time; and that’s when you see Tom Brady is wearing the wrong jersey. Right above number 12 it doesn’t say “Brady”—it says… your name. Can you imagine if Tom Brady bore your name? Jesus bears your name on his heart. He’s not a quarterback. He’s the high king of heaven. Jesus, the Son of God, represents us personally.
Sacrificially Jesus represents us sacrificially. 1 Peter 2:24 says, ““He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”” (NIV®) Jesus bears our sins in his own body and blood. I hear Tom Brady’s jersey is worth about $500,000. You’re worth much more than that to God. You’re worth the life of his Son.
Through the cross, Jesus is our sacrificial substitute. He bears our guilt and we bear his holiness. He bears our sinned-stained names and we bear his holy name. Christ is judged as a sinner and sinners are judged as Christ. We’re not called sinners anymore, but Christians. This holiness isn’t symbolic like it was for the high priest, it’s real, it’s true. On my worst day, when I play my worst game ever, when I sin and hurt others, God counts Jesus’ day as my day. If you were playing a round of tag football, you’d want Tom Brady to play quarterback for you, wouldn’t you? Jesus plays quarterback for us. He wins the game, and we get the credit. It’s like Brady gives us his Superbowl rings, and his jersey, and we ride with him in the parade and the confetti. But we don’t ride with Brady, we ride with Jesus, the one who sits at God’s right hand.
You know what the benefits of this are? Because Jesus bears your name, you can approach God anytime you want. When you feel dirty and sinful, Jesus bears your name. When you feel hopeless and depressed, Jesus bears your name. When your parent or friend dies, Jesus bears your name. When you’re struggling financially, Jesus bears your name. When you’re afraid of being homeless, Jesus bears your name. When you’re asking God the hard questions, Jesus bears your name. When you need to ask God forgiveness, Jesus bears your name. When you’re angry with your husband, wife, or child, Jesus bears your name. When you’re going through an ugly divorce, Jesus bears your name. When you’re struggling with sexual temptation, Jesus bears your name. When you you don’t know who you are or what you should do with your life, Jesus bears your name. No matter what you’re going through, good or bad, Jesus bears your name. Jesus bears your name. Jesus bears your name. Jesus bears your name.
If you don’t know Jesus yet, I invite you to confess your sins and believe in Jesus. If you do, you can know Jesus is bearing your name right now before God in heaven. This is the gospel. But the gospel always calls for a response, first belief, then action. Remember how Exodus 19:6 calls the Israelites a “kingdom of priests”? They were called to represent God to the nations. As Christians, we represent Christ (Eph 5:12).
Whose name do you bear? As Christians, we bear the name of Christ. If Jesus is our high priest, we serve as mini-priests. We represent Christ to the world and the world to Christ. We’re called to pray and to intercede for others.
Personally We represent others personally. Whose name are you bringing before the throne? Are you bearing your child’s name? Your mom’s? Your dad’s? Your brother’s or sister’s? Your boss’s name? Your coworker? Those people in office, your government? Are you praying for them? Are you bearing their name before the throne?
At Cornerstone, one of the ways we do ministry is as a “Priesthood of All Believers.” This means all of us bear Christ’s name in our ministries here at church and to our Westford community. If you’re not actively bearing the name of Christ here at Cornerstone, it’s time to signup and serve. Join a ministry. But what about bearing Christ in Westford? I want to encourage you to make a list of ten people who don’t know Jesus, who you can bear their names before God. We call this our Top Ten Most Wanted. Please bear their names before Jesus at least once a week, and pray for God to stir their hearts. We represent others personally.
Sacrificially We represent others sacrificially. It’s a sacrifice to bring others before God, but one God is calling us to make. This Easter, sacrifice a bit of your time before bed or on your ride to work in the morning. Instead of watching Netflix or listening to sports radio, pray through your Top Ten Most Wanted. If you didn’t participate in the frontline ministry weekend, sacrifice an evening on your calendar to invite a neighbor, coworker, friend, or family member over for dinner, just to get the opportunity to get to know them better, and hopefully share a little about Jesus. Sacrifice this Friday night and bring a friend to As We Forgive. Think of someone who doesn’t normally go to church, and sacrifice a bit of your pride to invite them to our Big Day on Easter weekend. A Big Day is a special service geared to newcomers where we all introduce ourselves and I kick off a new, easy to understand, sermon series (Conflict & Peacemaking). It’s a great time to invite a friend. I know it’s hard, sacrifices always are. So why do we do this?
Jesus bears your name. I’m not much of a sports fan, but I love watching the Olympics. Last summer Brazil hosted the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Did you know we had an Olympian from Massachusetts? Aly Raisman is a gymnast who was raised in Needham and attended Needham High School. She did so well she won the silver medal on the women’s floor exercise, the individual all-around, and was part of the women’s team who won gold. Isn’t it great when someone represents the athletic ability we all have in Massachusetts?
Her success came at a personal and sacrificial cost. She’s been doing gymnastics since she was two, has been injured, and has dedicated thousands of hours of her life to this sport. Leading up to the Olympics she trained four hours in the morning and two and a half in the afternoon. She only ate veggies, lean meats, and whole grains, no processed foods, a huge sacrifice.
Because of this personal sacrifice, she represented us at the Olympics. When she stumbled, we stumbled. When she did a double backflip, we did a double back flip. When she won gold, we won gold. When she stepped up onto the Olympic podium, we stepped up. Her victory became our victory. She represented us.
When Aly Raisman represents us, she may slip and fall, but Jesus never will. When he died on the cross, we died. When he rose, we rose. When he ascended, we ascended. When he sits next to the Father in heaven, we do too. His victory is our victory. He represents us. Jesus bears your name.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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When Pastor Jonathan asked me to preach on this section of scripture, I said, “no.” This section of scripture is where when I first decided to read through the Bible that I stopped reading. I knew that in order to preach on this I would have to start in the garden of Eden, forward to the tabernacle, then to the temple and then forward to Jesus and then point to the end of time. I would also have to study
When Pastor Jonathan asked me to preach on this section of scripture, I said, “no.” This section of scripture is where when I first decided to read through the Bible that I stopped reading. I knew that in order to preach on this I would have to start in the garden of Eden, forward to the tabernacle, then to the temple and then forward to Jesus and then point to the end of time.
I would also have to study each of the things in the tabernacle. But, Jonathan asked me 3 times and so I agreed. But, I had no idea how I would preach on these verses. So, I did like I usually do and I prayed. I have learned that if I ask God for direction that I can depend on Him to guide me. I know that God is with me and that God is also with you.
As I began to pray God brought to my mind: I grew up on a small chicken farm in Dracut and at the age of eight my parents separated and we had to move to the city. I was lost there and so when I was old enough I bought a house in Chelmsford and I set out to recreate my home in Dracut. I planted apple and pear trees, grape vines and from time to time we had chickens. Many times I thought of putting in a well even though we have town water.
When I agreed to preach on this section of scripture Pastor Jonathan let me borrow a book on Exodus that he has been using. The chapter on the tabernacle began like this. Are you a wonderer or a nester? Everyone is either looking for home or trying to create a home. Knowing that God is with me makes my work so much easier. My hope today is that you will begin to understand that God is with you too. My hope is that you will learn to trust God for everything!
Let’s pray; God I thank you that you are a God who desires to dwell with your people; a God that loves us and a God who is close by to guide us and direct us. I pray that you would open our minds and our hearts to you this evening. Amen.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth and He placed Adam and his new bride in a perfect place. It will be important in the sermon later on to remember that this place was perfect. This was a place of peace and a place where God walked with His people and dwelt close to them. When man sinned he was kicked out of the garden and life became hard. Adam was lost and there was a divide between him and God. But God had a plan. He would begin to recreate this perfect place and would find a way to bring man back. God watched man from a distance and never stopped loving him.
When God saw his people in slavery in Egypt and when they cried out to Him, He sent Moses to rescue them. God spoke to Moses and through Moses. And, God led the people out of Egypt to the promise land. This promise land was to be a taste of the new Eden. The tabernacle is one stop along the way back home for God’s people. All of the tabernacle and its furnishings were little symbols of what was lost in Eden and what was come in the new Eden at the end of time. Remember that in the beginning God created everything. But now man receives the instructions to build the tabernacle. Tabernacle means dwelling. God is going to dwell with man again; kinda. It wouldn’t be the same but God would be present with them. Everything had to be made from the finest materials and everything had to be precise. The tabernacle was mostly like a tent as the people of God were on the move. God would go where ever they went.
Let’s look at a few of the articles in the tabernacle. There was to be a lamp stand with buds and blossoms giving light and being a reminder of the tree of life in the garden. There would be a table for bread; a table is a place of fellowship with God. And bread is God’s provision. Then there would be the ark which was to be God’s footstool. Isaiah 66:1 says that Heaven is God throne and the earth is His footstool. God would still be in Heaven but his feet would be resting on earth with us. Later on in Jeremiah 3:16-17 we see that the city of Jerusalem would become God’s throne. God’s people were to place the tablets of testimony into the ark. We call these tablets the 10 commandments but they were more than that. They were God’s treaty with His people. There were two tablets and most people think that each had five commandments on them. But all of the commandments were on each tablet. This was a contract and there were two copies. This is important to know because God kept His copy in the ark right next to man’s copy. God kept His copy where He was dwelling with man. On top of the ark was to be a cover, a place of atonement. This cover was to be made of pure gold. It would show the people that God’s mercy was above His law. This cover was a sign that pointed to Jesus. As good as all of this was it was not home.
God and man still had a problem; that problem was sin. God was near and close to us but we the people were still on the outside. The cherubim on each side of the cover may have been there as a sign saying don’t come in. Just like the angel standing outside of Eden. But, there was an altar right out front for all to see. Man would have to make sacrifices for his sin. Man would be reminded over and over of his sin. Man would live with God in his midst but he would have the law as a constant reminder of how sinful he was.
Man would live in shame as the law would condemn him every day. As time went on God’s people would get to the promise land and at some point they would build a temple. This temple would me much like the tabernacle but more permanent. In the same way the people and the priest would have to make sacrifices daily for their sins. None of this was perfect in any way but it all pointed to the time when God would take the next step. God would send His Son Jesus to dwell among us. He would be Immanuel, God with us. He would be the one who would sit at the table and eat with sinners. He would be the one who would be the light of the world. He would be the one who would become the final sacrifice. He would cover our sins. He would make a new treaty with man. This would be a treaty of mercy and grace. A treaty that would save man and take away man’s shame. This treaty would be written on the hearts of man. And at Pentecost God’s holy spirit would be sent to dwell in us. So, we would have our copy of the law on our hearts and God’s copy living in us. For us as believer today God’s dwelling place is not in the tabernacle or in the temple; it is in us.
1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”
God is with us; not kinda, but fully. Do you realize that God can only dwell in a perfect place? For God to put His law in our hearts and to put His Holy Spirit in us we have to be perfect. This is possible because our sins are gone. Through the blood of Jesus we are made clean. You may not feel clean but if you are a believer God says that you are clean! You are the new tabernacle; you are where God dwells. And yet even with that we are not back home.
Looking forward, we need to read the words of Jesus from John 14:1-3, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so I would not have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you; I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
When Jesus spoke these words the people fully understood what He was saying.
In the time when a man got engaged, he would go back to his father’s house and build a new room for him and his bride to dwell. When he finished building the addition he would then go and get his bride and bring her home. God has a plan and His plan is to dwell with us for eternity. He was there with man in the Garden of Eden. He was there with man in Egypt and in the desert. He was there with man in the time of Jesus. And He is here with us now and will be with us forever.
So, what is the message for us today? Some of you may feel lost like I felt when I left the farm and had to move to the city. Some of you may be going through a time when you feel like a slave. Work is hard and little pay. You can’t see your way forward. Some of you may know that God is for you but you can’t see Him in your day by day affairs. You may feel alone. Some of you may even feel the weight of your sin. You know how bad you are and you may feel like God doesn’t want anything to do with you. Satan would like for you to believe that God is against you. He would like you to feel lost, alone, ashamed and condemned. I like what one preacher says, “When Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future.”
The message of the tabernacle is that God loves you! He desires to dwell with you every day and all the way. Just as God speaks to me and guides me, He will speak to you too. Learn to hear His voice. Learn to trust Him. He has a covering for your sin. And He has a place prepared for you to dwell with Him for eternity.
This sermon is by Rev. Bernie Michaud, a faithful attender of Cornerstone who also works as an interim pastor at churches throughout New England.
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I like to play games. Tomorrow night I’m having some friends over to play boardgames. One of my favorites is called Balderdash. It’s a game where one person looks up an unknown, strange, word in the dictionary, writes down the correct definition, and everyone else makes up a definition for the word as well. Then everyone tries to guess the correct definition. We actually own an official version of balderdash, which includes five different categories, one of which is “laughable
I like to play games. Tomorrow night I’m having some friends over to play boardgames. One of my favorites is called Balderdash. It’s a game where one person looks up an unknown, strange, word in the dictionary, writes down the correct definition, and everyone else makes up a definition for the word as well. Then everyone tries to guess the correct definition.
We actually own an official version of balderdash, which includes five different categories, one of which is “laughable laws.” I’m going to give you three examples of the laws.
“In Sweden, it is against the law to try and train your… (now you try to think of what the answer might be…) The correct answer is, “In Sweden, it is against the law to try and train your pet seal to do tricks.” “In West Virginia, it is unlawful for any clergyman to… tell a joke, while on the pulpit. “In Boston, Massachusetts, it is against the law to put tomatoes… in clam chowder. That’s right!
Someone cared enough to get these strange laws passed, but do any of them really apply to us? It’s easy to feel the same way about the laws in the Old Testament. Do the they really apply to us? We don’t have a slave, and if we did, we certainly wouldn’t pierce his ear with an awl to signify he is our servant for life (Ex 21:6). We would never put our kids to death if we heard them cursing us (Ex 21:17). And we’re not planning on asking our neighbor to store our ox, so we’re not too worried about our ox getting stolen (Ex 22:10).
Should we interpret the law as a strict code we need to obey, as general principles, or should we ignore it? Today, I want us to ask… How does the Law apply to the Israelites, to Christ, and to Christians?
How did the Law apply to the Israelites? To answer this question, we need to go back to the original promise God made the Israelite’s forefather. God promised Abraham that he would bless the whole world through his descendants (Gen 12:2-3). God gives them the law to help them accomplish that mission (Ex 19:5-6). See, Genesis 12 tells us that God is going to use the nation of Israel to orchestrate his plan of salvation for the whole world. Exodus 19 tells us that each generation’s participation in this plan depends on their obedience to the law. I read an article by The Village Church, the church Pastor Matt Chandler serves, in which they broke the law down three ways:
1. The Law distinguishes Israel. The law makes the Israelites stand out from the crowd. They’re a special nation, not ruled by a human king, but by God himself. They’re a “theocracy”, which is “a form of government which God rules through laws interpreted by religious leaders”—like priests, prophets, judges, or elders. Have you ever been to a party where there’s that one kid who is dressed up way more than everyone else? He’s wearing a three-piece suit and a fedora. He stands out in the crowd, doesn’t he? Israel is to stand out, not in an awkward adolescence way, but in a “holy” way. They’re God’s people. The law distinguishes Israel.
2. The Law restrains spiritual and physical evil. The law teaches the Israelites to not worship God like the foreign cults through idol worship or inhuman practices, thus restraining spiritual evil (Ex 20:25-26). The law also teaches Israel to protect at-risk classes of people, such as slaves, women, and the unborn, thus restraining physical evil (Ex 21:2, 22).
The law restrains evil with consequences. Exodus 21:23–25 says, “But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. (NIV®) Maybe you’ve heard Ghandi’s quote, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” This law is designed to restrain violence, not enflame it. Instead of punishing a crime with an unfair punishment that provokes retaliation, the punishment is to match the crime, doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, male or female, young or old.
When we see a 55mph speed limit, you probably drive somewhere between 60-65mph, right? But you don’t drive 95mph for fear of receiving what one of our trustees calls the “excellence in driving award.” The law restrains spiritual and physical evil.
3. The Law diagnoses hearts. There are 613 laws in the Old Testament. In Exodus 24, Moses gives the people the commandments and they say, “We’ll do everything God wants.” (Ex 24:3). Then they sacrifice bulls and Moses throws their blood on the people. Exodus 24:8 says, “Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”” (NIV®) If you obey the law, you’ll receive God’s blessing, but if you disobey, you’ll receive God’s curse (Deut 28).
Growing up in Colorado, I’ve actually helped butcher several deer and elk. It was gross. The worst time was when my friend thought it would be funny to wipe some meat on my face. I cried. Can you imagine having Moses throw blood on you. You’d remember the threat. “If you disobey, you’ll end up like the bull. This will be your blood.” The people agree to these terms.
The Israelites don’t keep their promise. In just a few chapters they worship the golden calf (Ex 32:6). The law tells them not to, and then they do, which reveals a deeper problem. The law is revealing what Moses calls their “uncircumcised hearts” (Deut 30:6). They have hard-hearts just like Pharaoh king of Egypt who rejected God (Ex 8:15, 9:12). They can’t obey God because their hearts won’t let them. So what does God do?
God promises a new Law and new hearts. First, God is going to renovate the law given to Moses at Sinai into a new and better law. The law Jesus is going to give isn’t so much a replacement, as it is a fulfillment, a renewed and renovated law. Jeremiah 31:33 says, “This is the [new] covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (NIV®) God promises a new law that will be written on their hearts.
Second, God is going to replace hard hearts that disobey with soft hearts that obey. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (NIV®) God is going take away their hearts that trust the law and give them hearts that trust him. God’s people are going to be like the birthday kid who receives all the presents in the crowd and all the other kids gather around in envy. The law distinguished them, restrained them, and diagnosed them, but God is going to give them something better, which leads us to our second question.
How does the Law apply to Christ? Through Jesus, Gods’ people receive a new law and new hearts. He does this by fulfilling the old law, the old covenant. Matthew 5:17 says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (NIV®) We’re looking at two ways Jesus fulfills the law:
1. Christ gives a new Law and new hearts. Remember how Moses gave the Israelites the law on mount Sinai? Early in Jesus’ ministry we see him climb up on a mountain and deliver a new law, which we call the sermon on the mount. Jesus’ laws are actually deeper than Moses’s laws. Jesus doesn’t just say, “Don’t murder” he says, “Don’t be angry, don’t hate” (Matt 5:22). Jesus doesn’t say, “Don’t commit adultery” he says, “Don’t lust in your heart after a woman” (Matt 5:28). In our context, Jesus doesn’t say “Don’t speed”, he says, “Don’t put your neighbor at risk so you can get ahead.” The law Jesus writes is deeper, more challenging, truer.
Do you also remember how Moses threw the blood on the people as part of ratifying the new law? Jesus gives his law at Sinai, but does he threaten to shed their blood if they can’t keep it? No. At the Last Supper, the night before his crucifixion, Jesus says he is going to spill his own blood for his people. Luke 22:20 says, “In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (NIV®) Christ takes the Mosaic law and makes it more challenging and deeper. But he knows we won’t keep it, so he says, “I’ll take the curse and spill my own blood to pay the penalty for your disobedience.” Then he sheds his blood to make this new law a reality.
This new law is not cut on stones, but on hearts through the Holy Spirit. Romans 2:29a says, “No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code…” (NIV®) The Holy Spirit writes Jesus’ law on our hearts. This is why we have a conscious that convicts us of sins and helps us turn to Jesus for forgiveness. Christ gives a new law and new hearts.
After the U.S. civil war, local governments passed Jim Crow laws restricting the access of black communities to good education, housing, jobs, and other opportunities. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court codified this with a law called “separate but equal”, which “ruled that racially separate facilities, if equal, did not violate the Constitution.” It wasn’t until 1954 after 58 years of oppression that the U.S. Supreme court overturned “separate but equal” in Brown v. Board of Education. To end segregation in America, two things needed to change: 1) the law of the land needed to change, integrating white and black communities, schools, and people and 2) the hearts of the people needed to change, so that white didn’t see themselves as better than blacks and blacks don’t see themselves as inferior to whites. For Christ to set us free from sin and death, he needs to give us a new law and new hearts. This is the first way he fulfills the law. The second is…
2. Christ embodies the Law for us. Remember how Jesus summarized the whole law? When an expert in the law asked him which is the greatest commandment, Jesus said the greatest is to love God and the second is to love neighbor (Matt 22:37-40).
Jesus embodies love for God. The first four of the Ten Commandments are all about loving God. The first commandment says to have no other Gods. Jesus put his father first, submitting to his will to die on the cross (Mark 14:36). The second commandment says to not bow down to idols. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he said, “If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things” Jesus didn’t bow down (Matt 4:9). The third commandment says not to blaspheme God’s name. When Jesus was on trial, he was accused of blasphemy but was the only one who actually bore God’s name rightfully (Matt 26:65). The fourth commandment says to honor the Sabbath. The Bible tells us Jesus has become our perfect Sabbath rest (Mark 2:27, Heb 4:9). Jesus embodies love for God.
Jesus embodies love for neighbor. The fifth commandment says to honor parents. As Jesus was dying on the cross, he told his disciple John to take care of Mary his mother (John 19:27). The sixth commandment says not to murder. Jesus was murdered for us, those who commit murder in our hearts (Matt 5:22). The seventh commandment says not to commit adultery, Jesus never did that, but he also loved the adulterous woman at the well, calling her to repentance (John 4:1-42). The eighth says not to steal, Jesus gave his life for us (Mark 15:37). The ninth says don’t bear false testimony, Jesus didn’t say a word as he was led to the cross (Isa 53:7). The tenth says don’t covet, don’t want what your neighbor has. Jesus, who had everything in heaven, gave all of heaven up so we can have all of heaven (Phil 2:7). Jesus embodies the law for us.
The gospel is the good news that Jesus embodies you and me (2 Cor 5:21). His body is the one that counts. When God considers if I should go to heaven, he remembers my sins are nailed to Jesus and Jesus’ love for God and love for neighbor is nailed to me. Jesus gives us the blessing of obeying the law and takes on the curse on himself (Gal 3:13). Jesus embodies the law for us. This leads us to our final question.
How does the Law apply to Christians? The law God gave to Moses does not apply to Christians. Why? Because Christ has given the church a new law, a new covenant, which is a fulfillment of the old law. Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (NIV® c.f. 1 Cor 9:21) Christ’s law is both different and a better version of Moses’s law. The Mosaic law is like that of a different country. I love Croatia. I’ve traveled there. But the laws of Croatia don’t apply to me in the U.S.. There are some inherent truths in the laws of Croatia that apply to me, like it being illegal to murder or steal. But there are other laws in Croatia that don’t matter to me, one of which according to Balderdash is, “In Zagreb, Croatia, it is against the law to teach anyone… the boogie-woogie.”
As Christians, we are set free from having to obey the law of Moses, but now Jesus holds us accountable to a much more challenging law, the law of Christ. This law is summarized the same way, loving God, which means loving Jesus, and loving neighbor, which means loving everyone, even when it costs us personally. Now we can begin to obey because Christ gives us new hearts to do so. My big idea is this… The law of Christ sets us free to obey. This new law sets us free two ways:
1. The Law reminds us of our need for Christ. As we look at what Jesus expects, to love God and love our neighbor all the time without ceasing, we realize we’re unable. Matthew 5:48 says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (NIV®) As we encounter Jesus’ law, we realize we don’t want to obey in our own hearts. That’s because we’re born with the same hearts as those Israelites. We’re born with uncircumcised heart that would rather not obey. The theologian Lady Gaga is right. We are “born this way.” I know this because in Needham, Massachusetts, it is against the law to shave while driving, and at least a handful of you just imagined yourselves shaving while driving. We we can’t, but Jesus did. Jesus was perfect like his heavenly father is perfect. Every time we encounter Christ’s law, we remember our need for Christ.
Even though we can’t obey perfectly, we can begin to obey because Jesus has given us new hearts. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (NIV®) Every time we remember our inability to obey, we should at the same moment recall Jesus’ perfect ability and thank him for giving us new hearts. If you don’t know Jesus, and you are ever overcome with guilt for not measuring up to the standards of others or even your own standards, Jesus offers a better way. He offers you himself, who always measures up, and he offers you a new heart that will begin to measure up. The law reminds us of our need for Christ.
2. The Holy Spirit helps us obey Christ’s Law. Through Christ we receive new hearts, and then the Holy Spirit helps our new hearts begin to obey Jesus’s law. The Bible calls it bearing fruit. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (NIV®) This means we can obey, as the Holy Spirit leads and guides us to do so. The Holy Spirit empowers us like the electricity that heats the house, or like the engine that runs the car. The problem with both those illustrations is that it makes the Holy Spirit seem like he is a force or thing, but he’s a person. The Holy Spirit helps us obey Christ’s law more like a good friend who can speak truth into our life and when the going get’s hard, extends a hand out to help pull us up.
The Holy Spirit helps obey Jesus’ version of the Ten Commandments. He helps us put God first, valuing him more than money, relationships, or entertainment. The Holy Spirit helps root out our false idols, those things we crave that won’t make us happy. The Holy Spirit convicts our hearts so we not only don’t curse Jesus, but represent him well. The Holy Spirit helps us rest not just one day a week, but everyday in the salvation we have in Jesus. The Holy Spirit helps us care for our parents when we don’t want to, helps us love those who hurt us instead of hating them, helps us fight the lust in our hearts and value our marriages, helps us not gossip about others, helps us find contentment in our relationship with God. The Holy Spirit helps us love God and love neighbor just like Jesus did. The Holy Spirit helps us obey Christ’s law.
The Law of Christ sets us free to obey. When Brown v. Board of Education passed, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said this, “For all men of goodwill May 17, 1954, marked a joyous end to the long night of enforced segregation…This decision brought hope to millions of disinherited [black men and women] who had formerly dared only to dream of freedom.” When Jesus died and rose again 2,000 years ago, he ended the long night of death under the law of Moses. Jesus’ death sets free any who dream of freedom and are willing to trust him.
At the 48th anniversary celebration of Brown v. Board of Education, at Topeka’s First United Methodist Church, U.S. Rep. John Lewis said, “We live in a different country, a better country, because of what happened here in 1954. And we must never forget it. We must tell the story again, over and over and over.” As Christians, we live in a better country under a better law. We must never forget how Jesus shed his blood so that we can have new hearts, new hearts that want to obey. Let’s tell this story again, over and over and over. The law of Christ sets us free to obey.
To listen to God’s Law Part I: The Ten Commandments, click here. Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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The Ten Commandments… chances are, you have heard of the Ten Commandments. Maybe you watched the old 1956 movie, The Ten Commandments, staring Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Ramses. I watched all 3 hours and 40 minutes of that movie as a child and I’m sure I felt both boredom and accomplishment, boredom because it is a slow movie, but accomplishment because I survived. Today, the Ten Commandments are a cultural icon of sorts. We don’t just
The Ten Commandments… chances are, you have heard of the Ten Commandments. Maybe you watched the old 1956 movie, The Ten Commandments, staring Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Ramses. I watched all 3 hours and 40 minutes of that movie as a child and I’m sure I felt both boredom and accomplishment, boredom because it is a slow movie, but accomplishment because I survived.
Today, the Ten Commandments are a cultural icon of sorts. We don’t just think about the Bible when we hear them referenced. We think about Hollywood and Jay Leno walking the street asking pedestrians if they can name the Ten Commandments. Or we think of politics, education, and whether or not the commandments should be displayed on government or town property. No longer do they come to us as a list of laws for the Israelites after they left Egypt. They come to us with emotions, memories, and pre-formed opinions.
The first time I learned about the Ten Commandments was probably in Sunday school or from my parents. They came to me as a list of rules, given to us by God, which we must obey. But for a long time, I’m not sure I really understood what they mean. If Jay Leno were to stop and ask you, “Can you list the Ten Commandments?” would you be able to do it? More importantly, what if your friend asked you, “What are the Ten Commandments about?” could you tell him or her? Jesus actually had something similar happen to him. One day an expert in the Old Testament law asked Jesus this.
Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (NIV®)
Here, Jesus gives the heart of the law which helps us remember the heart of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments teach us to love God and love neighbor. As we look at the law, we’re going to see some pretty straightforward laws that make sense, like the Ten Commandments, but other laws about sacrifices and bulls that feel like they have nothing to do with us. This is why we take each law and ask, how can they help us love God or love neighbor? What’s the principle in them? Today, I want to look at the principles in the Ten Commandments, and how they teach us to love God and love neighbor.
The first four commandments teach us to love God. (Ex 20:1-11) By chapter 20 of Exodus, Moses has lead the Israelites out of Egypt to Mount Sinai to meet God. Last week the Israelites prepared to meet God by washing and purifying themselves, but when God came down on the mountain, the people didn’t go up to meet him. They were too frightened and too unholy in their hearts to enter into direct relationship with God. But God still wants to enter into relationship with the Israelites, so he gives them laws by which they can know him and obey him.
The first set of laws he gives the Israelites is the Ten Commandments, which are like their version of the U.S. Bill of Rights. Chapters 21-24 of Exodus are like Case Laws that explain how their Bill of Rights are put into practice everyday. The Bill of Rights were the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution that were designed to protect the liberties of its people. Likewise, the Ten Commandments are given by God to protect the spiritual and physical liberties of his people. The first four commandments teach the Israelites to love and know the one true God. They give principles for the people’s vertical relationship with God. The next six, the 5th through the 10th, give principles for people’s horizontal relationship with each other.
Before we go through the Commandments, pause and look at verse two, which says,“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (NIV®) Before God ever asks his people to do anything, he pours out his love on them. He frees them after 400 years of captivity, and then he asks them to obey. If you’re a Christian, God calls you to obey him too, but only after he pours out his grace on you. Grace doesn’t come after we obey, it comes before. Because God has given us all of this, we prioritize him.
We love God by putting Him first. (v.3)
The first commandment in v.3 says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Remember how God invites the Israelites to be in covenant relationship with him? A covenant is defined as “A promise where God is involved.” God’s covenant relationship with the Israelites has terms. The first term is recognizing there are no other gods but Yahweh, the God of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They just came out of Egypt where there were about 80 Egyptian deities. But now God is teaching them monotheism, which is the belief there is only one true God and the rest are fake. This was the point of the plagues, to show that the god’s of Egypt cannot compare to the God of Israel (Ex 12:12).
Do we believe there’s only one true God? Many believe we can worship any god because in the end they are all the same. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism are like different pathways up the same mountain. When we reach the top, we all reach the same top. So it doesn’t matter if we believe in the God of the Bible or the God of Islam because in the end we’ll all end up in heaven anyways. This belief doesn’t take the religions it represents seriously. It’s not just Christians who believe in the exclusivity of their faith, other religions do too. We love God the way he intends when we worship him as the one true God. You can remember the first commandment by taking your index/pointer finger and pointing it into the sky and saying, “No gods but the one true God.”
Do we put God first? We can tell if God is first in our lives by how we spend our time. If our god is our careers, we’ll go to work early and stay late everyday, joking about how we’re workaholics. If our god is our families, we’ll make every decision to get them ahead in life, forgetting to consider what God might want. If our god is entertainment or the outdoors, we’ll live for the weekends with little thought of what God wants for us during the other hours. The first commandment teaches us to love God by putting him first.
We love God by not trying to control Him. (v.4)
The second commandment in v.4 says, “You shall not make for yourself an image…” You can remember the second commandment with the number “2” and how it looks like a little idol or a person bowing down to an idol. The Egyptians were very comfortable creating idols and paintings of their gods. They didn’t believe the idols were gods themselves, but that through them they could tell the god what they wanted. Idols were a way for the rich and powerful to control god. If you paid, you got blessed. Judaism and Islam still take this commandment very seriously. Synagogues and mosques don’t have statues or paintings of people or animals in them. Their architecture and decorations use shapes and colors but no figures.
How do we try to control God? Whenever we relate to God in the way we imagine him to be instead of the way he is, we also commit idolatry. If a friend asks you, “What is God like?” our answer should not be, “Well I think God is like…” but “The Bible tells us God is like…” Have you ever bargained with God? “God, if my team wins, or if you give me this promotion, or if you’ll heal my family member… I’ll do what you want! I’ll pray more, read my Bible more, go to church more, give more money, do anything more!” When we use God to get the thing we want, who is our true God? Our God is the thing we want.
God doesn’t let the Israelites worship him this way because he is a “jealous God” (v.5) who “loves” his people (v.6). Verse 6 is the first time in the Bible God declares his “love” for his people. God loves Israel too much to let them worship a lie. I think that’s why God doesn’t answer our prayers sometimes. He wants to take away our idols and give us something far better, himself. We love God by not trying to control Him.
We love God by representing Him well. (v.7)
The third commandment in v.7 says, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” You can remember the third commandment with the number “3” and how it looks like the letter “B”, for blasphemy. The Israelites were to be a “kingdom of priests.” (19:6) They were to be a light to the nations. When an Egyptian or Midianite met an Israelites, the Israelite was to act as God’s name-bearers. Yahweh’s and Israel’s reputations were linked. So not only were Israelites not to use God’s name as a swear word as many do today, they’re to live everyday as if every time a foreigner meets them, they meet Yahweh too.
As Christians, we bear the name of “Christ.” How we treat our neighbors, friends, and the people we don’t like, reflects on the name of Jesus. I’ve heard many stories of Christians telling non-Christians not to use “God” or “Jesus” as a swear word. The Ten Commandments are not for the Egyptians or the Midianites; they’re given to the Israelites. It’s about our actions, not theirs. We are to act in such a way that no matter who is watching, they’ll notice something is different. We love God by representing Him well.
We love God by resting in Him. (v.8)
The fourth commandment in v.8 says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” You can remember the fourth commandment with the number “4” and how if you flip it upside-down, it looks like a couch or a lazy-boy. What do we do on the Sabbath? We sit down and rest.
Although we’ve heard hints of God’s will for the Israelites to rest on the Sabbath day in the Genesis 2 creation account and in Exodus 16 when God gave them manna, God spells it out for the Israelites here. The Sabbath lasted from Friday at sundown to Saturday at the same time. No other nation took a Sabbath day of rest. All other nations based their calendars on a cyclical calendar based on nature (life, death, rebirth, etc.). Israel seven day pattern is based on nothing but God’s will. At Christians today, we’re not called to honor the Sabbath. God gives us freedom through Jesus. As a church don’t keep Sabbath, but we do believe in setting aside a day each week to worship God, serve others, and experience Sabbath rest.
I started working part-time when I was twelve years old at a tourist shop in my home town. I made many good friends at the store, but I did notice something about their work habits. During the summer, my Nepalese friend worked seven days a week. On the days and hours he didn’t work at our store, he worked at another tourist shop in town. My boss who was Jewish also worked every day. She didn’t take the Sabbath off. Occasionally, she’d go to synagogue, but almost always came to work afterwards. To take a day of rest is to say, “I trust God with my wellbeing. I don’t have to work all the time to live.” God invites us to come and rest in him, and when we accept that invitation, we show we trust him. We love God by resting in Him.
Review: 1. = We love God by putting Him first (index finger). 2. = We love God by not trying to control Him (bowing/idol). 3. = We love God by representing Him well (no blasphemy). 4. = We love God by resting in Him (upside-down 4/couch). The first four commandments teach us to love God.
The next six commandments teach us to love neighbor. (Ex 20:12-21) Just like us, the Israelites were to put the vertical relationship first, which then enabled them to also care for those around them, the horizontal relationships. If you’re loving God and resting in him, you’re going to treat your parents well, you won’t feel the need to murder or steal, everything works. So what are the principles?
We love our neighbor by honoring our parents. (v.12)
The fifth commandment in v. 12 says, “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (v.12) You can remember the fifth commandment with the number “5” and how it looks like a baby carriage. This commandment has a result attached to it. If the Israelite children honor their parents, they’ll get to stay in the promised land once they reach it. God is going to use the Israelites to be a witness to all the nations, but their enjoyment of the land depends on their obedience. When they honor their parents, the whole nation is blessed.
Through this sermon series, we’ve been memorizing our foundation verse, Deuteronomy 6:4-7, which tells parents to teach their children God’s commandments. But what if those children aren’t willing to listen? What if they won’t learn? For the Israelites, this means their parents will be the last generation in the promised land. Eventually, this is what we see happen to the Israelites. As generations forget about God, they get kicked out of the land by God.
At Cornerstone, our children’s ministry is working hard to teach our children the whole Bible. But that responsibility belongs first and foremost to parents. I can’t say that I know what it’s like to be a parent who teaches their children. I can’t relate. But I can relate as someone who not so long ago had his parents teach him the Bible. Sometimes I didn’t want to learn, sometimes I was bored, but other times, God amazed me with his goodness and love for me. I’m so grateful my parents took the time to teach me the Bible. We love our neighbor by honoring our parents.
We love our neighbor by valuing life. (v.13)
The sixth commandment in v. 13 says, “You shall not murder.” You can remember the sixth commandment with the number “6”—when you die, you’re buried six-feet under. The King James Version translates this, “You shall not kill.” But the idea is not a general sense of killing, but the wrongful taking of life. Douglas Stuart, one of the professors at Gordon-Conwell, the seminary I attended, says the word “murder” means “putting to death improperly, for selfish reasons rather than with authorization.” Genesis chapter one says God made men and women in his image (Gen 1:27). Since the beginning, the God of Israel has valued life.
As Christians, we’re called to care for life in all its stages, from the unborn to the elderly, to everyone in-between. Jesus takes this commandment and amplifies it. Matthew 5:22 says that if you’re angry with someone, it’s as bad as murder. If we imagine what it would be like if a family member, friend, or someone we dislike dies, it’s as bad as murdering them ourselves. We love our neighbor by valuing life.
We love our neighbor by valuing marriage. (v.14)
The seventh commandment in v.14 says, “You shall not commit adultery.” You can remember the seventh commandment with the number “7” and how it looks like a capital letter “A” for adultery. The big story of the Bible is the story of God keeping his promises. His people, likewise, are to keep their promises starting with the promise of marriage. Marriage is a covenant just like the covenant God is making with the Israelites. It’s not supposed to break. When a society values its parents and its marriages, all flourish.
Jesus takes this commandment and makes it a heart issue. He says in Matthew 5:28, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (NIV®) So if you ever look at someone, and wonder what it would be like to be married to them and you’re married or they’re already married, that’s adultery. We love our neighbor by valuing marriage.
We love our neighbor by respecting what’s theirs. (v.15)
The eight commandment in v.15 says, “You shall not steal.” You can remember the eighth commandment with the number “8” and how it looks a lot like the letter “S” for steal. The Israelites come out of 400 years of slavery where their property rights were probably trampled on. This commandment would have been incredibly liberating, but also challenging, because no longer is it about doing whatever it takes to survive, it’s about loving your neighbor. As Christians, we’re called to respect what belongs to others, and to recognize that God has given it to them as a gift. Furthermore, we’re to be willing to give up our rights for the wellbeing of others. We love our neighbor by respecting what’s theirs.
We love our neighbor by upholding their reputation. (v.16)
The ninth commandment in v.16 says, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” You can remember the ninth commandment with the number “9” and how it looks like a talking bubble you might find in the cartoons. In Exodus 18 Moses appointed judges to decide cases over “thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.” (Ex 18:21). God is giving the Israelites a whole law system. But in order for this system to work, people have to tell the truth. This truth-speaking not only extends into the law court, but into daily interaction. If an Israelite is speaking badly about a neighbor, exposing their sins publicly without speaking directly to them, that’s just as bad. Slander and gossip are likewise wrong today. As Christians, we should work hard to speak positively of each other, to not criticize behind each other’s backs. We love our neighbor by upholding their reputation.
We love our neighbor by our own contentment. (v.17)
The tenth commandment in v.17 says, “You shall not covet…” You can remember the tenth commandment with the number “10” and how it stands for what is best—we shouldn’t covet our neighbor’s best. What’s interesting about this law is that it is impossible to legislate. We can’t legislate the heart. The heart wants what the heart wants, right? This final commandment points us back to our need for contentment in God. When we’re grateful for what God has given us, when we love God first, we won’t steal or murder or sleep around. We love our neighbor by our own contentment.
The Ten Commandments teach us to love God and love neighbor. Review: 1. = We love God by putting Him first (index finger). 2. = We love God by not trying to control Him (bowing/idol). 3. = We love God by representing Him well (no blasphemy). 4. = We love God by resting in Him (couch). 5. = We love our neighbor by honoring our parents (baby carriage). 6. = We love our neighbor by valuing life (six-feet under). 7. = We love our neighbor by valuing marriage (adultery). 8. = We love our neighbor by respecting what’s theirs (steal). 9. = We love our neighbor by upholding their reputation (talking bubble). 10. = We love our neighbor by our own contentment (neighbor’s best). The Ten Commandments teach us to love God and love neighbor.
Now since you know the Ten Commandments, and what they mean, can you say that you live up to them? Do you feel a little convicted, a little weighed down, a little guilty? None of us live up to the heart of the law perfectly. None of us love God and neighbor as we should. The Ten Commandments are supposed to show us how to live, but also that we can’t live that way.
As Christians, we aren’t called to live under the Ten Commandments the same way as the Israelites. We believe that Jesus actually fulfills the law perfectly for us, that he loves God and neighbor as we should. This sets us free to not feel weighed down and burdened. But how can that be? What does this mean? Do you want to know how we as Christians should relate to the law? Come back next week for God’s Law Part II…
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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If you’ve ever been in a relationship, chances are you and your significant other at one point had to DTR—define the relationship. That’s the moment when you’ve been seeing each other for a while, maybe you’re friends and things seem to being getting serious, so you label it. Aka. “We’re a couple.” DTRs can go really well if you each like each other, or they can go really poorly if one person feels differently.
In the case of Monica and me, we DTRd literally thirty second after I officially asked her out. This is because six weeks before this I asked Monica out, then un-asked her out. Monica wanted to get it in writing the exact nature of our relationship. And by that I mean, make it Facebook official. In order to make our relationship a success, we defined our relationship at the beginning to help us understand how to treat each other.
We’re coming to a place in the book of Exodus, when God is going to define the relationship with his people. God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, he saved them, but that’s their relationship so far. This generation of Israelites probably doesn’t know God very well. Their ancestors have been in captivity in Egypt for 400 years, where they’ve probably picked up the religious attitude of the locals, worshipping idols and false gods. So God needs to introduce himself and teach these people how to be in relationship with him.
Situation: The Israelites have come to Mount Sinai to meet God. (Ex 19:1-8) Let’s review the journey so far. After Egypt, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea at the gulf of Suez (14:29). Then they entered the Desert of Shur (15:22) and arrived at Marah where the water was bitter (Ex 15:23). After Marah, they came to an oasis (15:27) and then the Desert of Sin between Elim and Sinai (16:1), where they received manna, before coming to the desert of Rephidim (17:1). Finally they’ve come to Mount Horeb in the Desert of Sinai (19:1). This isn’t the first time we’ve encountered this mountain in Exodus.
Back when Moses was a shepherd for his father-in-law Jethro in the land of Midian, he brought his sheep to this same mountain, Mount Horeb (Ex 3:1). When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, he promised Moses he would bring the people back to this mountain.
Exodus 3:11–12 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” (NIV®)
Right here, in v. 1-2, God has fulfilled his promise to bring the Israelites back to the mountain. It’s at this mountain that God is going to formally enter into a covenant relationship with his people. A covenant is defined as “A promise where God is involved.” God already made an unconditional covenant with their forefather Abraham that he will use Abraham’s descendants to bless all peoples on earth (Gen 12:2-3). Now God is going to extend this relationship to the Israelites, but through a conditional covenant with terms.
Exodus 19:5-6a Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation… (NIV®)
In this moment, God sounds a little demanding, doesn’t he? He sounds like a boyfriend or girlfriend that says, “You have to act a certain way for me to date you.” Well, A) this is a more formal relationship, like a marriage, where you make promises to act a certain way. And B) Israel is not God’s peer. They are not on equal footing. He is holy and they are unholy. And C) before God ever offers this relationship to the Israelites, he shows them abundant grace and kindness. Right before these verses God says this.
Exodus 19:4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. (NIV®)
An eagle is a bird of prey that kills small rodents and animals to feed its young. There’s a scene at the end of the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King moviewhen the good armies of Gondor are making one final stand against the evil armies of Mordor. They are overwhelmed by the hordes of orcs and Ringwraiths riding their huge black fell beasts. Just as they come swooping in, the hobbit Pippin looks up into the sky, smiles, and shouts, “The eagles are coming! The eagles are coming!” They attack the Ringwraiths and chase them away. That’s kind of like God. He swoops in to rescue his people, the Israelites, not just from Egypt, but from the false gods of Egypt and from the broken lives they left behind in Egypt. Yes. God’s covenant relationship is conditional, but it’s because he doesn’t want the Israelites to return to their comfortable sin.
God wants to transform these broken people into his “treasured possession” (v. 5). A treasured possession is a king’s personal stash, his treasure box. God wants to transform his people from broken dirty vessels to “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Priests pray to God on behalf of people and teach them about God. God wants Israel to pray to God about the foreign nations and be God’s witness to them. God’s relationship with the Israelites is going to be conduit for all people to be in relationship with God.
If you’re here today, and wondering why (just like Israel at Sinai), there are several possibilities:
God wants to meet you. He brought you here today on the arms of a friend or spouse so that you can encounter the living-breathing holy God. God wants to be in relationship with you. You don’t know where you and God are at. Maybe it’s time to define the relationship (DTR) with God. Maybe it’s time to trust him with your life. God wants to change you. God didn’t save the Israelites from Egypt so they can act like slaves in the desert. Has God saved you, but you’re still living in sin? God wants to change that. God wants to use you. God changes us so we can share the message of transformation with others. If you’re a Christian, you’re a priest who get’s to pray for neighbor and share God with them.
The Israelites have come to Sinai to not just meet God, but enter into relationship with him.
Relationship: The people meet God by hearing his words and trusting him. (Ex 19:9) God is going to come down and speak the Ten Commandments directly to the Israelites so they can learn to trust Moses and by extension God.
Exodus 19:9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said. (NIV®)
What’s the most important piece of a good relationship? Communication. God doesn’t say, “You need to see me to believe.” Instead God says, “You need to hear me to believe.”
Today, we don’t get to see God, but we can read his words in the Bible. We learn to trust God as we read and hear his words and discover that he is good. If you want to grow as a believer, position yourself to hear God’s word regularly through personal Bible study, prayer, and church attendance; and then put what you learn into action in your own life so you can see that God is trustworthy.
Israel is called into a wonderful relationship with God. He wants to transform and use them to reach the whole world. He wants to communicate with them and love them. But there’s one big problem.
Problem: Dirty people can’t approach a holy God. (Ex 19:10-20) Imagine for a moment that your child is playing outside in the mud. They’ve built mud-castles, baked mud-pies, and taken mud-showers. They are covered in mud. All you can see is the whites of their eyes as they stare up at you from the front door. They’ve already gotten mud all over the steps and you just caught them before they came running into the house. What do you do? Do you hose them off? Do you make them change in the garage? Do you banish them to the outdoors forever? The Israelites have a similar problem.
Exodus 9:10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes (NIV®)
They’ve been walking the wilderness and desert for weeks. They’re covered in dirt and filth, but that’s not the real issue. The desert dirt symbolizes their heart dirt. They’re covered in sin, like a mud you can’t wash away. God is the most holy and pure of all beings. They’re not fit to come into his presence and meet him. So God says, “I’m going to come down, but they need clean up first. They need wash their garments which symbolizes washing their sins. And even once they’ve cleaned up, they need to approach me carefully or they will die. Put up signs to keep them back from the mountain (v. 12). Only when they’re washed and the shofar trumpet sounds, can they climb the mountain (v. 13, cf. MSG).”
Exodus 1-15 tells the story of Israel’s physical salvation from Egypt. This symbolizes their need for spiritual salvation, which they can only have through a real relationship with God. But there’s the catch 22. In order to be in relationship with a holy God, they have to be saved by God, which requires a relationship with the holy God they need to know but can’t. God needs to wash away their sins and a bath won’t cut it.
When God comes down, he gives the people permission to come up on the mountain. But Moses knows that although they may appear outwardly clean, inwardly they’re dirty.
Exodus 19:23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’” (NIV®)
When God comes down, there’s thunder and lightning and a loud trumpet blast. God hides himself in a thick cloud.We call this a theophany. A theophany is “When God appears visibly to a human (or humans).” In the OT, this usually happened through a cloud or fire, such as the smoking-fire pot in Genesis 15 or when God lead the Israelites as a pillar of smoke by day and of fire by night in Exodus (13:21). God doesn’t lower his holiness standards to be around us. Instead, he covers himself so as not to kill us.
If someone could take a camera and look into your heart, what would they see? As a goodbye gift, Anthony gave me the privilege of watching a video feed inspection of his home’s sewage runoff system. It was a surreal four minute long video of dirty pipes running with dark water, ending in a cavernous space full of sewage. As people, everything might look fine above ground. Your life looks like a nice green lawn or a bed of roses. But God sees the heart, he sees below the surface. To be a Christian we recognize we’re not good on the inside—that’s why we need a savior.
Some people say God’s primary attribute is love (“…God is love” 1 John 4:8); while others argue God’s primary attribute is holiness (“You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 5:16). The temptation is to emphasize the attribute we naturally prefer. But what we see in the Bible is both. God demands perfection, but he provides a perfect way for us. The bad news is that dirty people can’t approach a good God, but the good news is a good God can approach dirty people.
Solution: We need a mediator to bridge the gap between God and us. (Ex 19:21-26) Because of sin, the Israelites can’t be in relationship with God. If they approach God themselves, God will destroy them. So they need a mediator. They need someone who can go to God on their behalf.A mediator is defined as “Someone who brings two enemies together and makes it possible for them to be friends again.” That’s what Moses tries to do.
Moses tries and fails. We can tell that Moses can’t adequately mediate because no matter how hard he tries, he just can’t do the job. We see how hard he tries by how many times he goes up and down the mountain. Tim Chester writes:
Verse 3. Moses goes up the mountain (“Moses went up to God.”) Verse 7. Moses goes down the mountain (“Moses came and called the Elders”) Verse 8. Moses goes up the mountain. (“Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.”) Verse 14. Moses goes down the mountain. (“Moses went down from the mountain”) Verse 20. Moses goes up the mountain. (“Moses went up.”) Verse 21. Moses goes down the mountain. (“Go down and warn the people”)
Moses goes up three times and down three times, and he’s 80 years old. He’s not what the people need. Even if Moses could go up and down enough, the people still aren’t going to keep the conditional covenant. The people promise to obey in verse 8 but less than 40 days later they worship the golden calf (Exod 32).
Whose your mediator? We all have one. When you’ve sinned, or done something wrong, who makes you feel better? For me, it’s myself. I go before God and say, “Yes. Lord I sinned when I got angry like that, but today I’m going to be better. Today, I’ll pray more. Today, I’ll read my Bible for longer. God, see how I’m good.” Or, if I’m feeling really bad, I’ll tell my friends my sins and nudge them to say things like, “We’ve all been there. That’s not so bad.” These tactics never work, do they? No matter how much we bargain. We need a better mediator. Moses tried and fails, and so do we. But God has provided a better mediator…
Jesus tries and succeeds. Last week we learned that Jesus is the second Moses. Jesus actually climbed a mountain to talk to God much like Moses did. In Matthew 17, we read about the transfiguration.
Matthew 17:1-3 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. (NIV®)
When Jesus’ face shines like the sun and his clothes become white as light, he is showing us he is the God who came down at Sinai in thunder, lightning, fire, and a thick cloud of smoke (cf. Dan 7:9). And just to make it abundantly clear who Jesus is, Moses also shows up to demonstrate Jesus is a mediator like him.
Matthew 17:4-5 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (NIV®)
What’s happening? God wraps Jesus in a cloud just like he wrapped himself in one at Sinai. God is using an OT theophany to demonstrate that Jesus is Son of God, God in the flesh. Back in Exodus 19:9, what else did God say? He wanted the people to hear his words, to listen. Now what is God saying?“Listen to Jesus! Jesus speaks for me just like I spoke to the Israelites.” God isn’t just telling Peter to shut-it, he’s making the connection for us between this day and Sinai. Jesus is the perfect mediator who can represent God fairly, he’s fully God, but can also represent us fairly, since he’s fully human, but without sin.
How do the disciples respond? Just like the Israelites, they shake in their sandals. They fall down terrified. But Jesus says something different than Sinai, “Don’t be afraid.” (v. 6-7). Through Jesus, we can approach God unafraid. As a church, we’re not Israel. We don’t operate under the old conditional covenant. At the last supper, Jesus gave us a new covenant (Luke 22:20). This one doesn’t say we have to be good to enter into God’s presence, but that we’re saved by grace. Hebrews compares the Mount Sinai, and what happened there, with Mount Zion, the place where Jesus reigns in heaven that will one day come to earth (Rev 21:1-4).
Hebrews 12:18-21 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” (NIV®)
You and I don’t approach God like the Israelites at Sinai because we approach God through Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 12:22-24 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Through Jesus, and his blood shed on the cross, we can come into God’s presence unafraid. We can approach God in his holiness because Jesus approached us in our dirt. We don’t have to take a bath to access God’s presence. In Christ, we’re white as snow (Psa 51:7). Just like Moses took his brother Aaron to the top of the mountain, Jesus lifts us up into God’s presence in heaven (Eph 2:6-7).
Is that how you approach God, as if you’re as holy as Jesus? If Jesus had a job today, I think he would be a sewage lineman. That’s what he does with our hearts. He’s not afraid to look down deep to where there’s nothing but filth. It doesn’t scare Jesus to see who you are. He knows how to deal with your clogs and leaks perfectly. In fact, when you come to Christ, he digs up your whole system and gives you a brand new spotless tank you can never dirty or crack. In Jesus, the garden on the outside is also on the inside.
We can approach God in his holiness because Jesus approached us in our dirt. When you’re overwhelmed by your sin and dirt, I want you to remember God carried the Israelites out of Egypt on eagles wings before he ever asked them to obey him. God has carried you far away from your sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He’s cleaned us up on the inside; but is still teaching us to not play in the mud. When we sin, the temptation is to run away from Jesus. Come to him. He’ll carry you.
One day Jesus is going to come back. On that day, just like at Sinai, a trumpet will blast to announce his return (Matt 24:31). There will be thunder and lightning and the whole world will shake (Rev 16:18). On that day, we will look up into the sky, smile, and shout, “The eagle is coming! The eagle is coming!” We can approach God in his holiness because Jesus approached us in our dirt.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
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If you’ve ever been in a relationship, chances are you and your significant other at one point had to DTR—define the relationship. That’s the moment when you’ve been seeing each other for a while, maybe you’re friends and things seem to being getting serious, so you label it. Aka. “We’re a couple.” DTRs can go really well if you each like each other, or they can go really poorly if one person feels differently. In the case of Monica and
Lord willing, Cornerstone is heading towards autonomy this year. Currently, we’re a ministry of Immanuel Church in Chelmsford, our parent church. They’re a wonderful church but their goal for us is to one day become autonomous. That means we’ll be our own non-profit. We’ll have our own Elders and Deacons, By-Laws and budget, and most importantly, we’ll be the ones responsible for our ministries.
As we think on this, we realize that’s a lot of responsibility. We don’t want to mess it up. We want to do it well. So as we approach autonomy, we should ask some questions. What do we need to do to get there? How can we succeed? What is success?
Exodus is the story of a two-million person church plant. At Cornerstone, we started with about 40 people, and we’re up to about 65 on an average week. That’s pretty good. Can you imagine if we started with two-million people? That’s what I call a mega-church plant. Even though those initial Israelites who left slavery in Egypt for the wilderness are far more numerous than us, I think they would have had some of the same questions as us. What’s going to happen next? How can we make sure we’re a success?
Today, I’m breaking my message down into three ingredients of a successful church. As I’m preaching through Exodus, I’ve been reading a book by Tony Merida called Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Exodus. Today, I’m breaking my sermon down like he breaks down the passage, so I want to open with his main idea for today’s text. Tony writes, “A healthy community of faith relies on God’s power, tells others about God, and shares the work of ministry.”
We can take the same three ingredients from this passage and apply them to our ministry. Those ingredients are: 1) prayer, 2) mission, and 3) teamwork. Let’s begin by looking at the first ingredient.
Prayer: God empower us. (Exodus 17:8-16) Since coming out of Egypt, the Israelites faced the Egyptian army at the Red Sea and won, faced starvation and dehydration in the desert and survived by God’s grace, and now they’re facing their first enemy army, the Amalekites. The forefathers of the Israelites are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob is actually one of two twins. His brother’s name was Esau. When they were born, in Genesis 25:23, God told their mother this:
The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” (NIV®)
The two nations God is talking about are A) the people of God, Jacob’s descendants, and B) the enemies of God’s people, Esau’s descendants. The Amalekites are one of the biological descendants of Esau, but represent the spiritual enemies of God. Satan is using them to attack God and his plans. The Amalekites are the spiritual offspring of the Serpent in the garden, and Jacob’s are of Eve (Gen 3:15). This is why in v. 15 it says their “hands were lifted up against the throne of the Lord.” They are “against” God, so God is going to defeat them (v. 14). How do we win a war that is primarily spiritual, and not physical? We pray.
God empowers Joshua through the prayers of Moses. Moses tells Joshua to choose some men and go fight the Amalekites (v. 8). The Bible tells us Joshua, the son of Nun, attended Moses from his youth (Num 11:28). So Joshua was about twenty-years old here (Josh 24:29). If you’re going to win a battle, would you rather trust Joshua, the all-star quarterback who can run the ball into the end-zone, or the gray-haired Moses who is over 80 years old? You would trust Joshua. But this battle is spiritual, not physical. It’s not won with Joshua on the field, but with Moses on the hill.
Moses takes his staff with him, a sign of judgment (rod) and salvation (crook), and goes to the top of the hill. Verses 11-12 tell us that as long as Moses held up this staff, Joshua and his men won, but when he lowered it, they lost. Why is this? It’s because when Moses’ hands lift up that staff, he’s calling on God, he’s showing his complete dependence on God’s power. The story emphasizes it’s not Moses who really wins the battle, he can’t even hold up his staff without help; rather, God wins the battle.
God has been winning the spiritual battle since the start. That staff got lifted up during the plagues (7:15-19), at the Red Sea (14:6-7), and when Moses struck God at the rock of Horeb (17:5). The passage never says outright that Moses is praying, but I believe that’s what he’s doing, he’s calling on God to fight the battle. The battle is won on the hill by God working in Moses. God empowers Joshua through the prayers of Moses.
God powers our church as we pray. I remember that pre-9/11 my hometown’s local power-plant hosted events in its parking-lot, like the 4th of July Car Show. But after 9/11, the parking-lot was barricaded. When my youth pastor took the guys in the youth group to go hangout by another power station in town, a police officer showed up and told us to leave. Today, power stations are guarded and protected as a national security concern. They’re hard to access.
There’s nothing Satan wants more than for the people of God to stop accessing God’s power. We access God’s power through prayer, and if Satan can cut the supply line, he can win. The closer we get to the source of our power, God himself, the more Satan will try to chase us away. As we head to autonomy, I can tell you as the Pastor of this church that spiritual warfare is increasing. Satan is getting more active because he doesn’t want this church to succeed just like he didn’t want the Israelites to succeed.
As a church, we can believe the battle is won on the field or the hill. If we believe the battle is won on the field, we will pour ourselves into our programs and ministries and we’ll wear ourselves out with busyness. Now, programs and ministries matter, God uses those things, but what truly matters is what takes place behind the scenes. If we believe the battle is won on the hill, we’ll prioritize prayer and dependency on God, and God will reward that. We need to spend as much time praying for our ministries and programs as planning them. Focusing on the field drains power, but going to the hill fills us up. If you’re not signed up for the Prayer Network, join it. We need your prayers for our people and ministry! We need God’s power.
When we stop to pray, we remember that even though we’re fighting a spiritual battle today, the war was won long ago on another hill, Golgotha. Just outside of Jerusalem, Jesus, whose Old Testament name is “Joshua”, fought a spiritual battle in another unusual way. In our story today, you and I are not Joshua or Moses or even the Israelites. We’re the Amalekits. We’re sinners who raise our hands “against” God with our words, actions, and attitudes. We’re saying, “God, I don’t need you!” And for that, God should “blot out” our names from under heaven just like he promises to blot out their leader. (v. 14). But at Golgotha, God didn’t blot out our names. He blotted out the name of Jesus. He forsook him. The father turned his back on the Son. All, so that we are saved. Three days later, God raised Jesus from the gave. He defeated the serpent, our sins, and the deaths we deserve. Now God will never “blot out” our names. When we pray, we’re asking God to show that same kind of power, creativity, and victory in our lives and ministries.
As a way to remember my first point, I want to teach you an arm motion that goes along with remembering the first ingredient prayer… “God empower us.” As we say this, let’s raise our arms, palms out. Would you join me? Raise your hands, and say, “Good empower us.” Ready? 1-2-3, “God empower us!” Raising your hands is also a sign of surrender. What other ingredient do we need. Tony said, “A healthy community of faith relies on God’s power” and “tells others about God.” The first ingredient is prayer, the second is…
Mission: God use us. (Exodus 18:1-12) Beginning, in Exodus chapter 18, we read what feels like an entirely different, unrelated story of Moses’s father-in-law Jethro visiting him. In actuality, the story of the Amalekites and Jethro are intentionally placed next to each other to show a contrast. Jethro is not an Israelite, he is a Midianite. The Midianites are also related to the Israelites. After Abraham’s wife Sarah died (Gen 23:1-2), he took another woman named Keturah who gave birth to several sons, the fifth one named Midian (Gen 25:1-6, 1 Chr 1:32). Abraham eventually sent all these boys to live with Ishmael, his first concubine Hagar’s son, in the Arabian desert, where they become the ancestors of the Arab tribes (Gen 25:6).
Jethro is a foreigner. He didn’t meet Moses in Egypt, but first met him when Moses ran away from Egypt. He gave him one of his daughters in marriage, Zipporah, and now verse one says Jethro, “heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.” We don’t know why, but Zipporah was with Jethro, but now Jethro takes the opportunity to bring her up to Moses so he can hear about what God has been doing. This is all part of God’s plan. During the plague of hail, back in Egypt, God told Pharaoh king of Egypt his purpose for the plagues.
Exodus 9:16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. (NIV®)
God sent the plagues so the ancient world would hear about him. God wants the Amalekites and Midianites to hear what he has done and believe. This reminds us of an even older promise God made to Abraham that his descendants would bless all the nations (Gen 12:1-3). The Amalekites reject God, but not Jethro.
God uses Moses to tell God’s story. First, Moses tells Jethro about how God brought them out of Egypt. Notice the theme is all about salvation.
Exodus 18:8 Moses told his father-in-law about everything the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the LORD had saved them. (NIV®)
Moses is telling his father-in-law how God has been faithful to the Israelites. At Cornerstone, we share stories of God’s faithfulness too. We call them faith stories. We call them “You might not have a story of God rescuing you out of slavery in Egypt, but if you know Jesus, you have one of him rescuing you from slavery to sin. At Cornerstone, we share conversion stories, how Jesus initially sought us out, pilgrim stories, for those of us who grew up knowing Jesus, and life-event stories, so we can hear current ways God is moving. Joe was the last one to share his faith story back in December. About a dozen people logged into our Facebook LiveStream to hear how Joe came to know Jesus. If you haven’t shared yours yet, I’d love to hear it and talk about sharing it with the church. What’s the best that could happen? Someone could put their faith in Jesus. When Moses told his faith story, Jethro came to faith in God.
Exodus 18:9-11a Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. He said, “Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods…” (NIV®)
Jethro encounters the story of the living God through Moses sharing what God has done in his life and the life of the Israelites. And when Jethro hears this story, he says “I know Yahweh is greater than all other gods!” That’s amazing because verse one tells us he is a Midianite priest. He’s a leader of a false religion, but when he encounters the true God, he believes. Finally, it’s through this belief that he get’s an opportunity to worship and to taste the presence of God for himself at a meal with Moses and the Elders.
Exodus 18:12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God. (NIV®)
Jethro hears, believes, turns from his false gods, and turns to the one true God. It’s a miracle, but it’s also God’s plan from the beginning. This passage is a key passage showing the initial fulfillment of Exodus 9:16, but also of Genesis 12:1-3. God uses Moses to tell God’s story.
God uses us to tell the story of Jesus. Just like Moses and the Israelites have a mission, we have one too. Cornerstone’s mission is “To make, mature, and multiply followers of Jesus.” We’re trying to fulfill that same mission as the Israelites, by sharing what God has done with those around us. I already talked about faith stories, but I want to highlight another way we as a church have an opportunity to do this, the upcoming frontline ministry weekend.
When you think of Outreach, you probably think of the Trunk or Treat we did last fall or the Apple Blossom Parade we did last summer. These are events where we reach out to our community together. This is gathered outreach. The frontline ministry weekend is an opportunity to reach out together, but in different places. We call this scattered outreach. On March 17th, 18th, or 19th (Fri, Sat, Sun), invite some coworkers, or friends, or neighbors over to your house for dinner, or a game night, and just get to know them. I’m praying about inviting some of my gym friends. If you have an opportunity, share about the story of Cornerstone, or how Jesus has changed you, but overall just pray, relax, and have fun. Pray God will use this weekend to reach people who would never walk through our doors. Talk to Mary to signup or get a gift card to help pay for food. This is an opportunity for God to use us to tell the story of Jesus.
Let’s review. The first ingredient is prayer, hands up palms out, “God empower us.” I’ve brought another hand motion. This time hands out, palms up. Would you put your hands up and say “God empower us” then out and say, “God use us”? Ready. 1-2-3, “God empower us! God use us!” The first two ingredients of a successful ministry are Prayer and Mission. The third is…
Teamwork: God help us. (Exodus 8:13-27) Verse 13 starts with Jethro telling Moses he can’t lead this two-million person church plant by himself. Moses is outside all day judging the people from morning till noon. He has a direct line to God, so it makes sense to have him solve your problems, right? But Jethro actually says this is a bad thing, and that he will burn out if he doesn’t change what he’s doing. See, Moses needs help.
God helps Moses share his responsibilities so he can prioritize. Just because God calls Moses to lead the Israelites, doesn’t mean he needs to do it by himself. Delegation is difficult, but necessary. Jethro, in verses 20-21 tells Moses to do two things: 1) teach the people the laws and statues of God so they know how to live and what to do; and 2) select God-fearing men who are trustworthy, hate bribes, and place them over 1000s, 100s, 50s, and 10s. Notice that God is more interested in character than ability. These judges don’t have to be the smartest of men, but they should be wise.
It’s as Moses delegates that he has the opportunity to do the things that matters most, teach the people about God. Moses’ focus shifts from running around trying to fixing short-term problems to building a longterm culture of people who know, love, and obey God. He’s not running around trying to stop the dyke from leaking. He’s asking others to help him so he can build a whole new waterway. It works. Moses continues to judge the harder cases, but these judges take care of the rest, so he get’s to focus on teaching. God helps Moses share his responsibility so he can prioritize. I think there’s something we can take from this…
God helps us work together so we can build the kingdom of Jesus. Although I joke about the Israelites being a mega church plant, a New Testament author named Paul, in the letter to the Galatians calls the church “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:16). Old Testament Israel points forward to the New Testament church. Just like Israel came under the leadership of one man, Moses, we as the church also come under the leadership of one man, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the second Moses—he was saved from an evil king, he was taken to Egypt, he was in the wilderness for 40 days, and so much more. Colossians 1:18 says that Christ is the head of the church.
Just like Moses sets up a body of leadership to lead Israel, the judges, Jesus sets up several offices to lead the church. The first office he gives are Elders to lead and shepherd the church (1 Tim 3:1-7). The Pastor is the primary preaching and teaching Elder of the church. The second office is Deacons who care for the physical needs of the people (1 Tim 3:8-13). Just like Moses was to choose men of character, our Elders are to be men of character, and our Deacons are to be men and women of character. I challenge you to be praying for our future Elders and Deacons, that God would fill those roles with the right people. Right now those roles are filled by two interim teams, the CPMT and Trustees, but that will change as we become our own church. Pray that God would raise up the right men and women to accept this calling.
The third ingredient of a successful ministry beginning is shared ministry. We believe in teamwork, not because it’s easy; it’s actually quite difficult, but because just like Israel was to be a light to the nations, a priesthood nation, the church together is to be a light to the lost, a priesthood of believers. When you invite people into your home to love them, that honors Jesus. When you dig into your checkbook to give sacrificially, that honors Jesus. When you volunteer and serve the church, that honors Jesus. Together, we’re a team. Church is not someplace we have to serve God. It’s someplace we get to serve God.
I want to teach you the last hand motion to go with my third point. In just a moment, to remember teamwork… “God help us” I’d like us to extend our hands to our sides, and grab a hand of a neighbor. If you’re new here, I apologize. It’s about to get awkward. We’re going to close by praying through my Big Idea together…
God empower us. God use us. God help us. Amen. I’d like us to pray this together, out-loud, with the arm motions I taught us, so arms raised/palms out for “God empower us”, arms out/palms up for “God use us”, and arms to your sides/hand in hand for “God help us.” Would you say this prayer with me before the worship team comes up to close us? Let me join you. Ready? 1-2-3… God empower us. God use us. God help us. Amen.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.
*Note: In the sermon audio, Pastor Jonathan says Keturah was Abraham’s concubine and the mother of Ishmael. She is actually his second concubine who he takes after Sarah dies. Hagar is Abraham’s first concubine, and the mother of Ishmael. See Genesis 23:1-2, 25:1-6, and 1 Chronicles 1:32. The sermon manuscript download and above is correct.
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Lord willing, Cornerstone is heading towards autonomy this year. Currently, we’re a ministry of Immanuel Church in Chelmsford, our parent church. They’re a wonderful church but their goal for us is to one day become autonomous. That means we’ll be our own non-profit. We’ll have our own Elders and Deacons, By-Laws and budget, and most importantly, we’ll be the ones responsible for our ministries. As we think on this, we realize that’s a lot of responsibility. We don’t want to
Have you ever watched a movie or read a book that begins with the opening line “Once upon a time”? Usually they’re fairy tales, or Disney movies. These stories often end with a very similar line, “and they all lived happily ever after.” The Hungarian equivalent is “They lived happily until they died.” I prefer the Bulgarian equivalent, “…and for three days they ate, drank, and had fun.” If you’re like me, you’re happy the main heroes of the story
Have you ever watched a movie or read a book that begins with the opening line “Once upon a time”? Usually they’re fairy tales, or Disney movies. These stories often end with a very similar line, “and they all lived happily ever after.” The Hungarian equivalent is “They lived happily until they died.” I prefer the Bulgarian equivalent, “…and for three days they ate, drank, and had fun.” If you’re like me, you’re happy the main heroes of the story overcome the villain and are happy, but you wonder, well, what happens next?
In the book of Exodus, when Moses leads the people out of slavery in Egypt, the story could end there. In chapter 15, right after God has delivered them from Egypt, there comes a moment when it could say, “And they lived happily ever after” but instead it says something more like a Persian ending, “This book has come to an end but there is still a story to be told.” As the initial rescue story ends, a refinement story begins.
The story in the first 15 chapters of Exodus can be summed up in one word. Salvation. They are all about God saving the Israelites from slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh. God saves baby Moses, he sends plagues to save the Israelites, and he saves them from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. Last week we saw the people sing a song of praise after they crossed the red sea, thanking God for salvation. The spiritual lesson is that God wants to save them and us from slavery to something far worse than Egypt, sin and death. Salvation.
Now starting at Exodus 15:22, we see a new story with a new theme. Sanctification. The word “sanctify” means “to consecrate, make holy, set apart.” To sanctify someone is to help them become like God’s character, to be spiritually clean like him. God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt so that he can mold and change them into a new people that look like him. The rest of Exodus, the Ten Commandments, the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the golden calf is all about God making Godly people. God isn’t just interested in initial salvation, he’s interested “the happily ever after”—the life that follows. Sanctification.
The Exodus Route I brought a map today for two reasons. First, I want to ground the story of Exodus in reality. The Exodus happened at a real time, ~1446 B.C. (see 1 King 6:1), and in a real place, from the land of Goshen in Egypt, crossing over the Red Sea, today called the Gulf of Suez (see Exodus 14:22), to the wilderness, and finally up north to the land of Canaan. Second, I want you to see God cares about longterm change. God is going to take the Israelites into the wilderness to demonstrate he is interested not just in initial salvation, but in continual sanctification. God is going to refine his people as he leads them into the promised land.
If I put your life-map on the screen, what would it look like? Where would it show you’ve gone and grown? If you’re a mature Christian, at some point in your story, God saved you. But that was just the beginning of your story, wasn’t it? God has already taken you on a journey of sanctification, many years of molding you to be more Godly and there’s still more to go. If you’re a new Christian, you’re just at the beginning of this journey. You have years of sanctification ahead of you. Oh boy! And if you’re not a Christian, I want you to understand that Christianity isn’t about just saying a prayer, it’s giving your whole life to God so that he can mold and change you through the years. Like the Israelites, God promises to lead us into his promised land one day too, eternity with Jesus.
Today, we’re picking up right after the crossing of the Red Sea. It’s here that God begins to clearly sanctify his people, to set them apart and make them holy, and it’s here that we learn how God sanctifies us.
God sanctifies us by testing us. (Exodus 15:22-27) After the Israelites leave the Red Sea, they enter the desert. They travel for three days, but don’t find any water until they come to the springs of Marah. You can imagine the scene; two million people with parched throats rushing these springs, only to hear a cry that the water is… bitter! Marah! Marah! Verse 25 says “There the Lord… put them to the test.” See, God wants to reveal their heart-attitude. He just delivered them from the Egyptians three days prior, but do they really believe in him? We find two ways to respond:
Response A: Grumbling (v. 22-24) The word for grumble means “to murmur or rebel.” The picture we get is of pockets of people huddling together to whisper or loudly complain about Moses and his leadership. When you ask your children to do a chore, like take out the trash or pick up their room, and they moan and say, “Why don’t you do it?” that’s an example of a happy heart, isn’t it? No. That’s grumbling, murmuring, rebellion.
The word Marah means “bitter.” Maybe some of you know the story of the woman Naomi from the book of Ruth. Several hundred years after the Exodus, a famine hits the land of Israel (the promised land) and a woman named Naomi and her husband go to live in a foreign country. Her husband dies, but she manages to get her two sons married, but then both of them die. When she finally returns home to Israel, she renames herself Mara. Now she’s a bitter, unhappy person (Ruth 1:20). God took her sons and she’ll probably live in poverty till she dies. That’s exactly how the Israelites feel. Marah describes the taste of the water, but it also describes their hearts. The bitterness in the water reveals the bitterness in their hearts.
God tests us with trouble to help us grow. But what’s our usual response? We say, “God, I can’t do this. I can’t handle this.” I just watched a TED talk on growth mindsets. The speaker shared what happens when a child encounters a test problem they don’t know how to solve. The ones who say, “I can’t do it. I don’t know how” test poorly. But those children who learn to view the problem as an opportunity to grow do really well. The different is the word “yet… I can’t do this yet.” God gives us life-tests to mold and shape us to say, “God, I can’t do this… yet. God, you’re molding and shaping me into the kind of person you want me to be. I trust you.” Let’s respond differently, respond in joy. God knows what he’s doing.
Response B: Trust (v. 25-27) How is Moses’ response different? When the people complain, it doesn’t say Moses politely approached God. It says he “cried out” to God. Moses shouts in desperation, “Do something God! Do something!” When I was home for Christmas, my little nephew was trying to sleep upstairs. There’s a baby monitor in his room, so you can hear him speak. When he got scared, he said out loud, “Dad, can you hear me?” That’s what Moses is doing, “God, do you hear us?” Both Moses and the people are scared and stressed, and even angry. But the difference is what they do with their emotions. The Israelites turn their back on God but Moses turns to God. The difference between grumbling and trust is who you talk to.
We don’t need to trust when the going is easy. Right after this God takes the Israelites to an oasis. We don’t learn to trust God when life is an oasis. We learn to trust him when life is difficult. But instead of showing God gratitude for the times he leads us into the wilderness, we say, “God, the glass is half empty. God, you don’t have my best at heart.” The solution to a desert heart, a bitter heart, is to encounter the God who is himself an oasis. We believe in a God who can bring refreshment in the middle of the wilderness. At the end of verse 26, God says, “I am the Lord, who heals you.” I am “Yahweh Rophe.” No matter how bad our circumstances are or how bitter our hearts get, God can heal and renew us. Sometime this week, take time to go to the oasis. Read your Bible, pray, receive the one who heals hearts. God sanctifies us by testing us.
God sanctifies us by providing for us. (Exodus 16:1-36) In chapter sixteen, the testing grows, but so does the grumbling. God takes the Israelites into another desert, and this time they complain about the food (v. 1-3). They say, “It was better in Egypt where there was beef stew, alligator BBQ, pita-pancakes.” They were dying as slaves in Egypt and they think food is better than what God has done for them. Despite their grumbling, God shows them he is good and will provide for their needs. As we come to see firsthand God is trustworthy, we’re changed. So how does God provide?
Provision 1: God provides for our daily needs (v. 4-21). The people complain, and Moses says, “You’re not complaining against me, but God. Here’s what God is going to do. He is going to give you meat tonight and bread in the morning.” And then Moses says why.
Exodus 16:12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” (NIV®)
God will provide bread from heaven so they will know he is God and they can trust him. The next morning the Israelites get up and a dew is covering the ground all around the camp. When that dew melts, it uncovers flakes of bread that look like frost on the desert floor. Not knowing what it is, they turn to each other and say “What is it?” The Hebrew phrase, “What is it” sounds like “manna”, so that’s what they call it—manna.
But there are some rules for this bread. The people are only to pick up enough for each family member (v. 16). They’re not to store any extra for the next day (v. 19). And when the sun comes out, it melts away (v. 21). Of course, these people do exactly as they’re told. Not at all. They ignore Moses, and in the morning they find maggots in their bread. It stinks. It’s bad. Now why would God do this to the Israelites? God wants his people to depend on him for their daily needs. If they can’t gather enough for the week, they have to believe that God is going to provide for them every single day.
Did you know Jesus teaches you and me to express this same kind of trust in God daily? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” (Matt 6:11) A little later in that same chapter, Jesus says, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink…” (v. 25). When his original audience would have heard him, they would have remembered the story of God providing for the needs of the Israelites in the wilderness. They would have thought, “We’re supposed to trust God daily like them.”
Maybe some of you have heard of George Müeller. He’s a Christian who founded an orphanage in England in the 1800s, but he’s most famous for the way God answered his prayers. Whenever he needed something, he wouldn’t ask others. Instead, he prayed, and God answered. One example is the day the 300 children in his orphanage were dressed and ready for school, but they didn’t have any food. George told them to sit in the dining room, he prayed thanking God for the food, and they waited. Within a few minutes, a baker knocked and said, “Mr. Mueller, last night I could not sleep. Somehow I knew that you would need bread this morning. I got up and baked three batches for you.” Shortly after that the milkman knocked on the door. His cart had broken down in front of their orphanage and he wanted to know if they wanted the milk because otherwise it would spoil. He brought in ten cans and the children had enough.
You don’t have to run an orphanage for God to answer your prayers. You can pray, “God, I can’t pay my co-payment or my medical bill. Will you provide?” Or, “God, we’re moving and I don’t know where we’re going to sleep. Will you provide?” Or, “God, we don’t have enough money to buy healthy food. Will you provide?” God cares about our food, our drink, our rent payments, our relationships, all our needs. Most of the time God provides for us using ordinary ways, but he can use miracles too. God wants us to come to him so that as we see him provide, we grow in faith, and ultimately, grow in godliness.
Provision 2: God provides for our rest needs (v. 22-30). Very briefly I want to point out how God instructs Moses to have the Israelites gather a double portion on the sixth day, and miraculously, it doesn’t go bad. That’s because here we encounter the first official mention of the Sabbath in the Bible. The Sabbath is a special day every week (Saturday) which God sets aside for the Israelite people to rest and worship him. In Genesis 2, we see God rest on the seventh day, which lays the groundwork for Moses when he codifies it here and in the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.
Maybe you’re someone who doesn’t worry about your daily needs because you know you’ll have enough. You work hard and you know you’ll get paid. In fact, you work all the time. You never stop. The amazing power of the Bible is that it comforts the poor that God will provide for them, and it confronts the strong that they need to let God provide for them. Life will go on if you don’t answer emails one day a week, or work around the house, or do laundry, dishes, or take out the trash. Part of growing in Godliness is accepting the Sabbath rest God offers every week. If you’re not already doing so, commit one day a week to resting at the Oasis with God. God sanctifies us by providing for our rest needs.
Provision 3: God provides for our future needs (v. 31-36). I like how the chapter on manna ends. Moses records what manna tastes like—wafers made of honey. God’s goodness is sweet. And God tells Moses to store some in a jar for generations to come. I like to think of this as the very first cookie jar… One day the Israelites are going to reach the land of Canaan, the promised land, and when they do the manna will stop falling. In the years that follow this jar will serve as a reminder that God takes care of his own yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
If you’re future oriented, you probably spend a lot of time worrying about tomorrow, the next day, or the future in general. God promises to provide what we need for tomorrow, but not till tomorrow. Listen to this quote by Tim Chester in his book, Exodus For You; “God doesn’t give grace today for tomorrow. Don’t worry how you would cope if… Don’t play scenarios. You are not given grace for ifs and maybes. You will be given grace for today. You will have the grace for the next day when it comes—and it will not come till tomorrow.” (page 119) You don’t need to worry about tomorrow, because God will provide you the emotional strength, or physical strength, what you need, but only tomorrow.
What’s your cookie jar? What’s a reminder of the ways God has provided for you? For me it’s my wife, my house, and it’s you, this church. As we learn to trust God daily, and for our rest and future, he molds and changes us to be a bit more like him. God sanctifies us by testing us and by providing for our needs.
God sanctifies us as we encounter Him. (Exodus 17:1-7) Halfway through the miracle of manna in chapter 16, verse 10, God’s glory shows up in a cloud. The whole encampment sees him. Everybody sees God, but God says, “You’ll see my glory again in the morning.” But the cloud never returns. Instead, manna appears. I think God wants to encounter us not just in the big miracles, but as he meets our daily needs. This promise also points forward to a future day when God will send another kind of bread to the earth, his glory in the form of his Son.
John 6:41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because [Jesus] said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” (NIV®)
Exodus and the gospel of John match each other here. In both, people encounter God, and instead of praising him, they grumble. When Jesus calls himself “the bread that came down from heaven”, he’s saying, “I’m the manna. I’m the glory of God. Trust me. Just like the Israelites needed me in the wilderness to live, you need me too.” If you want to think and act more like God, you need to encounter God through Jesus Christ. When God tests us, we don’t just trust a general sense of God, we trust the person of Christ Jesus who defeated sin and death at the cross and is himself trustworthy. God sanctifies us as we encounter him.
We all need to encounter God. (v. 1-3) The Israelites continue their journey, and once more, there’s no water. And what do they do? They quarrel and grumble. When they do this, Moses asks, “Why do you put the Lord to the test?” (v. 17) Their grumbling has grown worse; they’re receiving manna everyday, this is rebellion. They’re testing God. But even after Moses’s rebuke, they just keep complaining. And then Moses in v. 4 catches the grumbling bug too, “They are almost ready to stone me” he yells at God. They all need to encounter God in a life-changing way.
Have you ever heard of sibling harmony? “Sibling harmony is a musical term that refers to the tight — almost inseparable — vocal harmonies generated by members of the same family.” There’s something about family members, that when they sing, their voices blend really well. We are the church family. If some of us grumble, we’ll eventually all sound like grumblers. But if we as a family fill our speech with thankfulness and praise, pretty soon we’ll become known for our gratitude and joy. But the only way this happens is as each one of us experiences God and his grace.
We all need to encounter God’s grace. (v. 4-7) Notice what happens next. Moses goes out in front of the people, he takes some elders, and God says;
Exodus 17:6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the’ sight of the elders of Israel. (ESV)
The people here deserve to die for testing God. They deserve to be struck with Moses’s staff, but instead God tells Moses to strike him. God takes the people’s punishment on himself. He strikes himself instead of them. Here, the Israelites are encountering the heart of God. God’s heart doesn’t struggle with bitterness, or grumbling. God’s heart is overflowing with compassion for his people. If you want your heart to change, you need to encounter the heart of God. God promises to give his heart to all who trust him (Ezek 36:26).
The heart of God is revealed in another way at the rock Moses strikes. That rock in the Old Testament symbolizes Jesus in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 10:4 says, “[our ancestors] drank the same spiritual drink; they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”
When Moses struck the rock, he was spiritually striking the Son of God, Jesus Christ. One day Jesus Christ would come and take the physical punishment too. This saves any Israelite who truly believes in God back in 1446 B.C. and anyone who truly believes in Jesus in 2017 today.
I have one final question and thought. Have you encountered God? Have you encountered his heart? God loves you too much to leave you as you are. That’s why he tests us, why he provides for our daily needs, and why he steps into our lives. One day we will live “happily ever after” but not just because God will have changed our circumstances. We’ll live “happily ever after” because Jesus will have changed our hearts. We won’t grumble or complain anymore. We’ll be the kind of people you want to spend eternity with.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote and preached this message for Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or read teaching articles.
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As we come to Exodus 15, I want us to think about the role which music plays in our lives. I basically soundtrack my entire life – whether I’m working, exercising (which does not happen very much), driving, I’m always listening to music. Whenever, Emma and I play or work together, there is always a lot of music and dancing. She really loves to listen to movie soundtracks, so our go-to albums are the soundtracks for Frozen, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast. I believe that music and song are not just something that we enjoy; I believe that music and song are hard-wired into who we are as humans. Consider the field of music therapy that developed as a profession in the 20th century. It has been discovered that music can be used things like motor skill problems in children, emotional trauma in war veterans, and many other ailments. Apparently, music has always been an important part of the human experience. In the Hohle Fels cave in Germany, some of the oldest human artifacts in existence have been discovered – believed to derive from the earliest human migrations into Europe. Among the artifacts are flutes – some carved out of mammoth tusks and one made from the bone of a griffon vulture (which you should see on the screen up here). This is interesting in light of the Bible, because in the first genealogy in Genesis chapter 4, mention is made of the origins of music (Gen 4:20). So, it seems that humans are and have always been designed for music.
So, it’s no accident that there are a lot of songs in the Bible. Tonight we come to one of the most ancient of these biblical songs.
The song of Exodus 15 goes by many names:
Some people refer to the song of Exodus 15 as the Song of Moses. This makes sense because v. 1 says that Moses and all Israel sang this song to the LORD. However, I don’t like to call this the Song of Moses because there is another song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 that is also called “the Song of Moses.”
Others call it the Song of Miriam. This is because of v. 21 where the first line of the song is repeated by Moses’s sister Miriam. It’s not entirely sure what is going on here, but it seems most likely to me that verse 21 indicates that the song was sung in a kind of antiphonal pattern. By this I mean that apparently Moses along with the men would sing a section of the song, and then the women would respond with a repeated refrain.
Finally, the song in Exodus 15 may be called either the Song of the Sea or the Song at the Sea. This is the terminology that I prefer, as it reminds us of the context of the Song – this is a celebratory song of praise after God has defeated Egypt and rescued Israel through the miracle at the sea.
Now, songs in the Bible are presented in basically one of two ways: First, there are places in the Bible which collect songs and put them all together – the book of Psalms is the best example of this. Second, songs can be presented within the context of a narrative or a story. In other words, you are reading through a story and then all of the sudden you come to a song that is part of the story. We call these “inset songs.” This is a form of literary production which continues even until works of literature and art today. Consider how a broadway musical works. There is a storyline (or a narrative), and there is plenty of dialogue. But, what are the most memorable parts of the production? Where is the main message of the musical presented? These are of course the songs. There is a reason we call them musicals.
Now, I have never been to Broadway. However, I do remember one of my first Valentine’s Day dates with Sara. I believe this was in February 2006 (I had my driver’s license for less than a year). I took Sara to a local theatre company’s production of The Sound of Music. Now, I remember the gist of the plot, but I do not remember any of the dialogue. But, I do remember the songs. I remember both their melodies and specific lines: “the hills are alive with the sound of music,” “Doe, a deer, a female deer,” “I am 16, going on 17.” And this was well over a decade ago for me.
So, if you think about the book of Exodus like a landscape, it’s important to see that we are not dealing with a flat plain. No, Exodus, like the rest of the Bible, has a rich topography. There are valleys and bogs and plains and mountain peaks. And, as we come to this song in Exodus 15, we have come to a great mountain peak. This song represents the culmination of the exodus – God’s rescue of his people from Exodus. And here, we have God’s rescued people singing a song of praise to the God who has saved them.
Now, this brings up one other point that sets the stage for our entry into the Song. Why do we have this song in the Bible? In the story, Moses and Israel are singing this song to the LORD. However, the song is not written in the Bible for them to know what to sing. I also do not think that the song is written down just for history’s sake – this isn’t just so that we know what happened. This song is written for the reader of the book of Exodus. That is, the purpose of this song is to call you, the reader of the book, to join in with Israel in praising the God of the Exodus. So as we walk through the Song together, I want us to be guided by two questions: 1. Why can we sing? 2. What should we sing?
We will look at the Song in two parts. First, we will focus on the portrait of God we are given in the first 12 verses of the song. Second, we will look at the goal of the entire exodus in vv. 13–18.
Singing about the God of the Exodus (vv. 1–12) The main idea of the first 12 verses of the song comes in v. 3: “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name!” What an interesting image of who God is! The LORD, the God of the exodus, is a warrior God. And we see in the song that this is a sword that cuts in two directions. God’s role as a warrior is like a coin with two sides. It means something different to the groups of people in the song: God’s people and Egypt.
What does it mean for God’s people, Israel, that the LORD is a warrior? Verse 2 provides the best statement:
“The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”
The fact that the LORD is a warrior means salvation for Israel. He has defeated Egypt and Israel is now free. They have been delivered! This is why they burst into song on the eastern shore of the sea! The point is that the God of the exodus is a warrior who delivers his people.
This is powerfully captured in that narrative of the miracle at the sea in chapter 14, verses 13–14. The context of this verse is that the Israelites have suddenly found themselves trapped between the sea and the pursuing Egyptian army. And now they are despairing of life itself. They even sarcastically question Moses, “Is it because there weren’t enough graves in Egypt that you’ve led into the wilderness to die?” Hear Moses’s response:
13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
This verse is extremely important not only because it describes the LORD as a warrior who delivers his people but also because it shows our proper response to the deliverance which God brings. What does the passage say? “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
The people trapped at the sea are not supposed to deliver themselves. They can literally do nothing to effect their salvation at this dire moment. What are they supposed to do? They are told be still and rest in the deliverance which the LORD will work for them. So, as we consider what it means for the LORD to be a warrior who delivers his people, it’s important for us to see that implicit in this truth is a command for us to rest in the salvation that he has worked and will work for us.
I brought with me tonight my very first Hebrew Bible. I brought it because I will never forget how I got this Hebrew Bible. I got this during my sophomore year of college in my first semester of studying Hebrew. This is now 9 ½ years ago. My Hebrew class had about 8 people in it. 6 of us were regular college students, but two members of the class were middle-aged women who were in the class strictly because they wanted to learn Hebrew. They were not seeking a degree. Their names were Barbara and Sharon. Now, at the beginning of class I had a problem. We were supposed to have a Hebrew Bible at class with us each meeting. However, the campus bookstore was still waiting on the order of Hebrew Bibles to come in (I had some credit at the bookstore, so I was insistent on waiting for the bookstore’s copies to come in). One week at the beginning of class, Sharon looked across the table and told me that she had another copy of the Hebrew Bible and wanted to give me the copy she had at class that day. So, Sharon handed me this Hebrew Bible that I am now holding. After she handed me the Bible, I said to her, “How much do I need to pay you?” Her response is something that I will never forget. She very calmly asked me, “What do you say when someone gives you a gift?”
Church, you and I both know that trying to pay for a gift only insults the giver. The answer to Sharon’s question, of course, is “thank you.” The Bible is telling a great story not of how great men and women rise up and save themselves. Instead, the Bible is telling a great story about a needy and helpless people who are slaves to sin and wickedness and suffering. And the Bible is telling a great story about a mighty warrior of a God who has come to deliver his people, who has suffered for their sins on the cross and who rose again three days later, laying death in its grave. He now offers freedom and salvation to you, and this great deliverer is not seeking repayment. He is seeking a people who receive his salvation as a gift. Because the LORD is a warrior who delivers his people, let us trust in him.
I think this calls for two questions. First, have you ever placed your trust in Jesus for your salvation from sin, death, and hell? If not, I urge you. Delay not! If you wait until you’re better, you will never come at all. What better time to rest in Christ than now? Second, for those who have trusted in Christ, are you still resting in Jesus? Resting in the work of Christ is not the ABC’s that we learn at the beginning of our Christian walk and quickly advance beyond. God’s grace and kindness to us in Christ is the A–Z. Resting in the salvation Jesus has won is the fuel that keeps the fire of our soul ablaze for the LORD – we never get over it. As we read this celebration of salvation in Exodus 15, let it cause you to meditate on the marvels of God’s work of salvation in your life. When is the last time you considered the miracle of salvation that God has worked in your life? Take some time this weekend, to be alone with God and remember and thank him.
I realize that all of us walk through many trials and seasons of suffering, whether with finances, parenting, health, family stress, marriage, etc. Bring to mind the things in your life right now that fill you with anxiety or heartbreak. Consider this, if Christ is worthy of your trust with your eternal salvation, how much more ought we to rest in him in the temporary anxieties of this life?
Earlier this week, Chris Coughlin reminded me of the words of Psalm 46. Psalm 46 is an amazing song. It begins with the comforting words: God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. However, after this the psalmist paints a scene of chaos and danger: the sea is raging, the mountains are shaking and falling into the sea. Yet, the psalm tells us that we need not fear. Because the LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Then, hear the closing words of the song:
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
So, as you consider the anxieties and the threatening chaos of your life, consider also the mighty warrior God who is with you. Be still, and know that he is God.
So, in the Song at the Sea we encounter the God of the exodus as a warrior who delivers his people. Because of this, we can rest in him. On the other hand, what does the refrain “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name!” mean for the Egyptians? Clearly, it means their defeat and destruction. Hear the words of the song which follow the celebration of the LORD as a warrior:
4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea. 5 The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone. 6 Your right hand, LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, LORD, shattered the enemy.
So, as we encounter the God of the exodus, we encounter the LORD as a warrior who destroys his enemies. This is a hard truth, and there is much to say about this. However, I want to briefly give three observations about God’s destruction of his enemies in the book of Exodus. First, God’s judgment on the Egyptians is just. It is no accident that a story that began with the Egyptians throwing Hebrew baby boys into the Nile ends with the LORD throwing the Egyptian officers into the sea. In the same way, all people are under God’s wrath and judgment not because God is unreasonably grumpy but because all people have rebelled against God and have committed grievous sins against both God and their neighbors. For God to refuse to punish such rebellion would be unjust, and a world governed by an unjust God would be a terrifying world to live in. Second, God’s judgment on the Egyptians is necessary. Without destroying the Egyptians, the Hebrews remain slaves. Without judgment, there can be no salvation. This is all the more remarkable in light of what Jesus has done for us. You see, the Bible teaches us that God’s judgment for our rebellion against God has been executed on Jesus at the cross. We are delivered because he was destroyed. He descended into the sea of death in our place. You see, Jesus’s suffering and death in our place was absolutely necessary. In the words of Paul, because of Jesus’s death in our place, God can be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. What this means is that because of Christ’s death God can be the just judge of the universe and also forgive us and welcome us as his children. Third, God’s judgment in Exodus is impartial. To this point in Exodus, all of God’s judgment has been directed at Egyptians. However, when Israel comes to Sinai and makes idols to worship, several thousand Israelites are slain by the divine warrior. And this is certainly not the only time that God judges the Israelites en route to the promised land. So, we see that God the warrior is not Israel’s pet lion whom they can send out against their enemies according to their pleasure. No, the LORD will not be domesticated, he will not be tamed. He has no owner; he answers to no one. So, let us not mock God and presume upon his grace while in secret we seek to live as our king. Because the LORD is a warrior who destroys his enemies, let us tremble before him.Note the response of Israel after seeing the LORD destroy the Egyptians in the sea:
30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
You have probably noticed a paradox within what we’ve discussed. We are called to trust in the LORD and rest in him, but we are also supposed to tremble before the LORD, or fear him. This is a really big topic, but it’s imperative tonight that you understand that both fear and trust are part of biblical, saving faith. If we fall off of either side of the horse, then we are not relating to God rightly. It is difficult to explain exactly how these work together, but I do think that the combination of fear and trust is best displayed in the way a child looks at the best of fathers. This is difficult because none of have or are perfect parents, and I am sure that in a room this large several of you have fathers whose character does not resemble that of God at all. That makes it difficult, but I still think that the analogy is valuable (perhaps why God has chosen “father” as one of the titles by which he reveals himself to us). It is right for a child to trust the best of fathers. His father wants only what is best for his children and would never seek his children’s harm. Therefore, trust is fitting. However, the child should also fear his father, not in the way that he is afraid of the boogey-man or a monster, but he should respect his father and recognize that a good father is a father who disciplines his children. So, it is right and necessary that we should both fear God and trust him because he is neither abusive nor a push-over. The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name. And he fights for his people. Is this your idea of who God is?
The depiction of God as a warrior, delivering his people and destroying his enemies, builds to a crescendo in v. 11:
11 Who among the gods is like you, LORD? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
The answer, of course, is that there is no one like the LORD!
Singing about the Goal of the Exodus (vv. 13–18) Verse 13 is a hinge verse. It signals a significant shift not only within the Song at the Sea but also within the book of Exodus. At this point attention shifts from the past to the future. God has defeated Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt and has liberated his people from slavery. Now, these Israelites will never see the Egyptians again. Vv. 13ff., then, seem to answer the question, “Where is this relationship going?” So, if the first part of the song sings who God has shown himself to be in the exodus, then in the second part Israel sings about God’s end game for the exodus – what his goal is. Verse 13 introduces the main theme:
In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.
So, God is leading his people to his “holy dwelling.” Next, vv. 14–16 describes God leading Israel to the promised land past foreign nations – Edom, Moab, Philistia, and the Canaanites. Just as the first part of the Song described the Egyptians as having sunk into the sea like a stone, so now it is said that the enemies of Israel will be still like a stone as God leads his people to his goal. Then, v. 17 returns to what it means that God is leading his people to “his holy dwelling.” Let’s read v. 17 again:
You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance— the place, LORD, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.
So, Israel’s destination here is described with three expressions: the mountain of the LORD’s inheritance, the place the LORD has made for his dwelling, and the sanctuary the LORD has made with his own hands.
What we’re expecting here is something that says that God is leading Israel to the promised land. But, notice that the language here goes well beyond the language of the promised land. Promised land terminology is well known – the land the LORD swore to give to Abraham and his descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey, etc. The language here is, dare we say, more intimate. This is the language of the temple – God’s dwelling place. God is bringing his people to his temple. The LORD redeems his people so that he might dwell with them.
And then, we have the crowning line of the song in v. 18: The LORD will reign forever and ever! So, what is the goal of the exodus? The goal is God’s people living in his presence, and him reigning forever as their king!
Now, to catch the full import of this idea we need to recall where we are in the Bible. Exodus is not a standalone book. It is Act 2 of a 5-Act play that we call the Pentateuch or the Torah. That is, Genesis–Deuteronomy form one book with 5 parts. So, here Exodus 15 is not only looking forward to God bringing Israel into the promised land, it is also looking back to the early chapters of the book of Genesis. The first two chapters of Genesis give us an idyllic portrait of God’s original creation. However, in Genesis chapter 3, the first humans rebel against God’s rule in their lives and the entire creation ruptures. As a result, they are driven out of the Garden of Eden and, therefore, tragically they are driven away from God’s presence. The rest of the Bible is the story of God’s seeking to redeem humanity and restore us to his presence.
Those of you who have moved cities know how flexible of an idea “home” is. You especially see this when you go back to a place where you had lived and suddenly find that that place is no longer home. I feel this most acutely when I go back to Louisiana to visit family. You see, my parents no longer live in the town where I grew up, and it is always an odd feeling to drive past my old childhood home and realize that that is not my home anymore. So, what is home? Well, home is where the people that you love are. For me, home is wherever Sara and Emma are. In the same way, our true and ultimate home is where God is. That is what we were wired for. And that is the goal of redemption.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of temple language in this part of the passage, and, because of this, the song is associated with the building of Solomon’s temple. However, there are a lot of reasons that I am confident that the Song looks beyond the temple that was built in Jerusalem. One quick reason is that the temple in Exodus 15 is a temple which God has made with his own hands. Yet, Solomon is clear in 1 Kings 8 that his hands made the temple in Jerusalem. Now, there are a lot of things to say about this, but I want us to focus on how, on this side of Christ’s first coming, we experience God’s presence.
Looking Back – In becoming a man, Jesus is “God with us.” And we see in John 2 that he speaks about “the temple of his body.” As Jonathan taught us this past Christmas, this is what it means that Jesus is Immanuel.
Present – For believers, according to 1 Corinthians 6 our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. God dwells with us now in his Spirit. According to 1 Corinthians 3:16, there is also a sense in which we as the people of God, the church, are God’s temple, where his Spirit dwells. And the book of Hebrews tells us that because of Jesus’s sacrifice we are able to boldly approach God’s throne – we are able to enter into the holy in holies in prayer.
Future – Yet we still do not experience God’s presence in the full way in which it was intended, so like Israel on the shore of the sea, we still look forward to the complete fulfillment of the vision of the Song at the Sea when Christ returns and all things are made new. Hear the words of Revelation 21:
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
So, as we think about God restoring us to his presence, I want us to contemplate two things.
First, understand that the gospel is ultimately about reconciliation between you and God. So, if you’re here tonight or listening online and want to know why you should accept Christianity and believe in Jesus. I think that reason #1 is that the good news of Jesus offers you the chance to have peace with God and to know him and to dwell with him.
Second, for those of us who already have faith in Jesus, do you actually desire God’s presence in your life? I was recently struck by the language of the psalms, especially when the psalmist is expressing deep sorrow:
Ps 42:1–2 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
As I read these words in the psalms, I was struck by how different the position of my heart is towards the LORD. When God feels distant to me, I do not usually respond by saying that my soul pants for God like a deer pants for water. Rather, I usually find myself feeling rather indifferent. Do you? I pray that what we see in the Song at the Sea will awaken your heart to run hard after God’s presence in your life. May it awaken you to seek God in the Scriptures, to speak with him in prayer, to have communion with him, to long for the day when the dwelling of God is again with man. Because, the LORD redeems his people to dwell with him, let us long to be with God.
Conclusion In light of what we have seen in the Song at the Sea, I want us to revisit the two questions I introduced at the beginning of the message. So, we have seen in the Song a portrait of the LORD as a mighty warrior God who delivers his people and destroys his enemies, and we have the goal toward which the exodus is heading – God’s people dwelling in his presence under his kingship. So then, why can we sing? And what shall we sing?
Jeremiah 23 is a very important passage about the coming of the Messiah, God’s promised king, and the salvation which he will bring. We know now that Jesus is this promised King. Hear the words of Jeremiah:
5 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior.” 7 “So then, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt…’”
Notice what the passage is saying (I have left some complicated details out). When the Messiah comes, he will work a salvation so great that God’s people will forget the exodus and praise God for this greater work of salvation which he has accomplished through the son of David. In other words, the salvation which Jesus will bring about will be even greater than the exodus.
So, why can we sing? We can sing because we have come to know the God of the Song at the Sea in Jesus of Nazareth. He is our mighty warrior who has delivered us from sin and death and will conquer every foe that stands against him. He is our God who deserves our highest praise – he is our God who has come to dwell with us and to bring us to himself. He is our king, who will reign forever and ever.
And what should we sing? We should sing the Song at the Sea and exult in the God of the exodus, the mighty warrior, and hope in the goal of exodus, living in God’s presence and under his rule.
Is this the song that your life sings? This is the song that God is inviting you to join tonight.
This sermon is written and preached by Terry Iles. Terry has served in youth and college ministry, received his M.A. in Old Testament from Southeastern , and is a Ph.D. student in the Hebrew Bible at Harvard. Most of all, Terry loves God and His Word.
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As we come to Exodus 15, I want us to think about the role which music plays in our lives. I basically soundtrack my entire life – whether I’m working, exercising (which does not happen very much), driving, I’m always listening to music. Whenever, Emma and I play or work together, there is always a lot of music and dancing. She really loves to listen to movie soundtracks, so our go-to albums are the soundtracks for Frozen, The Lion King,
Do you have a good memory? If someone tells you something really important, and says, “you have to remember this” do you? Or do you have to write down? There’s a saying, “The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory.” If you’re the kind of person who has to write stuff down, and then is also prone to misplacing small slips of paper, then there’s nothing I can do for you.
I want to test our memories today. I want to say a phrase, and see if you can remember it by the end of the sermon. I’m going to tell you the phrase. Are you ready? The phrase is… “goat on a tree.” There are lots of ways to remember this phrase, aren’t there? You could write it down. You could whisper it to a friend. How about we do that right now. Why don’t you turn to your neighbor and say, “goat on a tree.”
I’ve also brought a picture to help you remember. Here are some tree goats of Morocco famous for climbing trees. They love tree nuts and there isn’t much grass, so they climb trees. If you’re really serious, this summer you can go to Honey Pot Hill Orchard in Stow MA and see your very own “goat on a tree.”
It’s easy to forget things, isn’t it? Apparently, it’s a myth that fish have a three-second memory. The whole movie, Finding Dory, is just one big lie. Researchers have proven that fish can remember things for up to five months. So if you can’t remember “goat on a tree”, a goldfish has a better memory than you…
We’re not the only one who struggles to remember things. In Exodus chapter 12, Moses is about to lead the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt, but God wants them to remember a really important truth. He’s so serious about this truth he creates a special Holiday to help them remember.
What we do on Holidays? We remember. On July 4th, we remember our freedoms. On Labor Day we remember how hard work benefits everyone. On Halloween, we remember candy. On Christmas, we remember the birth of Jesus, and on Easter we remember his resurrection. Last week some of us even celebrated the Chinese New Year, which remembers the last Chinese year and looks forward to the next.
The Holiday God gives the Israelites is Passover. This day is meant to remind the Israelites of this truth…
Remember your Passover substitute, the lamb. The Israelites celebrate this Holiday with a meal like we do Thanksgiving. Today this meal is called a Sedar, and Jewish people still eat a lamb shank, bitter herbs, and other foods that remind them of their ancestors flight from Egypt. The meaning of Passover is actually in its name.
Exodus 12:26-27a And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ ”… (NIV®)
The Passover reminds us of God “passing-over” the Israelites when he judged the Egyptians. As we study Exodus chapters 12-13, we see Three Remembrances that help us understand this one big truth.
Remembrance #1. The Passover lamb is a personal substitute. Last week I preached through the plagues of Egypt. Tonight I’m finishing with the last one, the death of the firstborn. God is about to send the worst plague on Egypt, he’s going to kill every firstborn son because Pharaoh won’t let the Israelites go.
Exodus 11:5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. (NIV®)
God is going to kill the firstborns of Egypt. In ancient cultures, the firstborn son had certain privileges called a birthright. He got a double portion of the inheritance (Deut 21:17). He was a sign of his father’s strength (Gen 49:3) and authority (2 Chr 21:3). and he was especially blessed (Gen 49:8-12). In Egypt, the firstborn of Pharaoh would one-day rule in his father’s place, and was even treated like a god.
But God is going to pass-over the firstborn sons of Israel. How? He is going to provide each firstborn with a substitute. A substitute is someone or something takes the place of another. What is the substitute? A lamb.
Moses tells the Israelites to take a year-old male lamb and sacrifice it. This lamb could be a sheep or a goat (probably not a goat on a tree) and it can’t have any defects—so spotless, no broken bones or scars (v. 5). As twilight comes, they take the lambs and kill them. Then they use hyssop, a plant with a hairy texture on its leaves, and dip it in the blood and wipe it on the doorframe of the house, the top and sides. When God comes to kill the firstborn (v. 23), he accepts the blood of this sacrifice and “passes-over” their firstborn.
This whole idea of a personal substitutionary lamb isn’t foreign to the Israelites. They would have heard the story of God telling their great forefather Abraham to climb up Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son Isaac. God stopped Abraham, but at the last possible moment. He spares Isaac by giving Abraham a ram caught in the thicket. He sacrifices that lamb as a “burnt offering” instead of Isaac (Gen 22:13). Just like God tested Abraham, now they think, God is testing us, he wants us to believe and obey as well.
Let’s think about our culture for a moment. The firstborn is the oldest child, a boy or girl. Maybe you think of someone who has more responsibility in your home. Most of all, you think of a name, right? The Israelites, wouldn’t have thought of the names of firstborn sons too, “I don’t want Reuben to die… or Aaron… or Zebedee… or…” If you were in Egypt, whose name would you say? “I don’t want Timothy to die… or Preston… or Micah, or Max, or Sawyer, or Jonathan or William…” Do you feel how personal this lamb’s sacrifice is? It’s life and death. #1 The Passover lamb is a personal substitute.
Remembrance #2. The Passover lamb provides undeserved substitution. If God had not provided a Passover lamb for each Israelite household, and he had sent that final plague, each Israelite firstborn would have died. This means that the firstborn of Israel, although they were spared by God, are just as deserving of death as the firstborn sons of Egypt. This is because they too are guilty of sin.
Psalm 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. (NIV®)
If God is perfectly good, sin is anytime we’re not perfectly good. Sin isn’t just the bad decisions we sometimes make, it’s actually a posture of the heart. Rebellion. Disobedience. Mistrust. We’re all born in sin. God is so pure he can’t let sin go unpunished, because to do so would be unjust. So if the children of Israel and Egypt are born in sin, they are all guilty, and they all deserve’s death.
The firstborns of Israel aren’t spared because they deserve it. They’re given a lamb in their place as a gift. That’s grace, an undeserved gift. They live because someone else pays for their sins in their place, a substitute lamb. The theological word for this is substitutionary atonement. God provides a substitution to atone for (to pay for, to make up for) the sins of the firstborns.
Do you know we’re also guilty? We’re not innocent and so we need a substitute (Rom 3:23, 6:23). If you were standing at the gates of heaven and God said, “Why should I let you in?” What would you say? Would you say, “Because I’m a good person?” That answer won’t fly. God will not “pass over” you. The best of humans are still guilty because of sin. We can’t earn our way to heaven. We need a substitute to pay for our sins so we can go in. #2. The Passover lamb provides undeserved substitution.
Remembrance #3. The Passover lamb’s substitution isn’t enough. Not only does the lamb save the firstborn in each home, God claims every firstborn son in Israel as his own going forward. This is because the sin problem still remains. He tells Moses to consecrate every firstborn male from the womb, whether human or child (Ex 13:1). So they continue to sacrifice the firstborn sheep, goats, and cattle and they “redeem” the firstborn male children by sacrificing lambs (Num 3:41).
When the Israelites reach the promised land, God changes this. He sets aside the tribe of Levi to act as the substitutes for the firstborns for all Israel.
Numbers 8:17-18 Every firstborn male in Israel, whether human or animal, is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for myself. And I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn sons in Israel. (NIV®)
The tribe of Levi is dedicated to God. They aren’t given land, but they are given cities, and they’re called to serve as priests. They lead the people in worship, offer sacrifices, and serve as God’s special servants. What this tells us is two things: 1) People still continue to sin and need a substitute; and 2) the life of a goat or sheep does not work. #3. The Passover lamb’s substitution isn’t enough.
The life of a sheep or goat does not equate to the life of a child. You need to substitute one person for another person. But you can’t sacrifice a human being to save another human being. Even when the Levites are consecrated, they’re still not good enough. They’re born in sin just like everyone else. The Israelites need a better lamb, a better substitute, so that they no longer have to fear God’s judgment.
Moses wanted the people to “Remember your Passover substitute, the lamb” because this lamb points to another better lamb who will come one day. Many years later a prophet named Isaiah says another lamb is going to come who will be a good enough sacrifice for the people’s sins.
Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
When we think of Passover, I don’t want us to remember just any lamb, but how it points to the final lamb.
Remember your Passover substitute, the lamb Jesus. Our Passover lamb, unlike the lambs back in Egypt, has a name. In the New Testament, when John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, saw him coming down to the Jordan river to get baptized, what does he call him?
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (NIV®)
Jesus isn’t just going to take away the sin of one boy or one girl, he’s going to take away the sin of a whole world of people, anyone who is willing to confess their sins and put their faith in him.
Do any of you recall that phrase I wanted you to remember at the beginning of the sermon? It’s kind of a silly phrase, “goat on a tree.” I told you that phrase to help you remember another, similar phrase, “lamb on a tree.” Passover is also a reminder for Christians today to not just remember the Passover lambs that died in Egypt, but another lamb that died 2,000 years ago outside of Jerusalem on a tree. When you think of “goat on a tree” remember the “lamb on a tree, Jesus Christ.”
Remember the blood on the doorframe of the houses, on the top and sides? Goat on a tree. That looks forward to the wooden frame of the cross, where Jesus would shed his blood. Lamb on a tree.
If you were to die today, and God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into heaven?” The right answer is to simply point to the cross. Point to Jesus and say, “He paid for my sins, he gave his body and his blood for me. He’s my king, my savior, my substitute. He takes the place I deserve on the tree and gives me his place in heaven with you, God. Through Jesus, I’m perfect and can dwell forever in your presence.” The great news is Jesus shares eternity with us, he rose from the grave, and is already home.
Jesus has paid it all. He has redeemed us, he has purchased us. His blood atones for our sins.
1 Peter 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (NIV®)
The last book of the Bible, Revelation, celebrates the sacrifice of the lamb. The prophet John get’s a vision of the end of time, and there’s a big celebration. “…four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb” (Rev 5:8b) and this is what they say,
Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
God delivered a “mixed multitude” (Ex 12:38) from Egypt and one day he will deliver people from tribe and nation on earth through Jesus. Remember Your Passover substitute, the lamb Jesus.
In London, there’s a park called Postman’s Park which has a memorial. It’s not a memorial to postmen, servicemen, or first-responders. It’s a memorial to everyday heroes who died while trying to save the life of another. The monument has sixty-two different stories of men, women, and children who made the ultimate sacrifice. The youngest story is of an eight year old boy, and the oldest is of a sixty-one year old man.
Imagine with me for a moment that you’re in that park, that garden, and you see another memorial. It tells the story of a Jewish carpenter who saved the life of a friend, but was murdered by corrupt politicians and the religious elite as he did so. And then you look at the name of the friend, and you get a lump in your throat, because you discover your name. Jesus died to save “Jonathan, Monique, Ran, Bruce, Sharon…” Jesus died to save you! Me! Anyone who puts their faith in him.
Today, we’re actually visiting the memorial. Today we’re visiting the Lord’s Supper, which is a memorial. On the night before he was betrayed, Jesus told his disciples to do it in memory of him. This evening, I invite you to come and sit in the park, to quiet yourself, and to remember your savior lamb who substituted himself to save us. While the kids come back in, I want to make one final point…
Jesus substituted himself for us so that we can live changed lives. When Moses enacted the Passover celebration, he also started another Holiday, the Festival of Unleavened Bread, which overlaps with Passover. In this festival, the Israelites are not supposed to not eat any leaven, or yeast, in their bread. This isn’t just because they need to pack their food, but because leaven symbolizes sin. What does yeast do? It makes bread rise, it causes it to swell, puff up, and it can ruin a good loaf.
The New Testament says as Christians we are to fight the leaven in our lives (1 Cor 5:6-8). We’re to turn away from the sin. See, first Jesus becomes our substitute, and because he’s already changed us on the insider, we’re to live changed lives on the outside. We’re not to let sin work its way into our relationships and homes. This isn’t easy. We’re not perfect, but can be repentant. When we sin, we come to the lamb, and say, “I’m sorry.” I blew it. Forgive me. Help me live for you.” That’s not easy, but it’s worth it.
Here’s a hint to doing that… If you want to fight sin, get to know the lamb. The Israelites were told to take care of the lamb for four days before sacrificing it. That seems kind of cruel, doesn’t it. You can imagine the kids playing with the lamb, feeding it, petting, giving it a name, Snow. And then on the night of the Passover dad takes the lamb out back and kills it. The sacrifice is supposed to sting! Sin hurt our savior Jesus. My sins hurt him on the cross. If I don’t know him, it won’t bother me. But if I get to know him, I’ll realize just how much Jesus had to go through for my sins, and it will make them that much less tempting.
If you’re not ready to say you’re sorry to Jesus, if you’re not ready to turn away from your sin, that’s your choice, but part of the consequences of that choice is not taking communion. 1st Corinthians says to “examine ourselves” before we take the Supper, because if we don’t we can bring judgment upon ourselves. So if that’s you, please hold off. You don’t have to be perfect, but you do have to be repentant.
Remember your Passover substitute, the lamb Jesus. On the night of Passover, Jesus enacted a new meal, the fulfillment of the Passover, the Lord’s Supper. He picked up unleavened bread, no yeast, flat bread, broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor 11:24) Jesus is saying, “I’m the sinless unleavened bread. And I’m about to break my sinless body for you.”
After Jesus broke the bread he picked up a cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20) The life is in the blood (Lev 17:14). Jesus not only takes away your sins, he gives us his life. Come to the table, come to the park, and remember what Jesus has done.
Although we didn’t read it tonight, in Exodus chapter 12 Moses bars anyone who is uncircumcised from eating the Passover meal. This was a special meal for the Israelites, the people of God. But foreigners were allowed to partake of it if all the males in the family were circumcised (Ex 12:43-49).
The Lord’s Supper is also for God’s special people today. You’re one of God’s special people if you have confessed your sins and put your faith in the lamb, Jesus. What’s required today is not a physical circumcision of the body, but a spiritual circumcision of the heart. If you can say, Jesus has changed my heart, he’s made me new, then you can partake of the Lord’s Supper. You don’t have to be a member of this church, but simply a member of God’s family through Jesus.
As I invite the servers up, I want you to remember the lamb on the tree. Remember your Passover substitute, the lamb Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan wrote and preached this sermon at Cornerstone Congregational Church on February 4th, 2017. You can listen to more of his sermons right here. Download the PDF sermon manuscript above for footnotes and references.
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Do you have a good memory? If someone tells you something really important, and says, “you have to remember this” do you? Or do you have to write down? There’s a saying, “The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory.” If you’re the kind of person who has to write stuff down, and then is also prone to misplacing small slips of paper, then there’s nothing I can do for you. I want to test our memories today. I
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet your childhood hero or someone famous you’ve have always kind of liked? Imagine for a moment what it would be like to shake the hand of Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin, to the hold the hand of the first men to walk on the moon. Or what would it be like to hug Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King Jr., those who faced racism and social injustice head on and overcame?
Maybe some of you want to meet a TV or movie star, like Aubrey Hepburn, George Clooney, or Chris Pratt. I’d like to meet Chris Pratt. Although, I’d also be interested in meeting celebrity chefs Rachael Ray or Gordon Ramsay if they’d cook me dinner.
A student at the University of Texas at Austin met Bill Gates. Bill and Melinda donated $30 millions to build a new Computer Science Complex at the school, and the day of the ribbon cutting ceremony Bill Gates came to campus. A Computer Science Major named Elynn Lee was tasked with giving him a 5-10 minute tour. Understandably, she was a little nervous. She practiced what she going to say for two days leading up to the tour, but she was still so shaken she was pacing and trying not to panic right before his arrival.
Then, Bill Gates and his entourage arrived early. He walked up to her, she reached out her hand to shake his hand, and she introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Elynn.”His response was a casual and simple, “Hi, I’m Bill.” In that moment, she relaxed, and gave him the tour. In her words, “Mr. Gates nodded intently and was genuinely interested in what I was saying (or at least seemed to be) and was just overall very chill… he was particularly excited when I mentioned that the labs were open 24/7!”
The person I’d like to most meet is Timothy Keller, a church-planter, author, and pastor who helped found Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC. He came to Gordon-Conwell last year, and I got to meet his wife, Kathy, but I have yet to meet him. He walked right by me. I literally could have reached out and grabbed him, but I figured I didn’t want his first experience meeting me to be that way. I’d rather we go for a long walk on an autumn path, visit a bookstore together, and then eat Five Guy’s for dinner…
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet God? In Exodus, Moses meets God in a burning bush. He asks God his name and God says, “I AM WHO I AM” (3:14), which means “I will be what I will be.” In Exodus, whenever it talks about God as “the LORD” that is God’s special name “Yahweh.” So whenever I talk about “God” today, I don’t mean an abstract deity, or just a general type of god, but Yahweh, the Lord, the God of the Bible. What would it be like to meet that God?
Exodus 7-11 tells us the story of God sending miraculous plagues on Egypt. Why did God do this? The purpose of the plagues is for God to introduce himself. He introduces himself three ways: as Savior and Judge, as the one true God, and to all nations. Let’s break down the Purpose of the Plagues:
Purpose #1: God introduces himself as Savior and Judge. Moses has already gone to Pharaoh to tell him to let the Israelites go, but Pharaoh increased their workload. This was very discouraging for the Israelites and Moses, but God assures him that he is still good and that he will deliver them. Now God tells Moses to take his staff and throw it down before Pharaoh where it will turn into a snake (7:9). He does so, and when the magicians do the same thing, Moses’ snake/staff eats theirs.
God actually makes a point of Moses using his staff as part of his plan. This is because a shepherd’s staff has a lot of meaning. A good staff is straight all the way to the top where it circles back on itself, like a cane. This is called a shepherd’s crook. The crook is used to pull sheep out of the mud, out of water, to rescue and save them. But the straight rod is used for discipline, to wack sheep or predators.
I wanted you to be able to visualize what I’m talking about so I brought my cane from home. I got this from doing karate and I sleep with this cane under my bed so if someone breaks in I can give them a good wack. You can use a cane for offense or defense. God is using Moses’ staff to introduce himself as a Savior who delivers his people out of slavery, but also as a Judge who punishes evildoers.
God introduces himself as Savior to the Israelites. Israel has been in a foreign land with foreign gods for 400 years. So God re-introduces himself to them as their savior. Exodus 6:7 says, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.” (NIV®)
God sends ten plagues on Egypt, from turning the water into blood, to frogs, lice, flies, and more. In half of these plagues, the flies, the livestock, the hail, the darkness, and the death of the firstborn, the plagues affect the Israelites differently than they affect the Egyptians. For the fourth plague, Moses is to tell Pharaoh this:
Exodus 8:21b–23a …The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them. 22 “ ‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23 I will make a distinction between my people and your people…’ ” (NIV®)
Have you ever seen that clip in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the lead bad guy in the white suit is arguing with Indiana. As he argues, a fly lands on a chin and crawls into his mouth. Turns out Steven Spielberg cut a few frames so that it would like look he ate it. This plague is kind of like that. There are flies everywhere! They’re in the air, on the ground, in the houses, the temples, in your face, your mouth but not for the Israelites. God is demonstrating what it looks like for him to save them.
Although God doesn’t spare the Israelites from all the plagues, like the frogs and gnats, he does for some of the really bad ones. When God kills all the livestock in the fields, he only kills those belonging to the Egyptians and spares the Israelites’ (Ex 9:6). When God sends thunder, hail, and flashing lightning on the land, he hails on the whole land except for Goshen, the land of the Israelites (9:25-26). When God covers the land of Egypt in darkness, darkness you can feel, for three whole days, the Israelites still have light (10:23). God is demonstrating his salvation belongs to any who belong to him.
At Luray Caverns in Virginia, during the cave tour, the guide turns off the lights so that you can experience complete darkness, darkness so dark you can’t see your family or tour guide and you just hope they turn the lights back on. The wonderful truth God is teaching the Israelites is that anyone who belongs to him, will never walk in darkness (John 8:12). Do you walk in the light or darkness? The Egyptians walk in darkness.
God introduces himself as Judge to the Egyptians. Exodus 7:4b–5 4 …Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” (NIV®)
God uses the plagues to demonstrate what his judgment looks like. He targets the Nile, the source of life, vitality, and trade for Egypt. Then he targets their homes, their air, their livestock, their crops, and their firstborns. God’s judgement is devastating economically and socially, but each judgment is fair and just.
For example, in the seventh plague, God sends hail on Egypt. Exodus 9:8 says, “Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh.” (NIV®) Remember how Pharaoh forced the Israelites to make bricks? They would have baked the bricks in furnaces just like this one. As Tim Chester writes, “…the source of Israel’s oppression becomes the source of Egypt’s judgment. The punishment fits the crime.” Even the very last plague, the worst one of all when God takes the lives of every firstborn baby in Egypt, is just. The previous Pharaoh ordered the the Hebrew midwives throw every baby boy into the Nile river.
Even as God introduces himself as judge to the Egyptians, he extends them opportunities to repent. Moses tells the Egyptians to bring their livestock in so they’re not killed by the hail. It says that some of Pharaoh’s officials did fear “the word of the Lord” and brought their slaves and livestock inside. Towards the end of that plagues, even Pharaoh has an opportunity to repent.
Exodus 9:27-28 27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.” (NIV®)
One of the ways we test repentance is by looking for longterm change. You can never truly tell if someone has repented the first day or week after they’ve said they’re sorry. Pharaoh’s repentance wasn’t true. He changes his mind so they can’t leave (9:34-35).
Is God your Savior or Judge? What separates knowing God as your savior or your judge is repentance. Repentance means turning from sin and heading a different direction, a new way that pleases God. God is the savior of anyone who will honestly confess their sins and align their lives to him. This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect, but that when the Holy Spirit tells you about your sins, you tell your God your sorry and ask him to change you.
If you don’t know God as your Savior, then God is your judge. Friday we watched The Prince of Egypt. It’s a wonderful movie that shows the plagues of Egypt. If you watch carefully, you see something special. When the Israelites leave Egypt, two Egyptian soldiers drop their weapons and go with them. They pop up again at the red sea, then again on the other side. We don’t know for sure if any Egyptians left with the Israelites, but I believe they did. You and I, we’re the Egyptians! None of us are born Christians. We’re all foreigners who God invites to join his family. If you woke up this morning with God as your judge, you can go to sleep with God as your savior. Is God your Savior or Judge? Purpose of Plagues #1: God introduces himself as Savior and Judge.
Purpose #2: God introduces himself as the one true God. When you first read the story of God sending the plagues on Egypt, they seem kind of random, but they’re not. In each plague, the God of Israel proves his power over the false Egyptian gods and their powers. Exodus 12:12 says, “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. (NIV®)
A couple weeks ago I said God’s true battle is not just against Pharaoh, but who Pharaoh represents. Pharaoh wore a cobra on his crown, the Uraeus. This points back to the snake in the garden of Eden, Satan (Genesis 3:15). God’s real battle is with the serpent, Satan. Moses first miracle is to turn his staff into a snake that eats Pharaoh’s snakes. Through the plagues, God systematically overcomes and counters Satan’s powers.
God counters the false gods that claim to give life. The first plague, when Moses turns the nile to blood, counters the Egyptian god Osiris. He is the “God of the afterlife, death, life, and resurrection” and “His black-green skin symbolizes re-birth.” The nile is his bloodstream. In the nile plague, God shows he, not Osiris, has the real power over life, death, and the afterlife. There is no other resurrection God but the God of the Bible.
Where do you look for your life? What makes you happy? Netflix just released a documentary on minimalism. It follows two guys and their journey to be free of stuff. One of the guys, Joshua Fields Millburn, reads a quote from his book, Everything That Remains. He tells the story of how he reacted when his mother died, and he got divorced, both in the same month. He went shopping at IKEA. He writes:
“But even while Rome is burning, there’s somehow time for shopping at IKEA. […] See, when I moved out of the house earlier this week, trawling my many personal belongings in large bins and boxes and fifty-gallon garbage bags, my first inclination was, of course, to purchase the things I still “needed” for my new place. You know, the basics: food, hygiene products, a shower curtain, towels, a bed, and umm … oh, I need a couch and a matching leather chair and a love seat and a lamp and a desk and desk chair and another lamp for over there, and oh yeah don’t forget the sideboard that matches the desk and a dresser for the bedroom and oh I need a coffee table and a couple end tables and a TV-stand for the TV I still need to buy […] And now that I think about it I’m going to want my apartment to be “my style,” you know: my own motif, so I need certain decoratives to spruce up the decor, but wait, what is my style exactly, and do these stainless-steel picture frames embody that particular style? […] What espresso maker defines me as a man? Does the fact that I’m even asking these questions mean I lack [what] make me a “man’s man”? How many plates/cups/bowls/spoons should a man own? I guess I need a dining room table too, right? And a rug for the entryway and bathroom rugs (bath mats?) and what about that one thing, that thing that’s like a rug but longer? Yeah, a runner; I need one of those, and I’m also going to need…”
It’s easy to buy into the lie that things will make us happy. At its core it’s the lie that something besides God can give me life. This week I’m launching a new Life Explored class on Wednesday evenings for seven weeks that exposes the false gods we hope will give us life, and offers a solution, God himself. I hope you’ll come and see how, in practical, everyday terms… God counters the false gods that claim to give life.
God counters the false gods that claim to give power. In the fifth plague, God kills every “livestock in the field”, including cattle. The Egyptian bull god Apis represented strength and fertility. When the Israelites create and worship the golden calf at Sinai, they’re asking Apis for power. In Memphis, the capital of Egypt where Pharaoh probably ruled during the plagues, a nearby temple housed a live sacred bull representing Apis. In the 1850s, an archeologist discovered 24 stone sarcophagus there, each weighing as much as 70 tonnes, built for housing the remains of sacred Apis bulls. This picture is of one of those coffins currently housed at the Louvre. When God slays all the cattle, he symbolically kills Apis. He’s saying, “I have the true power, not these false gods.”
Where do we search for power today? For most of us, it’s in money. I liked opening with that story of the student Elynn meeting Bill Gates for the first time. Why is it so amazing to meet someone like him? For some of you, it’s because he’s a brilliant tech pioneer, but for most of us it’s because he’s worth $84 billion dollars. When we think about him, we begin to daydream what it would be like to have that kind of money. We could buy anything we want, go anywhere we want to go, we’d finally have control over our lives. We’d finally have true power. Money is deceptive, because it’s just paper. It’s not true power. If money is your god, and you can tell if it is if you’re constantly thinking about it or if you don’t give your first portion to God, God promises to take down that idol. True power lies not in money, or fame, or success, but in the God who determines all of those things. God counters the false gods that claim to give power.
God counters every person who thinks they’re God. In the last two plagues, of darkness and the death of every firstborn, God specifically targets Pharaoh. Oman Ra (or Re) is the chief Egyptian god, the sun god. He was so important Ramses II actually built a temple housing a statue of himself, “Amon Ra (the sun god)” and another “god of the rising sun.” In this temple, the sun illuminates their faces twice a year for “29 minutes”, on Ramses II’s birthday and his coronation day. The Pharaohs thought they were the sun god. The firstborn of Pharaoh was believed to be the incarnation of Oman Ra. In other words, Pharaoh, and his firstborn son, were respected like they were the god Ra.
We live in a culture where we prioritize ourselves. Where we’re told over and over again that the individual is lord of their own life. I know that if I were to ask you who is your one true God, you’d give the right answer. But is that how really how we tell who our God is? We discover who our god is by reviewing what gives us life and what makes us feel powerful, and if the answer is anything but God, we’re really claiming to be god, aren’t we? When we decide what is right, good, and true, we’re claiming to be god. When we live in ways that we know don’t please god, we’re climbing up onto god’s throne and trying to rule in his place. If God has saved you, he promises to dismantle you, because he loves you that much. God counters every person who thinks they’re God.
By the end of the plagues, God has thoroughly dismantled Egypt’s false gods. What’s God purpose in the plagues? #1 God introduces himself as Savior and Judge. #2: God introduces himself as the one true God.
Purpose #3: God introduces himself to all nations. All throughout the story, God tells us his purpose. But one of the clearest places comes in the middle of the plague of hail. In Exodus 9:16 God says to Pharaoh, “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” God wants the Israelites to know who he is, and the Egyptians too, but also the Assyrians, Persians, and Babylonians. When the Israelites finally arrive in the promised land, the Canaanites will have heard about their god too. They meet a prostitute named Rahab who even says, “We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt…” (Joshua 2:10a).
God’s ultimate purpose is to offer all people salvation. God made one of Moses’ great ancestors, a man named Abraham, a promise. He promised him that through his descendants he would bless every single nation on earth (Gen 12:1-3). At Egypt, God is beginning to introduce himself to the whole world so that anyone from any nation can be saved. The plagues are not just an act of judgement, they’re an act of grace.
Did you know that these plagues still introduce us to God today? They tell us what it’s like to meet God, but not just any god. They tell us what it’s like to meet the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Every Bible story whispers his name. These plagues point forward to Jesus.
Moses turned the Nile into blood for his first plague. Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding of Cana for his first miracle (John 2:1-11). Moses’s miracle created death, but Jesus’ brought life. Moses threw soot in the air and boils broke out over people’s bodies and skin. Jesus willingly laid down his body to be flogged and scourged so that you could hardly tell he was a man (Isa 52:14).
The plagues tell us the gospel. Tim Chester writes again, “At the cross, the plagues fell on Jesus, the Son of God.”The plagues fell on Jesus! The plagues fell on Jesus so that God’s grace falls on me. Grace means a gift I don’t deserve. Forgives, love, holiness, we get all those because Jesus took our punishment. He died in our place to satisfy God as judge but also as savior.
Moses stretched out his hand and darkness so dark you can feel it fell on the land for three days. At the cross, Jesus stretched out both of his hands and darkness descended on the land for three hours. Then Jesus himself descended into that darkness for three days, tasting death for us (Mark 15:33, Matt 12:40).
The plagues fell on Jesus so that God’s grace falls on me.
Moses warned Pharaoh that his firstborn son would die if he didn’t let God’s people go, but he didn’t listen, and his innocent son died. Jesus is the innocent firstborn Son of God who chose to die for you and for me so that he could stand before God the Father and say, “Let my people go.” (Rev 1:5)
The plagues fell on Jesus so that God’s grace falls on me. You want to know what it’s like to meet God? Let me introduce you to Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan wrote and preached this sermon at Cornerstone Congregational Church on January 21st, 2017. You can listen to more of his sermons right here. Download the PDF sermon manuscript above for footnotes and references.
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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet your childhood hero or someone famous you’ve have always kind of liked? Imagine for a moment what it would be like to shake the hand of Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin, to the hold the hand of the first men to walk on the moon. Or what would it be like to hug Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King Jr., those who faced racism and social injustice head on
If you think my sermon title sounds like the title of a romance novel you might buy at the grocery store, you’re right. When I took my first creative writing course, I learned that many romance novels actually follow a pretty generic formula and that those who master the romance novel, can make a lot of money. Danielle Steel, the author of Matters of the Heart has sold over 590 million copies of her novels. I have a confession to
If you think my sermon title sounds like the title of a romance novel you might buy at the grocery store, you’re right. When I took my first creative writing course, I learned that many romance novels actually follow a pretty generic formula and that those who master the romance novel, can make a lot of money. Danielle Steel, the author of Matters of the Heart has sold over 590 million copies of her novels.
I have a confession to make. I have read one of those Christian romance novels, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. It’s loosely based on the book of Hosea, so that’s why I told myself it was okay… I read it about a year before I met Monica. I think it’s fair to say I’d been single a little too long. I thought it would help me “woo” my future wife better when I met her, but when Monica found out, she just laughed at me.
Maybe you’ve read one of those embarrassing romance novels, love a sappy chick-flick, or are just a romantic at heart. All of these things, poetry, art, music, they seek to move and mold our hearts. What shapes our hearts? There’s this thing in us that drives us to love, to care, to make wise decisions, and sometimes foolish ones. What rules your heart? Your mind, your emotions?
I have a good friend who I chat with about every other week. He asks me this simple question, “How’s your heart?” He asks because he wants to cut away all the clutter, all the busyness, all the things I hide behind. Today, as your pastor who loves you, I want to ask you the same question. How’s your heart?
In the Bible, the heart is the core of a person. Not just emotions or thoughts, but where those emotions and thoughts come from, the soul, the center. We’re continuing our study of Exodus today. The theme of the heart runs throughout the whole book. The Hebrew word for heart, léb, is used 46 times in Exodus (not all as “heart”). About half of those verses are about the heart of one man, Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Early in Exodus, God makes Moses, the one who is going to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, a promise. God promises him he is going to harden the heart of Pharaoh.
Exodus 4:21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. (NIV®)
God is going to use Pharaoh’s heart to prove he is God and Pharaoh is not. As we examine the theme of the heart, I want us to ask ourselves that big question, “How’s my heart?” Is it hard towards God, or soft? Pharaoh doesn’t stop to ask that question, and it costs him his his kingdom and his firstborn son.
Pharaoh’s hardens his heart by rejecting God. (Exodus 5:1-2) At the beginning of chapter 5, Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh and say, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go…’ ” But Pharaoh doesn’t listen to them, just like God promised. Instead he says, “Who is this Lord you speak of? I don’t know him.”
When you see “LORD” in all capitals, that’s the english translation of God’s special covenant name, “Yahweh.” A covenant is a promise where God is involved. God made a covenant promise with Moses’ forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He promised to give their descendants the promised land (place), to make them into a great nation (people), and to always be with them (presence).
So when Pharaoh says, “I don’t know Yahweh” he’s saying, “I don’t know your god, I only know mine. Your god is less than my gods; he’s not worth knowing or believing. His promises aren’t true.” Pharaoh doesn’t just not know God, he doesn’t want to know God. Hard-heartedness comes from disbelief that God exists and cares for us. It’s rooted in not knowing God or trusting him, in rejecting him.
As we examine Pharaoh’s heart, we need to examine our own, to test ourselves. The primary way to know if our hearts are hard towards God, is to ask… Do I know God? Do I believe in him, specifically, the God revealed in the Bible? If you don’t believe in God, you have Pharaoh’s heart.
If Jesus were to take a stethoscope and place it on your chest, what would he hear? Would he hear a heart-beat that beats harder the closer he get’s to you because you love him? Or would he hear a sick heart-beat that’s hissing and wheezing? A healthy heart loves God. A sick one could care less about him. When you visit the doctor’s office, there’s other ways to examine your health. The Doctor checks your eyes, ears, nose, and throat. A Doctor looks for symptoms. I want us to look at several symptoms of a hard heart.
We find the symptoms by looking at the Hebrew word for hardening. In fact, not one, but three different Hebrew words are used to describe Pharaoh’s hard heart:
חזק (ḥāzaq) to be firm (Ex 4:21)
This first word (ḥāzaq) is used the most often and describes Pharaoh’s response to God’s commands. When Moses and Aaron come to Pharaoh, telling him to let the Israelites go, Pharaoh stands his ground. He won’t budge, he won’t move. He’s stubborn, obstinate. As king, you’re supposed to stand your ground. Pharaoh can’t let those around him see weakness or change.
How can we test our hearts to see if they are firm? Do you pride yourself in your stubbornness? Do you stand your ground even when you know you’re wrong? If we do this in normal living, what’s to say we won’t do this in our relationship with God? If the Holy Spirit has been convicting you about a sin-pattern in your life that you need to change, and you keep ignoring him, then you are standing firm when you shouldn’t, your heart is getting harder.
כבד (kābēd) to be heavy (Ex 10:1)
When you think or hardness, you might think of something that also weighs a lot, like iron or steel. The Hebrew word for weight (kābēd) is the same used for glory or honor. Pharaoh was more concerned with his pride than he was with God’s glory. Pharaoh is weighed down with ego, making him sluggish and indifferent to God’s words.
When our pride is more important to us than obeying God, we have hard heartedness. When we’re more concerned with our reputation than God’s, we’re showing hardness like Pharaoh’s. I wrestle with this kind of hard-heartedness. When God calls me to do something, and I say no, or delay, the root is usually my fear of what others might think of me. That’s my pride. Ultimately, that’s a heavy heart, a heart that’s more concerned with my pride than God’s glory.
קשׁה (qāšâ) to be difficult (Ex 7:3)
This last word (qāšâ) is only used once in Exodus 7:3. It means “(to be) bad, evil, difficult.” There was a type of “harshness” or “severity” building up in Pharaoh’s heart. This Pharaoh’s father was willing to throw Hebrew baby boys into the Nile and he is willing to enslave them in hard labor. He wasn’t gentle or merciful. He was a man who wanted his way and didn’t care how he hurt others.
When we act harshly towards others, instead of loving them, we’re showing hard-heartedness. If you don’t mind hurting others, this may be a symptom of hard-heartedness towards God. Each one of us is created in God’s image, and deserves to be treated with respect and value, from the smallest to the greatest. If you struggle with harshness, ask God to soften your heart.
If you are a Christian, I don’t believe you can experience the same hard-heartedness as Pharaoh. His heart has rejected God. The Holy Spirit does not live inside of him. But if you do believe in Jesus, even if you struggle with a hard-heart sometimes, you can be confident that your hardness will not overcome the Holy Spirit’s work in you. What God promises to do is take our hard hearts and transform them.
Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (NIV®)
If you don’t know God through a relationship with Jesus, you can pray right now for God’s Holy Spirit to enter into your heart and transform you from the inside out. If Pharaoh had repented of his hard-heartedness, the story would look a lot different. Instead, he relished his hard heart, he didn’t want to know God.
But maybe that doesn’t seem fair to you because you remember Exodus 4:21 where God promised Moses that he would harden Pharaoh’s heart. Is it really Pharaoh’s fault if God does this? In Exodus, we see:
Pharaoh’s heart becomes hard (Ex 7:13-14, 22, 8:19, 9:7, 9:35) Pharaoh hardens his own heart (Ex 8:15, 32, 9:34) God hardens Pharaoh’s heart (Ex 4:21, 7:3, 9:12, 10:1, 20, 27, 11:10, 14:4, 8)
If God promised to harden Pharaoh’s heart, can he really help it? Whole books have been written on this subject, but what helps me is to remember the Bible wasn’t written for modern western readers who need things to fit in logical boxes. The Old Testament was written for a Hebrew audience much more comfortable with paradox, with tension, with mystery. The readers of the Old Testament believed that God is in charge, that he rules over everything, and yet we’re still responsible for our choices, our decisions, our sins.
The mystery is that Pharaoh’s heart becomes hard because of the sin he is born with (it becomes hard), because he wants to rebel against God (he hardens his own), and because God nudges him along (God hardens him). And yet, we know in all of this God is good, and God will use this hardening in Pharaoh’s heart to reveal he is the one true God to the Egyptians, which is an act of grace and kindness (Exodus 7:5). What concerns us is not who is responsible, but how we can respond differently.
The people of God are also susceptible to hard heartedness. (Exodus 5:3-22) When Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh, it doesn’t go well. Pharaoh doesn’t set the people free. In fact, he makes the Israelite’s lives more miserable. Pharaoh takes away the straw provided to them for brick-making and commands they make the same amount of bricks each day. To make bricks, they mixed straw and clay and then baked them into bricks. By losing their supply of straw, their work has doubled.
Of course, the people aren’t able to meet this new demand and the Egyptian taskmasters beat the Israelite foremen. The foremen go to Pharaoh to plead their case, but he won’t have any of it. Pharaoh calls them “idle”, get’s angry with them, and the foremen realize they’re in “trouble” (v. 19). So what do they do? They don’t pray to God, calling out for deliverance, instead they get mad. In verse 21, they yell at Aaron and Moses, “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put sword in their hand to kill us.” (NIV®)
It’s easy for the people of God to trust God when life goes well. But how about when life get’s difficult? Are we quick, like the Israelites, to turn away from God when the going get’s hard? The Israelites are willing to follow Moses, and obey God, if God gives them what they want when they want it. As Christians, I think we are particularly susceptible to hard harts because God tells us to put our hearts on the line for him. He tells us to call out in prayer and expect an answer. Usually all we get is silence and it hurts.
Have you ever heard of Paris syndrome? Paris syndrome is a diagnosed psychological disorder that some people experience when they visit Paris. They’re told by marketers, poets, and artists that Paris is full of cheese, wine, flowers, architecture, and romance. But when they arrive, they find locals who don’t like tourists, trash on the streets, pollution in the air, and that everything isn’t as wonderful as they imagined. This can lead to hallucinations, feelings of persecution, anxiety, dizziness, sweating, and even vomiting. These tourists open their hearts to Paris and it doesn’t meet their expectations.
I think church-planting is a little bit like Paris syndrome. You hear how amazing it is, “You can help found a brand new church in a community that needs it” but when you arrive, it’s actually a lot tougher than it sounds. Lots’ of people visit, but not many stay. We have lot’s of ideas and ministry goals, but not enough volunteers. We want to see God move, but he moves slower than we want. The temptation, after a while, is to let it get to you. The temptation, is to begin to shut your heart down because it’s difficult to put your heart on the line week after week or when you invite a friend to church, and they don’t come.
Maybe your Paris syndrome has nothing to do with church planting. Maybe you felt lead by God to step out in faith in a particular way in your finances, family, or career, and it’s not going very well. As the people of God, our hearts are susceptible to hard heartedness. So how can we prevent this?
The cure to a hard heart is knowing God. (Exodus 6:1-13) After the people complain to Moses, Moses turns to God and asks “Why? Why God did you bring me here? I’ve only made it worse.” You know what God’s solution is? God tells Moses about himself. The cure to a hard heart is knowing God. It’s knowing that even when our circumstances are bad, God is good and he loves us. God re-introduces himself to his people to give them hope. He introduces himself three ways:
“I am the Lord” who keeps his promises. (6:2-5)
God keeps calling himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because it re-affirms to Moses the covenant he made with Abraham to bless his descendants. Abraham was born at approximately 2166 BC and Jacob died around 1859 BC. 1 Kings 6:1 tells us the Israelites leave Egypt in 1446 BC. God is saying, I was faithful for over 300 years from Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Then I was faithful again for the last 400 years you were in slavery in Egypt. I haven’t forgotten my promises of a people, place, and presence.
When we’re tempted to doubt God, remember God’s promises. Remember how God has promised eternal life to all who believe in Jesus (John 3:16). Remember how God’s promise to bless Abraham’s descendants applies to any who are spiritual descendants of Abraham through faith in Jesus. Remember how God promises to use all things for our good (Rom 8:28).
“I am the Lord” who brings evildoers to justice. (6:6b)
God says, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.” Next week we’re going to look at the plagues God sends against Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt. These judgments aren’t God being petty or mean, they’re him rightly punishing those who have slaved and abused his people for four hundred years. When God stretches out his hand in judgement, he dispenses perfect justice.
I was recently listening to a sermon by Pastor John Ortberg in which he shared his favorite airplane story. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it’s the story of a flight from from New York to Florida.
An elderly couple get’s on the plane and they’re moving slowly. There’s a man behind them who is being very unkind. He’s mocking them for holding him up, he’s real self-important, real obnoxious. He sits right in front of them, he’s mean to the flight attendants, quite surely to the other people. He’s not satisfied with his meal, he sends his meal back twice, on a plane, the second time just to show his contempt. After he sends it back, he jerks his seat back as hard as he can on purpose and it causes all the food and drink to spill on the dress of this elderly old lady. Everybody can’t believe this guy. The flight attendant comes up to the elderly couple and apologizes and asks if she can help. The old guy says, “I appreciate that. Actually, we’re on this trip because we’re celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary, we’ve been saving up for a long time. We’ve never been on a plane before, this is our first flight. She feels terrible. She brings him a bottle of champagne and he stands up and uncorks it and pours it over the head of the guy sitting in front of his wife and everybody in first class applauses because every once in a while something happens that somebody ought to get angry about.
As Christians, we see injustice everywhere. We see men abusing their wives and children. We see people take advantage of the poor for money and power. We see road rage that goes unanswered, coworkers that will do anything to get ahead, and bosses that mistreat us. Jesus has promised that he will restore justice once again. That’s terrifying, because we’re not as bad as Hitler or Stalin, but we’ve cut in line too, we’ve gossiped, we’ve acted selfishly, we’ve sinned. Even on our best days, we still disobey God. This is why the last aspect of who God reveals himself to be is so wonderful.
“I am the Lord” who redeems you. (6:6a)
The Hebrew word for “redeem” means “to ransom” or “buy back”. If you’ve read the book of Ruth, you might have heard of the concept of the kinsman-redeemer or kinsman guardian. The kinsman-redeemer was responsible for protecting and delivering close relatives from hardship (Lev 25:25), such as when Boaz married Ruth and prevented her from a life of destitution (Ruth 3:9). Kinsman-redeemers were also responsible for exacting vengeance on those who murdered their family members and were called the avenger of blood (Num 35:21). To be a kinsman redeemer sometimes even meant paying money to buy back a relative from slavery (Lev 25:47-48). When God calls himself a redeemer, as Tim Chester writes, “He will act as Israel’s avenger, protector and provider—even when that involves personal loss.”
The cure to hard heart is knowing there is a God who loves you enough to redeem you. In order for God to claim you and me, and even the Israelites in our story, he had to pay the penalty for our sins. He paid that cost in full with the life of his son, Jesus Christ. As Tim Chester points out, at the cross, God stretched out his hands, not to strike us down, but to receive the judgment we deserve. By doing this, God removes our hard hearts and gives us new soft hearts. The gospel is the best heart softener.
The cure to a hard heart is knowing God.
If knowing God is the cure, the question is, do you know him? Maybe a better way of asking this is… Does God know you? Does God know your heart? Have you told him how you’re feeling, how you’re doing?
The funny thing about those cheap romance novels at the store is they always have a really macho man like Fabio or beautiful woman on the cover. Those book covers never really highlight what matters. I want to see a romance novel with an average looking man just sitting there looking at the reader, attentively listening. Maybe the book cover is just a giant picture of a guy’s ear with hair in it. I don’t think that would sell very many copies but it would highlight what really matters, knowing and being known.
God wants to know your heart. God invites you to come and know him through a relationship with Jesus Christ. So how’s your heart? Is it hard because you reject God? Or is it soft, because Jesus has done heart surgery on you. If you don’t have a soft heart but you want one, ask God to change you as you get to know him. The cure to a hard heart is knowing God.
Pastor Jonathan wrote and preached this sermon at Cornerstone Congregational Church on January 21st, 2017. You can listen to more of his sermons right here. Download the PDF sermon manuscript for all footnotes and references.
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Have any of you made a New Year’s resolution for 2017? I don’t normally, but there are a lot of people who do. According to Time Magazine, the Top 10 Commonly Broken New Year’s Resolutions are:
Lose weight and get fit Quit smoking Learn something new Eat healthier and diet Get out of debt and save money Spend more time with family Travel to new places Be less stressed Volunteer Drink less
Jacob from the UK tweeted on January 1st, “my new years resolution is to figure out how to squeeze a 4th and 5th meal into my day.” New Years resolutions are fun to make, but hard to keep. Adrienne tweeted, “My 2017 resolution is to work on my low self esteem, but I don’t think I can do it.”
The life cycle of a New Year’s resolution starts strong. In January, you hit the gym, eat guacamole, and cut back on sweets, but that get’s old fast. February comes and you know you need to show your special someone that you care about them with chocolates. One study “shows that February 4th (37 days after New Years’s)” is the most likely day people quit. By march, you’re hitting the pizza, wearing sweats, and breaking in your used couch; you’ll go for a run when it get’s warm outside.
Do you think Moses ever made a New Year’s resolutions? I bet when he was young, and being raised in Pharaoh’s court by Pharaoh’s daughter, he made all of sorts of promises to himself. “I resolve to master archery, horse racing, linguistics, public speaking. I resolve to become the Pharaoh’s right-hand man.” Then one day, Moses sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, he murders the Egyptian, and just like that, all of his resolutions go down the drain.
Instead of climbing the ladder of Egyptian success, Moses flees into the wilderness, traveling to the far away land of Midian. There he marries a backcountry shepherd’s daughter and joins the family business. Moses was 40 years old when he fled Egypt, in the prime of his life, and now he’s a poor shepherd with no hopes and no dreams. We can imagine that year by year his resolutions change from going home to Egypt to don’t get eaten by a bear or a lion, don’t kill the sheep, die a peaceful death.
Moses is 80 years old when God breaks into his life and gives him a resolution. God appears to Moses in a burning bush, saying, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt… I am sending you [Moses] to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” (3:7, 10) Moses, of course, get’s up and goes right to Egypt. No. Not even close. Instead, he objects; in fact he gives three objections in the form of questions:
Who am I? (3:11-12) Who are you? (3:13-22) What if they don’t believe? (4:1-17)
Two weeks ago Andy explained God’s first two answers. To the “Who am I?” God answers, “I’m the one who matters and I am with you.” And to Moses’s second objection, “Who are you?” God says, “I AM WHO I AM”; meaning, “I am enough, I am undefinable, I am all powerful, but care for you.” God is going to answer the third objection, “What if they don’t believe?” by challenging Moses, “Why don’t you believe?”
When we talk about New Year’s resolutions, it’s always in the context of, “I made a resolution.” It’s about me. What if God made your New Year’s resolution this year? To me, God’s resolution for Moses and the people of Israel is to believe him, so I think it’s fair to extend that same resolution to us. God’s resolution for us is to believe. But what is going to prevent this resolution going the way of all the others? This resolution won’t make it a week unless we begin to understand what God taught Moses.
I. God gives us reasons to believe. (4:1-9)
When Moses’ hears God’s promises, he asks, “What if they do not believe me…?” Moses is standing in front of a bush that’s on fire and not burning up but he’s an 80-year old man full of fear and doubt. God has compassion on Moses, giving him three reasons/signs to believe. They’re not scientific reasons, like apologetics, but reasons rooted in God’s character, who he is and what he does.
1. Serpent / God will overcome Pharaoh (4:3-5)
God tells Moses to throw down his staff. When he does, it turns into a snake. And Moses runs! This is his first opportunity to believe, but he fails. Then God says, “Pick up that snake by the tail, Moses.” The Bible doesn’t record Moses reply, “What God? That’s super dangerous.” Instead, he makes a decision to believe. He picks it up and it turns into a staff. Then God tells him “I’m the same God as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, your forefathers. They believed in me and I never let them down. Now it’s your turn to believe.”
The snake, in ancient Egypt, was a symbol called the uraeus. The uraeus symbolized a deity who ruled over the Nile and protected Egypt. The snake symbol appears all around Egypt, but in one place in particular, on Pharaoh’s crown. The uraeus also symbolized the royal power of the king. That’s why you can find it in on this golden mummy’s mask (left) and on this statue’s crowd (right). When God turns Moses’ staff into a snake, he’s implying, “Moses, I, the God of your ancestors, will overcome Pharaoh. He’s nothing but a snake to me; he’s scary, but I will pick him up by his tail. Moses, trust I am good like Abraham did, and Isaac, and Jacob. I made a promise to rescue their family, and you’re part of that promise now.”
Application: What’s your snake? What scares you away from God instead of towards God? Maybe it’s money. You lost your job or have an unexpected expense, so you’re thinking about getting a second or third job, but if you do, it will take you away from church and you won’t have time to pray and read your Bible. I think God is giving you this opportunity to press into him, to trust him with your finances, not to chase you away from him. How might you grab your issue by the tail, and lift it up to God, trusting you’re safe with him? God has been faithful to generations of Christians; he’ll be faithful to you. The alternative is to let whatever you’re going through bite and poison you. Only 45% of people who make New Year’s resolutions achieve them. In MA, only 17% of the population has an active faith; defined as weekly church attendance, prayer, and Bible study. By God’s grace, you don’t have to be a statistic. God can overcome your unbelief.
2. Leprosy / God brings life out of death (4:6)
The next sign God gives Moses is leprosy. Now, this probably wasn’t Hansen’s disease, but it was some sort of bad skin disease that would have made Moses’ hand appear deathly white. You would not have wanted to shake his hand; at least until God healed him. God heals Moses’ hand. It dies and God brings it back to life. This is what we call resurrection faith—It’s trusting God can bring life out of death.
Illustration: I saw t-shirts in the news about how bad 2016 was as a year. I assume those who purchased the t-shirts did so mostly because they felt disappointed by politics or celebrity passings. Maybe you also feel like 2016 wasn’t your favorite year, but for other reasons, a job layoff, a health scare, a failed relationship, a death in the family. No matter how bad last year felt, or the year before it, we can have fresh hope as we trust in God because our God is a resurrection God. He brings life out of death.
3. Blood / God is waging a spiritual battle (4:7)
The last sign God gives Moses is turning water from the Nile into blood. This sign foreshadows, or looks ahead, to the plagues God is going to send of the nation of Egypt, the first of which is turning the Nile into blood. When we go through the plagues, we’re going to see that in each plague God is countering one of Egypt’s false gods. For example, Osiris was one of Egypt’s gods over the Nile. When Moses turns the Nile into blood, he’s showing the God of Israel, not the god of Egypt, is the one with the true power.
Moses’ struggle to believe God is more than just a physical battle in this world. Ultimately, God is fighting a spiritual battle for the heart of Moses and the Israelites. I want us to go back for a moment to the symbol of the snake Pharaoh wore on his crown. Do you remember another snake in the Bible? In the garden of Eden the devil, Satan, took the form of a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve, the very first humans. They sinned and as a result God cursed Adam, Eve, and the serpent. When God cursed the serpent, Satan, he promised one of Eve’s descendants would defeat Satan the serpent. This is the proto-euangelion, which means “the first gospel” or “the first good-news” and it’s found in Genesis 3:15, where God says to the snake:
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (NIV®)
Now clearly Moses is not going to be the one to crush the serpent’s head. When he sees a snake, he runs the other away. But the whole book of Exodus is a spiritual battle, and God is going to use Moses in that battle. When Moses confronts Pharaoh, God is confronting Satan and his demons. God is delivering the Israelites from physical slavery to Pharaoh as he begins to deliver them from spiritual slavery to Satan. But there’s another tension that runs through Exodus. God seeks to save people, but they don’t want to be saved. God tries to help Moses believe, but Moses doesn’t want to believe. God seeks to lead the Israelites out of bondage, but they don’t want to be free.
Application: Do you want to be saved? Do you want to believe and be set free? That same tension pulls all our hearts. God calls us to believe, but we don’t want to. What reasons do you need to believe God? Chances are, God isn’t going to transform your tap water into blood, but he can show you that he is good. As a church, God has given us lot’s of reasons to believe in him; Ten Reasons to Believe:
Conversions New families Numerical growth Challenged faith Volunteers Pastor’s story Building Parent church Autonomy – Last week in June Empty tomb
The most important sign of them all is the empty tomb. The empty tomb tells us the story of the serpent’s defeat. God sent his son Jesus into this world to rescue us. In order for God to rescue us from the serpent’s poison, sin, Jesus had to take it upon himself on the cross. That’s where he died as a sacrifice. Because he was sinless, God raised Jesus raised from the grave. Now the tomb is empty; and whoever put’s their faith in Jesus get’s the anecdote for their poisonous sin, the blood of Jesus. God gives us reasons to believe…
II. God strengthens our belief in our weakness. (4:10-13)
God gives Moses all of these reasons to believe, but still he objects; he says, “I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words…” Maybe God should have used him when he was 40 and strong, not when he was 80 and near death. God reminds Moses that he is the one who gives people the ability to speak, hear, and see. He says, “I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” In other words, “I will give you what you need when you need it. Believe in me and I’ll use you. Depend on me and my power, not your own.”
The English writer Samuel Johnson wrote in his diary every year, asking God to help him not be so lazy. In 1738 he wrote, “Oh Lord, enable me to redeem the time which I have spent in sloth.” Every year he wrote some variation of that prayer. Nineteen years after the original he wrote, “Oh mighty God, enable me to shake off sloth and redeem the time misspent in idleness and sin by diligent application of the days yet remaining.” He wrote that prayer for 38 long years. I don’t think that was a failure. As Christians, we need to admit our weakness, and call out to God for help.
I do a lot of Crossfit because I want to be strong. But God isn’t interested in my strength, but my weakness, and he’s interested in yours too. Coming back from vacation last week was rough. You’re supposed to come back refreshed from vacation and ready to get back to work; but on Tuesday on our trip home, Monica and I got the flu. So last week I was praying, “God, I’m physically and mentally weak, would you help me out? Would you give me a sermon?” He did, and then he gave me a snowstorm to really help me out. God wants our weakness, our dependency, our prayers.
That’s my story, what’s yours? How is God teaching you to depend on him, to truly believe? Is he asking you to recognize your weakness in your marriage, your parenting, your job, your studies? It seems like the most popular New Year’s resolution is to get in shape. As Christians, we’re called to get weak, to get dependent, to get needy. When people ask you about your New Year’s resolution, you have my permission to say, “I want get weaker.” God gives us reasons to believe; and God likes to use us in our weakness, but…
III. We need help to believe. (4:14-17)
Moses, plays his final card at the end, “God, I just don’t want to do what you’re asking.” You know, God get’s angry. It says his “anger burned against Moses.” Our unbelief angers God, but instead of killing Moses and us, he extends mercy. The God of Christianity is a patient God who calls us to believe him and loves us even when we doubt. Moses feels too old at 80? God sends him an 83-year old helper, his brother Aaron. If you want to trust God more this year, if you want deeper faith, get a helper, get a partner.
Jean was overweight all her life, in high-school, and into her twenties and thirties. She tried everything, pills, diets, but none of them worked. At 38 she tried a new program and lost twenty pounds, but also began to lose motivation. So she brought the weight-loss program to her friends. They talked about it together, began to hold each other accountable, and began to lose weight together. Out of this Jean founded Weight Watchers, now worth hundreds of millions of dollars, all because she realized she could not lose weight alone.
Application: We can’t believe alone. We need help. Moses struggled to believe God and he could see God. He needed a partner, how much more do we need partners in the faith? If you’re struggling to believe, ask a brother or sister in Jesus to meet with you regularly to talk about your faith, read the Bible, pray, and confess sins. I have a friend down in Virginia that I try to FaceTime every other week. We talk about God, confess sins, and encourage each other. It’s not complicated but it is helpful.
If you are wrestling with doubt, one of the first ways Satan will try to tempt you is to get you away from church, to draw you away from regular Christian fellowship. Maybe Moses had a hard time believing because he was living far away in Midian, not in Egypt with fellow believers. We grow together, not apart. I encourage you, this year, press into your church family; don’t pull away; come in. Make a New Year’s resolution to be here every week so that your belief grows strong.
If we read the rest of chapter four, we see Moses taking all of God’s signs to the people of Israel. And guess what? They believe! Despite Moses’s fears, verses 30b-31 says, “[Moses] also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped.” (NIV®) God gives Moses help and then Moses gives the Israelites help. We can help others as we’ve been helped. God gives us reasons to believe. God strengthens our belief in our weakness. We need help to believe.
God’s resolution for us is to believe.
I very real temptation is to walk away from this sermon trying really hard to believe in God; and then when doubt creeps into your mind and heart in a few weeks, to start feeling weighed down by guilt. Don’t! That’s not what I want you to walk away with. I want you to know right now that we cannot believe perfectly. If you have put your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will sometimes struggle with doubt.
What’s why we need the gospel. There are apps that track the success rate of New Year’s resolutions. Remember how I said February 4th is the day most people quit their New Year’s resolutions? We know that because apps watched where users would check in and found an increase in fast-food restaurants and a decrease in checking in at the gym on that date.
The gospel is the good news that everyday we fail but everyday Jesus succeeds. We fail to check in with God perfectly, but Jesus doesn’t. On those days when we struggle to trust God, Jesus trusts Gods perfectly on our behalf. God doesn’t call for perfect faith, he calls for faith in his perfect Son, Jesus. Jesus goes to the gym for us every single day, for the rest of our lives, for all eternity. He lifts the weight of our sin so we don’t have to.
Knowing Jesus has us covered frees us from guilt and helps us believe in him everyday with joy. Before God gave us this resolution to believe, he took it upon himself; and accomplished it perfectly. Now he invites us to join him in the celebration, in the happy New Year.
God’s resolution for us is to believe in Jesus.
Pastor Jonathan wrote and preached this sermon at Cornerstone Congregational Church on January 14th, 2017. You can listen to more of his sermons right here. Download PDF sermon manuscript for all footnotes and references.
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Have any of you made a New Year’s resolution for 2017? I don’t normally, but there are a lot of people who do. According to Time Magazine, the Top 10 Commonly Broken New Year’s Resolutions are: Lose weight and get fit Quit smoking Learn something new Eat healthier and diet Get out of debt and save money Spend more time with family Travel to new places Be less stressed Volunteer Drink less Jacob from the UK tweeted on January 1st,
In Exodus 3:1-22, God reveals who he is to us. Listen to this message by Andy Bradshaw.
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In Exodus 3:1-22, God reveals who he is to us. Listen to this message by Andy Bradshaw.
Have you ever had something stolen? When I was a kid, I always went to bed on Christmas Eve wondering if robbers would steal all of my Christmas gifts during the night. They never did, but whenever I heard a story on the news that something like that had happened, I was convinced our house was next.
I just heard a story out of St. George Utah about three teenagers who tried to steal a a laser light show out a homeowner’s front yard. Unfortunately, for them, the homeowner was home. The St. George News says:
On Nov. 27, at approximately 8:45 p.m., laser light bandits had struck, again. This time, at the home of Little Valley resident Scott Joens where juveniles had allegedly helped themselves to Joens’ Star Showers Laser Light – a popular Christmas decor item which projects patterns onto a house or building and typically costs between $25 and $75.
“(The) crazy kids stole my laser light show right out of our yard,” Joens wrote in a Facebook post, confirmed to St. George News. “They picked the wrong old man to mess with because I got in the car and found them.”
Joens dialed 911 as he followed the alleged thieves in his vehicle.
“They led me on a 20-minute joyride,” he said, “but my mad driving skills kept up with their evasive maneuvers.”
With a 911 dispatcher now on the line, Joens said he called out street names along with traffic infractions perpetrated by the juveniles, such as speeding and blown stop signs.
The car chase continued through Little Valley into Bloomington Hills and then over by Desert Hills High School, reaching speeds of up to 50 mph, he said.
“An officer finally pulled in front of me and got the crazy kids,” Joens said, noting that he retrieved his stolen laser light.
Scott is my old worship pastor at the church I grew up in. He’s the nicest most giving guy you could ever meet, but don’t steal his laser lights! Exodus is the story of God getting back what Pharaoh tries to steal from him, his people. In the Old Testament, God’s chose the nation of Israel to be his people. The Israelites lived in Egypt for 400 years, and an evil Pharaoh came along who enslaves them, forcing them to do harsh labor making bricks and building cities. He tries to steal them from God, but God won’t have it.
God is going to raise up a leader among the Israelites to deliver them, a prophet named Moses. But Pharaoh orders the people to throw every Israelite boy into the Nile to drown. Boys grow up to be soldiers, and he didn’t want them to form an army, so he tries to kill them all. The good news is, God has a plan.
I. God rescues Moses from Pharaoh. (Exodus 2:1-10)
Last week we learned that God used the faith of two ordinary Hebrew midwives to save the baby boys in Egypt. This week we see that same faith in another women, Moses’ mother, Jochebed.
A. God uses the faith of Moses’ mother. (vv. 1-4)
Jochebed hides her baby boy for three months, but before long it becomes too dangerous to hide him, so she weaves a basket and covers it with tar and pitch. The word “basket” is the Hebrew word for “ark.” The only other place this word is used is in the story of Noah and the flood in Genesis. In Noah’s day, people were so bad God decided to wipe them off the earth with a flood and start again. But God spared Noah’s family by asking him to build an ark, a really big boat. Noah built the ark and filled it with his family and all kinds of animals. God sent the flood but the Ark saved Noah and his family.
We can imagine that as Moses’ mother made this basket, this ark, she cries out to God in prayer, asking for him to deliver her baby boy just like he delivered Noah. The type of faith she demonstrates here is special. It’s resurrection faith. Resurrection faith is anytime we believe God can bring life out of death. Moses’ mother places him in the very river that is supposed to kill him, the Nile. She does so trusting God will deliver Moses just like he delivered Noah from the waters that should have killed him.
If you’re a parent, and you worry about your kids, this passage can be an encouragement. We have a God who listens to your prayers and cares about your children. If you worry for your child’s physical or spiritual wellbeing, we have a God who wants to hear those worries. In the end, Jochebed trusted God with her child. God desires that same trust from each of you. He wants us to trust him with what is most precious to us. If God can bring life out of death, he can care for your child.
Moses’s mother takes him to the shore and places him among the reeds in the Nile but she doesn’t leave her baby alone. She leaves him with God and with his older sister.
B. God uses the courage of Moses’ sister. (vv. 5-7)
Moses’ mother assigns his sister Miriam to watch him. She is probably between six to twelve years old and God uses her to save the day. When Pharaoh’s daughter comes down to the nile to bathe (they didn’t have modern plumbing), she spots the basket in the reeds. As soon as she opens the basket she sees the Hebrew baby boy crying, and she has pity on him.
In that moment, Miriam steps forward to address Pharaoh’s daughter. Miriam is a nobody, the daughter of a smelly slave, and Pharaoh’s daughter is royalty. For Miriam to step forward took a lot of courage. She asks, “Shall I go and get a nursing woman for you from the Hebrews, so that she may nurse the child for you?” (NET) Miriam is offering to find Pharaoh’s daughter a nursing Hebrew woman to nurse this child.
Now I don’t think Pharaoh’s daughter was dumb. She might have suspected this young girl was planted at the river to watch out for this baby, maybe even her brother, and that this nursing woman was probably this baby’s mother. That took incredible courage for Miriam, because Pharaoh’s daughter could have asked, “Why are you here? Is your mother the baby’s mother? Why is your family disobeying Pharaoh?” But Miriam doesn’t think about that; instead, she acts with courage.
We can act with courage no matter what age we are. Another kid who acted with courage is 13-year old Jeremy who saw his bus driver pass out while he was driving the bus. He jumped up, steered the bus to the side of the road, and yanked the keys out of the ignition. Other kids on the bus called 911, and Jeremy’s friend Johnny performed CPR on the bus driver. They had courage and they saved the day.
If you’re a kid, God can use you to do important things too, but it takes courage. Just like Miriam stood up for her brother, if you have a friend, or know someone at school who get’s picked on, you can stand up for them. You can be their friend. You can stop others from bullying them.
Have you ever read a book or watched a movie where the kids defeat the bad guy? In the movie The Incredibles, Dash is 10-years-old and Violet is 15-years-old when they defeat the evil robot Omnidroid. God uses Miriam at an even younger age to defeat the evil king Pharaoh. When we tell other kids about Jesus, we’re actually helping God defeat the most evil bad guy of them all.
We don’t have a Pharaoh that is out to get us. But we do have a great spiritual enemy. In the beginning of the Bible, Genesis calls this enemy the serpent or snake. In other places, he is called Lucifer, Satan, or simply the Accuser. He accuses every human being for sin because we’re all guilty of it. That’s why we feel shame. Sin is missing the mark, it’s distorting the truth, it’s disobeying God. Our greatest enemy is Satan, but our greatest problem is sin. The only one who can defeat Satan and fix our sin problem is Jesus. When we tell other kids about Jesus, we’re helping mess-up the serpent’s plans. Just like God used Miriam to defeat Pharaoh, who happens to have a serpent on his crown, God can use you to help fight the serpent today.
God uses the faith of Moses’ mother and the courage of his sister to rescue baby Moses. He can use our faith and our courage today to rescue others. God delivers Moses because Moses is going to deliver his people the Israelites.
C. God rescues Moses for Israel. (vv. 8-10)
Moses’ mother raises him till he is about three then she takes him to live with Pharaoh’s daughter. She gives him his name, Moses. Have you ever named a dog or cat? I tried to name our childhood lab, which was yellow, “Chocolate”, but my brothers wouldn’t let me. Moses’ name is special because it’s Egyptian and Hebrew. In Egyptian, Moses’ name means “born of” but in Hebrew, it sounds like, “I drew him out of the water.” God raised Moses to speak on behalf of the Israelites, as a Hebrew, but to the Egyptians, as an Egyptian. God gives the Israelites the best possible leader in Moses. In fact, his name means “to draw out” and he is the one who is going to draw his people out of slavery in Egypt. God rescues Moses for Israel.
This story, of God using Moses’ mother and sister to rescue him, and he becoming the leader who will one day rescue the people of Israel, God’s people, points forward to another story. Have you ever shined a flashlight down a pathway and you can faintly see what’s ahead. This story shines the light on what’s coming. God delivers Moses from Pharaoh to show how he will one day rescue another baby boy.
II. God rescues Jesus from Herod. (Matthew 2:1-20)
At the time of Jesus’ birth, the Bible tells us Magi came from the east to Jerusalem searching for the Messiah. The Messiah is supposed to be just like Moses. He’s supposed to lead his people out of spiritual captivity. The Magi ask the King of Jerusalem, Herod, where the king of the Jews is born; and this makes Herod very upset because one of his titles is “King of the Jews.” Herod thinks this baby will overthrow his kingdom! He doesn’t understand the Messiah’s true purpose, so he tells the Magi to report back on the baby’s location so he can secretly kill him. Thankfully, God warns the Magi not to return to Herod. Once they go home by a different route, an angel appears to Joseph telling him to leave town.
Matthew 2:13–14 When [the magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, (NIV®)
A. God uses the obedience of Jesus’ father. (v. 16)
An angel comes to Joseph to warn him to leave. Joseph doesn’t question the angel. He just get’s up during the middle of the night and goes. Joseph reminds us of the important of obeying God immediately. Slow obedience is disobedience. As husbands and fathers, God calls us to obey him as examples for our families. The way we trust and obey God will influence how our families trust and obey God. Are you an example of quick obedience or slow disobedience? I want to be more like Joseph. His obedience saves his son.
Matthew 2:16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. (NIV®)
The story in Matthew chapter two is just like the story in Exodus chapter two. An evil king in each tries to steal away God’s people, kills innocent baby boys, and yet is ultimately thwarted by God’s plan. God uses the simple faith of a mother, the courage of a sister, and the obedience of a father to rescue his people from physical captivity, and one day, spiritual captivity too.
B. God rescues Jesus for us.
Like God rescues Moses for Israel, God rescues Jesus for us. One day Moses will lead his people out of physical captivity; and one day Jesus will lead his people out of spiritual captivity. Remember how Moses’ name tells us he will “draw out” his people from slavery? Jesus’ name tells us “he will save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). Just like Moses, Jesus’ name tells us he came to save, rescue, and deliver us from our sins. He does this by dying for us. The consequence of sin is death; so the only way to pay for sin is to die.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV®)
If you put your faith in Jesus, Jesus pays for your sins, which deserve death, with his own death. Jesus pays the ultimate price for his people. How can we receive this gift? By saying we’re sorry for our sins and trusting Jesus with our life. That’s what repentance and faith is.
When we accept Jesus as our deliverer, we don’t have to be afraid of Pharaoh, Herod, or Satan anymore. None none of them is powerful enough to steal us away from God. When God rescues his people through Jesus, he really rescues them.
John 10:28–29 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. (NIV®)
Robbers may steal our presents, and thieves may steal our laser lights, but no one can ever take us from God because Jesus paid the ultimate price for us. Jesus stole our sins away so that no one can steal us away from God. With Jesus, we’re safe, secure, and delivered. God rescued Jesus for us.
Big Idea: With Jesus, we’re rescued.
The story of Moses points forward to the story of Jesus. God delivers Moses so that one day he can deliver the nation of Israel. God delivers Jesus so that one day he can deliver any who trust in him. I want to end by telling you about a man named John Howland.
John Howland was born around 1599 and came to America on the Mayflower in 1620. On the voyage over he got sick of the cramped and filthy smelling below-deck conditions and went up on deck which was only for the crew. He was swept overboard and was almost lost at sea. But as he fell overboard, “he managed to grab hold of the topsail halyards (a rope to sail), giving the crew enough time to rescue him with a boat-hook.” This painting is called “Howland Overboard”. In the artist’s imagination, you can see John stretching for the line, being pulled to the boat by the shipmates as the waves crash down.
When John Howland was rescued, he didn’t know the impact that would have. Today, John Howland has over a million descendants, including President Franklin Roosevelt, President George H. Bush and George W. Bush, Alec and Stephen Baldwin, Humphrey Bogart, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. You can meet John Howland’s descendants all over the United States today, thanks to a single rope and a boat hook that saved his life.
God reached down and hooked Moses out of the Nile and away from Pharaoh. He used the faith of his mother and the courage of his sister to rescue a baby boy who would grow up to rescue the Israelites, the people of God.
A thousand years later God reached down and hooked another little baby boy, this time his own son, from the murderous clutches of King Herod, using the quick obedience of his father Joseph. From that baby boy a great multitude of people has come. Anyone who puts their faith in Jesus becomes one of God’s people. God rescued Jesus for us. With Jesus, we’re safe, secure, and free. With Jesus, we’re rescued.
Pastor Jonathan wrote and preached this sermon at Cornerstone Congregational Church on December 24th, 2016. You can listen to more of his sermons right here. Merry Christmas!
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Have you ever had something stolen? When I was a kid, I always went to bed on Christmas Eve wondering if robbers would steal all of my Christmas gifts during the night. They never did, but whenever I heard a story on the news that something like that had happened, I was convinced our house was next. I just heard a story out of St. George Utah about three teenagers who tried to steal a a laser light show out
I love stories. I don’t consider myself a natural story teller, but I wish I were. Do you ever have a friend who tells a story and it’s just spell binding, your so drawn in, it’s so interesting, and by the end, you realize it’s the story of your friend tying her shoelaces? I’m not that kind of storyteller, but I do love good stories.
Today we’re inundated with stories. When you hear a radio ad or watch a tv commercial, that’s a story. The story goes a bit like this. Feeling depressed? Sad? Anxious? We have the solution! We have the fix to your need. For only 17 payments of $32.99 each, we’ll give you this stainless steal back-scratching sport. With this back-scratching spork, you will feel better, be happier, and be enriched as an individual, but we’ll have your money.
Movies take the same concept and expand it to 90 minutes. A protagonist, the hero, is confronted with an inciting incident, with conflict, with a need they have to face. They’re forced to either enter into the story to overcome the challenge, or to run away. But once the character chooses to go forward, the story begins to unfold as the hero encounters conflict, rising action, overcomes, has momentary rest, and then is confronted with more conflict, building and building to the ultimate climax of the movie, followed by the resolution. This is what we call a story or narrative arc.
One of the reasons I like The Lord of The Rings, Star Wars, and the Marvel Universe is they take standalone stories and show how they fit into a larger narrative, into a story of epic conflict and scale. Now imagine for a moment, you’re a character in your favorite story. This could be your favorite book, movie, or tv commercial. Just imagine you’re now in the story! For me, that means I have a lightsaber, a ring that turns me invisible, and I shoot webs out of my wrists. How would you feel in your story? Excited? Panicked? Hopeful? Wondering if the story will play out for you as it plays out for Luke Skywalker or Frodo?
Today I want to tell you about a grand story arc that you’re a part of, a story much bigger than your favorite tv commercial, your favorite movie, your favorite book. This is the story of everything and it’s found in the pages of the Bible. This story is imagined by God, written by him, and set in motion, all by him.
1. The story of everything begins in Genesis.
God is the author of everything that’s happened since before day one, not chance, not evolution, not aliens from another universe. God wrote this story and you and I are experiencing a little bit of it right now. Today, I’m going to give you an overview of how the story began. Genesis means “beginning.” We need to understand the beginning of the story so that we understand chapter two, the book of Exodus.
A. God starts the story really good. (Gen 1-2)
God created everything perfect and good. Animals and people and the whole world was at peace with itself. God called everything he made “good” but when he made the first humans, he called them “very good” (1:31). We were so good he gave us the task of going out and making more good things, more good creations. In Genesis 1:28b, God said, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it…” (NIV®) In other words, get out there and fill my creation with my goodness and beauty, men and women made in my image (1:26-27). But something bad happens…
B. We introduce hostility into the story. (Gen 3-11)
The serpent enters the garden of Eden, Satan comes to paradise to tempt the first two people, Adam and Eve. They believed for a moment that God might not be good or have their best interests at heart. In that moment, they disobey God, and everything falls into sin and brokenness.
We, not God, introduced hostility into our relationship with God and with other people. The consequence of our sin is death. We were supposed to live forever, but now we die. Genesis 3:19 says, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (NIV®) We turn to dust because we disobeyed.
Chapters 1-2 of Genesis describe the peace and joy we had before the world fell into sin, then chapters 3-11 describe what the world’s been like since then. The story gets pretty bad. There’s a lot of conflict, people murder each other, men abuse women, everything is broken. We can’t rescue ourselves, we can’t evolve into a new story. This is all because we introduced hostility into our relationship with God.
C. God introduces a plan to rescue us. (Gen 12-50)
There’s good news, even when men and women are receiving the consequences of their sin, God gives us hope. God shares the proto-euangelion, the first gospel, the first good-news. Right before Adam is told he will die and return to dust, God promises one of Eve’s descendants will defeat the Serpent, Satan, once and for all. Genesis 3:15 says:
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (NIV®)
So one of Eve’s descendants will defeat the serpent. Skip forward to Genesis chapter 12 and we meet a man named Abram (who God eventually renames Abraham). When we meet Abraham, he seems special, and we wonder, is he the one who will crush the serpent? No, but God promises that it is through Abraham’s family that a rescuer, the serpent-crusher, will come (Genesis 12:1-3).
Abraham has a son, Isaac, and Isaac has a son Jacob, and Jacob has twelve sons. Just like God renamed Abraham, God renames Jacob to Israel. It’s Jacob’s twelve sons that become the twelve tribes of Israel. One of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, is stolen away to Egypt where God raises him to a place of prominence in the government. A great famine comes on Israel and his sons. God uses Joseph to providentially spares them by bringing them to Egypt. At first things go well, but before long, the people of Israel will need to be rescued.
D. Application: Do you want to be rescued?
Before we continue the rescue story, I got to ask, are you interested in being rescued? Throughout the book of Exodus, the people of Israel wrestle with whether or not they really want to be rescued. The only way to want to be rescued, is become convinced that you need to be rescued. That there’s something wrong.
At the the beginning of every good story, the protagonist is confronted with conflict and a choice. He or she can either go forward to into the story, or they can ignore the problem and fade way. We love Frodo because he decided to enter into the story. But what about all the other Hobbits in the shire? What about Hobbit Larry who loves to fish? Why don’t we hear his story? It’s because Larry doesn’t believe he needs to be rescued from Mordor and the All-Seeing Eye. But Frodo discovers the problem and acts. Do you realize you need to be rescued? Do you want to be rescued? You have to enter into the story to be rescued.
2. Our rescue-story continues in Exodus. (Exodus 1:1-22)
Our modern name for this book, Exodus, comes from the Greek translation of its name, exodos, which means “a going out” or “departure.” When we’re rescued, we’re pulled out of the black water, out of the burning house, out of the quicksand. God is about to pull his people out from their physical captivity to show them they need release from spiritual captivity.
A. God’s people have multiplied and filled the land of Egypt. (Ex. 1:1-7)
When Israel’s family arrives in Egypt, there only 70 people, so what do they do? They obey God’s Genesis one command to multiply, working towards the fulfillment of God’s Genesis 12 promise to make Abraham’s descendants into a great nation. It’s through this family the rescuer will come.
But at first, nothing happens, year after year. 100-200-300 years pass. In Genesis, 15:13-14 God promised Abraham his descendants would be enslaved in a foreign land for 400 years. They know something is coming, something is going to happen. God is going to show up.
Songs also tell stories. Have you ever listened to a power ballad? It starts slow and ebbing, and then builds to a loud, passionate, chorus with drums, guitars, and sometimes choirs. We Are The Champions by Queen is a theatrical power ballad.
I’ve paid my duesTime after time.I’ve done my sentenceBut committed no crime.And bad mistakes ‒I’ve made a few.
I’ve had my share of sand kicked in my face (building!) But I’ve come through.*
(And I need just go on and on, and on, and on)We are the champions, my friends,And we’ll keep on fighting ’til the end…
Exodus chapter one is that loud up chorus. God has finally arrived! But so have God’s enemy.
B. Pharaoh is determined to enslave and destroy God’s people. (Ex. 1:8-14)
The opening of Exodus parallels the opening of Genesis. In both, people are blessed and doing well, then an evil figure comes to destroy them. In Genesis, it’s the snake, Satan, and in Exodus its Pharaoh, who embodies evil. He hates the Israelites, he’s hostile towards them. Why is that? When Joseph came to Egypt, it’s likely that a non-Egyptian Pharaoh was sitting on the throne. From about 1700-1500 BC, the Hyksos ruled Egypt, but they weren’t native Egyptians; they actually came from a semitic background like Joseph, which might be one of the reasons he was promoted.
Eventually the native Egyptians pushed the Hyksos out, and you could see very quickly why the new Pharaohs would be anti-Israel; because the semites, the Jewish people, were aligned with the old kingdom. In v. 10, Pharaoh is wary the Israelites will rise up, perhaps with the old Hyksos kingdom, and overthrow him. So to deal with them, he sets them to work making mortar and brick. This parallels the curse in Genesis, when God cursed all people with death. What is death symbolized by? Dirt! Dust! Mud! Mortar! Pharaoh is driving the people of God into the dirt, into mud, into death!
He’s doing this because he’s hostile to God. In fact, I think he views himself as a God. In the ESV, v. 8 says, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt.” Notice the posture of Pharaoh. He rises to power. He has authority over others. He thinks himself to be tough and powerful and strong, but he’s about find out he’s not God. The first half of Exodus is really a power-narrative, a conflict between God and Pharaoh. God proves himself time and time again to hold the true power, and he does so in surprising ways.
C. God uses the faith of two ordinary women to defeat Pharaoh (Exodus 1:15-22)
Pharaoh commands the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill every baby boy. The Hebrews probably needed more than just two midwives, so these two may be the leaders of their midwives guilds. To be a midwife in that culture, was much more than just helping the mom give birth in the delivery. Midwives gave input on conception, pregnancy, birth, and caring for the child. Here are two women who are supposed to give life, and Pharaoh tells them to take it. I spoke with our very own doula this week; she told me she can’t imagine taking the life of a child she’s trying to help give life too. The serpent’s plan was to turn eternal life into eternal death; that’s always his plan, to turn life into death, and Pharaoh wants that as well.
So what do Shiphrah and Puah do? They obey God and not man. Verse 17 says the midwives “feared God”. This fear is a reverent fear, it “relates to honor, respect, and awe.” The Hebrew midwives know Pharaoh is powerful, but they know God is more powerful. Pharaoh can take their lives, but God can take their souls. Pharaoh rises up in Egypt, he dominates over the land, but God’s footstool is the world. Pharaoh hasn’t realized it yet, but through the book of Exodus, he’s going to realize he’s a very tiny big man.
The Saturday before Thanksgiving, my Crossfit gym had their annual Thanksgiving Throwdown, which is a workout competition for teams of two. At this competition, I got really pumped up and excited because I beat my personal record. I “cleaned” (aka. lifted to my chest) 225 pounds. For me, that’s a lot of weight. I walked around that day feeling pretty big. Then last week I saw a video of a man lifting 465 pounds above his head. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so big anymore. That’s what’s going to happen to Pharaoh. So what does this mean?
Application #1: God wrote our story and has all the power.
I hope as we go through Exodus we’ll realize, like the midwives, where true power lies. It’s not in me, I’m not that big and strong, but God is. He’s the one who rescues his people from Egypt, he defeats Pharaoh, and he is still saving anyone who trusts him today. On my best day, I’m tiny. I can’t compare to the creator, to the one who writes the big story of everything. That’s the first step to realizing we need rescue. We have to realize no matter how strong we may feel, we are not God. He has the power. He wrote the story.
Application #2: We can find our place in God’s story by faith.
If you don’t find your place in God’s story, you will search for it in other places. Right now we live in a time of media over-saturation, of story over-saturation. We can subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, Disney, HBO, Starz, Amazon Prime and the list goes on and on. This is because we all hunger to be a part of something bigger than ourselves; and so we look for our place in these stories. Which story are you trying to find your place in? Maybe it’s television, film, or tv-commercials. I really enjoy Star Wars, but I should never believe that I’m truly a part of that story. If I do, I’m putting my faith in the wrong place.
Maybe the story you’re finding your place in has nothing to do with entertainment. Instead, you’re looking to find your place in a love story, a family story, a career story, an education story, a success story. We certainly have roles to place in these stories, but only as we recognize we’re a part of a greater redemptive narrative, the grand narrative, the story of everything found in the Bible and written by God.
As we go through Exodus, we’ll see that Pharaoh believes everyone is a part of his story. God gives him plenty of chances to realize this is not the case, but over and over again Pharaoh hardens his heart. He doesn’t want to believe the story is not about him. This mistake leads to the destruction of Egypt, the death of his firstborn son, and his own spiritual ruin. Don’t take the path of Pharaoh. Take the path of the Hebrew midwives who put their faith in God and find their role to play. God uses their faith to save many lives. I want to be a part of the story like they are. We find our place as we have faith in God and trust that he knows our best place in the story. That’s what faith is, believing the story is not about us, and finding our place in God’s rescue story.
Application #3: When the story has conflict, we can have hope.
Notice how the first chapter emphasizes how God’s people multiply and flourish. It says they multiplied greatly three different times (v. 7, 12, 20). In the face of hostility, God still grows his people. If you’re facing hostility at work or school or anywhere in-between because of your faith in Jesus, God can use that. In Exodus for You, by Tim Chester, he tells how the church has grown in the face of hostility.
In the 1970s, President Mengistu in Ethiopia implemented what was called the Red Terror. 1.5 million people died and church buildings were closed down. When Mengistu fell, no one was sure what would remain of the church. But Christians had been meeting secretly in homes, and the church had not only survived but grown.
3. God is the hero of the story and he has come to rescue us.
Ultimately, the story of everything is a rescue story, but it’s not about us. We’re not the hero of the story, God is. God is the hero! We’re the damsels in distress. We’re not Mario. We’re Princess Peach. We’re not Peter Parker in Spiderman. We’re Mary Jane Watson. We’re not Westley in The Princess Bride, we’re Princess Buttercup. The role is reversed in Enchanted, we’re not Giselle, we’re Robert who get’s captured by the witch and needs to be rescued by his princess.
But God doesn’t shame us for our need, he loves us, and he’s come to rescue us. He give us hope in a hostile story. God is going to rescue his people Israel from captivity in Egypt in the book of Exodus, and wherever you’re held captive, God wants to rescue you. Are you held captive to your career, your money, your relationships, your body, your food, your…? You fill in the blank. God has come to set you free. He does this by freeing you from sin. Sin is our first problem. It’s why we need rescue.
God rescues by sending his one and only Son Jesus Christ, our knight in armor, to pay the penalty for our sins. Just like those two Hebrew midwives put their lives on the line for the unborn babies, Jesus put his life on the line long ago for us. He was wounded in the battle, wounded by the snake. He dies. He tastes dirt. He tastes dust, mud and mortar, the texture of death. But then he rises again. He lives! He rises far above Pharaoh to sit enthroned in the heavens. Now whoever believes in him will receive eternal life (John 3:16).
A story arc has an inciting incident, rising conflict, and high point called the climax. It’s the peak of the story. Jesus is the peak of God’s story, and yet, he invites us to join him on the peak. He pulls us out of our sin and captivity so that we can join him at the very top of the story. The Bible doesn’t call us a damsel in distress, but we are called the Bride of Christ. Do you want to be his Bride? Do you want to be rescued? God is the hero of the story and he has come to rescue us.
Pastor Jonathan Romig wrote this sermon for Cornerstone Congregational Church. If it has encouraged you, please share it with a friend.
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I love stories. I don’t consider myself a natural story teller, but I wish I were. Do you ever have a friend who tells a story and it’s just spell binding, your so drawn in, it’s so interesting, and by the end, you realize it’s the story of your friend tying her shoelaces? I’m not that kind of storyteller, but I do love good stories. Today we’re inundated with stories. When you hear a radio ad or watch a tv
Micah 5:2 prophesies the humility, royalty, and eternality of the coming Messiah, all fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who gave his life as a ransom to set the captives free. Listen to learn more. If you’d like to read The Little Prince, one of the sermon illustrations Pastor Jonathan used, you can find an online edition here.
Micah 5:2 prophesies the humility, royalty, and eternality of the coming Messiah, all fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who gave his life as a ransom to set the captives free. Listen to learn more.
If you’d like to read The Little Prince, one of the sermon illustrations Pastor Jonathan used, you can find an online edition here.
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In Isaiah 7:14, the prophet Isaiah tells King Ahaz to trust in God even as he is surrounded by enemies that wan’t to destroy Judah and his kingdom. Isaiah tells King Aha to ask God for a sign, but Ahaz refuses. Instead, Isaiah gives him a different sign, the sign of the Messiah, of long-term hope. The sign of the Messiah comes in two parts, a miraculous virgin birth, and in his name, Immanuel, which means “God with us.” The question for King Ahaz and for us today is whether or not we will believe the sign, if we will have faith. In Matthew 1:23, we read that Jesus has fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy. Jesus was born of a virgin and conceived by the Holy Spirit. He is the Messiah! Jesus is God with us, Immanuel. This makes all the difference. Listen to learn more.
You can listen to Pastor Timothy Keller’s illustration about Dorothy Sayers here, which Pastor Jonathan used as his closing illustration.
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In Isaiah 7:14, the prophet Isaiah tells King Ahaz to trust in God even as he is surrounded by enemies that wan’t to destroy Judah and his kingdom. Isaiah tells King Aha to ask God for a sign, but Ahaz refuses. Instead, Isaiah gives him a different sign, the sign of the Messiah, of long-term hope. The sign of the Messiah comes in two parts, a miraculous virgin birth, and in his name, Immanuel, which means “God with us.” The
In Numbers 24:17, Balam prophecies to the king of Moab that “in the latter days” (v. 14), a king will come who will fight against the enemies of God. Balam gives two signs, that of the star, and that of the scepter. In his third oracle, in Numbers 24:9, Balam links the scepter with the sign of the lion. These two signs, that of the star and the lion, tell us Jesus is a king who both brings hope and
In Numbers 24:17, Balam prophecies to the king of Moab that “in the latter days” (v. 14), a king will come who will fight against the enemies of God. Balam gives two signs, that of the star, and that of the scepter. In his third oracle, in Numbers 24:9, Balam links the scepter with the sign of the lion. These two signs, that of the star and the lion, tell us Jesus is a king who both brings hope and wages war, achieving victory for his people. How will you respond to King Jesus? Will you receive the hope and bend the knee, or will you reject him? This Christmas, I invite you to receive the light and the lion of Christmas, King Jesus. Listen to to the sermon audio, review the slides, or download the sermon outline. Merry Christmas! #BabyJesusForetold
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In Colossians 3:16-17, Paul teaches us to worship God by reading and studying the Bible, by worshiping through music and songs, and by our everyday as we do everything unto Jesus Christ. Listen to learn more.
In Colossians 3:16-17, Paul teaches us to worship God by reading and studying the Bible, by worshiping through music and songs, and by our everyday as we do everything unto Jesus Christ. Listen to learn more.
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2 Kings 6:8-23 is the story of God’s deliverance of the people of northern Israel, not through a smart king or powerful military force, but by God sending his heavenly army to protect his people. The mission God gave the people of Israel was to trust him in the face of impossible odds. That’s our mission too, to trust God as we step out on our frontlines. As we focus on verses 15 through 17 and our sermon series, Fruitfulness
2 Kings 6:8-23 is the story of God’s deliverance of the people of northern Israel, not through a smart king or powerful military force, but by God sending his heavenly army to protect his people. The mission God gave the people of Israel was to trust him in the face of impossible odds. That’s our mission too, to trust God as we step out on our frontlines. As we focus on verses 15 through 17 and our sermon series, Fruitfulness on the Frontline, we ask how it is we can accomplish this intimidating task of reaching the people all around us with the love of Jesus. It’s so easy to doubt, to not believe, to be afraid. But Jesus’ message to us is that of Elisha’s to his servant. Don’t be afraid! God’s army is with us. Let’s pray, like Elisha, that God would open our eyes to his activity all around us. Listen to the sermon to learn more.
Please enjoy the two-minute video, The Missional Church… Simple for a great companion video to this series’ concluding sermon.
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In 1 Peter 3:15, 18, the Apostle Peter explains to early believers what to do when someone who is not a Christian asks them about the hope they have. They are to give an answer for why they live and act differently than those around them. Listen to the sermon to learn more. This sermon series is based on material taken from Fruitfulness on the Frontline published by Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, 2014. Used by Permission.
In 1 Peter 3:15, 18, the Apostle Peter explains to early believers what to do when someone who is not a Christian asks them about the hope they have. They are to give an answer for why they live and act differently than those around them. Listen to the sermon to learn more.
This sermon series is based on material taken from Fruitfulness on the Frontline published by Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, 2014. Used by Permission.
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In Ezekiel 2:1-3:15, an Old Testament prophet named Ezekiel shows us what it means to speak truth and justice on our frontlines. Listen to the sermon by Tom Taylor.
This sermon series is based on material taken from Fruitfulness on the Frontline published by Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, 2014. Used by Permission.
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In Ezekiel 2:1-3:15, an Old Testament prophet named Ezekiel shows us what it means to speak truth and justice on our frontlines. Listen to the sermon by Tom Taylor. This sermon series is based on material taken from Fruitfulness on the Frontline published by Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, 2014. Used by Permission.
In Colossians 3:1-14, the Apostle Paul challenges us to form a new Christ-centered culture. In light of the resurrection, we form this new culture through a new mindset, realizing all we have in Jesus. A change in mindset is like a one-degree shift. It might not seem big now, but it can lead to a radically different destination over the course of a thousand miles. Sometimes Christians are called to live counter-culturally, countering sexual expression with sacrificial love, offering forgiveness when culture says anger is the best answer. The story of Moriah Peters auditioning for American Idol illustrates this for us today. Our ultimate goal is to help culture flourish. Culture flourishes when it encounters the freedom we have in Jesus.
This sermon series is based on material taken from Fruitfulness on the Frontline published by Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, 2014. Used by Permission.
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Photo Credit: https://news.artnet.com/wp-content/news-upload/2015/07/o-SISTINE-CHAPEL-PICKPOCKET-facebook.jpg
In Colossians 3:1-14, the Apostle Paul challenges us to form a new Christ-centered culture. In light of the resurrection, we form this new culture through a new mindset, realizing all we have in Jesus. A change in mindset is like a one-degree shift. It might not seem big now, but it can lead to a radically different destination over the course of a thousand miles. Sometimes Christians are called to live counter-culturally, countering sexual expression with sacrificial love, offering forgiveness
In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus teaches us not just who our neighbor is, but how to love our neighbor. Our neighbor isn’t just limited to geography, or those we like, but those we don’t think like us, or would never expect us to do anything kind for them. Jesus turns our pre-conceived notions of who we believe our neighbor to be on their head. Listen to the sermon learn more and apply it to your everyday life.
This sermon series is based on material taken from Fruitfulness on the Frontline published by Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, 2014. Used by Permission.
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In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus teaches us not just who our neighbor is, but how to love our neighbor. Our neighbor isn’t just limited to geography, or those we like, but those we don’t think like us, or would never expect us to do anything kind for them. Jesus turns our pre-conceived notions of who we believe our neighbor to be on their head. Listen to the sermon learn more and apply it to your everyday life. This sermon series is
In Colossians 3:22-4:1, the Apostle Paul instructs slaves and masters on how they should perform their work. The Bible makes clear that work matters to God, because He uses it to bless the world, and He is ultimately everyone’s master. This reality changes our perspective. God should matter to our work, since when we do it well, we are actually helping to fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor. But how can we do this, especially if we feel like slaves
In Colossians 3:22-4:1, the Apostle Paul instructs slaves and masters on how they should perform their work. The Bible makes clear that work matters to God, because He uses it to bless the world, and He is ultimately everyone’s master. This reality changes our perspective. God should matter to our work, since when we do it well, we are actually helping to fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor. But how can we do this, especially if we feel like slaves and we don’t like our work? The good news is that Christians do good work because Jesus did the greatest work. Listen to the sermon to learn more.
This sermon series is based on material taken from Fruitfulness on the Frontline published by Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, 2014. Used by Permission.
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In Galatians 5:19-26, the Apostle Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The flesh, or human nature, is self-focused, and willing to put me first at the expense of others. The flesh takes advantage of others sexually, through religion or fake spirituality, and anger or dominance. The Spirit on the other hand, transforms Christians to love others, put their needs first, and do so at great personal expense. This is only possible as
In Galatians 5:19-26, the Apostle Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The flesh, or human nature, is self-focused, and willing to put me first at the expense of others. The flesh takes advantage of others sexually, through religion or fake spirituality, and anger or dominance. The Spirit on the other hand, transforms Christians to love others, put their needs first, and do so at great personal expense. This is only possible as the Holy Spirit reminds us of the gospel and what we already have in Jesus Christ. As our characters are transformed, we become more authentic and powerful examples of God’s love. Watch Yes, I’m the Mechanic for a practical demonstration of this in an everyday life. Listen to the sermon to learn more.
This sermon series is based on material taken from Fruitfulness on the Frontline published by Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, 2014. Used by Permission.
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In Colossians 1:15-20 we are introduced to Jesus. Jesus is the son of God who is the perfect image of God, the Lord of creation, the head of the church, and is reconciling all things to himself. But why does that matter? How does it apply to me as I live my life? Jesus is the God who cares about all of creation. Everything is made through him, things we see like bananas and mountains, and things we don’t see, like physics, electricity, and heaven. This means that the two are connected. Jesus cares about our realities and calls us to join him in his mission to redeem creation. He gives us each a place where we can serve him, our frontlines. According to the LICC, “Your Frontline is the place where you spend the majority of your time outside the church, where you are in contact with non-Christians.” (Life on the Frontline, leader booklet, pg. 8) Listen to the sermon to learn how you can be blessing and impacting your frontline for Jesus. Check out the accompanying book here.
This sermon series is based on material taken from Fruitfulness on the Frontline published by Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, 2014. Used by Permission.
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In Colossians 1:15-20 we are introduced to Jesus. Jesus is the son of God who is the perfect image of God, the Lord of creation, the head of the church, and is reconciling all things to himself. But why does that matter? How does it apply to me as I live my life? Jesus is the God who cares about all of creation. Everything is made through him, things we see like bananas and mountains, and things we don’t see,
Every election the country splits in two, people picking sides, parties warring against each other, elections won, elections lost. It’s likely that candidates you disagree with will be elected to positions of authority over you, whether at a local or national level. Romans 13:1-7 gives us guidelines for how to live in these times. Should we keep fighting or is there some other solution? Listen to the sermon to find out.
Every election the country splits in two, people picking sides, parties warring against each other, elections won, elections lost. It’s likely that candidates you disagree with will be elected to positions of authority over you, whether at a local or national level. Romans 13:1-7 gives us guidelines for how to live in these times. Should we keep fighting or is there some other solution? Listen to the sermon to find out.
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In 1 Peter 2:4-10, the early church leader Peter encourages the scattered early believers. These men and women were being rejected by society at large. Peter doesn’t tell them to reclaim society, but to come to Christ, focusing on building his kingdom. We are not to align ourselves with the world’s powers, but heaven’s powers. This seems irrational to many but Jesus’ way will always prove true. Align yourself with Christ the Cornerstone. #NoFearNovember Links: – Pew Research Study – Map
In 1 Peter 2:4-10, the early church leader Peter encourages the scattered early believers. These men and women were being rejected by society at large. Peter doesn’t tell them to reclaim society, but to come to Christ, focusing on building his kingdom. We are not to align ourselves with the world’s powers, but heaven’s powers. This seems irrational to many but Jesus’ way will always prove true. Align yourself with Christ the Cornerstone.#NoFearNovember
Links: – Pew Research Study – Map of Asia in Roman Times
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It seems like everyone is afraid this election year. In Philippians 4:6-8, an early Christian named Paul tells us we don’t have to be afraid of anything. The ruler in his time was an emperor named Nero who over the course of his reign murdered lots of people, but Paul was not afraid. Fear leads to two responses: 1) flight or 2) fight, neither of which is loving our neighbor as God intends. If you have a relationship with God,
It seems like everyone is afraid this election year. In Philippians 4:6-8, an early Christian named Paul tells us we don’t have to be afraid of anything. The ruler in his time was an emperor named Nero who over the course of his reign murdered lots of people, but Paul was not afraid. Fear leads to two responses: 1) flight or 2) fight, neither of which is loving our neighbor as God intends. If you have a relationship with God, nothing can harm you, and you can respond a different way. You can flourish. All because God guards you and you’re a citizen of his country. Now our minds are no longer set on fear, but peace and joy as we go forward into the voting season. With Jesus, we’re safe, free, and fearless.
Many references are made to the kindle book: The Voting Booth: A new vision for Christian engagement in a post-Christian cultureby Skye Jethani. Pastor Jonathan recommends you check it out. You can checkout the Famous “Daisy” Attack Ad here.
One clarification to this sermon. The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Philippians in AD 60-62 and Nero’s persecution of the Christians in Rome took place in AD 64. That is the year Rome burned. However, Paul was still living under the shadow of this evil ruler and Christians were experiencing varying levels of persecution. Despite all of this, Paul was not afraid and even had joy.
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In the short exchange between Joseph and his brothers in Genesis 50:15-21 we get a glimpse into the hearts of both a GIVER and RECEIVER of GRACE. Today we will try to look at GRACE through the “eyes” of Joseph – one who gives grace and forgiveness to sinners. We will also look at GRACE through the “eyes” of Joseph’s brothers, sinners in need of receiving grace and forgiveness. What is Grace? Simply put, it is God’s free and unmerited favor
In the short exchange between Joseph and his brothers in Genesis 50:15-21 we get a glimpse into the hearts of both a GIVER and RECEIVER of GRACE. Today we will try to look at GRACE through the “eyes” of Joseph – one who gives grace and forgiveness to sinners. We will also look at GRACE through the “eyes” of Joseph’s brothers, sinners in need of receiving grace and forgiveness. What is Grace? Simply put, it is God’s free and unmerited favor towards us…
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What is the book of Genesis about? Genesis is a rescue story. This sermon summarizes and re-tells the whole-story of Genesis and how it connects to the big story of the Bible. Genesis 49:8-12 tells us Judah was a sinful man who experienced repentance and grace. God chose his line to bring the savior king Jesus Christ, our rescuer.
What is the book of Genesis about? Genesis is a rescue story. This sermon summarizes and re-tells the whole-story of Genesis and how it connects to the big story of the Bible. Genesis 49:8-12 tells us Judah was a sinful man who experienced repentance and grace. God chose his line to bring the savior king Jesus Christ, our rescuer.
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Genesis 42:1-46:30 gives us hope that any broken relationship, no matter how bad, can be made new. Joseph forgave his brothers who sold him into slavery, but he had to give them a chance to repent. Judah’s true repentance leads to deeply satisfying healing between Joseph and his family. Even the one who didn’t think any good could come out of his own hurt, Joseph’s father Jacob, experiences new life. This is a picture of the gospel and what it
Genesis 42:1-46:30 gives us hope that any broken relationship, no matter how bad, can be made new. Joseph forgave his brothers who sold him into slavery, but he had to give them a chance to repent. Judah’s true repentance leads to deeply satisfying healing between Joseph and his family. Even the one who didn’t think any good could come out of his own hurt, Joseph’s father Jacob, experiences new life. This is a picture of the gospel and what it does for us. The gospel brings life out of death. Broken relationships are made new through repentance, reconciliation, and restoration.
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In Genesis 41:1-57, Pharaoh has two dreams that predict both good years and bad years are coming. He can’t interpret these dreams, but soon discovers a young Hebrew man who can, Joseph. Joseph successfully interprets Pharaoh’s dreams and is promoted to the second highest office in all of Egypt. God brought Joseph through years of trial so that he could lead Egypt through years of hardship. God gives us good and bad years to help others and bless us.
*Please note Joseph was 39 years old, not 40, when his brothers arrived in Egypt. See Genesis 45:6. The table in the presentation and sermon notes are both revised.
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In Genesis 41:1-57, Pharaoh has two dreams that predict both good years and bad years are coming. He can’t interpret these dreams, but soon discovers a young Hebrew man who can, Joseph. Joseph successfully interprets Pharaoh’s dreams and is promoted to the second highest office in all of Egypt. God brought Joseph through years of trial so that he could lead Egypt through years of hardship. God gives us good and bad years to help others and bless us. *Please
In Genesis 39:1-23, Joseph is lead by God into circumstances that don’t seem to make sense. As as a youth, he is sold into slavery by his brothers, and then taken to Egypt and sold to the captain of the guard, a man named Potiphar. At first, things seem to go well for Joseph, but Potiphar’s wife tries to tempt and trap him. Life get’s worse for Joseph before it get’s better. He does the right thing but is condemned and thrown in prison. Through it all, he trusts God and God remains faithful. God was with Joseph, loving him, and blessing him in the midst of trial. We too can be encouraged by this. No matter your circumstances, God is still with you and loves you.
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In Genesis 39:1-23, Joseph is lead by God into circumstances that don’t seem to make sense. As as a youth, he is sold into slavery by his brothers, and then taken to Egypt and sold to the captain of the guard, a man named Potiphar. At first, things seem to go well for Joseph, but Potiphar’s wife tries to tempt and trap him. Life get’s worse for Joseph before it get’s better. He does the right thing but is condemned
In Genesis 22:1-19, God tests Abraham to see what matters most to him. He calls on him to offer up his son, Isaac, as a whole burnt offering. God also calls us into times of testing, asking us to give him what we care about most. We pass this test like Abraham, through faith and obedience. God tests us to give us deep faith. Like the free-water diver William Trubridge goes for record breaking dives into deep darkness and crushing pressures, so God refines and tests us through trial and pressure. The story of Abraham and Isaac ultimately point to the story of Jesus and the Father.
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In Genesis 22:1-19, God tests Abraham to see what matters most to him. He calls on him to offer up his son, Isaac, as a whole burnt offering. God also calls us into times of testing, asking us to give him what we care about most. We pass this test like Abraham, through faith and obedience. God tests us to give us deep faith. Like the free-water diver William Trubridge goes for record breaking dives into deep darkness and crushing pressures, so
We all need to experience unconditional grace. In Genesis 12:1-3 and Genesis 15:1-21 God promises Abram unconditional grace in the form of a covenant. What is a covenant? A covenant is an elected, family-like relationship of obligation, under divine sanction. Or more simply defined, a promise where God is involved. God promises Abram a place, people and presence which are all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. God gives a sign of unconditional grace to every believer. In Genesis 17 God gives the covenant sign of circumcision to Abram, renaming him Abraham. And in the New Testament, along with the Lord’s Supper, God gives all who put their faith in Jesus the new covenant sign of baptism. This grace and these signs aren’t simply there to help us obey, but to transform our lives. Just as circumcision is an act of cutting, so Jesus was cut off from God for our sakes. He was forsaken so we might be made new. Unconditional grace marks and transforms every believer.
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We all need to experience unconditional grace. In Genesis 12:1-3 and Genesis 15:1-21 God promises Abram unconditional grace in the form of a covenant. What is a covenant? A covenant is an elected, family-like relationship of obligation, under divine sanction. Or more simply defined, a promise where God is involved. God promises Abram a place, people and presence which are all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. God gives a sign of unconditional grace to every believer. In Genesis 17 God gives the covenant
Genesis 15:1-21 is about God’s covenant with the patriarch Abram. God made Abram a promise that he would be father of a great nation. An amazing promise considering he and Sarai’s age when that promise was made. This message discusses how Abram’s belief in God’s promises was counted as righteousness. You will discover that right here in the Old Testament are the words that are the foundation of the theology of the New Testament. God’s covenant was not dependent on any action by Abram or his decedents, but only that Abram believe God’s promise. Believing God was more important then keeping the law.
Genesis 15:1-21 is about God’s covenant with the patriarch Abram. God made Abram a promise that he would be father of a great nation. An amazing promise considering he and Sarai’s age when that promise was made. This message discusses how Abram’s belief in God’s promises was counted as righteousness. You will discover that right here in the Old Testament are the words that are the foundation of the theology of the New Testament. God’s covenant was not dependent on any action by
Old Testament stories like Abram and Lot separating or the battle of the 9 kings in the plain of Jordan are interesting and exciting, but what are we as Christians supposed to get from them? This week’s message explains how these stories and the mysterious King Melkizedek from Genesis 13:1-14:24 set up a plot line that takes 2000 years to be fully revealed to us. It’s all part of God’s eternal cosmic plan that centers on Jesus, our King, our Priest.
Old Testament stories like Abram and Lot separating or the battle of the 9 kings in the plain of Jordan are interesting and exciting, but what are we as Christians supposed to get from them? This week’s message explains how these stories and the mysterious King Melkizedek from Genesis 13:1-14:24 set up a plot line that takes 2000 years to be fully revealed to us. It’s all part of God’s eternal cosmic plan that centers on Jesus, our King, our Priest.
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Genesis 11:27-12:9 tells us the story of God calling Abram out of his homeland towards a new and better place. God promises three blessings: a place, a people, and a presence, but Abram will only receive these through faith. This faith is a living and active faith, faith enough to go. God calls us out of our comfort too. God invites you into the unknown by faith so that you might know Him.
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Genesis 11:27-12:9 tells us the story of God calling Abram out of his homeland towards a new and better place. God promises three blessings: a place, a people, and a presence, but Abram will only receive these through faith. This faith is a living and active faith, faith enough to go. God calls us out of our comfort too. God invites you into the unknown by faith so that you might know Him.
Genesis 11:1-9 is the story of the tower of Babel. All the people of the world gather together not just build a city and tower, but to show God they are more interested in doing life their way than his way. The marks of a life lived for self instead of God are: 1) pride, 2) disobedience, and 3) idolatry. The signs of living life for God instead of self are the opposite: 1) humility, 2) obedience, and 3) worship. God came down to teach the people of the world a lesson, but also so that one day he might reverse the scattering and lift those who trust in his Son Christ Jesus up. God’s ways are higher.
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Genesis 11:1-9 is the story of the tower of Babel. All the people of the world gather together not just build a city and tower, but to show God they are more interested in doing life their way than his way. The marks of a life lived for self instead of God are: 1) pride, 2) disobedience, and 3) idolatry. The signs of living life for God instead of self are the opposite: 1) humility, 2) obedience, and 3) worship.
Genesis 6:5-9:17 tells us one of the most intriguing stories in the Bible, the story of Noah’s ark and the great flood. Children’s books and toys tell us Noah’s flood was a fun, colorful, day at the zoo, but the real story is much different and has lots of truths to teach us, ultimately telling us this. Noah’s ark is a story of God’s judgment and grace and that’s our story.
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Genesis 6:5-9:17 tells us one of the most intriguing stories in the Bible, the story of Noah’s ark and the great flood. Children’s books and toys tell us Noah’s flood was a fun, colorful, day at the zoo, but the real story is much different and has lots of truths to teach us, ultimately telling us this. Noah’s ark is a story of God’s judgment and grace and that’s our story.
Genesis 4:17-5:32 tells us the story of two families, the descendants of Cain and the descendants of Seth. The family of Cain are the offspring of the serpent and the family of Seth are the offspring of Eve. Genesis 3:15 tells us that through Eve’s offspring, Seth’s line, will come a savior who will defeat sin, evil, and the family of the serpent. This new family comes to completion in Jesus Christ. We join the family of God through faith in the Son
Genesis 4:17-5:32 tells us the story of two families, the descendants of Cain and the descendants of Seth. The family of Cain are the offspring of the serpent and the family of Seth are the offspring of Eve. Genesis 3:15 tells us that through Eve’s offspring, Seth’s line, will come a savior who will defeat sin, evil, and the family of the serpent. This new family comes to completion in Jesus Christ. We join the family of God through faith in the Son of God.
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Genesis 4:1-16 tells the story of Cain and Abel. It warns us about sin and how it crouches at our door. We must flee from evil and pursue righteousness. Hurting others is the true mark of a fallen human.
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Genesis 4:1-16 tells the story of Cain and Abel. It warns us about sin and how it crouches at our door. We must flee from evil and pursue righteousness. Hurting others is the true mark of a fallen human.
Genesis 3:1-24 tells us the story of why the world is the way it is. Everything is broken. People hurt, they’re sad, wars rage, relationships crumble. Why? It’s because in Adam and Eve we blew it in the garden. We broke everything by not trusting God, by not obeying him. We decided we knew better and now everything is broken. But there’s hope… The “proto-evangelium” (the first gospel) in Genesis 3:15 tells us someone is going to come and rescue
Genesis 3:1-24 tells us the story of why the world is the way it is. Everything is broken. People hurt, they’re sad, wars rage, relationships crumble. Why? It’s because in Adam and Eve we blew it in the garden. We broke everything by not trusting God, by not obeying him. We decided we knew better and now everything is broken. But there’s hope… The “proto-evangelium” (the first gospel) in Genesis 3:15 tells us someone is going to come and rescue us form our brokeness. Because of us, everything is broken; because of Him, we can begin again.
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What does it mean to be human? Is it funny mistakes? Is it helping each other? Genesis 1:26-31, 2:4-25 tell us that to be human is to be made in God’s image, to be given life by God, and to experience relationship with God and others. We find our humanity when we find God… when we find Jesus.
What does it mean to be human? Is it funny mistakes? Is it helping each other? Genesis 1:26-31, 2:4-25 tell us that to be human is to be made in God’s image, to be given life by God, and to experience relationship with God and others. We find our humanity when we find God… when we find Jesus.
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In Genesis 1:1-25 we’ll learn five truths Moses taught the people of Israel as they wandered in the desert after leaving Egypt. They hoped to reach the promised land but because of their disobedience were sentenced to wander for 40 years in this wilderness. This is when they needed a message of hope, renewal, and re-creation the most. Moses gave them that hope in the creation poem of Genesis chapter one. The message is the same to us today. Come and trust your Creator God.
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In Genesis 1:1-25 we’ll learn five truths Moses taught the people of Israel as they wandered in the desert after leaving Egypt. They hoped to reach the promised land but because of their disobedience were sentenced to wander for 40 years in this wilderness. This is when they needed a message of hope, renewal, and re-creation the most. Moses gave them that hope in the creation poem of Genesis chapter one. The message is the same to us today. Come and trust
What’s the greatest thing you can imagine being a part of? For some, maybe it’s the Apollo Space Program that sent Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon. Today we’re given an even greater opportunity to join Jesus in serving God and building His kingdom. In Exodus 31:1-11 we see the leader of Israel, Moses, give his people a similar opportunity as they begin to construct the tabernacle. In this story we learn what a call is and three
What’s the greatest thing you can imagine being a part of? For some, maybe it’s the Apollo Space Program that sent Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon. Today we’re given an even greater opportunity to join Jesus in serving God and building His kingdom. In Exodus 31:1-11 we see the leader of Israel, Moses, give his people a similar opportunity as they begin to construct the tabernacle. In this story we learn what a call is and three types of people God calls. God calls us to serve. How will you answer?
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In Revelation 21:1-22:5, God gives all his people a glimpse of the eternal rest we’ll one day know. The images surpass our imaginations and give us hope for the rest we have in Christ forever.
In Revelation 21:1-22:5, God gives all his people a glimpse of the eternal rest we’ll one day know. The images surpass our imaginations and give us hope for the rest we have in Christ forever.
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Hebrews 4:1-11 challenges us to have true faith in the good news. We’re reminded of the story of the Israelites attempting to enter the promise land of Canaan, but failing to do so because of their disobedient disbelief. Today we’re called to active belief that seeks to honor God with our lives. We can do this because in Christ we have perfect faith and obedience.Persevere in faith and obedience till you enter God’s rest.
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Hebrews 4:1-11 challenges us to have true faith in the good news. We’re reminded of the story of the Israelites attempting to enter the promise land of Canaan, but failing to do so because of their disobedient disbelief. Today we’re called to active belief that seeks to honor God with our lives. We can do this because in Christ we have perfect faith and obedience. Persevere in faith and obedience till you enter God’s rest.
We all need to know how to rest, and the first temptation is to create a list of rules of what we can and cannot do on our day off, but this has a way of spoiling it. In Mark 2:23-3:6, Jesus challenges the religious leaders of his day who were more interested in rules than the heart. Jesus taught and showed this truth… Sabbath rest is for our good and the good of others.
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We all need to know how to rest, and the first temptation is to create a list of rules of what we can and cannot do on our day off, but this has a way of spoiling it. In Mark 2:23-3:6, Jesus challenges the religious leaders of his day who were more interested in rules than the heart. Jesus taught and showed this truth… Sabbath rest is for our good and the good of others.
In Exodus 20:8-11, God tells the nation of Israel to set apart the seventh day, Saturday, as their Sabbath. It’s to be a day of rest for them and their children. What type of law was the Sabbath (civil, ceremonial, moral) and how does it apply to us? God gives all his people Sabbath rest in order to set us free from slavery to work, sin, and exhaustion. He does this through a day, but ultimately God gives us true
In Exodus 20:8-11, God tells the nation of Israel to set apart the seventh day, Saturday, as their Sabbath. It’s to be a day of rest for them and their children. What type of law was the Sabbath (civil, ceremonial, moral) and how does it apply to us? God gives all his people Sabbath rest in order to set us free from slavery to work, sin, and exhaustion. He does this through a day, but ultimately God gives us true rest through Christ Jesus. Sabbath rest sets us free.
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Our brand new series How To Rest: Sabbath & Simplicity is meant to encourage us to “do less” and “rest more” in Jesus. In this five-week series, we’ll start with Genesis and go all the way to the book of revelation, learning how God provides us with true and satisfying rest. In Genesis 2:1-3, we see God bless a day and set it aside as holy. This is a gift meant for our good. God invites us to come and find our rest in Him.
Our brand new series How To Rest: Sabbath & Simplicityis meant to encourage us to “do less” and “rest more” in Jesus. In this five-week series, we’ll start with Genesis and go all the way to the book of revelation, learning how God provides us with true and satisfying rest. In Genesis 2:1-3, we see God bless a day and set it aside as holy. This is a gift meant for our good. God invites us to come and find our rest in Him.
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The message of Matthew 28:1-10 is a message God entrusted to the most unlikeliest of people, those society looked down upon. This message has the power to test us and shake our beliefs. How will you respond? Will you let God shine through you in your weakness? Those who obey get to meet Jesus, experience him in his fulness, and worship him. Fear not! Jesus is risen. Go and tell!
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The message of Matthew 28:1-10 is a message God entrusted to the most unlikeliest of people, those society looked down upon. This message has the power to test us and shake our beliefs. How will you respond? Will you let God shine through you in your weakness? Those who obey get to meet Jesus, experience him in his fulness, and worship him. Fear not! Jesus is risen. Go and tell!
How do you view the cross? For many people today the cross is simply a charm on a bracelet, but for those who lived 2,000 years ago the cross was a place of utter horror and suffering. It was normally reserved for the worst criminals, yet this is the place where Jesus willingly goes to pay for sin. In Matthew 27:32-56 we see Jesus suffer through the horror of being crucified, so that sinful people, like you and me can
How do you view the cross? For many people today the cross is simply a charm on a bracelet, but for those who lived 2,000 years ago the cross was a place of utter horror and suffering. It was normally reserved for the worst criminals, yet this is the place where Jesus willingly goes to pay for sin. In Matthew 27:32-56 we see Jesus suffer through the horror of being crucified, so that sinful people, like you and me can be forgiven. The only question is how will you respond to the work of Jesus and him crucified?
In his conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:24-29, Jesus challenges his followers and the crowd to put into action what he’s been teaching. To listen and obey is like a wise man who built his house on unshakable rock. But to listen to Jesus’ words and go away unchanged is foolish. It’s like building your house on sand. Your life will not stand, in this life or the next. Dig down deep to Christ our Cornerstone.
In his conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:24-29, Jesus challenges his followers and the crowd to put into action what he’s been teaching. To listen and obey is like a wise man who built his house on unshakable rock. But to listen to Jesus’ words and go away unchanged is foolish. It’s like building your house on sand. Your life will not stand, in this life or the next. Dig down deep to Christ our Cornerstone.
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In Matthew 7:13-23, Jesus uses three lessons to teach his followers how to distinguish between his true followers and those that pretend or are just going through the motions. He uses the lesson of the broad path and the narrow path in verses 13-14, the lesson of the wolves and fruit trees in verses 15-20, and the lesson of calling on Jesus as Lord, but not really knowing him in verses 21-23. These verses are a challenge to really follow
In Matthew 7:13-23, Jesus uses three lessons to teach his followers how to distinguish between his true followers and those that pretend or are just going through the motions. He uses the lesson of the broad path and the narrow path in verses 13-14, the lesson of the wolves and fruit trees in verses 15-20, and the lesson of calling on Jesus as Lord, but not really knowing him in verses 21-23. These verses are a challenge to really follow Jesus, really produce fruit, and to really know Jesus in deep relationship. Come and walk the narrow road with Jesus.
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In Matthew 7:1-6, Jesus challenges us not to have a judgmental heart-attitude. He warns us not to judge others unfairly but instead to treat others with the grace we’d like God to show you and me. He also calls us to examine ourselves honestly before examining others. Like the disciples, we are all blind to our own sin, but Jesus can take away any blindspot. Jesus also advises us to share the truth thoughtfully. We speak truth graciously, honestly, and thoughtfully because that’s what Jesus did for us.
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In Matthew 7:1-6, Jesus challenges us not to have a judgmental heart-attitude. He warns us not to judge others unfairly but instead to treat others with the grace we’d like God to show you and me. He also calls us to examine ourselves honestly before examining others. Like the disciples, we are all blind to our own sin, but Jesus can take away any blindspot. Jesus also advises us to share the truth thoughtfully. We speak truth graciously, honestly, and thoughtfully because that’s what Jesus
In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus tells us not to live in a state of worry or anxiety. It’s a challenge to all of us as we all fear the future at some level. Long before the movie Frozen came on the scene, Jesus told his followers to “let it go.” The anxieties he calls us to let go are personal, future, and relational (F.E.A.R. = False Expectations Appearing Real). But we don’t just want to let our anxieties go and fill that space with another problem. The world substitutes anxiety with emptiness but we substitute worry with courage in Christ. Christ offers three solutions to our anxieties: A) We let relational anxieties go by building a relationship with God. B) We let future anxieties go by recognizing our own limitations. C) We let personal anxieties go by finding our all in Christ. Ultimately this leads us to one single truth. Let it go so you can cling to Christ.
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In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus tells us not to live in a state of worry or anxiety. It’s a challenge to all of us as we all fear the future at some level. Long before the movie Frozen came on the scene, Jesus told his followers to “let it go.” The anxieties he calls us to let go are personal, future, and relational (F.E.A.R. = False Expectations Appearing Real). But we don’t just want to let our anxieties go and fill that space with another
In Matthew 6:19-24 Jesus raises an issue of the heart, our money. Just like prayer and fasting help us grow in relationship with God, so does how we use our finances. Jesus teaches that we should invest in eternity today, and that we should do so for several reasons: 1) Heaven offers an imperishable reward; 2) It helps us live the right way now; and 3) It frees us to fully love and serve God. We can invest in eternity by giving our money to God through tithes and offerings, by giving our time to God as the gathered and scattered church, and by sharing the gospel message with others. We are able to give this way because Christ gave it all for us when he left the riches of heaven and came to die on a cross. Invest in your eternity today.
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In Matthew 6:19-24 Jesus raises an issue of the heart, our money. Just like prayer and fasting help us grow in relationship with God, so does how we use our finances. Jesus teaches that we should invest in eternity today, and that we should do so for several reasons: 1) Heaven offers an imperishable reward; 2) It helps us live the right way now; and 3) It frees us to fully love and serve God. We can invest in eternity
We’re all mistreated, or tempted to mistreat others when they’ve mistreated us. Jesus, in Matthew 5:38-48 teaches us that when we respond the normal way, with vengeance, the problem continues. Christ gives us a solution that is better than non-violence. He taught us to turn the cheek, to give to those who hurt us, and to love our enemies. He calls us to do this because he did it on his way to the cross. Grace doesn’t stop just violence, it fills the gap with true kindness. Grace isn’t normal.
*Correction: I (Pastor Jonathan) found the story of the Christian forgiving his boss the $5K the week after I gave the sermon. I got most details right off my memory, but the man’s boss didn’t come to know the Lord. However, a Bible study did start at his office because of the forgiveness he expressed through dropping the lawsuit. Pretty cool! God uses us when we turn the other cheek! You can find the story on pages 96-98 of Peacemaker by Ken Sande.
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We’re all mistreated, or tempted to mistreat others when they’ve mistreated us. Jesus, in Matthew 5:38-48 teaches us that when we respond the normal way, with vengeance, the problem continues. Christ gives us a solution that is better than non-violence. He taught us to turn the cheek, to give to those who hurt us, and to love our enemies. He calls us to do this because he did it on his way to the cross. Grace doesn’t stop just violence, it
In Mathew 5:27-37, Jesus focuses on some of our most intimate and personal relational sins. On the outside, we may try to avoid adultery, divorce, and breaking oaths, but on the inside, we are plagued with lust, violating covenants, and habitual lying. Our tendency is to come up with excuses, explanations, and escape clauses to soften Jesus’ standard for his disciples. But does Jesus really expect us to live in holy perfection? What hope is there for followers of Jesus, when His standards seem so out of reach?
Anthony is a member of the Church Plant Ministry Team, which is the pre-autonomy leadership body for Cornerstone. He is a gifted teacher and loves the gospel of Jesus with all his heart.
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In Mathew 5:27-37, Jesus focuses on some of our most intimate and personal relational sins. On the outside, we may try to avoid adultery, divorce, and breaking oaths, but on the inside, we are plagued with lust, violating covenants, and habitual lying. Our tendency is to come up with excuses, explanations, and escape clauses to soften Jesus’ standard for his disciples. But does Jesus really expect us to live in holy perfection? What hope is there for followers of Jesus,
When it comes to measuring ourselves against God’s Law, particularly the last six of the Ten Commandments (the ones relating to how we are to love our neighbor), while we might see some room for improvement in our lives, many of us would admit that we aren’t guilty of stealing (at least since that one time when we were kids in the candy shop!), committing adultery, and executing a murder, to name a few. But what if the Law isn’t
When it comes to measuring ourselves against God’s Law, particularly the last six of the Ten Commandments (the ones relating to how we are to love our neighbor), while we might see some room for improvement in our lives, many of us would admit that we aren’t guilty of stealing (at least since that one time when we were kids in the candy shop!), committing adultery, and executing a murder, to name a few. But what if the Law isn’t a test which God grades on a curve? What if the Law wasn’t only concerned with external actions (the literal taking of a life, for example), but with the condition of our heart? Matthew 5:21-26 deals with anger and murder, and when interpreted through the lens of the Lawgiver – Jesus Himself – the Law of God reveals that we are all murderers in thought, word, even deed. Is this true? If so, what hope is there for us?
Pastor Dana is the Senior Pastor of Cornerstone’s parent church, Immanuel Church, in Chelmsford MA.
In the Sermon on the Mount, starting with the beatitudes, Jesus teaches his disciples how grace should change the way they view life. In Matthew 5:1-20 grace gives us a new viewpoint four ways: 1) followers of Jesus are surprised by grace; 2) followers of Jesus are seasoned with grace; 3) followers of Jesus shine out grace; and 4) followers of Jesus are successful because of grace. Grace should change who we are, to the very core, because of just how much Jesus
In the Sermon on the Mount, starting with the beatitudes, Jesus teaches his disciples how grace should change the way they view life. In Matthew 5:1-20 grace gives us a new viewpoint four ways: 1) followers of Jesus are surprised by grace; 2) followers of Jesus are seasoned with grace; 3) followers of Jesus shine out grace; and 4) followers of Jesus are successful because of grace. Grace should change who we are, to the very core, because of just how much Jesus Christ has done for us. He is the only one to every live the beatitudes perfectly, or the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, but he gave all that hard work to us. Now when God the Father looks on us, his adopted children, he sees those who have lived them perfectly. Grace changes our perspective.
Click “Save PDF” above to download Pastor Jonathan‘s sermon outline.
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The baptism of Jesus Christ in Matthew 3:13-17 teaches us three key truths: 1) God is a Trinity; 2) Jesus is God’s chosen one; and 3) God loves people. Most of all it teaches us one central truth. Jesus is the God who got into the water with us.
Download Pastor Jonathan’s sermon outline above (click Save PDF) or the sermon slides below.
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The baptism of Jesus Christ in Matthew 3:13-17 teaches us three key truths: 1) God is a Trinity; 2) Jesus is God’s chosen one; and 3) God loves people. Most of all it teaches us one central truth. Jesus is the God who got into the water with us. Download Pastor Jonathan’s sermon outline above (click Save PDF) or the sermon slides below.
The story of the magi in Matthew 2:1-12 teaches us three different ways to respond to the message of Jesus. We can respond as religious people who don’t need Jesus (chief priests), as non-religious people who don’t like Jesus (Herod), or as gospel people who recognize Jesus is king and worship him (magi). Worship king Jesus this Christmas season.
You can listen to the audio or download the sermon outline above (Save PDF). The sermon slides are below and you can download those at the bottom of the page. Merry Christmas!
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The story of the magi in Matthew 2:1-12 teaches us three different ways to respond to the message of Jesus. We can respond as religious people who don’t need Jesus (chief priests), as non-religious people who don’t like Jesus (Herod), or as gospel people who recognize Jesus is king and worship him (magi). Worship king Jesus this Christmas season. You can listen to the audio or download the sermon outline above (Save PDF). The sermon slides are below and you can
The author Matthew wrote the Gospel of Matthew to early Jewish Christians. Some of them were likely asking, “Can I as a Jew become a Christian?” Matthew tells us that is doesn’t matter if you’re religious or non-religious, anyone can come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Jesus came to change lives. He turned Mary and Joseph’s world upside-down and wants to do the same with yours. Jesus is the God who came to change our lives with grace! Jesus is a life changer.
You can read the sermon outline by downloading it above (Save PDF) and review the sermon slides right here (Download Below). Thanks for listening!
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The author Matthew wrote the Gospel of Matthew to early Jewish Christians. Some of them were likely asking, “Can I as a Jew become a Christian?” Matthew tells us that is doesn’t matter if you’re religious or non-religious, anyone can come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Jesus came to change lives. He turned Mary and Joseph’s world upside-down and wants to do the same with yours. Jesus is the God who came to change our lives with
Outreach – “We serve others and share the gospel.” Our final Core Value is a great way to end the series. It reminds us how important it is to put what we’re learning into action. In Jeremiah 29:4-7, God’s challenge to the exiles also challenges us to live for Jesus no matter what circumstance we’re in. The Judean exiles taken to Babylon were supposed to bring peace, true Shalom, to their city. We’re to care for the physical and spiritual needs of Westford as well. We’re to invest our lives and families in the places God has called us. Plant the garden of God in the city of man.
You can download the Jeremiah 29:4-7 Study Guide. You can also download the Sermon Outline above (“Save PDF”) and the Sermon Slides below.
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Outreach – “We serve others and share the gospel.” Our final Core Value is a great way to end the series. It reminds us how important it is to put what we’re learning into action. In Jeremiah 29:4-7, God’s challenge to the exiles also challenges us to live for Jesus no matter what circumstance we’re in. The Judean exiles taken to Babylon were supposed to bring peace, true Shalom, to their city. We’re to care for the physical and spiritual
“Discipleship – We learn to love and obey Jesus and help others do the same.” We find this Core Value in Matthew 28:16-20, as Jesus calls his disciples to reach the world in what we now call The Great Commission. This passage is a story of discipleship, a story of mission, and ultimately, a story of following Christ in the midst of doubt. Christ’s call is simple. Make, mature, and multiply followers of Jesus.
Please also see our Matthew 28:16-20 Small Group Study Guide. You can download the sermon outline above or the sermon slides below.
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“Discipleship – We learn to love and obey Jesus and help others do the same.” We find this Core Value in Matthew 28:16-20, as Jesus calls his disciples to reach the world in what we now call The Great Commission. This passage is a story of discipleship, a story of mission, and ultimately, a story of following Christ in the midst of doubt. Christ’s call is simple. Make, mature, and multiply followers of Jesus. Please also see our Matthew 28:16-20
“Love – We receive and share God’s love and grace because Jesus first loved us.” This Core Value comes from the heart of Scripture, and Jesus’ command to love each other as he loves us. This is a new command that’s all throughout the Bible, especially in John’s writings. We can only do this as we abide in Christ. Loving others as God loves you is the true mark of a Christian.
Andy Bradshaw preached this sermon on Saturday November 28th.
“Love – We receive and share God’s love and grace because Jesus first loved us.” This Core Value comes from the heart of Scripture, and Jesus’ command to love each other as he loves us. This is a new command that’s all throughout the Bible, especially in John’s writings. We can only do this as we abide in Christ. Loving others as God loves you is the true mark of a Christian. Andy Bradshaw preached this sermon on Saturday November 28th.
Prayer – We invite God to work in our lives, church, and town. This Core Value summarizes an important piece of Cornerstone’s DNA. We want to be a praying Church! This comes straight from Matthew 6:5-15 when Jesus preached on prayer during his Sermon on the Mount. He taught the crowds and his followers to not pray outwardly, but inwardly, to not pray impersonally, but relationally. Most importantly, over the course of his ministry, Jesus taught his disciples to pray in him.
Prayer – We invite God to work in our lives, church, and town. This Core Value summarizes an important piece of Cornerstone’s DNA. We want to be a praying Church! This comes straight from Matthew 6:5-15 when Jesus preached on prayer during his Sermon on the Mount. He taught the crowds and his followers to not pray outwardly, but inwardly, to not pray impersonally, but relationally. Most importantly, over the course of his ministry, Jesus taught his disciples to pray in him. That’s what we’re called to do today. Pray in him.
Studying using the Matthew 6:5-15 Study Guide. You can download the sermon outline above (“Save PDF”) or the sermon slides below.
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“Bible – We study, preach, apply, and share God’s Word.” This Cornerstone Core Value exemplifies what we as a church hold dear, the Scriptures. As read in 2 Timothy 3:14-4:4, we care for the Bible not just because it speaks to our needs, or our everyday life, but because through them God tells us of Jesus Christ, and the way of salvation. The whole story, Old and New Testaments, speaks Jesus’ name. We can’t pick and choose which parts of the story we prefer, because then
“Bible – We study, preach, apply, and share God’s Word.” This Cornerstone Core Value exemplifies what we as a church hold dear, the Scriptures. As read in 2 Timothy 3:14-4:4, we care for the Bible not just because it speaks to our needs, or our everyday life, but because through them God tells us of Jesus Christ, and the way of salvation. The whole story, Old and New Testaments, speaks Jesus’ name. We can’t pick and choose which parts of the story we prefer, because then it wouldn’t be complete. Not only do we receive God’s message, we speak it to those around us. The whole Bible is God’s message for us to share.
Checkout our 2 Timothy 3:14-4:4 Study Guide. You can download the sermon outline above or the sermon slides below.
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One of our Core Values at Cornerstone is “Community – We gather together to worship God and welcome new friends.” We see no richer display of loving Christ-centered community than Acts 2:42-47. We form Christian community in the church around loving God through teaching, prayer, and worship, and by loving each other through fellowship, food, and giving. At the heart of Christian community is Christ, and his willingness to experience broken community with his Father so that you and I never
One of our Core Values at Cornerstone is “Community – We gather together to worship God and welcome new friends.” We see no richer display of loving Christ-centered community than Acts 2:42-47. We form Christian community in the church around loving God through teaching, prayer, and worship, and by loving each other through fellowship, food, and giving. At the heart of Christian community is Christ, and his willingness to experience broken community with his Father so that you and I never have to. The core of Christian community is costly love.
Checkout our Acts 2:42-47 Small Group Study Guide. You can download the sermon outline above or download the slides below.
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On June 6, 1944, General Eisenhower issued his “Order of the Day” for the troops under his command. This order launched the Allied invasion of Normandy and the liberation of Europe from Nazi control in World War II. In Luke 10:1-20, Commander Jesus issues his order for the 72 disciples that are sent to go out before him. Jesus’ instructions are for all followers of Jesus, and while the mission may seem dangerous, the good news is that nothing can harm us. That’s because Jesus prepares his followers, to spread the good news, and receive God’s joy.
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On June 6, 1944, General Eisenhower issued his “Order of the Day” for the troops under his command. This order launched the Allied invasion of Normandy and the liberation of Europe from Nazi control in World War II. In Luke 10:1-20, Commander Jesus issues his order for the 72 disciples that are sent to go out before him. Jesus’ instructions are for all followers of Jesus, and while the mission may seem dangerous, the good news is that nothing can
What would happen if you never grew up? Peter Pan is the story of never growing older, and how it’s not a good thing. In Luke 8:1-15, Jesus shares the parable of the Sower and the seed to teach us how we can grow and flourish spiritually. Any who trust Jesus are soil people, but sometimes we act like path people, rock people, or even thorn people. Often we can’t see who makes the best soil, but God can. Soil people
What would happen if you never grew up? Peter Pan is the story of never growing older, and how it’s not a good thing. In Luke 8:1-15, Jesus shares the parable of the Sower and the seed to teach us how we can grow and flourish spiritually. Any who trust Jesus are soil people, but sometimes we act like path people, rock people, or even thorn people. Often we can’t see who makes the best soil, but God can. Soil people believe from the heart, persevere when its hard, and look to Jesus for happiness. Soil people help other people grow.
You can download a Sermon Outline above (“Save PDF”) or Sermon Slides below.
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Have you ever had a friend that changed your life, that made you do crazy things? Jesus was a friend like that for Peter. He called him to leave everything and follow him. In Luke 5:1-11, Jesus didn’t call Peter quietly, but interrupted Peter’s fisherman life with an incredible miracle. Christ’s call is the same for us. We are all called to follow him. Leave yourself and follow Jesus. You can download a Sermon Outline above (“Save PDF”) or Sermon Slides below.
Have you ever had a friend that changed your life, that made you do crazy things? Jesus was a friend like that for Peter. He called him to leave everything and follow him. In Luke 5:1-11, Jesus didn’t call Peter quietly, but interrupted Peter’s fisherman life with an incredible miracle. Christ’s call is the same for us. We are all called to follow him. Leave yourself and follow Jesus.
You can download a Sermon Outline above (“Save PDF”) or Sermon Slides below.
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Cornerstone’s vision is “A gospel-centered church that changes lives through sharing the message of Jesus Christ in word and deed”. Last week we talked about what it means to share the message of Jesus Christ in word. This week we’re learning about sharing the message of Jesus Christ in deed. We believe both word and deed are what makes the gospel powerful. Not only does the world hear the message of Christ, they see it lived out. Luke 4:38-44 tells
Cornerstone’s vision is “A gospel-centered church that changes lives through sharing the message of Jesus Christ in word and deed”. Last week we talked about what it means to share the message of Jesus Christ in word. This week we’re learning about sharing the message of Jesus Christ in deed. We believe both word and deed are what makes the gospel powerful. Not only does the world hear the message of Christ, they see it lived out. Luke 4:38-44 tells us Jesus cared for the physical and spiritual needs of others. Jesus people care for the needs of others.
You can download the Sermon Outline above (“Save PDF”) or the Sermon Slides below.
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Cornerstone kicks off their first weekly service on Saturday October 3rd at 5pm. We begin with a series on our Vision and Mission as a new church plant. Our vision and mission come from Jesus and his ministry as he walked the earth. In Luke 4:14-21 we read Jesus’ vision statement for his life and ministry. His ministry had purpose, and so does ours. Our desire is to share the good news of Jesus Christ so that people are changed by
Cornerstone kicks off their first weekly service on Saturday October 3rd at 5pm. We begin with a series on our Vision and Mission as a new church plant. Our vision and mission come from Jesus and his ministry as he walked the earth. In Luke 4:14-21 we read Jesus’ vision statement for his life and ministry. His ministry had purpose, and so does ours. Our desire is to share the good news of Jesus Christ so that people are changed by his words. He preaches a message of forgiveness and freedom. Jesus’ words can change your life.
You can download the Sermon Outline above (“Save PDF”) or the Sermon Slides below.
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Ezekiel 43:1-12 reminds us of God’s promise to return to his people in power. If we read through the Old Testament stories, we read of a God who makes his presence known among his people through a glory cloud. He did this at the Sinai tabernacle and Solomon’s temple. The prophet Ezekiel receives a vision of the glory cloud, God’s Holy Spirit, departing the temple but one day returning to a new and everlasting temple that symbolizes God’s holy people. This is ultimately fulfilled in Christ at the Transfiguration and the Church at Pentecost. This story should encourage us as we start a new church in Westford Massachusetts. God comes in glory, in authority, in love, and in holiness. God is coming. Are you ready?
God’s family is a free family.
Text: Galatians 4:21-31 Date: August 2, 2015
*Jonathan Romig gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford.
Under law we are slaves. Under Christ we are kings.
Text: Galatians 4:1-7 Date: July 19, 2015
*Jonathan Romig gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford.
The gospel trades works for faith, death for life, me for Him.
Text: Galatians 2:15-21 Date: 6/21/2015
*Jonathan Romig gave this sermon at Immanuel Church.
The gospel defeats our self to win our freedom.
Text: Galatians 1:10-2:14 Date: 6/14/2015 *Jonathan Romig gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelsmford, MA.
God crushed Jesus to heal us and glorify Him.
Text: Isaiah 53:10-12 Date: 5/3/2015 *Jonathan Romig gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelsmford, MA
We find hope after Christmas through faith in Jesus.
Text: 1 Peter 1:3-9 Date: 12/28/14 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford, MA.
Thankfulness to God begins with thankfulness for God.
Text: Psalm 18:1-50 Date: 1/18/2015 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
Jesus delivers the desperate, heals the hurting, and leads the lost home.
Text: Isaiah 35:1-10 Date: 12/14/2014 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
Isaiah 35: 1-10 Jesus delivers the desperate, heals the hurting, and leads the lost home.
God comforts us in suffering so we can comfort others with Christ.
Text: 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 Date: 11/16/2014 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
Job 7:1-21 Life is bitter. God is unfair. Christ reverses our hopelessness. Life is sweet. God is just.
Life is bitter. God is unfair. Christ reverses our hopelessness. Life is sweet. God is just.
Text: Job 7:1-21 Date: 11/16/2014 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
When everything goes wrong, praise God with your everything.
Text: Job 1:1-22 Date: 9/21/2014 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
God is preparing you to spend eternity with him.
Text: Revelation 21:1-8 Date: 8/10/2014 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
Those who follow Jesus in defeat already stand with him in victory.
Text: Revelation 14:1-5 Date: 6/8/2014 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
Conflict, persecution, and repentance are signs Christ is on his way
Text: Revelation 6:1-17 Date: 3/16/2014 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
Wake up and witness for those who witness are worthy.
Text: Revelation 3:1-6 Date: 2/16/2014 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
The peace and salvation of Jesus is God’s blessing for us.
Text: Luke 2:27-32 Date: 12/29/2013 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
Christmas can be a risky Holiday. Sometimes the season is more like a disaster than a celebration. Just ask Kevin McCallister from the movie Home Alone what he thinks of the Holidays. He’s the kid who was supposed to fly to Paris for Christmas with his family. But instead, his family leaves without him and two robbers try and break in. Or if you don’t think Christmas can be risky, you could ask Buddy. In the movie Elf, Buddy is a full-sized man who discovers he’s not an elf. He realizes that none of the real elves like him and he’s not very good at being Santa’s helper. So he journeys to the land of New York City where he finds a father that also doesn’t like him. Or what about A Christmas Story and Ralphie who just wants a Red Ryder BB Gun. But everyone keeps telling him, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.” (To watch this sermon, click here.)
Or maybe some of you are familiar with the black and white movie, Christmas in Connecticut. It’s the story of a woman who writes for a cooking magazine but doesn’t know how to cook. One Christmas she hosts her publisher and a war soldier for the Holidays. She has to fabricate a whole life and almost loses her job and the man she loves. I bet many of you are familiar with Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. All the Whos from Who-ville know that Christmas can be tough. One year a green Grinch stole all their presents and tried to ruin their fun.
Now maybe your season doesn’t feel like a grinch has stolen it. But for some, the Holidays can be a really difficult time. They remind us of those we have lost or those we can’t be with. And instead of feeling better, many of us just feel worse. The Holidays are hard. The first Christmas was more like this than a celebration. It wasn’t a picture-perfect snow-white Holiday. A common man named Joseph was headed toward disaster. He discovers his fiancee is pregnant before their marriage. It seems as if she’s had an affair so he prepares to separate from her. But God is about to work a miracle in the midst of heartache. He is about to give a gift to Joseph and us that will change everything. Let’s read about this Christmas gift in Matthew 1:18-25.
Sometimes Christmas isn’t much of a gift. (1:18-20) The first Christmas was more trouble than joy. (1:18-19) A Jewish carpenter named Joseph is betrothed to a girl named Mary. Mary is only about thirteen years old but they will be married within a year. Joseph is probably a simple but good man who likes to work with his hands. But one day his world turns upside-down when he discovers Mary is pregnant. Being betrothed in that culture is more serious than being engaged in ours. If you’re betrothed, you’re basically married to each other but not living together. Joseph and Mary have not yet moved into the same home or become intimate. But the only way their betrothal can end is through death or divorce. According to the law, Mary’s unwed pregnancy was so serious Joseph could stone her. Or at the very least he could have publicly humiliated her. But instead, he shows mercy to her which is why the text calls him a “just man.” He decides to divorce her quietly without making a spectacle. The first Christmas was supposed to be a wedding celebration. But now it has turned into the heartache of divorce. The first Christmas was more trouble than joy.
So what happens to Joseph that changes everything? Who is able to change the story for the better? God interrupted the first Christmas with good news. (1:20) Verse 20 says, “But as he considered these things…” (ESV). The verb for “consider” is in the past tense. One suggested translation is “when he had made up his mind.” (PNTC) Joseph has already decided he is going to divorce Mary but God has other plans.
God interrupts Joseph and Mary’s tragedy with good news.“Behold!” Matthew says, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream…” He says, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (ESV). When the angel says “son of David” to Joseph he is referring to his genealogy. Joseph needs to take Mary as his wife to publicly show Jesus’ lineage to David. The Messiah, the savior of Israel, is supposed to come from the line of David. One of King David’s descendants will be the true and final “son of David.” This descendant is going to have an everlasting throne and kingdom (2 Sam 7:13). He is the promised one that the people of Israel are waiting for. The good news is that the savior of Israel, the Messiah, has come. Mary received the child by the Holy Spirit, not adultery. No longer does Joseph have to go forward into tragedy. Instead, God has given him a son who will reign as king. God interrupted the first Christmas with good news.
You can watch some old color footage of World War II online. Many of these videos have shots of crowds celebrating the end of the war. If you’ve ever seen any old World War II movies you know the scene. Families are hugging and sailors are kissing girls they don’t know. There are horns and streamers and everyone is smiling. The crowds rejoice because the never-ending war is over. The joy of peace has interrupted the despair of conflict. We too were in a war between God and man because of sin. The good news Joseph receives is the war is about to end. Mary is pregnant with the war hero, the Son of David, the king of kings. He will bring peace by ending the war between God and man. God wants to interrupt your Holiday with this same good news. No matter what you’re going through good news has come. It doesn’t matter how dark your New England winter feels. God has provided a way of hope for you and for me.
God interrupts Christmas with a gift of grace. (1:21-22) The gift of grace is a savior child named Jesus. (1:21) God’s gift to humankind is his own son in the form of a baby. This baby Jesus has come to change our troubles into joys. The angel tells Joseph the child’s name is to be Jesus. He commands him in verse 21 “…you shall call his name Jesus.” Names in that culture were far more important than they are in ours (WBC). One commentary said they point to the “actual character and destiny of the individual.” Jesus’ name means he will save his people from their sin and rebellion against God. I’m going to explain why Jesus’ name is so important in the original language.
The name “Jesus” (Ἰησοῦς) in the Greek comes from the Hebrew “Yeshua” (יֵשׁוּ ַע). “Yeshua” is a “shortened ,)ישׁע( ”form” of the name “Joshua.” (WBC) “Yeshua” or “Joshua” comes from the Hebrew verb “yasha which means “to save.” Notice “Yeshua” is a longer form of the verb “yasha” so it means more than just “to save.” This is because “Yeshua” is a one-word sentence that includes both a subject and a verb. The first half of this word, the subject, is the divine name for the God of the Old Testament. The divine name for the God of the Israelites in the Old Testament is “Yahweh” (יהוה). So when I combine the name “Yahweh” and the verb “yasha—to save” I get “Yeshua.” Therefore, Jesus’ name “Yeshua” actually means “Yahweh is salvation” (WBC). This child Jesus can’t have just any name because he is the very salvation of God. Here at last Yahweh is going to provide the ultimate salvation for his people. God interrupts Christmas with a gift of grace—a savior child named Jesus.
But why is this savior child so important? How long have the people been waiting for him? God promised this savior child a long time ago. (1:22) Verse 22 says that all of this happened to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. The author of the Gospel of Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience. The Jewish audience would have cared deeply about the fulfillment of Scripture. They have waited for hundreds of years for God to fulfill his promises to them. Here Matthew is saying that a prophecy made 700 years prior is being fulfilled in Jesus. The prophecy comes from Isaiah 7:14, which Matthew quotes in the next verse. Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and (she) shall call his name Immanuel.” (ESV)
The prophet Isaiah gave this promise to a rebellious king named Ahaz. Isaiah calls King Ahaz to obedience to God and even promises him a sign. The sign God gives King Ahaz is that a virgin will conceive and bear a son. This child shall be called “Immanuel” and he will rescue his people. Although this prophecy could have been fulfilled in the actual time of Ahaz. We now see the ultimate fulfillment at the birth of Jesus in the New Testament. I’ll explain what “Immanuel” means in a moment, but I want you to first notice something. Notice the difference between King Ahaz’s response to God and Joseph’s response. Both are interrupted by God with good news, but only one believes, and it’s not Ahaz. We too are interrupted by God with good news and we have a similar choice. We may also believe or like King Ahaz we may reject God’s word. God promised this savior child a long time ago and he has made good on his promise.
Promises are a cheap commodity in today’s world. Politicians promise us health, wealth, and prosperity. New age religion promises us spiritual peace. Older religion promises to fix us. Hybrids promise a healthier environment. The Coke polar bear promises joy and happiness. Burger King promises we can have it our way. Disneyland promises it is the happiest place on earth. My college friends and I from business school made promises to each other. We promised to pay twenty bucks to the first one of us to make a million dollars. That was before I decided to become a pastor. Promises are a cheap commodity. But God’s promises are never cheap. He made a promise and he’s a God who keeps his promises. He promised a savior would come and he has. He promises that if we put our trust in him, he won’t disappoint us. He promises to use all of our life, even our struggles, for our good (Rom 8:28-30). The promises he makes us through his Word he will never break. Promises are never a cheap commodity in God’s world.
Sometimes the Christmas season is more difficult than we expect. But God wants to interrupt the best or worst of Holidays with his grace. He has a gift he wants to offer us anew this Christmas year. And it’s a Christmas gift that changes everything.
The gift of Christmas is God with us. (1:23-25) The gift of Christmas is God with us. (1:23) Verse 23 quotes our passage from Isaiah 7:14, but it adds one line at the end of the verse. Matthew 1:23 says, “‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” (ESV) For those of us who don’t know, the word “Immanuel” is a compound. (Labosier) A compound is several words combined into one, like “butterfly, grandfather, or superhero.” The “im” in “Im-manuel” is the preposition “with.” The “manu” in “Im-manu-el” is the personal pronoun “us.” And the “el” in “Immanu-el” is a shorted form of “elohim” or “God.” This Hebrew compound word (ִע ָמּנוּ ֵאל ) means “God with us.”
Now, Isaiah 7:14 literally says “… (she) shall call his name Immanuel.” (NASB) But our translation in Matthew says “… they shall call his name Immanuel.” (ESV) Unlike Joseph’s command to name him Jesus, I believe this one is implied for the rest of us. We are called by the angel to recognize who Jesus really is. We are called to believe that Jesus really is “God with us.” And it’s not just an intellectual belief. It’s a belief that should change our whole lives. If God is really with us, who can stand against us? (Rom 8:31) If God really dwells with us, what troubles can overpower us? It doesn’t matter if divorce, or death, or despair come your way. If God’s presence is with us and he loves us then nothing can quench your joy. This is why Christianity is worth believing in, not just because it’s true. But because there is nothing more beautiful than a God who cares about us. The gift of Christmas is God with us.
Two years ago last July I was working in downtown Estes Park at Indian Village. The phone rang, and my brother who also worked there picked up. What happened next my brother, myself, and the customers were not expecting. Whatever my brother heard on the phone caused him to react dramatically. I won’t repeat the dramatic words that came out of his mouth. But it’s fair to say everyone in the store stopped and stared. In a panic, my brother raced to the back of the store to grab his backpack. And then he ran back up front heading straight for the exit. I stopped him and said, “Slow down, tell me what happened.” He said, “Dad was in a motorcycle accident and he’s in the hospital.” Then he raced out and left me standing there. And all I knew is that my dad was in a motorcycle accident. I didn’t know how bad it was or if my father was going to die. So I went to the back of the store, hid in a closet, and got on my knees. And I prayed to a God who was with me. God gave me a deep peace that he was good no matter what came next. God was with me in that moment of deep uncertainty. Even if my Dad died, it was going to be okay. Because my father in heaven had it all under control. And if he’s your father, you can have this same assurance. Do you know the assurance of a God who never leaves you? You can know this same peace even when life brings trouble. God is with us, his presence is real, and it makes all the difference.
That’s what we need to hear this Christmas season. We need to hear that no matter what God is with us. God with us changes everything (1:24-25) Joseph was going to divorce his wife, but God changed the situation for good. Unlike King Ahaz in the Old Testament, Joseph obeys what God commands. He takes Mary to be his wife but he does not “know her” intimately until after the birth. Matthew points this out because he wants us to know this is clearly God’s child. Joseph believed this is God’s child, but do you believe? Do you believe this child was conceived by the Holy Spirit? Do you believe this child can really save you from your sins? Do you believe this child is God in the flesh—God with us? You too can know that God is with you this Christmas season. And if you already know the presence of God with you, take him to those who don’t. Take the good news about a savior child to those who don’t know his peace. The gift of Christmas is God with us and God with us changes everything.
Maybe some of you have a favorite Christmas movie you like to watch every year. On Christmas Eve at the Romig’s we liked watching the classic It’s a Wonderful Life. The story is about George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, who goes through a hard time. He has lived all of his life in the service and care of others and has even given up his dreams. One Christmas season his coworker loses the cash belonging to George’s lending association. Without the cash the association will go bankrupt and George will go to jail. With everything lost George wishes he were dead. He is about to throw himself off a bridge and into the river when an angel named Clarence saves him. This angel shows George what life would look like without him. The people George saved or influenced would all be dead or low down. And the town would be a much worse place without George. The movie ends happily as George changes his mind. He sees how wonderful his life really is and has a great Christmas.
Now there are many theological inaccuracies to this movie. An angel does not get its wings every time a bell rings. But something about this movie rings true. This movie is considered one of the best 100 films ever made. (wikipedia) It’s a classic because even Hollywood yearns for God. Like George we too go through times of loss and despair. And just like George we need the presence of heaven to save us. We want someone from up there to come down here to make things right. But unlike Hollywood’s fictional stories, Christianity is true. God really has come to save us from our sorrow and heartache. He has not left us on our own but has come to pull us from the river. He has brought salvation and peace through a small child. And he promises to never leave or forsake his own. This is why Christianity is beautiful and true. Because God dwells with us. Because God is with you. And God changes everything. The gift of Christmas is God with us.
Pastor Jonathan Romig delivered this sermon on Matthew 1:18-25 on December 22, 2013, at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
Mark 14:53-15:39 Christ Jesus the Redeemer was rejected so that the rejected might be redeemed.
Christ Jesus the Redeemer was rejected so that the rejected might be redeemed.
Text: Mark 14:53-15:39 Date: 11/17/2013 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
Jesus is a healer for the hurting and a savior for the sinful.
Text: Mark 2:1-12 Date: 9/22/2013 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
God has empowered you to witness to his world.
Text: Acts 1:6-8 Date: 7/7/2013 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
Jesus traded his righteousness for our sin so we can be united in him.
Text: Romans 3:21-26 Date: 10/7/2012 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
The Holy Spirit in us is God’s perfect witness.
Text: Acts 2:1-21 Date: 7/14/2013 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
Jesus really died and really rose so we can really believe.
Text: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Date: 9/1/2013 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.
When people lie, pilgrims pray, and God answers.
Text: Psalm 120 Date: 3/1/2015 *Jonathan gave this sermon at Immanuel Church in Chelmsford MA.