The Judgment of Jesus Part VII: Help that Truly Helps, Not Hurts

We have been camping out over the concept of Jesus bringing final judgment, as found in the Apostles’ Creed. Jesus will return to bring final judgment on all. Granted our judgment as believers is not one that concerns our destination. Yet, we as believers will be judged for what we have done with the eternal life Jesus has given to us. So the question we’ve been looking at for the past several weeks is:

What have we done with what we’ve been given?

What God is looking for us in can been summarized in the cutesy acronym: The ABC’s of Christianity:

A–attachment to the heart of God
B–behavioral submission to the heart of God and his ways
C–community attachment, engagement & participation (in the church and the world) for Jesus

I feel like that one last loose end needs to be tied up before moving on. I make no bones about doing good works in the world as an absolute necessity for living the Christian life. (NO, WE DON’T EARN OUR SALVATION.) However, I want to make very clear that what I’m emphasizing is not the Social Gospel. Nor am I saying that all we need to do is dump tracks off on people and run. Rather, I want to emphasize the need to walk with the people to whom we’re reaching. AND we guide them to Jesus in conversion and discipleship that transforms their inner character.

I was working on my bicycle this past weekend, getting it ready for my biking season. The tires were flat, as they tend to become over time without use. Yet, I could not pump them up. I thought, perhaps the tires are bad and need to be taken to the bike shop. A couple of months prior, I attempted to pump up our jogging stroller tires … to no avail. I took them to the bike shop and wound up paying $65.00 for 6 jogging stroller tires to be up to snuff. I thought I was going to have to do the same for these bike tires.

We made the decision to go to Wal-Mart and buy a new pump. If that worked, then paying $10.00 would be much better than paying so much more to have the bike tires replaced. As I began looking at the various pumps, I noticed something … the same thing … in all of the pumps. In ALL of the new pumps the apparatus that attaches to the tire, itself, contained a spike inside. The head on my current pump did not. As it turns out that spike inside the apparatus that attaches itself to the spout on the tire press on something in the tire spout, which allows air to enter the tire. My pump had evidently lost this spike quite a while ago.

We could have continued taking our tires to the bike shop to have them “repaired.” Yet, no matter how much money we would have continued to throw at this problem, the problem would have not been solved. This is akin to the point I’m making about targeting heart change in the people to whom we’re attempting to reach.

Let’s turn to Psalm 21.

O LORD, in your strength the king
     rejoices,
     and in your salvation how greatly he
          exults!
You have given him his heart’s desire
     and have not withheld the request of
          his lips.
For you meet him with rich blessings;
     you set a crown of fine gold upon his
          head.
He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
     length of days forever and ever.
His glory is great through your salvation;
     splendor and majesty you bestow on
          him.
For you make him most blessed forever;
     you make him glad with the joy of
          your presence.
For the king trusts in the LORD,
     and through the steadfast love of the
          Most High he shall not be moved.
Your hand will find out all your enemies;
     your right hand will find out those
          who hate you.
You will make them as a blazing oven
     when you appear.
The LORD will swallow them up in his
          wrath,
     and fire will consume them.
You will destroy their descendants from
          the earth,
     and their offspring from among the
          children of man.
Though they plan evil against you,
     though they devise mischief, they will
          not succeed.
For you will put them to flight;
     you will aim at their faces with your
          bows.
Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength!
     We will sing and praise your power (ESV).

For those of us who are used to non-confrontational, genteel, polished language, this psalm is abrasive. It makes us wonder if it truly should be in the Bible or not. However, I’m going to ask you to suspend judgment for just a bit and allow David to be David; allow David to live in his own times; and allow David to be the warrior he is.

If we consider the first and last verses:

O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults! (Verse 1; ESV)

Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power. (Verse 13; ESV)

Taken together, we see this psalm is not so much about David or God being drunk with blood. Rather it is the earthly king praising the High King of Heaven for his strength.

Yes, David was king. Yet who was the real king, but the Lord? David was merely his representative. In fact in the covenant, David, as king, was considered to be God’s son. NO, David was nor did become a god. That was just the nature of his relationship with God, as king. If David is God’s son, who is God to David, but Father? As his son, David’s pleas and requests had special access to the heart of God the Father. In this psalm David praises God for delivering. Most likely this psalm refers to David in a particular battle or David as a warrior-king in general. Nonetheless, God shows up.

Verse 7 is the lynch-pin of the entire psalm:

For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved (ESV).

David is in need, and God is not just trustworthy. God is absolutely trust-worthy. The “steadfast love” of God is absolutely sure. Yet, here is the teaching question for this psalm:

It is certainly true that God is trustworthy and sure, but can God trust in David?

You see, it is easy for us in 21^st Century America with our snot-nosed, entitlement mentality that relationship with God is totally one way. After all doesn’t our government teach that all we need to do is simply vote for them and we’ll receive all manner of largesse?  Yet, 21^st Century American “sophisticate” is not the mind of “covenant” in the Bible. Yes, God loved David; yes, God showed up for David; yes, God provided for David. Yet, according to covenant mentality, David has some obligations to faithfully fulfill, as king. Let’s turn to Deuteronomy 17:14-20:

“When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose, One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel” (ESV).

I’m sure Moses lived before David … correct? David would have known that he needed to practically live in God’s Torah, if he was serious about loving God. This way of life of “learning to fear the LORD his God” would have shaped David’s character.

Let’s return to our psalm. Verses 8-12 are written in a very strange manner. Who is the “you” in these verses? It is not so easily discernible as our knee-jerk, sloppy theology would have us think. Is it possible that this psalm was taken as used in the liturgy of the later-built First Temple … where the people are speaking verses 8-12 to the king … not to God? The king was charged with the defense of his people … no? His job would then be to defeat “his enemies.” In reality God and the king “blend” and “blur” in these verse on purpose. I believe David is illustrating that the king was God’s representative on earth. David, the king of Israel, stood in the place of God, the high king of heaven, as his representative. Thus, as David acted, it was as if God were acting. As David, so it is with God.

This need not sound all that strange. After all if we want to know what Jesus is like, to whom are we supposed to be able to turn? That’s right … his ambassadors … the church. As we are … so Jesus is and does … or so goes the desire of Jesus.

Now, having said this, how important was it for David, since he stood in the place of God as king for his people, how important was it for David to faithfully embrace and follow Torah? Considered in this light, how serious does David’s abuse of his authority against Bathsheba and Uriah now become? Deathly serious. Once confronted, David returns in full repentance to his Covenant relationship with God. He doesn’t merely apologize for breaking rules, he returns through repentance to a right relationship with God. He also helps to make it right for his people.

Given this idea of covenant: when we pray for God to answer us, do we have the character trained by the Holy Spirit in the Word to properly hold that which God blesses us? God is certainly faithful, but can he trust us to be faithful to him?

David was a man of solid character, who messed up. Consider now Solomon. He began well. God was ready to bless Solomon with his every heart’s desire. Yet, Solomon desired wisdom to govern his people well. However, over time Solomon multiplied horses and wives for himself. He raised his heart above his people to such an extent that he enslaved them. God blessed Solomon immensely, but Solomon did not possess the type of character required to properly hold the blessings God gave. Character is important.

As Christians, God has been truly faithful to us. Can God trust us to be faithful to him? Now is not the time for ridiculous “piety” that says, “Oh I’m merely a sinner saved by grace. Oh woe is me.” The New Testament won’t allow such buffoonery. The heart of Salvation is being transformed into people who have the character of God … or people with godly character. If God cannot trust us, then our place is repentance, not wallowing in pseudo-piety. God is fully trustworthy, but can he trust us to seek to know him? God is fully trustworthy, but can he trust us to seek heart transformation? God is fully trustworthy, but can us to seek his ways? God is fully trustworthy, but can he trust us with the people of his eye … the people he bled and died for … “the Nations?”

Let’s turn to James 1:2-27:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not hears only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (ESV).

James is dealing with two sets of people. In the Jerusalem of his day there was a very small middle class. Most of the people were in dire poverty. Some were extremely wealthy. Both came to Salvation and into the church. Those in dire poverty looked at their wealthy counterparts and said, “If only I had that … then all of my problems could be solved.” The wealthy sent out warm sentiments, “Be warm and well fed,” but did very little in a physical way about it.

James’s main thought through this passage is that every good gift is from God, one of which is suffering. In it our character is trained by God. The flipside that begs to be asked is this: is it possible that our many creature-comforts are gifts from the Father of lights? Is it possible that our wealth … for those of us who possess it … are given opportunities to use to bless those in true need? In this vein we “suffer” while blessing those around us … and in such are blessed with transformation into godly character.

James is not castigating wealth. He is castigating rich and poor alike who want the easy road of physical needs being met without character change into the image of God. We are supposed to be a flaming city on a hill resembling to the world our Father of lights. The easy way simply receives and simply gives. The tougher way is to walk with people in suffering (vs. 27).

I think that often times it is easier to vote for a welfare state than it is to actually take the needs of our cities and towns upon ourselves. It’s easier for us, because we, personally, don’t have to deal with them nasty folks. It’s easier for them, because they don’t have to deal with the character change required by following God’s ways. Yet, this is our calling. We are called to be faithful to God and his ways, one of which is reaching out to a world in need. We are called to BOTH call people to Jesus and to meet their physical needs. Yet we are also called to make disciples of them, people who are committed to learning and following the ways of God and developing his character in their lives. Throwing more and more money after problems doesn’t matter near as much as godly Character development matters.

 

The Judgment of Jesus Part VI: The ABC’s of Christianity

We are closing up a series on the Final Judgment Jesus will bring when he returns. In this sermon I hope to tie up some loose ends on the question of what do we do with the life Jesus has given to us. It is my contention that we conservatives, who are the ones who profess to care the most about what Jesus said and taught, actually do the least with the life he’s given to us.

One objection to this assertion might be that we are saved by grace not works … so why are we spending so much time on this topic of judgment of works? I understand this. However, if we take serious what Jesus says, then we should care about what we do with what we’ve been given. Yet, we who claim to care the most do the least.

Think with me for a second. Consider the catchy, cute acronym, “The ABC’s of Christianity.” I know you know them:

A–accept
B–believe
C–confess

If we “do” these things, then we’ll be Christians. Fair enough, but after we become Christians … what then? If accept, believe, confess is for non-Christians, then what is for true-Christians? I’ve developed my own cutesy acronym, “The True ABC’s of Christianity”:

A–attachment to the heart of God
B–behavioral submission to the heart of God and his ways
C–community attachment, engagement & participation (in the church and the world) for Jesus

Let’s turn to John 14:12-17:

“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. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask my anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (ESV).

You read that right. No, this is not an insertion by someone within the Pentecostal movement. Jesus said that we would do the things he did … and “greater works than these.” This was not maybe. This was not optional. This was a description with authority. If you belong to Jesus you will do works, we will do works. We will do them if we truly love him.

Jesus promises that we’ll receive whatever we ask. However, consider the context. The context is of going out and about doing the works of Jesus. Jesus is not saying that we’ll receive whatever our spoiled-bratted hearts desire. Far from it. We’ll receive divine aid in the act of serving others in Jesus’s name. Also keep in mind that the larger context is of Jesus using his authority to wash the feet of his disciples … all of them (in his band) … even Thomas. John says in 13:1 that he loved them to the end. Jesus turns around and tells us that we are to love as he loved. This is the context of receiving that for which we ask.

Then he tells us the Holy Spirit will be sent to us as our Helper. A very bad word in this context is “Comforter.” Now at one time comfort might have meant something a bit different than in contemporary English. In fact the word has Latin roots meaning com-fortis (with inner strength, inner fortitude) (Leon Morris). In our day “comfort” means putting band-aids on boo-boos and kissing them. A better word or word combination for this context is helper-advocate. The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us inner strength as we go about in the church and the world doing the works of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is also the one who pleads our case in the hearts of the people with whom we’re working. He will be so “with us” that he’ll be “in us.”

Again the context for this is loving one another as Jesus did (ministry in the church) and being sent out into the world as Jesus was sent (John 17:14-19) (ministry in the world). Jesus never envisioned a church where spend all of our time celebrating our tickets to heaven and so little time helping to prepare others for the trip.

What exactly does occupy our time? If  we’re honest, we’re mostly concerned about such important items, like the color of the carpet, making sure we eat long and often, how the preacher preaches, the end times … yada …. yada … yada. Instead of Christianity, may I borrow a term from one of my good friends? Instead of Christianity, this junk is “churchianity.” In Christianity we apply special care to what we do with the life Jesus has given us, which from time to time comes into conflict with our culture and traditions. In “churchianity” we spend most of our time celebrating our beginning of Christianity but spend most of our time involved in church politics and clicks for personal power/control/gain.

We love to receive grace, but we’re often short on giving it away. Think about it. The sacraments teach that through them we access the grace of God for our lives. We engage in baptism, Holy Communion; we engage in Bible Study and prayer. Yet, what is the purpose but to simply receive?

How selfish.

Let’s consider for a moment that the Jews have sacraments. Oh, they don’t call them that, but that is in fact what they are. They believe as they intensely study Torah, the Holy Spirit hovers over the process, transforming them. As they study Torah in conjunction with living it out, the Holy Spirit comes along side them, transforming them and their worlds. The term “mitzvoh” literally translated means “keep commandments,” and is the process of living in Torah and living out Torah in the world. Broadly translated mitzvoh means doing good works for God in the world. Again the belief is that the Holy Spirit hovers over the study process and the living-it-out process, transforming the believer and the believer’s world in the doing.

What if we viewed our “sacraments” from that perspective? I suggest we should, after all this concept of mitzvoh appears to be at work in Jesus teaching at hand: we believers will do the works of Jesus in the church and the world with the Holy Spirit being in us for transformation of us and the world.

It is my desire to truly inspire people to cast aside their idols of Churchianity and embrace the true and living God in Christianity.

A–attachment to the heart of God
B–behavioral submission to the heart of God and his ways
C–community attachment, engagement & participation (in the church and the world) for Jesus

 

The Judgment of Jesus Part V: Producing

We are currently in the midst of a series dealing with the Final Judgment of Jesus. We have previously considered that now is the time to receive God’s gracious offer of Salvation from condemnation, judgment, and wrath. When Jesus appeared first that is what he came bringing. When he appears again, he will bring condemnation, judgment, and wrath.

We have also previously considered that believers will also be judged. No, it will not be a judgment determining heaven or hell. It will be a judgment on what we have done with the life we’ve been given. In closing out this series we’re considering what exactly we do with the life we’ve been given. In this last sermon we looked at the concept of heart attachment to God. In this sermon we’ll consider producing fruit with the life we’ve been given. We’ve received eternal life (that begins now). Let’s be channels of that life to others: God and neighbor.

However, before we begin, we should consider the concept of risk in producing with the life Jesus has given us. Let’s turn to Matthew 25:14-30:

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at one and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.

“Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

“He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you out to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was mine with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (ESV).

This highly disturbing parable finds itself in the context of the Final Judgment Jesus will bring. So “it” in the first verse is speaking of the Final Judgment. Now in this parable three people receive pieces of money (unfortunately labeled talents) and are commanded to produce with them.

Which of these three servants was not faced with the concept of risk? Not a one. Risk was a major factor in all three servants’ endeavors. And all three took risks … well … sort of. The first two risked all they had in the open market and doubled their master’s money. The first two could have lost all of their master’s money. Yet they took risks. They became vulnerable. They were called the good and faithful servants.

The third servant also took a sort-of risk. No, he did not relinquish that to which he was entrusted. His risk came in deciding against following his master’s command. He did nothing with what he was given and is called “wicked and slothful.” This servant even calls his master “Master.” This is respect, right? Wrong. Why call him “Master” if he is only going to do what he personally wants to do anyway? The master calls this servant “wicked and slothful.”

Did the master celebrate the fact each of his three servants were given something by him? Well, mostly no. He did entrust each servant with his property according to each servant’s judged ability. So in one minor sense he did celebrate he servant in receiving from him, as master. Yet, he was in reality, by entrusting to each according to his ability, celebrating past performances with his property. Upon returning the master celebrates not that each was necessarily given something. Rather he celebrated what each of the first two did with what they had.

Since each was given his master’s property according each one’s ability, it is likely that each of the servants had made past mistakes in producing with his master’s property. Yet, notice that the master is not angry over this. In his wisdom he deals with each where he is at. He is not angry so much over past mistakes as he is over the one with the one talent doing nothing with that one talent. He is called slothful. Is it possible the reason the one with two is not called slothful, though is not able to handle five like the first, is because he is learning and growing in his ability to handle his master’s property?

We as Christians and we as groups of Christians, known as churches, have been entrusted with our Master’s property to produce with it for him. Are we willing to risk loss and vulnerability in producing for Jesus? Remember, mistakes are going to be made. What Jesus is concerned about, according to the flow of this parable is not so much the mistakes we make. Rather he is concerned about us getting “out there” and taking risks with his property to produce life for him in others. He is more concerned about us learning and growing in the grace of using his grace to produce life in others than he is about our never making mistakes.

When Jesus returned and found the one with one simply hiding what he had been given, he said that at the very least he should have put it with bankers. These bankers would have paid interest on the money. How many of us in the traditional church seek to hire the “professionals” to do the hard work of church for us? While this may seem noble and right, remember Jesus told that wicked servant this was the “least” he could have done. The bare minimum. Jesus expects far more from us as his people entrusted with his life.

With this parable and exposition as a backdrop, let’s turn over to James 1:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4; ESV).

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27; ESV).

While I want to hone in on the second quote from James, which ends chapter 2, I am using the first paragraph of James 1 as a backdrop from which to consider James’s understanding of “pure religion.”

James says that pure religion is that which produces; that which produces a clean moral life and that which walks with the needy, “the least of these,” in their affliction. Such a prospect is not fun. It can be terribly troubling at times.  We, especially in the deep South, do not like to openly deal with messy stuff. The soap operas are for Hollywood. Not only do we intensely dislike being involved in the affliction of others, we especially intensely disdain having to go through it ourselves. Yet, if we consider the flow of James’s first chapter, we’ll find that suffering can be a gift from God through which he trains us for being effective producers of his life.

So, what exactly do we do with the eternal life we’ve been given by Jesus? We attach ourselves to the heart of God. We engage ourselves in ministering to people in need. We submit ourselves to his ways; we are people of his ways. And his way is not simply and merely and only spending our time celebrating the fact we’re going to heaven.

 

The Judgment of Jesus Part IV: Heart Attachment

Currently, we are camped out in the spot in the Apostles’ Creed, dealing with the return of Jesus for Final Judgment. Previously, we have said that we will be judged, as Christians, based on what we did with the life Jesus has given us. Thus, now we are asking, over the next several sermons, what exactly do we do with what Jesus has given us? In this sermon we’ll look at the primary thing God wants from us: attachment to him.

Let us turn to Jeremiah 13:1-11:

Thus says the LORD to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist. And the world of the LORD came to me a second time, “Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. And after many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.

Then the word of the LORD came to me: “Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen” (ESV).

Yes, this passage is quite strange and perhaps a bit disturbing. In essence we are dealing with underwear. Yet, God is a disturbing God who wishes from time to time to disturb us out of our slumber.

Now that you’ve had a minute or two to recover, let’s please do not get sidetracked. Let’s not get sidetracked by the strangeness of the material. Let’s also not get sidetracked by quick and easy conclusions. Merely offering this passage a quick read will most likely lead one to conclude that God is upset at Israel for breaking his laws.

Yet, let’s go a bit deeper. This God who issued 613 commands/teachings, is the same God who is upset at the failure at attach their heart of hearts to the heart of God. He made his people to “cling” to him.

This is not as strange as it may sound. How many of us know people who follow the rules at Church but are not real Christians? How many of us know folks who do good works, but their hearts are far from God. Ethics and good works were never meant to substitute for knowing God. These are not the words of a God who is merely upset that his honor has been offended. These are not the words of a high and mighty king who has seen his fixed laws broken. While some portion of these two is no doubt involved here, what picture more accurately reflects this passage is that of a lover with unrequited love.

God is looking for people who will attach themselves to his inner heart struggle. This is not to say that we should not be careful to heed God’s ordinances, ways, teachings, rules, and laws. Rather it is to say that each of these is supposed to flow forth from our relationships with, or attachment to God.

Jeremiah was such a one. God called him out to sympathize with God’s deep struggle for his own people and then communicate that to them. Jeremiah obeys the call, but quickly finds out that even his own friends and family can be not so nice. Thus, Jeremiah begins to complain to God about the people. Let’s pick up in Jeremiah 12:1-4:

Righteous are you, O LORD,
     when I complain to you;
yet I would plead my case before you.
Why does the way of the wicked
          prosper?
Why do all who are treacherous
     thrive?
You plant them, and they take root;
     they grow and produce fruit;
you are near in their mouth
     and far from their heart.
But you, O LORD, know me;
     you see me, and test my heart
          toward you.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
     and set them apart for the day of
          slaughter.
How long will the land mourn
     and the grass of every field wither?
For the evil of those who dwell in it
     the beasts and the birds are swept
          away,
     because they said, “He will not see
          our latter end” (ESV).

Jeremiah makes no bones about his Jonah-like desire to see God bring his wrath on the people who are violently rejecting Jeremiah’s overtures. Notice, however, how God responds to him in verses 5 & 6:

“If you have raced with men on foot, and
          they have wearied you,
     how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
     what will you do in the thicket of the
          Jordan?
For even your brothers and the house of
          your father,
     even they have dealt treacherously
          with you;
     they are in full cry after you;
do not believe them,
     though they speak friendly words to
          you” (ESV).

God called Jeremiah to attach himself to God’s struggle for his people. Like most of us Jeremiah gets sidetracked by their violent response to him. Jeremiah calls on God to minister to him, to understand him, to vindicate him. God’s response is something along the lines of: “And you’re surprised by all of this, eh? If my own prophet can’t stay on target to sympathize with me, why should you expect a violent and recalcitrant people to treat you nice?”

It’s as if God is crying out: “Will someone please put me first and center for just once?” This was after all the tip of the iceberg of the Sinai Covenant: “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5 & 6; ESV).

Not only was deep, personal, heart attachment to God the heart of the Sinai Covenant, this is also the heart of Christianity: “And this is eternal life, that they know you they only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3; ESV). What is one thing we do with the life Jesus has given to us in Salvation? Attach our inner hearts to the heart of God: know him.

 

The Judgment of Jesus Part III: Preparing for Jesus as Judge

This is the third teaching/sermon on a series on the Final Judgment Jesus will bring when he returns. We of course are still camping out over this tenant of the Apostles’ Creed, “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.” We cannot discuss this topic without dealing with Jesus’s discourse on the Mount of Olives concerning the End.

We will do well to consider a tiny passage that precedes the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew 23:37-39:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (ESV).

Does this sound like someone drunk with blood-thirst? Yet, how many of our End Times “specialists” portray Jesus taking sadistic joy over returning to avenge his Father’s honor? I think we’ve confused Jesus with someone from a Redneck soap opera akin to the Hatfields and McCoys.  This is a description of a passionate lover hurting over unrequited love: “How often would I have gathered your children together … and you would not!” Whatever else we read in the following passages, this attitude must bear influence over our interpretations. Let’s continue with Matthew 24:1:

Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:1 & 2; ESV).

Jesus begins his discussion of The End with a prediction of the destruction of the Temple … which occurred in AD 70. Did THE END occur then? Well, some believe Jesus returned in some form then, but their theories are quite strained and shallow. What is more likely in the whole of this passage is that Jesus is intermingling things which take place at various times before he returns in Final Victory. Let’s pick up in Matthew 24:3:

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”

And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:3-14; ESV).

Before going further I want to make an observation. Jesus discusses in broad generalities what will occur before The End. Then he is emphatic: “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Jesus will have no talk of “escapism.” We are expected to navigate all of these tribulations, while proclaiming “this gospel” to all the nations. This mountain-discourse echoes the first mountain-discourse, the Sermon on the Mount, in this regard. It is not our being rescued and taken out of tribulation that brings God glory. Rather it is our shining brightly as a city on a hill of trials and tribulations that brings God glory. Let’s pick up in Matthew 24:15:

“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But of the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:15-29; ESV).

Wow! This is fairly dramatic, is it not? In passage Jesus does says that when the Son of Man, himself, does come in the End, he is then coming in the vein of the then-current teaching on the Son of Man from Daniel 7. He is promising to return and exact his rule over the nations, which of course necessitates Final Judgment.

So, how can we be ready for Jesus to return? Many have drawn timelines and made impassioned pleas to “turn to Jesus.” Sign warning people of the nearness of this event dot the highways in many areas. Let us remember from a couple of sermons ago that Jesus actually directs us away from specific and intricate details concerning The End:

 “It is not for you to know the times and seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1:7; ESV).

Yet, Jesus says that we are certainly to be prepared for his return. Don’t we just love paradoxes!!! Let’s pick up in Matthew 24:32:

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left” (Matthew 24:32-41; ESV).

Here again we see the paradox. On the one hand we are to be aware of the general season of the end. Yet, we are prohibited from knowing exact details.

On a side note, many people have interpreted this passage to fit in with the idea of a Pre-tribulation Rapture. The Father will not suffer his precious people to suffer all the harm of the End Times. Yet if we remember from 24:13: But the one who endures to the end will be saved, an escapist mentality is disallowed for true followers of Jesus. It is more likely that the ones “taken” in The End are akin to the ones “swept away” in Noah’s day.

We are not only instructed to simply be aware of the Season of the End, we are told “stay awake”:

“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:42-44; ESV).

Increasingly we are told BEWARE. Yet, at the same time we are discouraged from specific details: “for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” How are we to reconcile this paradox? How are we to “be ready” without specific details of his return? Unfortunately, our favorite End Times authors are of little help here. For I believe this emphatic instruction to “be ready” is not one of familiarity with the details of his return, so much as being faithful to live out his Gospel in the mean time. Consider the parable that follows his emphatic instruction to “be ready”: 

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. but if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him to pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:45-51; ESV).

In this parable the servant who was ready for his master’s return made himself ready by simply being about his master’s business as faithfully as he could. The servant who was not ready was the one who behaved in a way that is totally antithetical to his master’s business but is in total line with his pleasure needs.

The following parables bear out this interpretation. The Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) emphasizes making lifestyle changes now to be ready when the bridegroom returns. The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) emphasizes preparing for the master’s return by taking risks in producing gains with what the master has given to his servants. Finally, the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46) emphasizes preparing for the Final Judgment (which occurs when Jesus returns) by faithfully serving the “least of these” in society.

Taking Matthew 24 & 25 as a whole, the best preparation for the return of Jesus and his Final Judgment may not be to watch the State of Israel, as many contemporary authors and preachers espouse. Rather, I believe it is simply to be faithful to Jesus in the here and now by faithfully living out the “A, B, C’s” of his full Gospel:

• A:  Attachment to Jesus
• B: Behavioral submission to Jesus
• C: Community involvement for Jesus

We will take a closer look at these over the next two teachings/sermons.

 

The Judgment of Jesus: Part II

This is the second teaching/sermon in a series on the Final Judgment of Jesus. Divine wrath and judgment in general and the Final Judgment in particular are points of misunderstanding … I am afraid. On the one hand God is viewed as a crotchety old man awoken by his 3 year old grand kid. On the other hand God is viewed as the divine Santa Clause, jolly & doling out divine goodies at your will.

The Judgment of Jesus suffers from similar misfortune. Jesus is pure love, caring his sweet lambs on his shoulders, and always looking to kiss boo-boos. On the other hand Jesus is viewed as the despot, who we must please, lest we are driven to hell yesterday.

The Final Judgment of Jesus, which is actually the Judgment of Jesus, suffered misunderstanding in his own day. If he was to be God’s ultimate redemption, then he must have come bringing THE WRATH. However, this was not the case, as we saw in the previous sermon. He came not to bring ultimate condemnation and wrath. Rather he came bringing salvation from ultimate condemnation and wrath. While this may seem out of step of the angry God of the Old Testament, we will actually see this is in perfect alignment with the expectation of the Old Testament.  Let’s begin in John 5.

John 5:1-17:

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids–blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.”

But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’”

They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”

Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place (ESV). 

Before going further in John 5, we must gather an understanding of this story; for this story the word-picture of Jesus’s remarks to the Jewish leadership in the latter part of this chapter.

We have a man that has been physically sick for 38 years. It is not certain the exact nature of his illness, but we must wonder who helped this man get around for mundane functions, such as sleeping, eating, and “going to the bathroom.” For this man, these functions must not have existed merely in the realm of the mundane. At any rate this man was severely limited.

When Jesus asks him if he wants to be healed, that is not such a stupid question. Rather it illustrates the seriousness of his total condition. His invalid state had spread to his heart. He was an invalid in his heart. At what point in Jesus’s encounter with him does he take responsibility for his own condition? He is always blaming other people and placing initiative with other people.

If I were in the same condition, I would most likely be the same way.

Nonetheless, he was pathetic. Even after his outer body is healed, his heart remains an invalid’s heart. In the end of the story he tattles on Jesus. Considering the whole of John’s Gospel, this could have been to prevent him from being “cast out” of his people.

Let’s pick up in  John 5:19:

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works then these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:19-29; ESV).

The previous story is a word picture of this teaching of Jesus. Jesus heals an invalid, who was completely dependent on others for help. Emotionally, he remains dependent on others to blame for his problems. Yet, Jesus is featured in this chapter as an invalid in the sense of being totally dependent upon the Father. However, Jesus produces the life of God in others with his dependent status. The invalid is just … just there … sucking the life out of you. What did he do with the new life Jesus gave him? He uses his new mobility to seek out the Jewish leadership and tattle on Jesus.

Don’t miss the point John wants you to capture: the Jewish leadership, which claimed total dependence on the Father for their existence was rejecting the ultimate redemption he was sending them in Jesus. They were threatening excommunication to any who believed in Jesus. Not only were they rejecting the life God was sending them, they were sucking the life out of others.

Jesus claims in this passage to be the Son of Man. Yet this Son of Man did not appear bringing wrath and condemnation. He appeared bringing life and life eternal … salvation from wrath and condemnation. The question John want s to ask us is:

What are we doing with the life Jesus has given to us?

• Are we producing his life in other people?
• Are we merely existing in the state in which he found us?
• Are we sucking his life out of other people?

Jesus is not at all at odds with the Old Testament expectation of God’s ultimate redemption. Consider the following passages of Scripture: Isaiah 55, Isaiah 56, & Isaiah 65:

Isaiah 55 is an offer of love and mercy and transformation from the God of the Old Testament to his people … all of his people … even the ones who are rejecting him.

Isaiah 56 is an offer of powerful, transforming grace to people in severely undesirable straits and to willing Gentiles. This chapter is a severe rebuke to his spiritual leaders who abuse their anointed positions.

Isaiah 65 is a vision of the world living under God’s ultimate redemption.

Jesus’s offer of eternal life, life that begins in the here-and-now for all who believe on him, fits in well with the Old Testament’s expectation. God wants to save his people and people who don’t belong to him and people who are “undesirable” far more than he wants to condemn them to the fire of his wrath. Consider the following very familiar words of Jesus:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God”  (John 3:16-21; ESV).

The question is:

What are we doing with the life Jesus has given to us?

• Are we producing his life in other people?
• Are we merely existing in the state in which he found us?
• Are we sucking his life out of other people?

 

The Judgment of Jesus: Part One

We have come to the portion of the Apostles’ Creed which teaches, “He (Jesus) will come again to judge the living and the dead.” Jesus as judge bringing wrath: this is a topic which needs to be handled with kid gloves. Yes, this tenant of the Creed is like the others. However, this tenant has been more abused, in my opinion, than all of the others.

On one hand the judgment of God has been used to coerce people to bend their wills to the preacher’s delight. If these preachers are feeling grouchy on any given Sunday morning, then sermons of judgment and wrath are therapeutic. On the other hand the judgment of God has been ignored at best and discounted at worst: all in an attempt to paint God with emotional hues conducive to classical liberalism. Out of both groups are birthed people who have been spiritually abused. Thus we will take great Scriptural care in ascertaining a more balanced teaching on divine judgment. While we will certainly touch on divine judgment in general, our target is dealing with this particular Creedal tenant of Jesus returning in final judgment.

We have spent the last two sermons in John 12. As it so happens, we will begin this sermon in the concluding portions of John 12.

John 12:44-50:

And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment–what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the father has told me” (ESV).

If we remember from a previous portion, John 12:27-36, people either misunderstood or disbelieved Jesus; primarily because his emphasis on being the Son of Man who was not bringing catastrophic judgment. We have mentioned the Son of Man before. He hails from Daniel 7 and was regarded as the divinely appointed super-man who would violently usher in redeemed/transformed Israel into the new age of Messianic rule. This dude was to bring THE WRATH of God in what they taught was final judgment. The wicked in Israel and the wicked oppressors among the gentile nations would be defeated, overthrown, and obliterated. True Israel would be raised on high with the remaining gentile nations coming to Israel to worship God as King over all the earth.

Jesus in John 12:27-36 teaches that he is the long-awaited Son of Man. Yet his ministry as the Son of Man is as the Suffering Servant, dying for the world … not making the world die for him. In our passage Jesus teaches that he came not for judgment … but to save Israel and the whole world from that long-awaited judgment. Yet he will return one day … “the last day” … and then he will bring judgment.

This is a concept that we in the conservative movement would do well to faithfully understand. When Jesus first appeared, he came not for judgment but to save us from ultimate judgment. However, if we struggle with this, we’re in good company. Consider John the Baptist’s expectation of Jesus at Jesus’s baptism.

Matthew 3:1-12:

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, 

     “The voice of one crying in the
               wilderness:
     ‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
          make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were confessing their sins.

But when he saw some of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquentionable fire” (ESV).

As we can see here John clearly believes that “the wrath to come” is on the way, as does large numbers of the Jewish population (including the leadership). This is why they were coming to John, “confessing their sins.” The “wrath to come” was expected to be brought by the one coming with the baptism with the Holy Spirit “and fire.” Needless to say what Jesus actually came bringing … salvation from “the wrath to come” … was a huge emotional let-down for many people. They suffered from the Jonah-effect.

Yet, even after living with Jesus for three years, taking in his life and teachings, and witnessing his death and resurrection, his disciples still hung onto the end-times expectation of the Son of Man. Consider their question to him before his Ascension:

“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6; ESV)

Consider Jesus’s response to them:

“It is not for you to know times and seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 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” (Acts 1:7 & 8; ESV).

It was not for them (and is not for us … I would argue) to know the fixed details of the end-times. They were not to be concerned about the “signs of the times” concerning the detailed omens of when Jesus would return to “restore the kingdom.” Restoring the kingdom includes bringing the final and ultimate wrath … what we Creedal people would call returning to “judge the quick and the dead.”

What then were they to be concerned with? Notice his instruction following his gentle rebuke. They were to be filled with the Spirit and go out to the nations as his witness.

Why is it we love to ruminate over foggy details … such as the nature of God or the end-times … but leave clear instructions and teachings untouched? Consider the following verse:

Clouds and thick darkness are all
          around him;
     righteousness and justice are the
          foundation of his throne (Psalm 97:2; ESV).

“Clouds and thick darkness” most often image the deep mystery over the nature of God. The psalmist says this mystery is “all around him.” Yet what is clearly seen and ascertained (or can possibly be seen) by the faithful is the calling to God’s righteousness and justice. Again, what is it that we, the “faithful,” spend so much time on? Is it what is clearly taught and expected: God’s righteousness and justice? Doubtful.

Over the next several sermons, we’ll be dealing with the Judgment of Jesus to come. In this sermon I simply want us to understand that when Jesus first appeared he brought not wrath or condemnation, but salvation from wrath and condemnation. When he returns he will bring wrath and condemnation. In the mean time our clear task at hand is to witness in the world over his offer of salvation from the wrath to come that is available today.

 

Understanding Misunderstanding Part II

This sermon was delivered on Easter Sunday and the Sunday following, and is the second in a two-part series dealing with Jesus as Master or Mascot. In the last sermon we saw how each vignette/picture in John 12:1-19 asks the question, “How much does it cost us to worship Jesus on his terms?” If “nothing” or “not much,” then is it possible that we are attempting to warp Jesus into being our “mascot” instead of worshipping him as our “master?” In 12:20-36 we saw that to worship Jesus on his terms, we must live the “cruciformed” life. This consists of dying to self daily in our personal lives and in being a son of deliverance for people in the world. Both prongs of the cruciformed life ask us to sacrifice our all for Jesus.

Now we come to the part in John 12 that makes God look like a sadistic, sick, puppet master … at least from a quick reading of John 12:36-43. However, as with most things in Scripture, a closer look is warrented.

John 12:36-43:

When Jesus has said these things, he departed and his himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

          “Lord, who has believed what he heard
                    from us,
               and to whom has the arm of the
                    Lord been revealed?”

Therefore they could not believe. For again

Isaiah said,

          “He has blinded their eyes
               and hardened their heart,
          lest they see with their eyes,
               and understand with their heart, and
                    turn
               and I would heal them.”

Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God (ESV).

A cursory reading of this passage makes God look like a sick, sadistic puppet master. He demands his people believe in Jesus for the ultimate salvation promised in the Old Testament, but he prevents them from being able to turn and believe. 

To get a better understanding of our passage here, we’ll need to delve into Isaiah and a bit further in Israel’s history. Before we journey with Isaiah, however, we must understand how John is using the Old Testament. When he quotes from Isaiah, he’s not simply latching onto those 2 or 3 verses. Rather in tugging on those 2 or 3 verses, he’s pulling from the context surrounding those 2 or 3 verses. We’ll deal with each citation separately and then form a composite picture of the message John is communicating, using Isaiah.

So let’s begin with our first Isaiah quote:

“Lord, who has believed what he heard
          from us,
     and to whom has the arm of the
          Lord been revealed?”

This quote comes from Isaiah 53:1, and it is verbatim. Let’s see the context on which this verse is tugging.

Isaiah 52:13-53:12:

Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
     he shall be high and lifted up,
     and shall be exalted.
As many were astonished at you–
     his appearance was so marred,
          beyond human semblance,
     and his form beyond that of the
          children of mankind–
so he shall sprinkle (startle) many nations;
     kings shall shut their mouths because
          of him;
for that which has not been told them
          they see,
     and that which they have not heard
          they understand.
Who has believed what he has
     heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the
     LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young
          plant,
     and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we
          should look at him,
     and no beauty that we should desire
          him.
He was despised and rejected by men;
     a man of sorrows, and acquainted
          with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their
          faces
     he was despised, and we esteemed
          him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
     and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
     smitten by God, and afflicted.
but he was wounded for our
          transgressions;
     he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that
          brought us peace,
     and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
     we have turned–every one–to his
          own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
     the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
     yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
     and like a sheep that before its
          shearers is silent,
     so he opened no his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was
          taken away;
     and as for his generation, who
          considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the
          living,
     stricken for the transgression of my
          people?
and they made his grave with the
          wicked
     and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
     and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush
          him;
     he has put him to grief;
when his sould makes an offering for
          guilt,
     he shall see his offspring; he shall
          prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his
          hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall
          see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous
          one, my servant,
     make many to be accounted righteous,
     and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion
          with the many,
     and he shall divide the spoil with the
          strong,
     because he poured out his soul to death
     and was numbered with the
          transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
     and makes intercession for the
          transgressors (ESV; underlining mine).

We can certainly see that the underlined verse in this lengthy passage is John’s first pulled quote. We can also see that by itself it makes no sense. Well, let’s walk through the passage, attempting to make sense of it. This passage as a whole is about the “servant of the Lord.” This nebulous person is featured throughout Isaiah. In this passage his ministry to Israel on behalf of the Lord is a ministry of suffering. This servant will reach out to Israel, calling them to depart from idols and return to the living Lord. Israel will persecute him, but he will reach out all the more passionately. 52:13-53:1 reveal how disturbing this ministry is … shocking even. “…so he shall startle many nations.”

This method of reaching out is strange: “Who has believed what he has heard from us?” The question, “And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” reveals a complexity developing here. This suffering servant is commissioned and sent out by the Lord; yet is unsuccessful. In fact this suffering servant is beaten, oppressed, and mutilated. “… to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”

The Lord’s “arm” is revealed to all involved. The Lord’s arm … or strength … is revealed in crushing his anointed servant (53:10). Yet his arm is revealed when this servant “divide(s) the spoil with the strong” (53:12). His arm is revealed when the “we” of this passage are healed by the stripes of this servant (53:5). His arm is revealed when “many” are “accounted righteous” (53:11). The arm of the Lord will be stayed from action against the transgressors (53:12). All will see and feel the arm of the Lord. The arm that lowers this servant is the same arm that raises up the many in righteousness because of the suffering of the servant … along with the servant himself.

As stated above we can see this servant throughout Isaiah, as well as a pattern. In short this suffering servant’s mission is to persistently reach out to all of Israel, despite being violently rejected. This interplay would attract a community of people … a remnant … to the suffering servant. This community of the suffering servant would reach out redemptively to the whole of Israel, offering God’s redemption. They would suffer the same torture as the servant, but would nonetheless persevere in redemptively reaching out. Eventually the whole of Israel would be redeemed and in turn take up the ministry of the suffering servant to all the nations. This is the movement or the flow of the whole of Isaiah.

We can see that chapter 52:1-12 and chapter 54 promise strong protection, provision, honor, and glory for redeemed and true Israel. Consider simply the following several verses:

For you shall not go out in haste,
     and you shall not go in flight,
for the LORD will go before you,
     and the God of Israel will be
          your rear guard (52:12; ESV).

If anyone stirs up strife,
     it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
     shall fall because of you.
Behold, I have created the smith
     who blows the fire of coals
     and produces a weapon for its
          its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
     no weapon that is fashioned against
          you shall succeed,
     and you shall confute every tongue
          that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of
          the LORD
     and their vindication from me,
          declares the LORD (54:15-17; ESV)

Consider this mood sandwiches the ministry of the suffering servant. On the one hand God promises protection, provision, even honor and glory to his own. Yet, he sends his own to the wolves as sheep.

Again the question Isaiah asks and John captures is: “Who has believed what he has heard from us?” All of this seems so awkwardly-backwards and upside down … at best paradoxical.

Many of us will no doubt say this strangely resembles the suffering of Jesus. In fact John says that Isaiah “saw his glory and spoke of him” (Isaiah 12:41; ESV). Yet, I would caution us to not make that leap too quickly. Let’s read the Old Testament on its on terms before attempting to play a “Where’s Waldo” game with finding Jesus in a prophetic haystack. Reading and understanding the Old Testament on its on terms will instead enrich our understanding of the New. Seeing this vision God had for reaching his people as seen through Isaiah’s prophetic eyes renders Jesus’s call in John 12:20-36 more grounded. In essence Jesus is calling to himself a community of people who will attach themselves to him to become the community of the suffering servant on redemptive mission to the world. He says this community would take up the “cruciformed” life.

Thus, what we may be seeing in John, based on this quotation (Isaiah 53:1 plus context) is not so much an acknowledgement of a near Islamic-like divine sovereignty at work. Rather what we are seeing is God using his sovereignty to deal redemptively with people of free will. This becomes clearer with the next quotation in its Isaiah-context:

He has blinded their eyes
     and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
     and understand with their heart, and
          turn,
     and I would heal them (John 12:40; ESV).

John is quoting from Isaiah 6.

Isaiah 6:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, hight and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

     “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
     the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me” (6:1-8; ESV).

Obviously this is not the part of chapter 6 from which John quotes. Yet, it sets the stage. Isaiah had a powerful experience with God and received a special call to go out. This is a popular missions sermon text. Isaiah has been redeemed and is now sent out on mission of redemption. His mission-message is as follows:

Isaiah 6:9-10:

And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
     ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
     keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
     Make the heart of this people dull,
          and their ears heavy,
          and blind their eyes;
     lest they see with their eyes,
          and hear with their ears,
     and understand with their hearts,
          and turn and be healed” (ESV).

This was his mission. This was from where John quoted. Commentator after commentator; speaker after speaker; preacher after preacher; teacher after teacher have interpreted this to mean that Isaiah was going to have an extremely difficult time … but he was sent to preach to them anyway. I take issue with this, precisely because of the group of verses following this passage as a whole.

Isaiah 6:11-13:

Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
     without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
     and the land is a desolate waste,
and the LORD removes people far away,
     and the forsaken places are many in
          the midst of the land.
And though a tenth remain in it,
     it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
     whose stump remains
     when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump (ESV; underlining mine).

The Lord tells Isaiah his people will not turn, and seems to be prohibiting them to do so. Isaiah’s empassioned response is: “How long, O Lord???????” The Lord responds “until they have reached their bottom.” How often is it that we continue to prop up bad or destructive behavior through our well-intentioned support? As substance-abuse counselors teach, being “nice” to an alcoholic is deadly for him in the long-run.

You might say: well, William, the passage seems to suggest that God is looking to start over with a holy remant of descendents of the recalcitrant, wicked people of God. Yet, let us remember a couple of things.

• Why is God sending out “missionary” activity to his people if he “knows” it is futile?
• This passage is in the flow/movement of Isaiah’s larger work, wherein he and God are pleading with the people to turn. Clearly there is the expectation that some will.

Let us turn to Isaiah 12, which is regarded by some as the direction of the whole of Isaiah.

Isaiah 12: 

You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O LORD,
     for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
     that you might comfort me.

“Behold, God is my salvation;
     I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the LORD GOD is my strength and
          my song,
     and he has become my salvation.”

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:

“Give thanks to the LORD,
     call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the
          peoples,
     proclaim that his name is exalted.

Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done
          gloriously;
     let this be made known in all the
          earth.
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of
          Zion,
     for great in your midst is the Holy
          One of Israel” (ESV).

God’s heart is always for his people to be for him and his ways. Yet, he is Father … not pocket-mascot. As Rabbi Dr. Abraham Heschel reminds us:

Our embarrassment in reading the harsh expressions of divine wrath is also due to the general disposition of modern man. We have no sense for spiritual grandeur. Spiritual to us means ethereal, calm, moderate, slight, imperceptible. We respond to beauty; grandeur is unbearable. We are moved by a soft religiosity, and would like to think that God is lovely, tender, and familiar, as if faith were a source of comfort, but not readiness for martyrdom.

To our mind the terrible threats of castigation bespeak a lack of moderation. Is it not because we are only dimly away are the full gravity of human failure, of the sufferings inflicted by those who revile God’s demand for justice? There is a cruelty which pardons, just as there is a pity which punishes. Severity must tame whom love cannot win (from The Prophets, Vol 2, p. 77).

In short God is using his sovereignty to work with recalcitrant people of free will. His mission in Isaiah is never sadistic but salvific. His mission is transformation not merely torture.

He is using the ministry of the suffering servant to draw a community to take up the missional way of life of the suffering servant. This community of the suffering servant would work to draw Israel way from idolatry to true worship of the true and living God … in the face of deep persecution. In time Israel would turn and be transformed and in turn take up the ministry of the suffering servant in the world for the nations of the world. After all this is in keeping with the “marriage vows” Israel took when he married God at Mt. Sinai.

Exodus 19:1-3:

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God.

The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel” (ESV).

In this passage Israel has just been delivered by God from Egyptian slavery. This passage does not stop with the idea of bringing Israel to God. Rather it continues through to this notion of keeping covenant with God and becoming a kingdom of priests. If the whole nation is one gigantic priesthood, then to whom are they called to minister? Consider the phrase: “for all the earth is mine.” While that certainly emphasizes the exclusivity of Israel, it also emphasizes that direction of Israel’s “salvation.” They were not saved for themselves. Rather they were saved for God and for the nations. This is the directional movement of Isaiah, wherein the goal is to transform Israel into that for which God saved him.

Returning to John 12 this fits in perfectly with the directional flow of John’s pointed question to all would-be disciples of Jesus: How much does it cost you to authentically worship Jesus? Jesus is taking up the ministry of the suffering servant (12:24) and is calling his would-be disciples to do the same (12:25, 26). They are called to be the community of Jesus … the community of the suffering servant. This is not a one-time event … only … but indeed an all-consuming way of life. They … we … are not saved for themselves/ourselves. Rather they were … we are … saved for Jesus and for the world (12:25-26 & 35-36).

The overarching picture of John 12 is comparing the manipulative will of man with the loving-sovereignty of God. John 12:1-19 features the nasty manipulative will of man. John 12:36-43 features the loving sovereignty of God. John 12:20-36 features our Savior who mediates between the two redemptively. We are called to be where Jesus is. Easter makes this possible.

 

Understanding Misunderstanding Part I

This is yet another brief break from the Apostles’ Creed. These two sermons were delivered on Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, and the Sunday following Easter of 2009. Following the completion of these sermons, we will return to the Apostles’ Creed.

I have entitled this series “Understanding Misunderstanding.” As I’ll attempt to present in this sermon, as well-meaning as we attempt to be, from time to time we misunderstand Jesus, his word, and his way. Everyone does this, and God in his grace leads out of the wilderness. Yet, it becomes highly problematic, when we continue to proceed with the humility of a wild hog. If we are not careful, we’ll make similar mistakes Jesus’s detractors maid. Let’s pick up in John 12:12-19.

John 12:12-19:

The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

     “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
     behold, your king is coming,
          sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him” (ESV).

This passage is the famous Palm Sunday passage. Palm Sunday is usually celebrated as the day that Jesus finally got his due from the world. They crowned him King!!!

What if in reading this passage in this fashion all these years, we’ve actually been reading it wrong? What if instead of seeing this passage as a crowning achievement for Jesus, we instead considered this a crowning achievement for self-seeking-manipulation?

Alexander the Great had conquered most of the known world in 10 years, but died pre-maturely. He left no successor. Thus his kingdom became divided between his four generals. Eventually the Greek people, the Seleucids came to rule over a land area comprising modern-day Syria, Lebonon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Iran. They came to despise the Hebrews, for their refusal to submit whole-scale to Greek culture. Animosity ran deep on both sides. The straw that broke the camel’s back came in the middle of the Second Century BC. The Seleucid emperor, Antiochus Epiphanies IV, was the Hitler of his day. He absolutely despised the Hebrews. One day he marched into the Temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar. A family known as the Maccabees successfully led a long revolt against the Seleucids. Eventually the Hebrews regained complete control over the Holy Land. The symbol of their revolt was the palm branch.

The passage at hand, instead of being about the world going out to finally acknowledge the rightful place of Jesus, is about the last-ditch effort of the world to warp Jesus into its own mold. The larger context of John 12, consisting of several vignettes, bears this out. A common-themed thread is woven through this chapter, which asks:

• How much does it cost you to worship Jesus? If it costs you nothing, then is it possible that you are attempting to warp Jesus into being your own personal, pocket god … a mascot even?

John 12:1-3:

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance fo the perfume (ESV). 

Any idea how much this perfume might have cost Mary? Try a full year’s wage for a fully-able-bodied man. Is it likely that women made anywhere near what men made? Thus it cost her quite a bit more than it would have cost a man. Even if she was given this perfume by someone else, it was still worth more than a full year’s wage for an able-bodied male.

However, there is another cost Mary bore in her act of worship. In Mary’s time, who were the only women that would have taken their hair down in public? That’s right: whores. This act of worship cost her a great deal in terms of personal dignity.

• How much does it cost you to worship Jesus? If it costs you nothing, then is it possible that you are attempting to warp Jesus into being your own personal, pocket god … a mascot even?

John 12:4-7:

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the money bag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me” (ESV).

Is it good to help the poor? Yes, of course it is. However, is it possible that we use good things for our own evil purposes? Contrast Judas with Mary for a bit. Mary broke social and religious convention in appropriate service to Jesus. Judas kept social and religious convention for his own evil purposes.

• How much does it cost you to worship Jesus? If it costs you nothing, then is it possible that you are attempting to warp Jesus into being your own personal, pocket god … a mascot even?

John 12:9-11:

When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus (ESV).

To which party of Jewish leadership did the chief priests and the Temple authority belong in the days of Jesus?

• The Sadducees.

What was a huge difference between the Sadducees and the Pharisees?

• The Pharisees believed in the possibility of resurrection. The Sadducees did not.

Thus, what we have here is not only a huge attraction towards allegiance to Jesus and allegiance away from the current Jewish leadership. We also have a huge monkey wrench thrown into the theological minds of the Sadducees. Jesus had disproven their theology of no resurrection by raising Lazarus from the dead.

Is it possible for us, like the Sadducees, to be confronted with truth, and yet we still choose to disbelieve … because it’s more comfortable to continue in our common and normal way of operation?

• Your answer here please__________________________________________________________.

In each of these vignettes, we have seen our question:

• How much does it cost you to worship Jesus? If it costs you nothing, then is it possible that you are attempting to warp Jesus into being your own personal, pocket god … a mascot even?

Each of these pictures preceeds the opening passage about the “Triumphal Entry.” The movement or flow of the chapter would suggest, as presented above, that Jesus is not being crowned king on his own terms. Rather the people are attempting to rope Jesus into being king on their own terms. Do we do the same?

• How much does it cost you to worship Jesus? If it costs you nothing, then is it possible that you are attempting to warp Jesus into being your own personal, pocket god … a mascot even?

To better answer this question, let’s consider the next two passages in the light of the whole of the preceding material.

John 12:20-26:

 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him (ESV).

We have mentioned much about “the Son of Man.” This is not simply a nick-name. Most likely Jesus didn’t go down to the local tatoo parlor when vacationing at the Dead Sea and get “Son of Man” inscribed on his right bicep. The Son of Man is the shadowy figure from Jewish theology, based on Daniel 7:13 & 14. The Son of Man was God’s superhero that was going to usher in the New Age of God’s rule among all nations in the earth. The Son of Man was supposed to appear to lead a swath of death and destruction against all wickedness in Israel and against all of Israel’s enemies. In short the Son of Man, when he appeared, was coming to clean house … not have his own clock cleaned. Yet, Jesus says that as the Son of Man, the coming crucifixion-passion, was to be his glory. In this fashion the whole earth would pass from death to life.

Here is the kicker. Jesus said, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.” Jesus was calling his disciples then and is calling his disciples now to live the cross. This is known as the “cruciformed” life. Remember some of the most holy of things and activities can be used for evil. The question is:

• How much does it cost you to worship Jesus? If it costs you nothing, then is it possible that you are attempting to warp Jesus into being your own personal, pocket god … a mascot even?

Remember, where Jesus is, there we, his servants, will also be. And … where is Jesus in this passage? On the way to die for the world. Why is it that we constantly want to make the world die for our own comfort? It is us who are supposed to take up the cruciformed lives of death to self. You might say that Jesus is in heaven, thus we need to be where Jesus is now. The problem with that is that in Jesus tells his disciples that they (nor we) can follow me to his destination of the Father right now. That time is far into the future (John 14:1-6). As for now Jesus prays for us to be in the world and to be successful in living the cruciformed life in the world (John 17:15-19).

So far the idea of the cruciformed life means avoiding the pursuit of absolute comfort and pleasure and instead beckons us to live a life of death to self. However, this is the easy part. It is easy to stop cussing. It is more difficult to express brotherly and self-sacrificing love to those heathen who do cuss.

John 12:27-36:

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say?

     ‘Father, save me from this hour’?

But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself.”

He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”

So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkenss overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know wehre he is going. While you ahve the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of the light” (ESV).

Again Jesus emphasizes that the glory, he, as the Son of Man, will embrace is his own death for life or deliverance for life for the world. The people still are in disbelief. Jesus urges them to grasp him as their light or deliverance. Light signifies deliverance. God led the people in a cloud by day and … a fire by night. Jesus is calling those who would be his servants and followers to believe in his light/deliverance. He also says that those who do will become sons of light or sons of deliverance.

Thus, the cruciformed life is not only a lifestyle of death to self; it is a lifestyle of delivering others from death to life. Do you wince at those “cussing” in the check-out line at Wal-mart? Do you wish to avoid them? Be careful. They are not for you to avoid. They are your mission-field-of-deliverance. Does this make you uncomfortable as a Christian?

• How much does it cost you to worship Jesus? If it costs you nothing, then is it possible that you are attempting to warp Jesus into being your own personal, pocket god … a mascot even?

 

The Ins and Outs of Faith Part III: Rational Understanding

This is the third in a sub-series on living out our faith in the world. In this sermon we’ll be addressing the concept of using our minds to understand the folks around us. Many times the relational problems that do occur do so because we are highly reactionary. Someone makes a remark, and it triggers in us deep emotions. Instead of pausing to weigh out what might be meant, we react. We are not destined to constant misunderstanding and strife. We have been given minds with which to understand what we hear, prepare what we say, and filter how we say it. Using our minds is not optional. It is optimal for a superb witness.

Proverbs 1:1-7

The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

     To know wisdom and instruction,
          to understand words of insight,
     to receive instruction in wise dealing,
          in righteousness, justice, and equity;
     to give prudence to the simple,
          knowledge and discretion to the youth–
     Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
          and the the one who understands obtain
               guidance,
     to understand a proverb and a saying,
          the words of the wise and their riddles.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
          knowledge;
     fools despise wisdom and instruction (ESV).

 Unbelievably, many well-meaning Christians check their brains in at the door. Thinking is what we pay the pastor to do … and he had better think of a way to spoon feed us the Bible. Many of these folks, when they joined the church, joined the Holy Microwave Church. I’m sure you’ve been to this church before. Just like we pop in a bag of popcorn and a couple of minutes later: POOF … fluffy popcorn … Just pop in at 9:30, a few minutes later: POOF … fluffy hearts for God.

But here is a question: is the beginning of one’s relationship with God at conversion the end? Let’s consider Solomon’s introduction to his famous work extolling wisdom. What is wisdom but the best application of truth (or knowledge) to particular situations? Thus knowledge precedes wisdom. We can all agree that with the inclusion of a whole work devoted to wisdom in the Canon, that God expects us to embrace his wisdom. If this is so, why then do we stop progressing in faith once we leave the altar, following conversion? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Acquiring the fear of the Lord is the merely the beginning of a life of acquiring the right application of truth.

Perhaps this merely an “Old Testament” thing? Let us consider Peter’s guidance. In order to get a fuller context of his teachings, we’ll actually begin in chapter 1.

I Peter 1:3-9:

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, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (ESV).

Peter is writing during a time in which many of us could never even come closing to imagining. We have our problems, our little issues. Yet, how many of us have witnessed our children begin burned at the stake … simply for professing a certain belief? Rome was exceptionally tolerant of all religions … so long as you burnt a pinch of incense in worship of Caesar. For the believers in Peter’s day to declare that Jesus is Lord (God), was an equal declaration that Caesar was not. In other words much of the persecution endured by believers in Peter’s day was easily preventable … simply offer a pinch of incense in worship of Caesar. Thus, well-fashioned and well-articulated reasoning must be practiced. Let us pick up on Peter’s thought a bit later in his letter.

I Peter 3:13-17:

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ (sic) sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be god’s will, than for doing evil (ESV).

In addition to embracing this practice of fashioning and articulating reasons well, Peter instructs us to “do it with gentleness and respect.” Given the circumstances of the people, this requires a deeper use of the mind than to which most are accustomed. However, if many of us would learn how to use our minds in filtering and presenting ourselves, many of our contentions would resolve more easily. In fact the use of the mind is inextricably intermeshed with loving God and loving neighbor.

Matthew 22:34-40:

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (ESV).

Though not spoken of first, “with all your mind,” is certainly listed with the same emphasis as heart and soul. What is interesting is that Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 6:4 & 5, which is the heart of Judaism:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (ESV).

The difference between the Matthew passage and the Deuteronomy passage is that whereas Moses tells us to love God with all our “might,” Jesus tells us to love God with all our “mind.” Now it is certainly possible that Jesus was quoting from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Yet, it is entirely possible that in using “mind” instead of “might” Jesus was saying that the mind is the hub of one’s strength. Nonetheless, learning to use one’s mind effectively is essential in going on from the Fear of the Lord to a life of wisdom and in growing in the love of God and neighbor.