Good Morning,
It looks like it’s time to start pressing forward, maybe it would be better to say that it feels like it’s time. One thing I am slowly learning is that certainty is non-existent as you move forward. The only time you can be certain of anything is when you look backwards and even that is dependent upon having the proper perspective. The future is filled with time and chance as Ecclesiastes so wonderfully reminds us.
I have been burned in the past from over confidence and in the process scorched others. Needless to say, as a result I have been rather reluctant to press on into the great unknown. In fact, the last few forays into the unknown have been done against my will in many respects. It started when I told God thanks for the great job and was looking forward to staying there the rest of my life. And the reply was “Sorry bub, it’s time to move on” as the rug was pulled out from under my feet. Not just once but three times in three years the rug was pulled from places I was ready to stay for all eternity.
I didn’t see those things coming, mostly because I didn’t want to see them coming. A lot has happened in the ensuing 7 years. My heart has been both softened and healed and in the process the stirring of my heart has grown stronger. My calling is ever before me, the need is more clearly seen than ever before by my eyes. I have friends who are encouraging me and supporting me. Some are saying it’s time to go for it, even if I’m not so clear what the ‘it’ is.
The result is that I am at the place where I am willing to begin to take risks once again. That’s a big deal for me on a multitude of levels. Last week I sent out a prayer request about getting copyright permission for a project I’d been working on. Tuesday, that request was soundly rejected. On another front I was planning to place an ad in a national magazine to begin marketing my writing but yesterday that door was closed as well and once again rather soundly.
I think I’m handling those rejections surprisingly well. That is a part of working toward the future; you don’t know what God has in mind. You only know the ideas you have in your head. What’s that proverb? Men make plans but God determines the outcome. I’ve been wanting clarification on where I should begin to focus my attention. Two opportunities were taken off the list in about 24 hours. That is a good thing. Now it’s time to press on to the next thing.
I understand that God determined the outcome of my requests. Goliath dashed David’s hopes but only because God gave him permission. One project gets put on hold for now. One marketing strategy is not pursued. The timing wasn’t right for the project and the audience wasn’t right for the marketing and that’s ok. I would rather something be stopped before I became obsessed and enamored with it than after it had become a beloved possession.
So now it’s on to the next thing, another risk: Another chance for failure or success. I can’t see how this one will work out either; I can only try. The risk is greater on many levels. There is cash involved – advertising is expensive. And there is the recognition factor; by that I mean that there are certain people in the world that I don’t really want to read my works because they will misunderstand them. But that too is a risk. I knew the risk when I began to put pen to paper. This heart and brain had been preparing for this for years but when it was finally birthed, well, it is still rather, how shall I say it, “against the grain” of popular culture especially church culture.
But I did not set out to write a best seller; I set out to write the truth. As Jack Nicholson said so eleoquently in one of his movies that I never say: The Truth? The Truth? You can’t handle the truth.
Yesterday, despite being rejected, I was also reminded of why I write (and it is obviously not to make money). I had to go pick up some ceiling tiles downtown. The last time I was there was maybe 4 months ago and before I left I gave the fork lift driver a copy of the first book. So as I was picking up my order I asked him if he read the book I gave him. Up to that point he didn’t have a clue who I was but when the word ‘book’ came out of my mouth he came alive. “ Ah man I loved that book. I …I had to read it twice. You know my kids had never seen me read a book before. I think one of my boys is reading it now ‘cause he never saw me read before. It was good. I mean I could relate, I was there. That stuff about the law and not bein’ able to be convicted without two witnesses. That was…nobody talks like that…I mean it’s true and nobody says it.”
I will probably just end up giving books away for the rest of my life because when someone gets it, well there’s nothing better. Cash can’t make that any better. And yet, I need to pay the bills in order to write: Thus my dilemma.
So to that end I am praying and planning toward the goal of starting a non-profit educational corporation to promote what I am calling Micro-Communication. It is the exact opposite of what my almost (ten hours short) masters in Mass Communication was all about. We are bombarded on every side by generic messages in every form of media telling us to do this or that with a broad stroke and a dollar sign. We even try to do that with the gospel: Just the other day I heard of at least two mass communication evangelistic efforts that are going to be taking place in my area soon. There is something about the concept of an impersonal presentation of the good news, even if it is one on one, that makes me want to spew.
Life is meant to be personal. Art is meant to be personal. Everything we do is about relationships in one way or another. The world is personal because the God who created it is personal. It is time that we who say we believe in the personal God began to get personal. That is the heart of where I want to go.
Now I will be honest, I can’t see very far down the path. But all I need to see are the next couple of foot holds. One step at a time is all that matters. I can’t walk on the road that’s a mile in front of me. I can only walk where I am.
I’ve been preaching through the book of Zechariah the last few weeks as a part of what I’m calling a foundation series and it has been ministering to me as much as anyone else. I ran across a verse in chapter 8 that really suits where I am and what I need to be remembering. God says: “All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me?” I really need to remember that with each and every step I take.
I would appreciate your prayers and I know that many of you are already praying and I am grateful for that This is the first step of planning to get me to the place where I can do ministry full time. I don’t know how far away that reality is but it’s not in my sights. I’m glad it doesn’t have to be because my vision is not too good.
As always I will keep you up to date on the progress of what is going on in my life. I am reminded of the words of Bruce Cockburn: Struggle for a dollar, scuffle for a dime. Step out from the past and try to hold the line. So how come history takes such a long, long timewhen you're waiting for a miracle?
Good question.
As the days speed past but time seems to be at a standstill and action seems non-existent I will put one foot in front of the other, side step obstacles as they cross my path, knock until a door opens and trust that everything is personal because the One who made it is a person and on the last day I’ll turn around and laugh at the squiggly line that was my path.
Grace, Peace, and Perseverance to you all.
Brad
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
sermon 9-26
We are going to continue on in the book of Zechariah today starting with chapter 7 verse 1. On December 7 of the fourth year of King Darius’s reign, another message came to Zechariah from the Lord. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech, along with their attendants, to seek the Lord’s favor. 3 They were to ask this question of the prophets and the priests at the Temple of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: “Should we continue to mourn and fast each summer on the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction, as we have done for so many years?”
What we have here is a tradition that was started by the people of Bethel. I don’t know of anywhere in scripture that this is commanded. Somebody just got the idea that every year on the anniversary of the destruction of the temple they should gather together and mourn and fast. Sounds like a good thing right? Well, now that the temple is being rebuilt they are sending people to inquire of the Lord whether they should keep doing it or not. It kind of reminds me of all the traditions that we have that we continue to do even though they are not commanded by God.
Listen to the reply of the Lord: The Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply: 5 “Say to all your people and your priests, ‘During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting? 6 And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves? 7 Isn’t this the same message the Lord proclaimed through the prophets in years past when Jerusalem and the towns of Judah were bustling with people, and the Negev and the foothills of Judah were well populated?’”
Jump down to verse 11 “Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. 12 They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the Lord of Heaven’s Armies was so angry with them. 13 “Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 14 As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert.”
This is a pretty powerful passage. It tells us clearly that God expects what we do to be done for him and not for us and that includes our salvation. If you’re coming to church for your sake, to make yourself feel better, if you are trying to get better to save your family, or to see if you can live a little longer or to increase your standing in the community then you’re coming for the wrong reasons. The Christian life is about God not about you. You don’t obey God or do religious things so God will like you and bless you. You do them so that you can be in right relationship with him. So that you can be saved from you. If salvation is about you then it’s probably not salvation.
In our Sunday night study in first Corinthians last week we came across the passage that says: Your body is not yours you have been bought with a price. And that is exactly what this passage is about. Your life is not about you. If you are being religious for selfish reasons then this passage is pretty clear you have your reward already and don’t expect any more when life is over.
What God says to these people is: You haven’t changed at all. Your people went into captivity because they were religious all the time but their hearts were far from me. They went into bondage because they had the form of righteousness without bothering to be righteous. You’re not doing anything different. All that you are doing is for yourself – so don’t bother.
If you want to do what’s right then humble your selves before God. Look at verse 8: Then this message came to Zechariah from the Lord: 9 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. 10 Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other. This is the heart we should be begging God to give us. Notice that it begins with us learning how to judge fairly. I would say that means to judge according to the law of God – God is fair and therefore his word is fair and just. This is where we must begin to change and that begins with us embracing the word of God as the standard by which we live our lives.
What does that mean? It means that we begin by humbling ourselves before God and his ways and seek to submit to those ways in every area of life. To say you love God on Sunday morning but then live in disobedience to his commands Sunday afternoon through Saturday is a slap in God’s face. It is a mockery of the concept of being a Christian. It is exactly what Israel did and had been doing for over 100 years in their relationship to God. That is why they went into captivity but many of the people still hadn’t heard what God had been telling them the whole time.
The church can be the hardest place in the world to plant the gospel sometimes because people think that they are ok. They think that their outward religious activity saves them but the only thing that matters is the condition of your heart. If it is not humble before God then you are wasting your time being religious because you are only racking up a stricter judgment for yourself down the road.
There’s a bit of a translation problem with verse 2. The New Living translates it as these people were coming from Bethel which means House of God. Where as the King James says they were going to the house of God. Regardless what we have here is that people who considered themselves to be a part of the house of God were sending people to the house of God to find out if they should keep up their traditions.
These are people who have made a profession of faith, they take communion, they’ve been baptized but their hearts are still as hard as a rock. We all know people like that. They don’t mind being religious but they really don’t what God messing with their inner lives. They don’t want to be changed. They don’t want to repent. They just want to buy some fire insurance for the last day. They want the best of both worlds.
But God says no. He’s not going to play their game. Either they humble themselves before God or he is going to destroy them just like he did the generations before that refused to repent and soften their hearts.
I can tell you from experience it’s hard to show mercy with a hard heart. I am a recovering Pharisee. I know how easy it is to look down on people, and be angry at people for not doing what’s right even while I’m not doing what’s right. Jesus had plenty to say about people like me and one of the places he really lets loose in found in Matthew 23: Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. 5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’ 8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. 15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!
16 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ 17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22 And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne. 23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel! 25 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. 27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 30 Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’ 31 “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. 33 Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell? 34 “Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. 35 As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation. 37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 38 And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. 39 For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
This applies as much today as it did back then. I know I must watch my own heart. I must remember where I came from, what I used to be like so that I can have mercy on those that are struggling. It is so easy to forget where you come from. It is so easy to say ‘why don’t you straighten up and walk right’ without remembering how long it took you to get where you are now.
It’s easy to forget. It’s easy to get proud. It’s easy to become condescending towards the weak. And that is why we must continually ask God to save us from ourselves. None of us has arrived. While we are in this life there is a chance that we will fall and disgrace the name of our Lord. We are saved by the grace of God not our works because when it comes down to it we have no good works of our own; we only have good works that are given to us as gifts of grace. Every good thing that we do is the result of the grace of God working in our lives. Just because it looks good, like fasting or feasting to the Lord, the truth is, if it doesn’t come from a heart humbled by the grace of God then it is worthless and will, in fact, reap a stricter judgment on you in times to come. There is no place in the body of Christ for arrogance and a heard heart.
Our call is to humble ourselves before God and his law. Submit our ways to his ways and learn to walk by grace in every area of life. If we do that then we can rest in Christ Jesus knowing that what is said in Chapter 8 of Zechariah is true about us: “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem! 3 “And now the Lord says: I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be called the Holy Mountain.
God is full of passion for those who are humble before him. He will return to the body of Christ that is humble and he will abide in them. They will be called the faithful city, the mountain of the Lord, the Kingdom of God. May God give us the grace to humble ourselves so that God the Holy Spirit will abide in us and make us faithful.
When that happens the God promises us that: Once again old men and women will walk in Jerusalem with their canes and will sit together in the city squares. 5 And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play. What that means from a New Testament perspective is that when our hearts are right before God he will cause people to grow old in the church, they will be active in the things of the Lord for a long time and they will be a vital part of the community of believers.
At the same time God promises that new believers will be brought in. That doesn’t simply mean that people in the church will have children. It means that people will start getting born again. That is not something that we can do on our own power. That has to be a gift of God.
I want you to be aware that God doesn’t care if we have a children’s ministry in the church. I spent much of my youth working on the bus ministry where we would offer free babysitting for parents three hours a week, pick up their kids on Sunday morning and bring them back Sunday afternoon. The church was filled with children. Profession after profession of faith was made but where are they now? The majority are nowhere to be found. The church was full of children but the hearts weren’t softened and very few were born again.
We have lost the perspective of scripture when it comes to evangelism. We think it is our job to beat the bushes and learn the sales pitches to get people to buy Jesus so we can add them to our yearly report. But the truth is our job is to search our hearts and make sure that they are humble before God. If we do that then God promises that he will cause people to be born again and that they will really and truly become a part of the body of Christ for their whole lives.
We must remember that children in the body of Christ can be of any physical age. Our Dear Brother Barney is toddler in the faith just four or five years old in the Lord. He’s not the only one. The truth is we may be seeing the outworking of this promise in our very midst but we are just looking at it with the wrong eyes. We are looking at the flesh and God is working in the spirit. Some of us who have been in the church all our lives are just now starting to come alive to the things of God.
The truth is God is in the process of softening our hearts and as a result he is beginning to bring the dead to life. Verse 6 says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 7 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west. 8 I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.
It is important that we remember that God is going to save a people for himself. He will save all those that he has called. I know it doesn’t look like he’s doing much now but he is and he is doing it in his own timing. Saving people isn’t our job. Our job is to be humble before him, submitting ourselves to do his commands in every area of life: When we do that, God promises to start birthing his children in our midst.
Too often we miss these things in the church. We focus on doing God’s job and we forget to do our job. May he give us the grace to walk humbly before him in every area of life, submitted to his will and then allow us to be ready in season and out to be his midwives that we may deliver those whom he has birthed in the Spirit.
Let’s pray: Oh Father, Pour out your grace and mercy upon us that we may walk humbly with you. be merciful oh lord and save us from our selves. Continue to soften our hearts that we might be ready to receive and nurture those that you are preparing for birth into your kingdom. Glorify your name in our midst. In Jesus’ name we ask these things, amen.
Here the word of the Lord from the book of Zechariah once again: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord. You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west. 8 I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.
Go in peace.
What we have here is a tradition that was started by the people of Bethel. I don’t know of anywhere in scripture that this is commanded. Somebody just got the idea that every year on the anniversary of the destruction of the temple they should gather together and mourn and fast. Sounds like a good thing right? Well, now that the temple is being rebuilt they are sending people to inquire of the Lord whether they should keep doing it or not. It kind of reminds me of all the traditions that we have that we continue to do even though they are not commanded by God.
Listen to the reply of the Lord: The Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply: 5 “Say to all your people and your priests, ‘During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting? 6 And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves? 7 Isn’t this the same message the Lord proclaimed through the prophets in years past when Jerusalem and the towns of Judah were bustling with people, and the Negev and the foothills of Judah were well populated?’”
Jump down to verse 11 “Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. 12 They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the Lord of Heaven’s Armies was so angry with them. 13 “Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 14 As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert.”
This is a pretty powerful passage. It tells us clearly that God expects what we do to be done for him and not for us and that includes our salvation. If you’re coming to church for your sake, to make yourself feel better, if you are trying to get better to save your family, or to see if you can live a little longer or to increase your standing in the community then you’re coming for the wrong reasons. The Christian life is about God not about you. You don’t obey God or do religious things so God will like you and bless you. You do them so that you can be in right relationship with him. So that you can be saved from you. If salvation is about you then it’s probably not salvation.
In our Sunday night study in first Corinthians last week we came across the passage that says: Your body is not yours you have been bought with a price. And that is exactly what this passage is about. Your life is not about you. If you are being religious for selfish reasons then this passage is pretty clear you have your reward already and don’t expect any more when life is over.
What God says to these people is: You haven’t changed at all. Your people went into captivity because they were religious all the time but their hearts were far from me. They went into bondage because they had the form of righteousness without bothering to be righteous. You’re not doing anything different. All that you are doing is for yourself – so don’t bother.
If you want to do what’s right then humble your selves before God. Look at verse 8: Then this message came to Zechariah from the Lord: 9 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. 10 Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other. This is the heart we should be begging God to give us. Notice that it begins with us learning how to judge fairly. I would say that means to judge according to the law of God – God is fair and therefore his word is fair and just. This is where we must begin to change and that begins with us embracing the word of God as the standard by which we live our lives.
What does that mean? It means that we begin by humbling ourselves before God and his ways and seek to submit to those ways in every area of life. To say you love God on Sunday morning but then live in disobedience to his commands Sunday afternoon through Saturday is a slap in God’s face. It is a mockery of the concept of being a Christian. It is exactly what Israel did and had been doing for over 100 years in their relationship to God. That is why they went into captivity but many of the people still hadn’t heard what God had been telling them the whole time.
The church can be the hardest place in the world to plant the gospel sometimes because people think that they are ok. They think that their outward religious activity saves them but the only thing that matters is the condition of your heart. If it is not humble before God then you are wasting your time being religious because you are only racking up a stricter judgment for yourself down the road.
There’s a bit of a translation problem with verse 2. The New Living translates it as these people were coming from Bethel which means House of God. Where as the King James says they were going to the house of God. Regardless what we have here is that people who considered themselves to be a part of the house of God were sending people to the house of God to find out if they should keep up their traditions.
These are people who have made a profession of faith, they take communion, they’ve been baptized but their hearts are still as hard as a rock. We all know people like that. They don’t mind being religious but they really don’t what God messing with their inner lives. They don’t want to be changed. They don’t want to repent. They just want to buy some fire insurance for the last day. They want the best of both worlds.
But God says no. He’s not going to play their game. Either they humble themselves before God or he is going to destroy them just like he did the generations before that refused to repent and soften their hearts.
I can tell you from experience it’s hard to show mercy with a hard heart. I am a recovering Pharisee. I know how easy it is to look down on people, and be angry at people for not doing what’s right even while I’m not doing what’s right. Jesus had plenty to say about people like me and one of the places he really lets loose in found in Matthew 23: Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. 5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’ 8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. 15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!
16 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ 17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22 And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne. 23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel! 25 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. 27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 30 Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’ 31 “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. 33 Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell? 34 “Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. 35 As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation. 37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 38 And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. 39 For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
This applies as much today as it did back then. I know I must watch my own heart. I must remember where I came from, what I used to be like so that I can have mercy on those that are struggling. It is so easy to forget where you come from. It is so easy to say ‘why don’t you straighten up and walk right’ without remembering how long it took you to get where you are now.
It’s easy to forget. It’s easy to get proud. It’s easy to become condescending towards the weak. And that is why we must continually ask God to save us from ourselves. None of us has arrived. While we are in this life there is a chance that we will fall and disgrace the name of our Lord. We are saved by the grace of God not our works because when it comes down to it we have no good works of our own; we only have good works that are given to us as gifts of grace. Every good thing that we do is the result of the grace of God working in our lives. Just because it looks good, like fasting or feasting to the Lord, the truth is, if it doesn’t come from a heart humbled by the grace of God then it is worthless and will, in fact, reap a stricter judgment on you in times to come. There is no place in the body of Christ for arrogance and a heard heart.
Our call is to humble ourselves before God and his law. Submit our ways to his ways and learn to walk by grace in every area of life. If we do that then we can rest in Christ Jesus knowing that what is said in Chapter 8 of Zechariah is true about us: “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem! 3 “And now the Lord says: I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be called the Holy Mountain.
God is full of passion for those who are humble before him. He will return to the body of Christ that is humble and he will abide in them. They will be called the faithful city, the mountain of the Lord, the Kingdom of God. May God give us the grace to humble ourselves so that God the Holy Spirit will abide in us and make us faithful.
When that happens the God promises us that: Once again old men and women will walk in Jerusalem with their canes and will sit together in the city squares. 5 And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play. What that means from a New Testament perspective is that when our hearts are right before God he will cause people to grow old in the church, they will be active in the things of the Lord for a long time and they will be a vital part of the community of believers.
At the same time God promises that new believers will be brought in. That doesn’t simply mean that people in the church will have children. It means that people will start getting born again. That is not something that we can do on our own power. That has to be a gift of God.
I want you to be aware that God doesn’t care if we have a children’s ministry in the church. I spent much of my youth working on the bus ministry where we would offer free babysitting for parents three hours a week, pick up their kids on Sunday morning and bring them back Sunday afternoon. The church was filled with children. Profession after profession of faith was made but where are they now? The majority are nowhere to be found. The church was full of children but the hearts weren’t softened and very few were born again.
We have lost the perspective of scripture when it comes to evangelism. We think it is our job to beat the bushes and learn the sales pitches to get people to buy Jesus so we can add them to our yearly report. But the truth is our job is to search our hearts and make sure that they are humble before God. If we do that then God promises that he will cause people to be born again and that they will really and truly become a part of the body of Christ for their whole lives.
We must remember that children in the body of Christ can be of any physical age. Our Dear Brother Barney is toddler in the faith just four or five years old in the Lord. He’s not the only one. The truth is we may be seeing the outworking of this promise in our very midst but we are just looking at it with the wrong eyes. We are looking at the flesh and God is working in the spirit. Some of us who have been in the church all our lives are just now starting to come alive to the things of God.
The truth is God is in the process of softening our hearts and as a result he is beginning to bring the dead to life. Verse 6 says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 7 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west. 8 I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.
It is important that we remember that God is going to save a people for himself. He will save all those that he has called. I know it doesn’t look like he’s doing much now but he is and he is doing it in his own timing. Saving people isn’t our job. Our job is to be humble before him, submitting ourselves to do his commands in every area of life: When we do that, God promises to start birthing his children in our midst.
Too often we miss these things in the church. We focus on doing God’s job and we forget to do our job. May he give us the grace to walk humbly before him in every area of life, submitted to his will and then allow us to be ready in season and out to be his midwives that we may deliver those whom he has birthed in the Spirit.
Let’s pray: Oh Father, Pour out your grace and mercy upon us that we may walk humbly with you. be merciful oh lord and save us from our selves. Continue to soften our hearts that we might be ready to receive and nurture those that you are preparing for birth into your kingdom. Glorify your name in our midst. In Jesus’ name we ask these things, amen.
Here the word of the Lord from the book of Zechariah once again: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord. You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west. 8 I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.
Go in peace.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Walk on
Greetings Everyone,
So what happens when you make yourself out to be a writer and the words don’t come? I should probably say ‘the right words’ because I could fill the page up with whining in no time at all. I have done so three times already this morning. (You should be thanking God for the delete button).
I’m having trouble coming to grips with 'why' I write this morning. Sometimes it seems so pointless to work so hard and nothing ever really seem to come from it. Why do we do what we do?
I read this week about David Wallace Foster, a novelist whom I have never read or even heard of until yesterday, but somehow managed to get a book on the top 100 books of the century or the week or something. In 2005 he gave the commencement address to the graduating class of Kenyon college. The following are some excerpts:
"There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, "Morning, boys, how's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?""
"If at this moment, you're worried that I plan to present myself here as the wise old fish explaining what water is to you younger fish, please don't be. I am not the wise old fish. The immediate point of the fish story is that the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about. Stated as an English sentence, of course, this is just a banal platitude -- but the fact is that, in the day-to-day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have life-or-death importance…"
"The plain fact is that you graduating seniors do not yet have any clue what "day in, day out" really means. There happen to be whole large parts of adult American life that nobody talks about in commencement speeches. One such part involves boredom, routine, and petty frustration. The parents and older folks here will know all too well what I'm talking about…"
"If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is and who and what is really important -- if you want to operate on your default-setting -- then you, like me, will not consider possibilities that aren't pointless and annoying. But if you've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars -- compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things. Not that that mystical stuff's necessarily true: The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship..." [editor’s note: You get to be God]
"Because here's something else that's true. In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship -- be it J.C. or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infragible set of ethical principles -- is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things -- if they are where you tap real meaning in life -- then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already -- it's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power -- you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart -- you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on."
"Look, the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful; it is that they are unconscious. They are default-settings. They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that's what you're doing. And the world will not discourage you from operating on your default-settings, because the world of men and money and power hums along quite nicely on the fuel of fear and contempt and frustration and craving and the worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom to be lords of our own tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the center of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default-setting, the "rat race" -- the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing."
"I know that this stuff probably doesn't sound fun and breezy or grandly inspirational. What it is, so far as I can see, is the truth with a whole lot of rhetorical bullshit pared away. Obviously, you can think of it whatever you wish. But please don't dismiss it as some finger-wagging Dr. Laura sermon. None of this is about morality, or religion, or dogma, or big fancy questions of life after death. The capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head. It is about simple awareness -- awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: "This is water, this is water.""
"It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive, day in and day out."
............
A couple of weeks ago Mr. Foster decided the things he believed in were just too hard to do and so he put a rope around his neck and hung himself in the closet. He never made it to 50. They said he had been depressed.
What’s not to be depressed about? I’m surprised the whole graduating class didn’t shoot themselves in the head at the end of his speech.
And yet I know exactly where he is coming from. I know what it’s like to feel trapped in your own head. But just because I know what it feels like doesn’t mean that I am. I can hope because this is not my world. I can find a glimmer of meaning in understanding that there is a plan that is outside the human race. That is the only place I can find hope. Because apart from that, apart from knowing that there is a plan of which I am an integral part, with purpose and meaning regardless of what I can see or how I feel about it or even what the outcome will be, I am in the same boat as David Wallace Foster.
The only other alternative is to stop thinking and put it in auto pilot – welcome to mainstream America.
Perhaps Tonio K says it best:
like my father before me, i consider a past i can't understandas i grasp at a moment that slips through my handsand i stumble toward a future concealed in a hazehalf faith and half fear and my innocent vision's no longer so clear
i walk on
now i don't know where the days go, they turn into weeksthey turn into years summers turn into Christmas and they all disappearand children turn from their childlike trust as their laughter is turned into tearsstill they listen for the voices that we all used to hear
they walk on
from the flash of conception to the flowers on the gravefrom the joy of a birth to the coming of agefrom the freedom of the schoolyard to the man at his workfrom the safety of a mother's arms to the ends of the earth
we walk on
we walk on through the darkness we walk on toward the lightthrough the confusion and illusion through the floods and the firewe walk back to the future walk away from the flamewe walk back to the beginning where we're given a new name
we walk on
Why do I write? Because it is my calling in the plan of God- no other reason is reason enough.
Dear God, Save me from myself.
Grace, peace and reality to you all,
Brad
So what happens when you make yourself out to be a writer and the words don’t come? I should probably say ‘the right words’ because I could fill the page up with whining in no time at all. I have done so three times already this morning. (You should be thanking God for the delete button).
I’m having trouble coming to grips with 'why' I write this morning. Sometimes it seems so pointless to work so hard and nothing ever really seem to come from it. Why do we do what we do?
I read this week about David Wallace Foster, a novelist whom I have never read or even heard of until yesterday, but somehow managed to get a book on the top 100 books of the century or the week or something. In 2005 he gave the commencement address to the graduating class of Kenyon college. The following are some excerpts:
"There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, "Morning, boys, how's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?""
"If at this moment, you're worried that I plan to present myself here as the wise old fish explaining what water is to you younger fish, please don't be. I am not the wise old fish. The immediate point of the fish story is that the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about. Stated as an English sentence, of course, this is just a banal platitude -- but the fact is that, in the day-to-day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have life-or-death importance…"
"The plain fact is that you graduating seniors do not yet have any clue what "day in, day out" really means. There happen to be whole large parts of adult American life that nobody talks about in commencement speeches. One such part involves boredom, routine, and petty frustration. The parents and older folks here will know all too well what I'm talking about…"
"If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is and who and what is really important -- if you want to operate on your default-setting -- then you, like me, will not consider possibilities that aren't pointless and annoying. But if you've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars -- compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things. Not that that mystical stuff's necessarily true: The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship..." [editor’s note: You get to be God]
"Because here's something else that's true. In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship -- be it J.C. or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infragible set of ethical principles -- is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things -- if they are where you tap real meaning in life -- then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already -- it's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power -- you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart -- you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on."
"Look, the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful; it is that they are unconscious. They are default-settings. They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that's what you're doing. And the world will not discourage you from operating on your default-settings, because the world of men and money and power hums along quite nicely on the fuel of fear and contempt and frustration and craving and the worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom to be lords of our own tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the center of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default-setting, the "rat race" -- the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing."
"I know that this stuff probably doesn't sound fun and breezy or grandly inspirational. What it is, so far as I can see, is the truth with a whole lot of rhetorical bullshit pared away. Obviously, you can think of it whatever you wish. But please don't dismiss it as some finger-wagging Dr. Laura sermon. None of this is about morality, or religion, or dogma, or big fancy questions of life after death. The capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head. It is about simple awareness -- awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: "This is water, this is water.""
"It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive, day in and day out."
............
A couple of weeks ago Mr. Foster decided the things he believed in were just too hard to do and so he put a rope around his neck and hung himself in the closet. He never made it to 50. They said he had been depressed.
What’s not to be depressed about? I’m surprised the whole graduating class didn’t shoot themselves in the head at the end of his speech.
And yet I know exactly where he is coming from. I know what it’s like to feel trapped in your own head. But just because I know what it feels like doesn’t mean that I am. I can hope because this is not my world. I can find a glimmer of meaning in understanding that there is a plan that is outside the human race. That is the only place I can find hope. Because apart from that, apart from knowing that there is a plan of which I am an integral part, with purpose and meaning regardless of what I can see or how I feel about it or even what the outcome will be, I am in the same boat as David Wallace Foster.
The only other alternative is to stop thinking and put it in auto pilot – welcome to mainstream America.
Perhaps Tonio K says it best:
like my father before me, i consider a past i can't understandas i grasp at a moment that slips through my handsand i stumble toward a future concealed in a hazehalf faith and half fear and my innocent vision's no longer so clear
i walk on
now i don't know where the days go, they turn into weeksthey turn into years summers turn into Christmas and they all disappearand children turn from their childlike trust as their laughter is turned into tearsstill they listen for the voices that we all used to hear
they walk on
from the flash of conception to the flowers on the gravefrom the joy of a birth to the coming of agefrom the freedom of the schoolyard to the man at his workfrom the safety of a mother's arms to the ends of the earth
we walk on
we walk on through the darkness we walk on toward the lightthrough the confusion and illusion through the floods and the firewe walk back to the future walk away from the flamewe walk back to the beginning where we're given a new name
we walk on
Why do I write? Because it is my calling in the plan of God- no other reason is reason enough.
Dear God, Save me from myself.
Grace, peace and reality to you all,
Brad
Saturday, September 18, 2010
sun am 9-19
I want to continue on in Zechariah today. I hope that you have been finding this series encouraging. To day we are going to look at encouraging you from a different perspective. Starting in chapter 5 we read this: I looked up again and saw a scroll flying through the air. 2 “What do you see?” the angel asked. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied. “It appears to be about 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.” 3 Then he said to me, “This scroll contains the curse that is going out over the entire land. One side of the scroll says that those who steal will be banished from the land; the other side says that those who swear falsely will be banished from the land. 4 And this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: I am sending this curse into the house of every thief and into the house of everyone who swears falsely using my name. And my curse will remain in that house and completely destroy it—even its timbers and stones.”
How is this supposed to be encouraging? Well, here’s my take on it. This scroll is flying over the nation of Israel. It is flying over the church in our day and age – there is a curse on the church today because the church, as a whole in our culture is full of liars and thieves. The pulpits are full of liars who tell us that everything is ok. God is pleased and wants nothing but the best for us. Some others are saying the word of God doesn’t apply while others are saying God just wants you healthy, wealthy and wise. Some are saying we need to be burning the Koran and hating the unbelievers, some are saying we need more money to get the work of the Lord done. We need to use business practices to grow the church and bring people to the faith through entertainment and impressive buildings. Lies fill the church and the people are quick to believe them.
At the same time the church is filled with thieves. Thieves who steal the glory that is rightfully God’s and take it for themselves. Thieves who take the money that is rightfully God’s and spend it on themselves. There are plenty of people in the church today getting rich off the gospel. It’s one thing to make a living off the gospel. It is another thing altogether to get rich off of it. If you are more concerned about meeting your budget numbers for the church than you are humbling yourself before God and seeking his face then something is wrong. There are also those out there who are stealing sheep, wolves in sheep’s clothing destroying believer’s lives with their false doctrine and unbelief.
The church is full of liars and thieves who say they are doing the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way. Now, while there is nothing very encouraging about that it is encouraging to know that God is not going to let it go on forever. First Peter 4 tells us that: the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? 18 And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?” 19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.
The church is going to be judged. His temple is going to be cleansed. God is not mocked, especially by his church; we will reap what we have sown in the church over the last 100 plus years. God is going to begin to purge his church.
I will go so far as to say that God has already started on a small scale – he is purging us. He is beginning to change us and if he is changing us and bringing us to repentance, causing us to get closer to him, opening up the word of God so that we can rightly see how he works in the world and that is a glorious thing. I am learning that God begins the big momentous things that he does with small almost insignificant steps: Line upon line, precept upon precept. Even in our individual lives God doesn’t always take out the big sins first more often than not he deals with all the little things that enable the big stuff to be big. He takes out the foundation of our rebellion one stone at a time and eventually the big stuff has to fall.
I believe with all my heart that he is doing that here, now, in your lives. I hope that there are some of you here today that can witness to that in your own lives. Has God been dealing with you over the last few years? Is your heart softer today than it was a year ago? I would have to say yes. I hope there are others out there that feel the same way. I could just be deluding myself into believing God is doing something but I don’t think so.
I believe that God has placed us here at this point in history for a purpose. I believe that God is going to continue to minister to our hearts, to continue to bring us to repentance and faith so that we can be bright and shining light in our communities. God has begun his judgment and for us that judgment lead to repentance.
This is part of the reason that I pray that God would bring the people that he wants here and get rid of the people that he doesn’t. I want you to understand that numbers are not important in a church. If you are building the foundation for a house you don’t go out and find every bricko block you can find and throw them all in the mix. I’ve got a basement full of old bricko blocks that are unfit to be used in a foundation. You pick and choose the blocks you want in your foundation because if you don’t the house you build won’t stand.
I pray that prayer because to be honest I don’t know what a good bricko block is supposed to look like in the church. I have to rely on God to do the block picking. At some level, I think God is using us as a testing ground for people. I think that’s why we get people that come for a few weeks and then disappear. God is using us to test people’s hearts. They come and they hear the word of God and they make a choice. A lot of people come and say ‘I just love your church’ but what they mean is I love the architecture of your building and maybe they will stay for three months and then they will stop. Because what they loved was the building not the church or the God of the church. This thing we do is not a numbers game. It is not up to us to build the church. Unless the Lord builds the house they labor in vain who do so. This is why we are growing slowly. Because God is growing his church not us.
I want you to know that the biggest sign of growth that I see, and there is a part of me that is afraid I am powerful enough to put the jinx on things by saying it, but the biggest sign of growth that I see is the unity that is present. Now what you didn’t hear me say was that we all think and act alike. There are probably as many different ideas about scripture among us as there are people but that doesn’t divide us. We are united by our hearts for God and we are willing to work together even if we don’t always like what we hear from folks. That, my friends, is a rare and glorious thing that is being orchestrated by the living God and I am blessed to be a part of it.
God is moving in our midst in deep ways that we never imagined.
Now I have never done this before in a sermon and I may regret it but would anyone here like to speak about what God is doing in their lives in the last six months? I guess I asking for a witness to verify what I’m saying to be true.
Thank you. (I hope someone speaks here)
The point of all of this so far is that Judgment in our culture is beginning with the church and that judgment may take us to repentance or it may take us to harder and harder hearts; that is up to God. God is going to purge the liars and thieves from his church one way or the other.
But though judgment begins with the house of God it doesn’t end there. Look at verse 5 of Zechariah 5: Then the angel who was talking with me came forward and said, “Look up and see what’s coming.” 6 “What is it?” I asked. He replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain, and it’s filled with the sins of everyone throughout the land.” 7 Then the heavy lead cover was lifted off the basket, and there was a woman sitting inside it. 8 The angel said, “The woman’s name is Wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and closed the heavy lid again. 9 Then I looked up and saw two women flying toward us, gliding on the wind. They had wings like a stork, and they picked up the basket and flew into the sky. 10 “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel. 11 He replied, “To the land of Babylonia, where they will build a temple for the basket. And when the temple is ready, they will set the basket there on its pedestal.”
What I see from this passage is that in our culture there are two temples being built at the same time: One to house the Spirit of the living God and one to house the Spirit of Rebellion. The New Jerusalem is being built and so is Babylon. Babylon will be filled with the sins of everyone throughout the land. Jerusalem will be filled with the righteous deeds of the saints who are in Christ Jesus.
I am beginning to see that this metaphorical use of Babylon and Jerusalem applies to all cultures throughout all time. To often we have limited it to a couple of periods: the actual time of Babylon, the time of Rome, and then the end times. But what I think scripture is giving us in this picture of two cities is another way of looking at the parable of the wheat and the tares. The people of God and the people of rebellion will always in this age be growing up side by side. Two temples are always being built in a nation. When wickedness prevails the nation can be called Babylon and it will find its end in covenantal judgment. When righteousness prevails the nation can be likened unto Jerusalem and it can expect to find covenant blessing which then becomes a test to see if it will continue to walk in righteousness after it has been blessed.
There will come a time of final judgment when all that are wicked will be judged for the last time and receive their due. At the same time those redeemed by the blood of the lamb will be judge according to their deeds and receive the rewards of their labors and be tested no more.
But until that day the two temples, the wheat and the tares will grow side by side with one or the other dominating the field at various times throughout history according to the hearts of the people and the condition of the church in relation to the covenant of God.
Does that make sense?
I think that this can be illustrated in chapter 6 starting in verse 1: Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two bronze mountains. 2 The first chariot was pulled by red horses, the second by black horses, 3 the third by white horses, and the fourth by powerful dappled-gray horses. 4 “And what are these, my lord?” I asked the angel who was talking with me. 5 The angel replied, “These are the four spirits of heaven who stand before the Lord of all the earth. They are going out to do his work. 6 The chariot with black horses is going north, the chariot with white horses is going west, and the chariot with dappled-gray horses is going south.” 7 The powerful horses were eager to set out to patrol the earth. And the Lord said, “Go and patrol the earth!” So they left at once on their patrol. 8 Then the Lord summoned me and said, “Look, those who went north have vented the anger of my Spirit there in the land of the north.”
We are not in this battle of life alone. There are Spirits patrolling the earth who vent the anger of God’s Spirit upon different lands at different times. I think we are in a time of venting for God; part of which can be seen in the increase in natural disasters and disease in our midst. Not just in our country but around the world. God is on the move like never before. What it is leading to I cannot say at this point in time but he is definitely beginning to do something. He is venting his wrath and at the same time he is wooing his bride both things are going on simultaneously.
Let’s move on to verse 9: Then I received another message from the Lord: 10 “Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah will bring gifts of silver and gold from the Jews exiled in Babylon. As soon as they arrive, meet them at the home of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Accept their gifts, and make a crown from the silver and gold. Then put the crown on the head of Jesus son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 12 Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Here is the man called the Branch. He will branch out from where he is and build the Temple of the Lord. 13 Yes, he will build the Temple of the Lord. Then he will receive royal honor and will rule as king from his throne. He will also serve as priest from his throne, and there will be perfect harmony between his two roles.’ 14 “The crown will be a memorial in the Temple of the Lord to honor those who gave it—Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Josiah son of Zephaniah.” 15 People will come from distant lands to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. And when this happens, you will know that my messages have been from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. All this will happen if you carefully obey what the Lord your God says.
Again this is a prophecy concerning Jesus our High Priest. He is the branch and he is in charge of building the temple of the Lord. When this was written everything was looking forward to these events occurring but now we can look at them in the past and present tense. Jesus the high priest has received royal honor and he rules now from his royal throne at the right hand of God the father. People have come from distant lands to rebuild the Temple of the Lord because God has allowed the gentiles to be a part of the Temple. Now the holy city of God is made up of people from every tongue, tribe and nation and we are all working on the building for our Lord. At the same time we are the building. We are this glorious building that God is building through us. We are the body of Christ and so we are beloved of God if we walk humbly before him. We are the crown and that crown will never be taken away from us once we arrive in glory. We are the jewel that is most valuable to God.
I know I’ve been saying these things a lot lately. Part of the reason is because they have been in the texts we’ve been reading and so they are the truth and you need to hear the truth. Another reason I say these things is that more often than not you don’t believe them about yourself. I can tell you are precious beyond measure to God but you’ll hear it and say ‘oh he’s talking about someone else.’ You let it go in one ear and out the other. I want the truth of gods word to get past your defenses. I don’t want the field of your heart to remain fallow and not receive the word of God. I want you to plant these things in your heart so that it will begin to grow and bare fruit in you life.
I want you to understand that the word of God that says you are God’s most prized possession is just as true as the word of God that tells us Jesus is the Lamb of God. There are no discounted sections of scripture; all of the word of God is equally true, even the parts that speak of God’s love for you. May God give you the grace to both know how much God desires to be with you even in the midst of your struggles with sin. I know I need to hear it. I need to believe it because some days I just really can’t believe that he would love me that much. Why would he call a piece of junk like me his most valuable possession? He must be exaggerating. Or maybe there will be a spot for rejects in heaven and they will keep us in a little section of our own where we won’t get in anybodies way.
No. There are no second class citizens in heaven. There is only the body of Christ and every single part of that body will be loved and cherished because it is equally a part of the temple of God.
How is this supposed to be encouraging? Well, here’s my take on it. This scroll is flying over the nation of Israel. It is flying over the church in our day and age – there is a curse on the church today because the church, as a whole in our culture is full of liars and thieves. The pulpits are full of liars who tell us that everything is ok. God is pleased and wants nothing but the best for us. Some others are saying the word of God doesn’t apply while others are saying God just wants you healthy, wealthy and wise. Some are saying we need to be burning the Koran and hating the unbelievers, some are saying we need more money to get the work of the Lord done. We need to use business practices to grow the church and bring people to the faith through entertainment and impressive buildings. Lies fill the church and the people are quick to believe them.
At the same time the church is filled with thieves. Thieves who steal the glory that is rightfully God’s and take it for themselves. Thieves who take the money that is rightfully God’s and spend it on themselves. There are plenty of people in the church today getting rich off the gospel. It’s one thing to make a living off the gospel. It is another thing altogether to get rich off of it. If you are more concerned about meeting your budget numbers for the church than you are humbling yourself before God and seeking his face then something is wrong. There are also those out there who are stealing sheep, wolves in sheep’s clothing destroying believer’s lives with their false doctrine and unbelief.
The church is full of liars and thieves who say they are doing the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way. Now, while there is nothing very encouraging about that it is encouraging to know that God is not going to let it go on forever. First Peter 4 tells us that: the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? 18 And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?” 19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.
The church is going to be judged. His temple is going to be cleansed. God is not mocked, especially by his church; we will reap what we have sown in the church over the last 100 plus years. God is going to begin to purge his church.
I will go so far as to say that God has already started on a small scale – he is purging us. He is beginning to change us and if he is changing us and bringing us to repentance, causing us to get closer to him, opening up the word of God so that we can rightly see how he works in the world and that is a glorious thing. I am learning that God begins the big momentous things that he does with small almost insignificant steps: Line upon line, precept upon precept. Even in our individual lives God doesn’t always take out the big sins first more often than not he deals with all the little things that enable the big stuff to be big. He takes out the foundation of our rebellion one stone at a time and eventually the big stuff has to fall.
I believe with all my heart that he is doing that here, now, in your lives. I hope that there are some of you here today that can witness to that in your own lives. Has God been dealing with you over the last few years? Is your heart softer today than it was a year ago? I would have to say yes. I hope there are others out there that feel the same way. I could just be deluding myself into believing God is doing something but I don’t think so.
I believe that God has placed us here at this point in history for a purpose. I believe that God is going to continue to minister to our hearts, to continue to bring us to repentance and faith so that we can be bright and shining light in our communities. God has begun his judgment and for us that judgment lead to repentance.
This is part of the reason that I pray that God would bring the people that he wants here and get rid of the people that he doesn’t. I want you to understand that numbers are not important in a church. If you are building the foundation for a house you don’t go out and find every bricko block you can find and throw them all in the mix. I’ve got a basement full of old bricko blocks that are unfit to be used in a foundation. You pick and choose the blocks you want in your foundation because if you don’t the house you build won’t stand.
I pray that prayer because to be honest I don’t know what a good bricko block is supposed to look like in the church. I have to rely on God to do the block picking. At some level, I think God is using us as a testing ground for people. I think that’s why we get people that come for a few weeks and then disappear. God is using us to test people’s hearts. They come and they hear the word of God and they make a choice. A lot of people come and say ‘I just love your church’ but what they mean is I love the architecture of your building and maybe they will stay for three months and then they will stop. Because what they loved was the building not the church or the God of the church. This thing we do is not a numbers game. It is not up to us to build the church. Unless the Lord builds the house they labor in vain who do so. This is why we are growing slowly. Because God is growing his church not us.
I want you to know that the biggest sign of growth that I see, and there is a part of me that is afraid I am powerful enough to put the jinx on things by saying it, but the biggest sign of growth that I see is the unity that is present. Now what you didn’t hear me say was that we all think and act alike. There are probably as many different ideas about scripture among us as there are people but that doesn’t divide us. We are united by our hearts for God and we are willing to work together even if we don’t always like what we hear from folks. That, my friends, is a rare and glorious thing that is being orchestrated by the living God and I am blessed to be a part of it.
God is moving in our midst in deep ways that we never imagined.
Now I have never done this before in a sermon and I may regret it but would anyone here like to speak about what God is doing in their lives in the last six months? I guess I asking for a witness to verify what I’m saying to be true.
Thank you. (I hope someone speaks here)
The point of all of this so far is that Judgment in our culture is beginning with the church and that judgment may take us to repentance or it may take us to harder and harder hearts; that is up to God. God is going to purge the liars and thieves from his church one way or the other.
But though judgment begins with the house of God it doesn’t end there. Look at verse 5 of Zechariah 5: Then the angel who was talking with me came forward and said, “Look up and see what’s coming.” 6 “What is it?” I asked. He replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain, and it’s filled with the sins of everyone throughout the land.” 7 Then the heavy lead cover was lifted off the basket, and there was a woman sitting inside it. 8 The angel said, “The woman’s name is Wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and closed the heavy lid again. 9 Then I looked up and saw two women flying toward us, gliding on the wind. They had wings like a stork, and they picked up the basket and flew into the sky. 10 “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel. 11 He replied, “To the land of Babylonia, where they will build a temple for the basket. And when the temple is ready, they will set the basket there on its pedestal.”
What I see from this passage is that in our culture there are two temples being built at the same time: One to house the Spirit of the living God and one to house the Spirit of Rebellion. The New Jerusalem is being built and so is Babylon. Babylon will be filled with the sins of everyone throughout the land. Jerusalem will be filled with the righteous deeds of the saints who are in Christ Jesus.
I am beginning to see that this metaphorical use of Babylon and Jerusalem applies to all cultures throughout all time. To often we have limited it to a couple of periods: the actual time of Babylon, the time of Rome, and then the end times. But what I think scripture is giving us in this picture of two cities is another way of looking at the parable of the wheat and the tares. The people of God and the people of rebellion will always in this age be growing up side by side. Two temples are always being built in a nation. When wickedness prevails the nation can be called Babylon and it will find its end in covenantal judgment. When righteousness prevails the nation can be likened unto Jerusalem and it can expect to find covenant blessing which then becomes a test to see if it will continue to walk in righteousness after it has been blessed.
There will come a time of final judgment when all that are wicked will be judged for the last time and receive their due. At the same time those redeemed by the blood of the lamb will be judge according to their deeds and receive the rewards of their labors and be tested no more.
But until that day the two temples, the wheat and the tares will grow side by side with one or the other dominating the field at various times throughout history according to the hearts of the people and the condition of the church in relation to the covenant of God.
Does that make sense?
I think that this can be illustrated in chapter 6 starting in verse 1: Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two bronze mountains. 2 The first chariot was pulled by red horses, the second by black horses, 3 the third by white horses, and the fourth by powerful dappled-gray horses. 4 “And what are these, my lord?” I asked the angel who was talking with me. 5 The angel replied, “These are the four spirits of heaven who stand before the Lord of all the earth. They are going out to do his work. 6 The chariot with black horses is going north, the chariot with white horses is going west, and the chariot with dappled-gray horses is going south.” 7 The powerful horses were eager to set out to patrol the earth. And the Lord said, “Go and patrol the earth!” So they left at once on their patrol. 8 Then the Lord summoned me and said, “Look, those who went north have vented the anger of my Spirit there in the land of the north.”
We are not in this battle of life alone. There are Spirits patrolling the earth who vent the anger of God’s Spirit upon different lands at different times. I think we are in a time of venting for God; part of which can be seen in the increase in natural disasters and disease in our midst. Not just in our country but around the world. God is on the move like never before. What it is leading to I cannot say at this point in time but he is definitely beginning to do something. He is venting his wrath and at the same time he is wooing his bride both things are going on simultaneously.
Let’s move on to verse 9: Then I received another message from the Lord: 10 “Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah will bring gifts of silver and gold from the Jews exiled in Babylon. As soon as they arrive, meet them at the home of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Accept their gifts, and make a crown from the silver and gold. Then put the crown on the head of Jesus son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 12 Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Here is the man called the Branch. He will branch out from where he is and build the Temple of the Lord. 13 Yes, he will build the Temple of the Lord. Then he will receive royal honor and will rule as king from his throne. He will also serve as priest from his throne, and there will be perfect harmony between his two roles.’ 14 “The crown will be a memorial in the Temple of the Lord to honor those who gave it—Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Josiah son of Zephaniah.” 15 People will come from distant lands to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. And when this happens, you will know that my messages have been from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. All this will happen if you carefully obey what the Lord your God says.
Again this is a prophecy concerning Jesus our High Priest. He is the branch and he is in charge of building the temple of the Lord. When this was written everything was looking forward to these events occurring but now we can look at them in the past and present tense. Jesus the high priest has received royal honor and he rules now from his royal throne at the right hand of God the father. People have come from distant lands to rebuild the Temple of the Lord because God has allowed the gentiles to be a part of the Temple. Now the holy city of God is made up of people from every tongue, tribe and nation and we are all working on the building for our Lord. At the same time we are the building. We are this glorious building that God is building through us. We are the body of Christ and so we are beloved of God if we walk humbly before him. We are the crown and that crown will never be taken away from us once we arrive in glory. We are the jewel that is most valuable to God.
I know I’ve been saying these things a lot lately. Part of the reason is because they have been in the texts we’ve been reading and so they are the truth and you need to hear the truth. Another reason I say these things is that more often than not you don’t believe them about yourself. I can tell you are precious beyond measure to God but you’ll hear it and say ‘oh he’s talking about someone else.’ You let it go in one ear and out the other. I want the truth of gods word to get past your defenses. I don’t want the field of your heart to remain fallow and not receive the word of God. I want you to plant these things in your heart so that it will begin to grow and bare fruit in you life.
I want you to understand that the word of God that says you are God’s most prized possession is just as true as the word of God that tells us Jesus is the Lamb of God. There are no discounted sections of scripture; all of the word of God is equally true, even the parts that speak of God’s love for you. May God give you the grace to both know how much God desires to be with you even in the midst of your struggles with sin. I know I need to hear it. I need to believe it because some days I just really can’t believe that he would love me that much. Why would he call a piece of junk like me his most valuable possession? He must be exaggerating. Or maybe there will be a spot for rejects in heaven and they will keep us in a little section of our own where we won’t get in anybodies way.
No. There are no second class citizens in heaven. There is only the body of Christ and every single part of that body will be loved and cherished because it is equally a part of the temple of God.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Runnng on Empty
Morning to you all,
I’ve been burning the grooves off the latest Sara Groves cd: Fireflies and Songs. It is a superb cd; if you like introspective music that focuses on recovering from the fall. One of the songs that really caught my attentions is called Eyes Wide Open. The first verse and chorus sum it up quite well:
I've got layers of lies that I don't even know about yet
bathroom doors turned billboards
no place left untouched without the mumblin
tell me what I need, tell me what I want
worship the things that we've made with our own hands
oh I'm gonna find the truth even if it kills me
oh I gotta get a new view the only way I know to
oh I gotta keep my eyes wide open keep my eyes wide open
Do I still want to find the truth that bad? Some days I’m not so sure. Do I still want to be set free or am I comfortable with partial bondage? These are questions I can’t say I want to answer truthfully. Probably because it makes me a little angry that I have to ask them and the majority of people on the planet don’t. Most people don’t dig past the surface. Or if they do they cover it over rather quickly.
But I am not blessed with the bliss of ignorance. Something drives me to keep digging, to keep sifting through the lies that fill my life and hope that truths will be uncovered in the process.
Too many people think that holding the truth in a little book is all that needs to be done. We know the truth to be self-evident and so everything is AOK but knowing the truth means diddly squat if it is not rightly applied. I can’t even begin to imagine the number of people that will be walking toward the furnace room the day after judgment knowing that Jesus died for their sins, knowing the bible is the word of God and being mad as hell because they wasted their time learning stuff that did them absolutely no good in the long run because they refused to apply it.
For a long, long time we have been trying to save ourselves and our loved ones through education. Know the facts and everything will be ok. Nothing could be further from the truth. When the Old Testament says “train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” it is not talking about teaching intellectual facts. It is talking about training how to do, how to live.
We haven’t taught children how to live in this country since before I was born. We just teach facts and pray that facts are enough to save us. I mean, I didn’t even begin to learn how to apply the word of God to my own life in a truthful and impactful way until I was in my thirties. Before then I was a walking encyclopedia of biblical facts and trivia. The truth didn’t start bearing fruit in my life until I was in my 40’s. My children were long out of the house by then. How was I supposed to train them up in the way they should go if I didn’t even know what it was supposed to look or act like?
We like to over simplify things so much when it comes to the scripture that it’s a wonder anybody ever changes. Right now in our age we are so dumbed down with regard to applying the word to our lives that I must confess I am a little nervous about growing old as the next couple of generations come into power. I mean what is to stop them from turning me into Soylent Green (2022 is fast approaching). That’s not as far fetched as it sounds: Without the gospel applied EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED (eventually).
Concerning the Church and the people of God the Old Testament continually repeats the phrase: And a generation arose that did not know the Lord. They knew the facts about God but they didn’t know God. There is a huge difference. In fact, some of those generations that did not know the Lord were the most religious. They were so religious that God sent prophets to say: Stop sacrificing because the smell is making me sick. From our New Testament perspective one of these days God is going to send a prophet to say: Quit talking about Jesus you’re making me sick. Proverbs 15:8 says: the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination. Are we at the place yet where our application of Jesus, our sacrifice, has become an abomination to God? We may be getting close.
Regardless of the culture, the question is: Am I still willing to dig for the truth even if it kills me? That’s the question I must continually ask. I must ask it because if I don’t die, Christ won’t live in me. If I ever become unwilling to repent even over the smallest thing then I am in serious danger of hearing: ‘Depart from me I never knew you,’ on the last day.
Oh Brad you’re so harsh. You’re so mean. My God wouldn’t…
Jesus on the other hand said: if you don’t do what I say watch out. (Paraphrased of course.) There is nothing more difficult or more demanding than the red letters in the bible (if you really read them all).
We must remember, It is not sin that keeps us out of heaven; it is the unwillingness to stop sinning.
It’s important that we understand that it is our heart’s condition on the last day of the race that determines whether we were even in the race to begin with. We might find out we’ve been worshiping the things that we’ve made with our own hands. It’s the end of the race that counts no matter how fast you run.
I am reminded of an old Jackson Browne song:
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too
Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind
If we say that we are running into the sun will those flames purify the dross out of our lives or burn us to a crisp?
May God be merciful and save us from ourselves.
Grace and Peace,
Brad
I’ve been burning the grooves off the latest Sara Groves cd: Fireflies and Songs. It is a superb cd; if you like introspective music that focuses on recovering from the fall. One of the songs that really caught my attentions is called Eyes Wide Open. The first verse and chorus sum it up quite well:
I've got layers of lies that I don't even know about yet
bathroom doors turned billboards
no place left untouched without the mumblin
tell me what I need, tell me what I want
worship the things that we've made with our own hands
oh I'm gonna find the truth even if it kills me
oh I gotta get a new view the only way I know to
oh I gotta keep my eyes wide open keep my eyes wide open
Do I still want to find the truth that bad? Some days I’m not so sure. Do I still want to be set free or am I comfortable with partial bondage? These are questions I can’t say I want to answer truthfully. Probably because it makes me a little angry that I have to ask them and the majority of people on the planet don’t. Most people don’t dig past the surface. Or if they do they cover it over rather quickly.
But I am not blessed with the bliss of ignorance. Something drives me to keep digging, to keep sifting through the lies that fill my life and hope that truths will be uncovered in the process.
Too many people think that holding the truth in a little book is all that needs to be done. We know the truth to be self-evident and so everything is AOK but knowing the truth means diddly squat if it is not rightly applied. I can’t even begin to imagine the number of people that will be walking toward the furnace room the day after judgment knowing that Jesus died for their sins, knowing the bible is the word of God and being mad as hell because they wasted their time learning stuff that did them absolutely no good in the long run because they refused to apply it.
For a long, long time we have been trying to save ourselves and our loved ones through education. Know the facts and everything will be ok. Nothing could be further from the truth. When the Old Testament says “train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” it is not talking about teaching intellectual facts. It is talking about training how to do, how to live.
We haven’t taught children how to live in this country since before I was born. We just teach facts and pray that facts are enough to save us. I mean, I didn’t even begin to learn how to apply the word of God to my own life in a truthful and impactful way until I was in my thirties. Before then I was a walking encyclopedia of biblical facts and trivia. The truth didn’t start bearing fruit in my life until I was in my 40’s. My children were long out of the house by then. How was I supposed to train them up in the way they should go if I didn’t even know what it was supposed to look or act like?
We like to over simplify things so much when it comes to the scripture that it’s a wonder anybody ever changes. Right now in our age we are so dumbed down with regard to applying the word to our lives that I must confess I am a little nervous about growing old as the next couple of generations come into power. I mean what is to stop them from turning me into Soylent Green (2022 is fast approaching). That’s not as far fetched as it sounds: Without the gospel applied EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED (eventually).
Concerning the Church and the people of God the Old Testament continually repeats the phrase: And a generation arose that did not know the Lord. They knew the facts about God but they didn’t know God. There is a huge difference. In fact, some of those generations that did not know the Lord were the most religious. They were so religious that God sent prophets to say: Stop sacrificing because the smell is making me sick. From our New Testament perspective one of these days God is going to send a prophet to say: Quit talking about Jesus you’re making me sick. Proverbs 15:8 says: the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination. Are we at the place yet where our application of Jesus, our sacrifice, has become an abomination to God? We may be getting close.
Regardless of the culture, the question is: Am I still willing to dig for the truth even if it kills me? That’s the question I must continually ask. I must ask it because if I don’t die, Christ won’t live in me. If I ever become unwilling to repent even over the smallest thing then I am in serious danger of hearing: ‘Depart from me I never knew you,’ on the last day.
Oh Brad you’re so harsh. You’re so mean. My God wouldn’t…
Jesus on the other hand said: if you don’t do what I say watch out. (Paraphrased of course.) There is nothing more difficult or more demanding than the red letters in the bible (if you really read them all).
We must remember, It is not sin that keeps us out of heaven; it is the unwillingness to stop sinning.
It’s important that we understand that it is our heart’s condition on the last day of the race that determines whether we were even in the race to begin with. We might find out we’ve been worshiping the things that we’ve made with our own hands. It’s the end of the race that counts no matter how fast you run.
I am reminded of an old Jackson Browne song:
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too
Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind
If we say that we are running into the sun will those flames purify the dross out of our lives or burn us to a crisp?
May God be merciful and save us from ourselves.
Grace and Peace,
Brad
Friday, September 10, 2010
sermon 7 in the foundation series
We are continuing on in Zechariah today. I’m afraid too often we look at this book as dealing with end times stuff but the truth is the words of Zechariah were spoken to be an encouragement to the body of Christ. They succeeded at the time they were written and I hope that they are succeeding now because we need to be encouraged for times we live in are much like those that these people were going through in their times.
Chapter 4 of Zechariah reads like this: Then the angel who had been talking with me returned and woke me, as though I had been asleep. 2 “What do you see now?” he asked. I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl of oil on top of it. Around the bowl are seven lamps, each having seven spouts with wicks. 3 And I see two olive trees, one on each side of the bowl.” 4 Then I asked the angel, “What are these, my lord? What do they mean?” 5 “Don’t you know?” the angel asked. “No, my lord,” I replied. 6 Then he said to me, “This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 7 Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him! And when Zerubbabel sets the final stone of the Temple in place, the people will shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!’” 8 Then another message came to me from the Lord: 9 “Zerubbabel is the one who laid the foundation of this Temple, and he will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me. 10 Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” (The seven lamps represent the eyes of the Lord that search all around the world.) 11 Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on each side of the lampstand, 12 and what are the two olive branches that pour out golden oil through two gold tubes?” 13 “Don’t you know?” he asked. “No, my lord,” I replied. 14 Then he said to me, “They represent the two heavenly beings who stand in the court of the Lord of all the earth.”
Remember the things written here are given to us as an example and we are specifically told back in Ezra that the words of Zechariah were written to give us encouragement. They were written to get us excited about what God is doing and is going to do in our midst. I want to focus on the passage that starts with verse 6: “This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 7 Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him! And when Zerubbabel sets the final stone of the Temple in place, the people will shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!’” 8 Then another message came to me from the Lord: 9 “Zerubbabel is the one who laid the foundation of this Temple, and he will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me. 10 Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” (The seven lamps represent the eyes of the Lord that search all around the world.)
I believe that Zerubbabel is another picture of Christ and his work of building the foundation of the church. I say that because the New Testament calls us, the people of God, the New Jerusalem, the city of God. It calls Jesus the foundation and the cornerstone.
On Sunday nights we’ve been studying 1 Corinthians and a few weeks ago we read this from chapter three: 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. 12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. 16 Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17 God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. 18 Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.
It’s easy to forget that we who believe are the temple of God. It’s easy to forget that Jesus is the foundation upon which we are built. There is no other foundation. Hebrews 11:9-10 tells us that Abraham, by faith, lived in the land God promised him,—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. 10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
Too often we read these passages and think that Abraham was looking for heaven. But that is not it at all. He was looking and longing for the city of God- the church. Abraham was looking for that temple whose foundation is Jesus Christ.
It breaks my heart that we have been taught for so many years that we are just looking to get out of here and go to heaven. That is not what all of this mess we call life is about. We are called to be the body of Christ, the city of God wherever we are and in whatever condition we are in. We are called to be here now for a purpose. I know some of us have trouble seeing our purpose in this life because we can’t do things like we used to. I want you to understand something: You weren’t created to be a human doing, you were created to be a human being. You being here is valuable to the work of God. Even if all you think that you are doing is suffering the ravages of the fall I want you to hear some passages of scripture: Philippians chapter 3tells us this: 7But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
I want you to hear this: those things you found as gain, those things that you used to be able to do they are nothing but rubbish compared to you knowing or being close and intimate with Christ. I would encourage you to change your glasses so that you can see what is going on in your life with God’s eyes and not yours.
Peter tells us that to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. Just because you are suffering the ravages of the fall more now than when you were younger you must remember that if you are in Christ Jesus old age and the aches and pains and suffering that go with it are a part of the suffering of Christ. They are not a natural part of life. Did you hear that? Suffering in old age is not a natural part of life it is inflicted upon us by God of heaven as a result of our rebellion against him oh so long ago. If you are in Christ Jesus then your sufferings at the hand of the curse become a part of sufferings of Christ whose body you are. Peter again says: God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.
My point in all of this is that our goal is not getting to heaven, our goal is to build up to the mature man, the mature body of Christ or to go back to the building metaphor to become the completed city of God, the temple of God. Maybe, just maybe, God uses old age and its sufferings to deal with the stuff we wouldn’t let him deal with because we were too busy and we wouldn’t stand still long enough to let him work. When God says he will complete the work that he began he means it. Just because you want to be done with this life doesn’t mean that God is done working on you or through you for that matter. That includes all of us in this room.
God is going to do exactly what it takes to make you into the perfect piece of the body of Christ that you are meant to be and he will not stop working on you until he is finished. More than likely when he’s through working on you, you will find yourself done with the fall, but not a minute before. While you have breath God is working on your life. Just because you may not like it doesn’t mean it isn’t God doing it.
Anyway, I got side tracked. Back to the foundation. Jesus is both the builder of the foundation and the foundation itself. He is the chief cornerstone of the temple of God. I want to go to Matthew 21 in order to tie all of this together. Jesus is the cornerstone and we the church are now the people of God, his temple and city.
In Matthew 21:33-46 we read: A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. 34 At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. 35 But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same. 37 “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’ 38 “But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ 39 So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him. 40 “When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?” 41 The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.” 42 Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejectedhas now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’ 43 I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit. 44 Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.” 45 When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.
Jesus very clearly tells us here that the Kingdom of God was going to be taken away from the natural born Israelites and given to a new Nation. Peter builds upon this Parable when he writes: You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. 5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. 6 As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 7 Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” 8 And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
I want to make sure that you know who you are in Christ Jesus. You are holy and blameless in Christ. You are chosen from the foundation of the world to be God’s most precious possession. You are Royal priests. You are a part of a Holy nation. You are God’s people. You have received the mercy of God. It is my prayer that those things will sink deep into your spirit.
If we put Zechariah’s message in the context of Christ we can begin to see that all he is doing in the church, to redeem a people for himself and to build the body of Christ, his temple is to be done not by force nor by strength, but by the Holy Spirit. We can also see that: Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Jesus’ way in building his body. Anything, any mountain that stands against him will become a level plain before him! And when Jesus sets the final stone of the Temple in place, when the body of Christ is complete then we will all shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!’”
It is so important that you understand that heaven is not the goal of what God is doing in the world: YOU ARE. The body of Christ is the goal. The book of Zechariah, the narratives of wall building and temple building in Ezra and Nehemiah are pictures of us. Remember last week’s main point: You are God’s most prized possession? Well, it’s still true this week. The church is God’s purpose in this age that we live in. Out the fall, out of the rebellion of his creation God has planned to raise up a new people, a glorious people without spot or blemish, with no rebellion in them at all that he can spend all eternity pouring his love upon and doing great things with.
This mess that we live in is not natural. It is not the way that things should be. Even with the beauty that still remains we must remember that where we are now is scarred and disfigured compared to what it was, compared to what it will be but every bit of suffering and dysfunction that we struggle against here is meant to reveal the body of Christ. The suffering of the people of God in the midst of the fires of rebellion serve only to consume the dross so that we may shine with the glory of God for all eternity. Now is important. Your suffering is important because that is what God is using to shape you into that precious stone that he will cherish forever.
I am beginning to see that the goal of the fall is to reveal the bride of Christ, not the baby Jesus but the mature man who sits upon the throne ruling and reigning. That’s what Ephesians 4 tells us should be happening right now: When Christ rose from the dead he gave gifts gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers and their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Notice that it says that the goal is to make the whole body fit together perfectly. Back in Zechariah we see that when the last piece is put into place in the body of Christ, the temple of God and it fits together perfectly or maturely there will be great shouting and joy. God has been spending all of the years of your life making sure that you will fit perfectly in the body of Christ. That suffering you are going through right now is just God shaping you so you fit just right.
I wanted to say that you don’t have to like it and I guess you don’t but I am reminded of James chapter 1: Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
I want you to remember that nothing, even the aches and pains of growing old comes into your life for no reason. God has planned every ache and pain you will ever have to make you exactly what you are meant to be. God has not forgotten you. He has not cast you aside. On the contrary, he is pouring out special care in your later days to finish the work he began so many years ago. You are like a master artist’s work that he has been working on for a life time. All that is left is the finishing touches so it may look like the artist isn’t paying much attention to you now but that isn’t true. You are close to being finished. You are closer to live than you ever have been and you get closer with each passing day. You are more valuable now than you ever have been regardless of what you tell yourself.
Maybe you’re mad because you can’t do as much as you used to, perhaps God is saying you wouldn’t rest in me when you were younger so now I’m going to take away your other options. Learn to rest in God. Learn that doing is not as important as being. You are valuable to God the father just like you are. You are valuable to the body of Christ just like you are. Without you the body of Christ will be incomplete. You help build up that which is lacking in the rest of the body.
I pray that you would be encouraged in the Lord and that you would find joy in being in Christ with each and every day.
Let’s pray. Oh father, please keep building up your body. Please grow us up to be mature. Complete the body of Christ dear Lord so that we can be done with death and start to really live. Glorify your name in your bride. In Jesus’ name we ask these things amen.
Here this words oh Bride of Christ from the one who loves you with all his heart:
You are beautiful, my darling, like the lovely city of Tirzah.Yes, as beautiful as Jerusalem, as majestic as an army with billowing banners. 5 Turn your eyes away, for they overpower me. Your hair falls in waves, like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead. 6 Your teeth are as white as sheep that are freshly washed. Your smile is flawless, each tooth matched with its twin. 7 Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates behind your veil. 8 Even among sixty queens and eighty concubines and countless young women, 9 I would still choose my dove, my perfect one— the favorite of her mother, dearly loved by the one who bore her. The young women see her and praise her; even queens and royal concubines sing her praises: 10 “Who is this, arising like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as an army with billowing banners?”
It is you oh Bride of Christ – Go in peace.
Chapter 4 of Zechariah reads like this: Then the angel who had been talking with me returned and woke me, as though I had been asleep. 2 “What do you see now?” he asked. I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl of oil on top of it. Around the bowl are seven lamps, each having seven spouts with wicks. 3 And I see two olive trees, one on each side of the bowl.” 4 Then I asked the angel, “What are these, my lord? What do they mean?” 5 “Don’t you know?” the angel asked. “No, my lord,” I replied. 6 Then he said to me, “This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 7 Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him! And when Zerubbabel sets the final stone of the Temple in place, the people will shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!’” 8 Then another message came to me from the Lord: 9 “Zerubbabel is the one who laid the foundation of this Temple, and he will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me. 10 Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” (The seven lamps represent the eyes of the Lord that search all around the world.) 11 Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on each side of the lampstand, 12 and what are the two olive branches that pour out golden oil through two gold tubes?” 13 “Don’t you know?” he asked. “No, my lord,” I replied. 14 Then he said to me, “They represent the two heavenly beings who stand in the court of the Lord of all the earth.”
Remember the things written here are given to us as an example and we are specifically told back in Ezra that the words of Zechariah were written to give us encouragement. They were written to get us excited about what God is doing and is going to do in our midst. I want to focus on the passage that starts with verse 6: “This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 7 Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him! And when Zerubbabel sets the final stone of the Temple in place, the people will shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!’” 8 Then another message came to me from the Lord: 9 “Zerubbabel is the one who laid the foundation of this Temple, and he will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me. 10 Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” (The seven lamps represent the eyes of the Lord that search all around the world.)
I believe that Zerubbabel is another picture of Christ and his work of building the foundation of the church. I say that because the New Testament calls us, the people of God, the New Jerusalem, the city of God. It calls Jesus the foundation and the cornerstone.
On Sunday nights we’ve been studying 1 Corinthians and a few weeks ago we read this from chapter three: 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. 12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. 16 Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17 God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. 18 Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.
It’s easy to forget that we who believe are the temple of God. It’s easy to forget that Jesus is the foundation upon which we are built. There is no other foundation. Hebrews 11:9-10 tells us that Abraham, by faith, lived in the land God promised him,—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. 10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
Too often we read these passages and think that Abraham was looking for heaven. But that is not it at all. He was looking and longing for the city of God- the church. Abraham was looking for that temple whose foundation is Jesus Christ.
It breaks my heart that we have been taught for so many years that we are just looking to get out of here and go to heaven. That is not what all of this mess we call life is about. We are called to be the body of Christ, the city of God wherever we are and in whatever condition we are in. We are called to be here now for a purpose. I know some of us have trouble seeing our purpose in this life because we can’t do things like we used to. I want you to understand something: You weren’t created to be a human doing, you were created to be a human being. You being here is valuable to the work of God. Even if all you think that you are doing is suffering the ravages of the fall I want you to hear some passages of scripture: Philippians chapter 3tells us this: 7But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
I want you to hear this: those things you found as gain, those things that you used to be able to do they are nothing but rubbish compared to you knowing or being close and intimate with Christ. I would encourage you to change your glasses so that you can see what is going on in your life with God’s eyes and not yours.
Peter tells us that to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. Just because you are suffering the ravages of the fall more now than when you were younger you must remember that if you are in Christ Jesus old age and the aches and pains and suffering that go with it are a part of the suffering of Christ. They are not a natural part of life. Did you hear that? Suffering in old age is not a natural part of life it is inflicted upon us by God of heaven as a result of our rebellion against him oh so long ago. If you are in Christ Jesus then your sufferings at the hand of the curse become a part of sufferings of Christ whose body you are. Peter again says: God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.
My point in all of this is that our goal is not getting to heaven, our goal is to build up to the mature man, the mature body of Christ or to go back to the building metaphor to become the completed city of God, the temple of God. Maybe, just maybe, God uses old age and its sufferings to deal with the stuff we wouldn’t let him deal with because we were too busy and we wouldn’t stand still long enough to let him work. When God says he will complete the work that he began he means it. Just because you want to be done with this life doesn’t mean that God is done working on you or through you for that matter. That includes all of us in this room.
God is going to do exactly what it takes to make you into the perfect piece of the body of Christ that you are meant to be and he will not stop working on you until he is finished. More than likely when he’s through working on you, you will find yourself done with the fall, but not a minute before. While you have breath God is working on your life. Just because you may not like it doesn’t mean it isn’t God doing it.
Anyway, I got side tracked. Back to the foundation. Jesus is both the builder of the foundation and the foundation itself. He is the chief cornerstone of the temple of God. I want to go to Matthew 21 in order to tie all of this together. Jesus is the cornerstone and we the church are now the people of God, his temple and city.
In Matthew 21:33-46 we read: A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. 34 At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. 35 But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same. 37 “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’ 38 “But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ 39 So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him. 40 “When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?” 41 The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.” 42 Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejectedhas now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’ 43 I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit. 44 Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.” 45 When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.
Jesus very clearly tells us here that the Kingdom of God was going to be taken away from the natural born Israelites and given to a new Nation. Peter builds upon this Parable when he writes: You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. 5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. 6 As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 7 Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” 8 And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
I want to make sure that you know who you are in Christ Jesus. You are holy and blameless in Christ. You are chosen from the foundation of the world to be God’s most precious possession. You are Royal priests. You are a part of a Holy nation. You are God’s people. You have received the mercy of God. It is my prayer that those things will sink deep into your spirit.
If we put Zechariah’s message in the context of Christ we can begin to see that all he is doing in the church, to redeem a people for himself and to build the body of Christ, his temple is to be done not by force nor by strength, but by the Holy Spirit. We can also see that: Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Jesus’ way in building his body. Anything, any mountain that stands against him will become a level plain before him! And when Jesus sets the final stone of the Temple in place, when the body of Christ is complete then we will all shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!’”
It is so important that you understand that heaven is not the goal of what God is doing in the world: YOU ARE. The body of Christ is the goal. The book of Zechariah, the narratives of wall building and temple building in Ezra and Nehemiah are pictures of us. Remember last week’s main point: You are God’s most prized possession? Well, it’s still true this week. The church is God’s purpose in this age that we live in. Out the fall, out of the rebellion of his creation God has planned to raise up a new people, a glorious people without spot or blemish, with no rebellion in them at all that he can spend all eternity pouring his love upon and doing great things with.
This mess that we live in is not natural. It is not the way that things should be. Even with the beauty that still remains we must remember that where we are now is scarred and disfigured compared to what it was, compared to what it will be but every bit of suffering and dysfunction that we struggle against here is meant to reveal the body of Christ. The suffering of the people of God in the midst of the fires of rebellion serve only to consume the dross so that we may shine with the glory of God for all eternity. Now is important. Your suffering is important because that is what God is using to shape you into that precious stone that he will cherish forever.
I am beginning to see that the goal of the fall is to reveal the bride of Christ, not the baby Jesus but the mature man who sits upon the throne ruling and reigning. That’s what Ephesians 4 tells us should be happening right now: When Christ rose from the dead he gave gifts gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers and their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Notice that it says that the goal is to make the whole body fit together perfectly. Back in Zechariah we see that when the last piece is put into place in the body of Christ, the temple of God and it fits together perfectly or maturely there will be great shouting and joy. God has been spending all of the years of your life making sure that you will fit perfectly in the body of Christ. That suffering you are going through right now is just God shaping you so you fit just right.
I wanted to say that you don’t have to like it and I guess you don’t but I am reminded of James chapter 1: Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
I want you to remember that nothing, even the aches and pains of growing old comes into your life for no reason. God has planned every ache and pain you will ever have to make you exactly what you are meant to be. God has not forgotten you. He has not cast you aside. On the contrary, he is pouring out special care in your later days to finish the work he began so many years ago. You are like a master artist’s work that he has been working on for a life time. All that is left is the finishing touches so it may look like the artist isn’t paying much attention to you now but that isn’t true. You are close to being finished. You are closer to live than you ever have been and you get closer with each passing day. You are more valuable now than you ever have been regardless of what you tell yourself.
Maybe you’re mad because you can’t do as much as you used to, perhaps God is saying you wouldn’t rest in me when you were younger so now I’m going to take away your other options. Learn to rest in God. Learn that doing is not as important as being. You are valuable to God the father just like you are. You are valuable to the body of Christ just like you are. Without you the body of Christ will be incomplete. You help build up that which is lacking in the rest of the body.
I pray that you would be encouraged in the Lord and that you would find joy in being in Christ with each and every day.
Let’s pray. Oh father, please keep building up your body. Please grow us up to be mature. Complete the body of Christ dear Lord so that we can be done with death and start to really live. Glorify your name in your bride. In Jesus’ name we ask these things amen.
Here this words oh Bride of Christ from the one who loves you with all his heart:
You are beautiful, my darling, like the lovely city of Tirzah.Yes, as beautiful as Jerusalem, as majestic as an army with billowing banners. 5 Turn your eyes away, for they overpower me. Your hair falls in waves, like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead. 6 Your teeth are as white as sheep that are freshly washed. Your smile is flawless, each tooth matched with its twin. 7 Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates behind your veil. 8 Even among sixty queens and eighty concubines and countless young women, 9 I would still choose my dove, my perfect one— the favorite of her mother, dearly loved by the one who bore her. The young women see her and praise her; even queens and royal concubines sing her praises: 10 “Who is this, arising like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as an army with billowing banners?”
It is you oh Bride of Christ – Go in peace.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Something so right
Hey,
Paul Simon sang: When something goes wrong I’m the first to admit it I’m the first to admit it But the last one to know when something goes right Well it’s likely to lose me It’s apt to confuse meIt’s such an unusual sight I can’t get used to something so right Something so right.
And that’s how I feel a lot of the time. Right now I have all these good things around me – Friends, Family, Love, Companionship and I told a friend over the weekend that I’m waiting for the other boot to drop. I know it sounds weird but good things make me nervous. I don’t trust them.
Experientially I have no reason to trust them. From experience, I am expecting them to be ripped out of my life without a moments notice and no explanation whatsoever. I know what it feels like to let your guard down and get kicked in the teeth and honestly, I’m not too fond of it. It’s been 25 years since I let my guard down this much, since I have been loved with this depth of love, had this many friends who are of my own socio-economic status and who don’t just tolerate me or keep me around as a token blue collar guy but really love me.
I let my guard down back then and found out what it meant to be betrayed by a kiss, to have all your friends scatter like rats on a sinking ship, I lost it all: a wife, family, friends in the blink of an eye. I’ll never forget what it’s like to have that boot in my mouth and I don’t ever want to taste that sole again.
The truth is, I didn’t mean to have so many friends, to be so vulnerable, to take so many emotional risks at this point in my life. I mean they just snuck up on me. And it feels so good that it scares me to death. I’m used to being alone. It’s safe there. There’s very little risk. Self inflicted pain doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as the loss of love.
And yet to love and to be loved – there is nothing better in all the world. Maybe, I just long to be in a permanent beer commercial, or be eternally on the set of cheers where everybody knows my name. and the lines are written and the plot is set for a happy ending and not a cliff hanger.
I’d love to take the risk out of life, but as my favorite passage reminds me, the race doesn’t go to the swift or the battle to the strong but time and chance happen to us all. I was listening to Sara Groves this morning on the way to work and I heard these words (several times):
Weather came and caught us off guard. We were just laughing and feeling alright had such a great time just last night. We walked into the minefield undetected. You took a tone and I took offence anger replacing all common sense. Oh run for your life all tenderness is gone in the blink of an eye all good will has withdrawn and we mark our paces and stare out from our faces but you and I baby are gone, gone, gone.
We live in a personality minefield and it could all blow up in our faces at any moment. That is the essence of life in the fall.
So here’s the question I must answer do I want to be safe or loved? There really isn’t middle ground. Hang on, how did I get salt water in my eyes at this time of the morning?
The question behind the question is do I trust my maker enough to risk having my heart ripped out one more time? Do I think he really does have my best interests at heart? Do I have the faith to trust that he knows bests even if it means pain?
Honestly, no.
But…I know how good it feels to be loved, to have friends, to be accepted for who you are and not who you might become and it beats being alone hands down. I also know how rare and valuable a thing that is and so in spite of the voice inside my head that tells me to run and run fast I am going to stand still on the thin ice of modern life and trust in the God who made the ice upon which I stand, so much so, that even if he lets me fall through – though I may scream and yell and curse, I will (eventually) believe that he has my best interests at heart.
And by his grace I will pick up the pieces after the mine goes off and try my best to put it all back together again because love, biblical love, not the Beatles love, or sex, or whatever else passes itself off as love these days, real love is worth fighting for.
Maybe in time I’ll get used to feeling good.
Blessings your way,
Brad
Paul Simon sang: When something goes wrong I’m the first to admit it I’m the first to admit it But the last one to know when something goes right Well it’s likely to lose me It’s apt to confuse meIt’s such an unusual sight I can’t get used to something so right Something so right.
And that’s how I feel a lot of the time. Right now I have all these good things around me – Friends, Family, Love, Companionship and I told a friend over the weekend that I’m waiting for the other boot to drop. I know it sounds weird but good things make me nervous. I don’t trust them.
Experientially I have no reason to trust them. From experience, I am expecting them to be ripped out of my life without a moments notice and no explanation whatsoever. I know what it feels like to let your guard down and get kicked in the teeth and honestly, I’m not too fond of it. It’s been 25 years since I let my guard down this much, since I have been loved with this depth of love, had this many friends who are of my own socio-economic status and who don’t just tolerate me or keep me around as a token blue collar guy but really love me.
I let my guard down back then and found out what it meant to be betrayed by a kiss, to have all your friends scatter like rats on a sinking ship, I lost it all: a wife, family, friends in the blink of an eye. I’ll never forget what it’s like to have that boot in my mouth and I don’t ever want to taste that sole again.
The truth is, I didn’t mean to have so many friends, to be so vulnerable, to take so many emotional risks at this point in my life. I mean they just snuck up on me. And it feels so good that it scares me to death. I’m used to being alone. It’s safe there. There’s very little risk. Self inflicted pain doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as the loss of love.
And yet to love and to be loved – there is nothing better in all the world. Maybe, I just long to be in a permanent beer commercial, or be eternally on the set of cheers where everybody knows my name. and the lines are written and the plot is set for a happy ending and not a cliff hanger.
I’d love to take the risk out of life, but as my favorite passage reminds me, the race doesn’t go to the swift or the battle to the strong but time and chance happen to us all. I was listening to Sara Groves this morning on the way to work and I heard these words (several times):
Weather came and caught us off guard. We were just laughing and feeling alright had such a great time just last night. We walked into the minefield undetected. You took a tone and I took offence anger replacing all common sense. Oh run for your life all tenderness is gone in the blink of an eye all good will has withdrawn and we mark our paces and stare out from our faces but you and I baby are gone, gone, gone.
We live in a personality minefield and it could all blow up in our faces at any moment. That is the essence of life in the fall.
So here’s the question I must answer do I want to be safe or loved? There really isn’t middle ground. Hang on, how did I get salt water in my eyes at this time of the morning?
The question behind the question is do I trust my maker enough to risk having my heart ripped out one more time? Do I think he really does have my best interests at heart? Do I have the faith to trust that he knows bests even if it means pain?
Honestly, no.
But…I know how good it feels to be loved, to have friends, to be accepted for who you are and not who you might become and it beats being alone hands down. I also know how rare and valuable a thing that is and so in spite of the voice inside my head that tells me to run and run fast I am going to stand still on the thin ice of modern life and trust in the God who made the ice upon which I stand, so much so, that even if he lets me fall through – though I may scream and yell and curse, I will (eventually) believe that he has my best interests at heart.
And by his grace I will pick up the pieces after the mine goes off and try my best to put it all back together again because love, biblical love, not the Beatles love, or sex, or whatever else passes itself off as love these days, real love is worth fighting for.
Maybe in time I’ll get used to feeling good.
Blessings your way,
Brad
Sunday, September 5, 2010
sermon 9-5-10
I did not know when I became a pastor this time around that in the process of ministering to others I would be ministered to so greatly. You kindness to me, your love that I feel from you is more than I know what to do with sometimes. You all are a blessing to me and I thank you for allowing me to be your pastor and your friend.
I want to continue on with the foundation series today by looking at the book of Zechariah. Just like last week to find this one go to Matthew and then go back two books Malachai and then Zechariah.
If you remember last week the words of the Lord from Haggai greatly encouraged the leaders of Judah and they began to work on the temple again –even though they had been told not to.
In Zechariah 1 starting with verse two we read some more of what was said to them to encourage them to press on to task that God had called them to do. “I, the Lord, was very angry with your ancestors. 3 Therefore, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’ 4 Don’t be like your ancestors who would not listen or pay attention when the earlier prophets said to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Turn from your evil ways, and stop all your evil practices.’ 5 “Where are your ancestors now? They and the prophets are long dead. 6 But everything I said through my servants the prophets happened to your ancestors, just as I said. As a result, they repented and said, ‘We have received what we deserved from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He has done what he said he would do.’”
I was reminded of that old Seals and Crofts song: Darlin’ if you want me to be closer to you get closer to me. That is exactly what God is saying to us in this passage. God doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His standards never change. If you want to get close to Him then he says come get close. I haven’t moved. You want to get closer to God read his word and then do it. Pay attention to what it says. Don’t be like those who have gone before us and only paid attention to part of the word or who have refused to apply the word to everyday life.
If we are in Christ but we do not do what he says he promises covenant curses upon us, covenant discipline upon us. He promises to do whatever it takes to bring us to repentance. Notice what it says there in verse 6: Everything God promised through his prophets happened to those who refuse to listen and the result was that they repented and said we have received what we deserved from the Lord of Heaven’s armies. He has done what he said he would do.
How long until we believe that God is going to do what he promises if we walk in rebellion against him? I want you to be aware; I want you to keep this in the front of your brain: God promises to make his bride holy and without spot or wrinkle and he is going to do whatever it takes to bring her to repentance. He is going to do whatever it takes to bring you to repentance. There are several here among us who know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that whatever it takes and I think that they would all say to us today: if you are willing to repent before God comes after you do so because God doesn’t hold back and he is not afraid of dishing out all the pain necessary to bring you to the place where you are humble before him. It’s kind of like those old cop shows where they say this can go the easy way or it can go the hard way you make the choice. My experience is that more often than not I choose the hard way. I say all this that maybe, just maybe you might be willing to learn from my mistakes and humble yourself before the hard times come in your life.
The point is you have the opportunity to learn from the examples of your brothers and sisters here in this room and from the examples given to us in the Old Testament. God works the same in everybody’s life. Humble yourself while you have the chance.
Sometimes, probably most of the time, given my predisposition to feeling unworthy of love it is easy for me to forget the deep and passionate love that God has for his bride, his people, for us. Zechariah is a book that reminds us of that. In verse 12 of chapter 1 we read: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, for seventy years now you have been angry with Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. How long until you again show mercy to them?” 13 And the Lord spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. 14 Then the angel said to me, “Shout this message for all to hear: ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: My love for Jerusalem and Mount Zion is passionate and strong. 15 But I am very angry with the other nations that are now enjoying peace and security. I was only a little angry with my people, but I am very angry at the other nations. 16 “‘Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I have returned to show mercy to Jerusalem. My Temple will be rebuilt, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and measurements will be taken for the reconstruction of Jerusalem.’ 17 “Say this also: ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The towns of Israel will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem as his own.’”
Way too often when we read these passages we don’t read them with New Testament eyes; we read them with the wisdom of the world and so we miss the point what is being said. This comforting and kind message is for us; the bride of Christ, the new Jerusalem, the temple of God. This message is for all those who are in Christ Jesus because they are the only ones that God the father claims as his own. There are not two peoples of God. There are not two temples. There are not two bodies. There is only one people of God throughout all the ages. And so these words that we just read apply to us today. Listen to them in that context: My love for the church and for the kingdom of God is passionate and strong. I was only a little angry with my people and so I poured out my discipline on them to bring them to repentance. And so I have returned to show mercy to the church, and my body, my temple will be rebuilt. The church will once again overflow with prosperity, it will once again see new births take place and the Lord will again comfort his people and choose the church and the body of Christ as his own.
Just because the church is sterile now doesn’t mean that it will always be that way. When God gives the word we should expect a reversal of the way things are. We should expect glorious things to happen in the midst of the church. I am beginning to see glorious things happening here. I am seeing God work in people’s lives in a new way, in a deeper way. Those things weren’t happening a couple of years ago. I believe that God has begun to move and I don’t think he is going to stop. If you don’t want God moving in your life now is the time to start running because the move of God here in the people of Immanuel is only just beginning.
In chapter two of Zechariah we read this: 1 When I looked again, I saw a man with a tape measure in his hand. 2 “Where are you going?” I asked. He replied, “I am going to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.” 3 Then the angel who was with me went to meet a second angel who was coming toward him. 4 The other angel said, “Hurry, and say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem will someday be so full of people and livestock that there won’t be room enough for everyone! Many will live outside the city walls. 5 Then I, myself, will be a protective wall of fire around Jerusalem, says the Lord. And I will be the glory inside the city!’”
Once again we are so used to hearing these passages in the context of end times that we often times miss their meaning for us. This young man is measuring the fullness of the church. This passage tells us clearly that the church is going to be huge someday: So full of people and livestock that there won’t be room for everyone. We’re so used limiting the church to Sunday mornings and religious only things that we get uncomfortable with the concept of livestock being in the church but what that means is that the church is going to grow and it is going to be faithful to God in every area of life, even farming and business. The gospel is meant to a vital part of every area of life. Until we get that in our heads and hearts the church will remain impotent. We should be expecting God to grow his church in every area of life.
This passage demands that we put on new glasses and see the world the way God sees the world. When he begins to move on a group of people there is no limit to what he will do, what growth he will bring. It is nothing for God to fill up the cities of Portland and Franklin or for that matter Sumner County, Simpson County, Robertson County with belivers and with righteousness. What kind of a miracle is it going to take for you to get to the place where you can even see the possibility of that? Is changing a city or a county too big for God to do? Is wickedness in government and in business to great for God to handle? Is the drug trade too big for God to overcome? I don’t think so. I think it may be too big for our less than mustard seed faith to handle but it is not too big for God to handle.
You do understand that God laughs at the wicked don’t you? They don’t mean anything to him. In fact, the last verses of the first chapter tell us that when God stirs the hearts of his people to repentance and begins to prosper them he will at the same time turn his eyes toward the wicked and will begin to break them. He says he will send his blacksmiths to terrify and destroy them.
This concept that we have of the wicked being tough guys like the Godfather is so out of touch with reality. God holds the godfather in his hands and he can’t breathe unless the God of all creation gives him permission. He can terrorize only as long as God gives him permission. When God is through using him for his purposes then he will scatter the wicked like dust in the wind.
Of course I have to say that by faith because I have not seen it in the real world. We live in a dark age where the wicked have been given more power than they deserve because the church has refused to walk in the commandments and take the power that is rightfully hers. It is my prayer that in the latter half of my life I will be blessed to see that change.
In chapter 2 of Zechariah we hear the cry to: 6 The Lord says, “Come away! Flee from Babylon in the land of the north, for I have scattered you to the four winds. 7 Come away, people of Zion, you who are exiled in Babylon!” 8 After a period of glory, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me against the nations who plundered you. For he said, “Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession. 9 I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.” Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me. 10 The Lord says, “Shout and rejoice, O beautiful Jerusalem, for I am coming to live among you. 11 Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they, too, will be my people. I will live among you, and you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me to you. 12 The land of Judah will be the Lord’s special possession in the holy land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem to be his own city. 13 Be silent before the Lord, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling.”
It is time for us to begin to come out of Babylon. That doesn’t mean we have to move but it means we need to stop living like the wicked. We need to stop thinking like the wicked. We must stop playing the game. We come out of Babylon by learning to think and live christianly in every area of life. We must learn to set ourselves apart to God living according to his standards and seeing the world the way he sees the world. It is not enough that you say you believe in God. It is not enough that Jesus is your friend. I think the Tennessean got it right this week when it ran a story that most young people and most people that go to church are Almost Christians. They believe in God but they don’t want anything to do with the things that the bible says. The story said that instead of learning the Bible, young people are drawn to a cult of niceness. If that’s all you have why waste your time? The gospel doesn’t make you nice it makes you do the right things; it makes your heart right before God. Does niceness flow out of that? It can but being obedient to God is more important than being nice. Daniel wasn’t being nice when he refused to obey the king and prayed to God three times a day. The apostles weren’t being nice when the refused to obey the leaders of the apostate church and preach Jesus when they were told not to. Nice means nothing if it is not rooted and grounded in obedience to God. There will be a lot of nice people in hell.
Babylon is filled with nice people. We have to learn to come out of Babylon and nice disobedience and enter into the Kingdom of God and its obedience regardless of the personal cost.
Yes the wicked are in a period of glory right now. But it will not always be this way. God is going to judge Babylon, he always does. We must not be in her when he does. In other words we must not look and act like Babylon when God comes in judgment on her. We must flee her ways.
Listen to these words of God once again concerning God’s repentant bride: Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession. Can you hear that? You who are in Christ Jesus are God’s most precious possession. God is not concerned about some unbelievers over in the middle east. Unbelievers ARE NOT God’s possession. That applies in the middle east and it applies in every church in the united states. This is God’s attitude toward every unbeliever that harms the body of Christ: I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.” Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me.
To those who believe the Lord says, “Shout and rejoice, O beautiful Jerusalem, oh Body of Christ, for I am coming to live among you. 11 Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they, too, will be my people. I will live among you, and you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me to you. 12 The body of Christ will be the Lord’s special possession in the Kingdom of God, and he will once again choose the body of Christ to be his own city. 13 Be silent before the Lord, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling.”
That last line is very important. If God is going to spring into action to do good things on the earth he is going to do so from within the church, his people –we are his holy dwelling, we are his tabernacle, we are his temple, we are the city of God. We need to remember that. We need to let that sink into our hearts. We are God’s most prized possession. The bride of Christ from the Old Testament and the New Testament is God’s most prized possession. Why shouldn’t we be? He shed the blood of Jesus to redeem us to himself.
It is my prayer that God would allow you all to understand just how valuable you are to God. I admit that I have to struggle with that sometimes because I can’t see my value. I can only see my screw ups. But God see’s beyond those, God has paid for everyone of my mess ups and all my rebellion with the blood of Jesus. He loved me so much, you are so valuable to him that he paid to make you his, he bought you out of bondage by the blood of his only son.
If you are in Christ Jesus, and you are the only one in this room who can know for sure about that, if you are in Christ Jesus then God is going to do everything that it takes to make you like Jesus. You are holy and blameless in Christ Jesus and God is going to continue to work on you until your actions reveal what you really are. Right now our actions, more often than not, depict what we used to be. But some day we will do what we are, we will be what we are. We will walk solely on the path of life and never desire to depart from it. What a glorious day that will be.
I want to look at something that is amazing to me in Zechariah chapter 3. This happened over 400 years before Jesus was born. 1 Then the angel showed me Jeshua, Jesus the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. The Accuser, Satan, was there at the angel’s right hand, making accusations against Jesus. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire.” 3 Jesus’ clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. 4 So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jesus said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.” 5 Then I said, “They should also place a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean priestly turban on his head and dressed him in new clothes while the angel of the Lord stood by. 6 Then the angel of the Lord spoke very solemnly to Jesus and said, 7 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: If you follow my ways and carefully serve me, then you will be given authority over my Temple and its courtyards. I will let you walk among these others standing here. 8 “Listen to me, O Jesus the high priest, and all you other priests. You are symbols of things to come. Soon I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 Now look at the jewel I have set before Jesus a single stone with seven facets. I will engrave an inscription on it, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and I will remove the sins of this land in a single day. 10 “And on that day, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, each of you will invite your neighbor to sit with you peacefully under your own grapevine and fig tree.”
In this Narrative of Jesus the High Priest we have a perfect example of what happened to Jesus the Branch, our High Priest. Why were Jesus’ clothes dirty? Because when Jesus hung on the cross he be came your sin. He became my sin. He became the sin of all those who will ever believe. Jesus became a filthy rag to redeem us. Satan could accuse him because he became us and our sin.
But God in his glorious law provided a legal remedy for that sin – the perfect lamb of God without sin shed his blood to pay the price for our sin. By the shedding of his blood he paid for our sin and redeemed us to God.
Satan can accuse all he wants but God will refuse to listen because his redemptive law has been fulfilled. Christ became our sin and then was clothed anew with righteousness this time coupled with all authority in heaven and earth. The promise given to Jeshua the high priest: If you follow my ways and carefully serve me, then you will be given authority over my Temple and its courtyards. I will let you walk among these others standing here, was fulfilled by Jesus the high priest. God has given Jesus all authority in heaven and on earth.
Verse nine tells us that Jesus has also received a valuable Jewel, a single stone with seven facets. God says he will engrave an inscription on it, and He will remove the sins of this land, of this people, in a single day. I want you to understand that you are that valuable Jewel. With his obedience to the point of death Jesus paid for your redemption and you became God’s most valuable possession. You are the pearl of great price. Revelations 3 tells us that Jesus will write on use the name of God, and we will be citizens in the city of God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from God. And He will also write on them his new name.
We have the name of Jesus inscribed upon us. We have been given a new name because the old us has been crucified with Christ. We are new creatures in Christ old things HAVE PASSED AWAY.
I would ask you to beg God to let these things sink into your head and your heart. You need to know who you are in Christ Jesus. You need to understand what it means for Christ to have become your sin so that you could become his righteousness. You need to know how valuable you are to God the father. You are is most precious possession. NOTHING can pluck you out of the hand of the father. Nothing.
May god give you the ears to hear that and to let it grow deep inside you until it comes to full growth and bears the fruit of righteousness in every area of life. Let’s pray.
Oh Father, give us a glimpse of who we are in your eyes. Give us a taste of just how valuable we are to you. Pour out your grace and mercy that we may live accordingly. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Hear the words of the Lord from the Song of Solomon chapter 4:
9 You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes, with a single jewel of your necklace.10 Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride. Your love is better than wine, your perfume more fragrant than spices. 11 Your lips are as sweet as nectar, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. Your clothes are scented like the cedars of Lebanon.
I want to continue on with the foundation series today by looking at the book of Zechariah. Just like last week to find this one go to Matthew and then go back two books Malachai and then Zechariah.
If you remember last week the words of the Lord from Haggai greatly encouraged the leaders of Judah and they began to work on the temple again –even though they had been told not to.
In Zechariah 1 starting with verse two we read some more of what was said to them to encourage them to press on to task that God had called them to do. “I, the Lord, was very angry with your ancestors. 3 Therefore, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’ 4 Don’t be like your ancestors who would not listen or pay attention when the earlier prophets said to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Turn from your evil ways, and stop all your evil practices.’ 5 “Where are your ancestors now? They and the prophets are long dead. 6 But everything I said through my servants the prophets happened to your ancestors, just as I said. As a result, they repented and said, ‘We have received what we deserved from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He has done what he said he would do.’”
I was reminded of that old Seals and Crofts song: Darlin’ if you want me to be closer to you get closer to me. That is exactly what God is saying to us in this passage. God doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His standards never change. If you want to get close to Him then he says come get close. I haven’t moved. You want to get closer to God read his word and then do it. Pay attention to what it says. Don’t be like those who have gone before us and only paid attention to part of the word or who have refused to apply the word to everyday life.
If we are in Christ but we do not do what he says he promises covenant curses upon us, covenant discipline upon us. He promises to do whatever it takes to bring us to repentance. Notice what it says there in verse 6: Everything God promised through his prophets happened to those who refuse to listen and the result was that they repented and said we have received what we deserved from the Lord of Heaven’s armies. He has done what he said he would do.
How long until we believe that God is going to do what he promises if we walk in rebellion against him? I want you to be aware; I want you to keep this in the front of your brain: God promises to make his bride holy and without spot or wrinkle and he is going to do whatever it takes to bring her to repentance. He is going to do whatever it takes to bring you to repentance. There are several here among us who know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that whatever it takes and I think that they would all say to us today: if you are willing to repent before God comes after you do so because God doesn’t hold back and he is not afraid of dishing out all the pain necessary to bring you to the place where you are humble before him. It’s kind of like those old cop shows where they say this can go the easy way or it can go the hard way you make the choice. My experience is that more often than not I choose the hard way. I say all this that maybe, just maybe you might be willing to learn from my mistakes and humble yourself before the hard times come in your life.
The point is you have the opportunity to learn from the examples of your brothers and sisters here in this room and from the examples given to us in the Old Testament. God works the same in everybody’s life. Humble yourself while you have the chance.
Sometimes, probably most of the time, given my predisposition to feeling unworthy of love it is easy for me to forget the deep and passionate love that God has for his bride, his people, for us. Zechariah is a book that reminds us of that. In verse 12 of chapter 1 we read: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, for seventy years now you have been angry with Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. How long until you again show mercy to them?” 13 And the Lord spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. 14 Then the angel said to me, “Shout this message for all to hear: ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: My love for Jerusalem and Mount Zion is passionate and strong. 15 But I am very angry with the other nations that are now enjoying peace and security. I was only a little angry with my people, but I am very angry at the other nations. 16 “‘Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I have returned to show mercy to Jerusalem. My Temple will be rebuilt, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and measurements will be taken for the reconstruction of Jerusalem.’ 17 “Say this also: ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The towns of Israel will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem as his own.’”
Way too often when we read these passages we don’t read them with New Testament eyes; we read them with the wisdom of the world and so we miss the point what is being said. This comforting and kind message is for us; the bride of Christ, the new Jerusalem, the temple of God. This message is for all those who are in Christ Jesus because they are the only ones that God the father claims as his own. There are not two peoples of God. There are not two temples. There are not two bodies. There is only one people of God throughout all the ages. And so these words that we just read apply to us today. Listen to them in that context: My love for the church and for the kingdom of God is passionate and strong. I was only a little angry with my people and so I poured out my discipline on them to bring them to repentance. And so I have returned to show mercy to the church, and my body, my temple will be rebuilt. The church will once again overflow with prosperity, it will once again see new births take place and the Lord will again comfort his people and choose the church and the body of Christ as his own.
Just because the church is sterile now doesn’t mean that it will always be that way. When God gives the word we should expect a reversal of the way things are. We should expect glorious things to happen in the midst of the church. I am beginning to see glorious things happening here. I am seeing God work in people’s lives in a new way, in a deeper way. Those things weren’t happening a couple of years ago. I believe that God has begun to move and I don’t think he is going to stop. If you don’t want God moving in your life now is the time to start running because the move of God here in the people of Immanuel is only just beginning.
In chapter two of Zechariah we read this: 1 When I looked again, I saw a man with a tape measure in his hand. 2 “Where are you going?” I asked. He replied, “I am going to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.” 3 Then the angel who was with me went to meet a second angel who was coming toward him. 4 The other angel said, “Hurry, and say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem will someday be so full of people and livestock that there won’t be room enough for everyone! Many will live outside the city walls. 5 Then I, myself, will be a protective wall of fire around Jerusalem, says the Lord. And I will be the glory inside the city!’”
Once again we are so used to hearing these passages in the context of end times that we often times miss their meaning for us. This young man is measuring the fullness of the church. This passage tells us clearly that the church is going to be huge someday: So full of people and livestock that there won’t be room for everyone. We’re so used limiting the church to Sunday mornings and religious only things that we get uncomfortable with the concept of livestock being in the church but what that means is that the church is going to grow and it is going to be faithful to God in every area of life, even farming and business. The gospel is meant to a vital part of every area of life. Until we get that in our heads and hearts the church will remain impotent. We should be expecting God to grow his church in every area of life.
This passage demands that we put on new glasses and see the world the way God sees the world. When he begins to move on a group of people there is no limit to what he will do, what growth he will bring. It is nothing for God to fill up the cities of Portland and Franklin or for that matter Sumner County, Simpson County, Robertson County with belivers and with righteousness. What kind of a miracle is it going to take for you to get to the place where you can even see the possibility of that? Is changing a city or a county too big for God to do? Is wickedness in government and in business to great for God to handle? Is the drug trade too big for God to overcome? I don’t think so. I think it may be too big for our less than mustard seed faith to handle but it is not too big for God to handle.
You do understand that God laughs at the wicked don’t you? They don’t mean anything to him. In fact, the last verses of the first chapter tell us that when God stirs the hearts of his people to repentance and begins to prosper them he will at the same time turn his eyes toward the wicked and will begin to break them. He says he will send his blacksmiths to terrify and destroy them.
This concept that we have of the wicked being tough guys like the Godfather is so out of touch with reality. God holds the godfather in his hands and he can’t breathe unless the God of all creation gives him permission. He can terrorize only as long as God gives him permission. When God is through using him for his purposes then he will scatter the wicked like dust in the wind.
Of course I have to say that by faith because I have not seen it in the real world. We live in a dark age where the wicked have been given more power than they deserve because the church has refused to walk in the commandments and take the power that is rightfully hers. It is my prayer that in the latter half of my life I will be blessed to see that change.
In chapter 2 of Zechariah we hear the cry to: 6 The Lord says, “Come away! Flee from Babylon in the land of the north, for I have scattered you to the four winds. 7 Come away, people of Zion, you who are exiled in Babylon!” 8 After a period of glory, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me against the nations who plundered you. For he said, “Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession. 9 I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.” Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me. 10 The Lord says, “Shout and rejoice, O beautiful Jerusalem, for I am coming to live among you. 11 Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they, too, will be my people. I will live among you, and you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me to you. 12 The land of Judah will be the Lord’s special possession in the holy land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem to be his own city. 13 Be silent before the Lord, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling.”
It is time for us to begin to come out of Babylon. That doesn’t mean we have to move but it means we need to stop living like the wicked. We need to stop thinking like the wicked. We must stop playing the game. We come out of Babylon by learning to think and live christianly in every area of life. We must learn to set ourselves apart to God living according to his standards and seeing the world the way he sees the world. It is not enough that you say you believe in God. It is not enough that Jesus is your friend. I think the Tennessean got it right this week when it ran a story that most young people and most people that go to church are Almost Christians. They believe in God but they don’t want anything to do with the things that the bible says. The story said that instead of learning the Bible, young people are drawn to a cult of niceness. If that’s all you have why waste your time? The gospel doesn’t make you nice it makes you do the right things; it makes your heart right before God. Does niceness flow out of that? It can but being obedient to God is more important than being nice. Daniel wasn’t being nice when he refused to obey the king and prayed to God three times a day. The apostles weren’t being nice when the refused to obey the leaders of the apostate church and preach Jesus when they were told not to. Nice means nothing if it is not rooted and grounded in obedience to God. There will be a lot of nice people in hell.
Babylon is filled with nice people. We have to learn to come out of Babylon and nice disobedience and enter into the Kingdom of God and its obedience regardless of the personal cost.
Yes the wicked are in a period of glory right now. But it will not always be this way. God is going to judge Babylon, he always does. We must not be in her when he does. In other words we must not look and act like Babylon when God comes in judgment on her. We must flee her ways.
Listen to these words of God once again concerning God’s repentant bride: Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession. Can you hear that? You who are in Christ Jesus are God’s most precious possession. God is not concerned about some unbelievers over in the middle east. Unbelievers ARE NOT God’s possession. That applies in the middle east and it applies in every church in the united states. This is God’s attitude toward every unbeliever that harms the body of Christ: I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.” Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me.
To those who believe the Lord says, “Shout and rejoice, O beautiful Jerusalem, oh Body of Christ, for I am coming to live among you. 11 Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they, too, will be my people. I will live among you, and you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me to you. 12 The body of Christ will be the Lord’s special possession in the Kingdom of God, and he will once again choose the body of Christ to be his own city. 13 Be silent before the Lord, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling.”
That last line is very important. If God is going to spring into action to do good things on the earth he is going to do so from within the church, his people –we are his holy dwelling, we are his tabernacle, we are his temple, we are the city of God. We need to remember that. We need to let that sink into our hearts. We are God’s most prized possession. The bride of Christ from the Old Testament and the New Testament is God’s most prized possession. Why shouldn’t we be? He shed the blood of Jesus to redeem us to himself.
It is my prayer that God would allow you all to understand just how valuable you are to God. I admit that I have to struggle with that sometimes because I can’t see my value. I can only see my screw ups. But God see’s beyond those, God has paid for everyone of my mess ups and all my rebellion with the blood of Jesus. He loved me so much, you are so valuable to him that he paid to make you his, he bought you out of bondage by the blood of his only son.
If you are in Christ Jesus, and you are the only one in this room who can know for sure about that, if you are in Christ Jesus then God is going to do everything that it takes to make you like Jesus. You are holy and blameless in Christ Jesus and God is going to continue to work on you until your actions reveal what you really are. Right now our actions, more often than not, depict what we used to be. But some day we will do what we are, we will be what we are. We will walk solely on the path of life and never desire to depart from it. What a glorious day that will be.
I want to look at something that is amazing to me in Zechariah chapter 3. This happened over 400 years before Jesus was born. 1 Then the angel showed me Jeshua, Jesus the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. The Accuser, Satan, was there at the angel’s right hand, making accusations against Jesus. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire.” 3 Jesus’ clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. 4 So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jesus said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.” 5 Then I said, “They should also place a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean priestly turban on his head and dressed him in new clothes while the angel of the Lord stood by. 6 Then the angel of the Lord spoke very solemnly to Jesus and said, 7 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: If you follow my ways and carefully serve me, then you will be given authority over my Temple and its courtyards. I will let you walk among these others standing here. 8 “Listen to me, O Jesus the high priest, and all you other priests. You are symbols of things to come. Soon I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 Now look at the jewel I have set before Jesus a single stone with seven facets. I will engrave an inscription on it, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and I will remove the sins of this land in a single day. 10 “And on that day, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, each of you will invite your neighbor to sit with you peacefully under your own grapevine and fig tree.”
In this Narrative of Jesus the High Priest we have a perfect example of what happened to Jesus the Branch, our High Priest. Why were Jesus’ clothes dirty? Because when Jesus hung on the cross he be came your sin. He became my sin. He became the sin of all those who will ever believe. Jesus became a filthy rag to redeem us. Satan could accuse him because he became us and our sin.
But God in his glorious law provided a legal remedy for that sin – the perfect lamb of God without sin shed his blood to pay the price for our sin. By the shedding of his blood he paid for our sin and redeemed us to God.
Satan can accuse all he wants but God will refuse to listen because his redemptive law has been fulfilled. Christ became our sin and then was clothed anew with righteousness this time coupled with all authority in heaven and earth. The promise given to Jeshua the high priest: If you follow my ways and carefully serve me, then you will be given authority over my Temple and its courtyards. I will let you walk among these others standing here, was fulfilled by Jesus the high priest. God has given Jesus all authority in heaven and on earth.
Verse nine tells us that Jesus has also received a valuable Jewel, a single stone with seven facets. God says he will engrave an inscription on it, and He will remove the sins of this land, of this people, in a single day. I want you to understand that you are that valuable Jewel. With his obedience to the point of death Jesus paid for your redemption and you became God’s most valuable possession. You are the pearl of great price. Revelations 3 tells us that Jesus will write on use the name of God, and we will be citizens in the city of God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from God. And He will also write on them his new name.
We have the name of Jesus inscribed upon us. We have been given a new name because the old us has been crucified with Christ. We are new creatures in Christ old things HAVE PASSED AWAY.
I would ask you to beg God to let these things sink into your head and your heart. You need to know who you are in Christ Jesus. You need to understand what it means for Christ to have become your sin so that you could become his righteousness. You need to know how valuable you are to God the father. You are is most precious possession. NOTHING can pluck you out of the hand of the father. Nothing.
May god give you the ears to hear that and to let it grow deep inside you until it comes to full growth and bears the fruit of righteousness in every area of life. Let’s pray.
Oh Father, give us a glimpse of who we are in your eyes. Give us a taste of just how valuable we are to you. Pour out your grace and mercy that we may live accordingly. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Hear the words of the Lord from the Song of Solomon chapter 4:
9 You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes, with a single jewel of your necklace.10 Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride. Your love is better than wine, your perfume more fragrant than spices. 11 Your lips are as sweet as nectar, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. Your clothes are scented like the cedars of Lebanon.
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